[Colloq] Talk tomorrow on matroids by Prof Huang 12-1PM in 366WVH

[Ravi Sundaram]

12 - 1 PM 
366WVH


Title: Exact and Approximation Algorithms for Weighted Matroid Intersection

Abstract: We propose new exact and approximation algorithms for
the weighted matroid intersection problem.
Our exact algorithm is faster than previous algorithms when the largest weight is relatively small.
Our approximation algorithm delivers a $(1-\epsilon)$-approximate solution with a running time
significantly faster than most known exact algorithms.

The core of our algorithms is a decomposition technique: we decompose
an instance of the weighted matroid intersection problem into a set of instances of the
unweighted matroid intersection problem.
The computational advantage of this approach is that we can make use of fast unweighted matroid intersection
algorithms as a black box for designing algorithms. Precisely speaking, we prove that we can
solve the weighted matroid intersection problem via solving $W$ instances of the unweighted matroid intersection problem,
where $W$ is the largest given weight.
Furthermore, we can find a $(1-\epsilon)$-approximate solution via solving $O(\epsilon^{-1} \log r)$
instances of the unweighted matroid intersection problem, where $r$ is the smallest rank of the given two matroids. 

Bio: Chien-Chung Huang is currently an assistant professor at Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden. He obtained his Ph.D. 
at Dartmouth College in 2008, under the supervision of Peter Winkler. He works in the area of algorithm design and analysis. The major topics that he has worked on include stable matching, machine scheduling, and selfish routing games.