The Power of Linear Programming for Valued CSPs

A class of valued constraint satisfaction problems (VCSPs) is characterised by a valued constraint language, a fixed set of cost functions on a finite domain. An instance of the problem is specified by a sum of cost functions from the language with the goal to minimise the sum. This framework includ...

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Main Authors: Thapper, J, Zivny, S
Format: Conference item
Published: 2012
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author Thapper, J
Zivny, S
author_facet Thapper, J
Zivny, S
author_sort Thapper, J
collection OXFORD
description A class of valued constraint satisfaction problems (VCSPs) is characterised by a valued constraint language, a fixed set of cost functions on a finite domain. An instance of the problem is specified by a sum of cost functions from the language with the goal to minimise the sum. This framework includes and generalises well-studied constraint satisfaction problems (CSPs) and maximum constraint satisfaction problems (Max-CSPs). Our main result is a precise algebraic characterisation of valued constraint languages whose instances can be solved exactly by the basic linear programming relaxation. Using this result, we obtain tractability of several novel and previously widely-open classes of VCSPs, including problems over valued constraint languages that are: (1) submodular on arbitrary lattices; (2) bisubmodular (also known as k-submodular) on arbitrary finite domains; (3) weakly (and hence strongly) tree-submodular on arbitrary trees.
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spelling oxford-uuid:05fd2ad2-c9c1-4d11-a878-14a6acab1f5a2022-03-26T09:00:09ZThe Power of Linear Programming for Valued CSPsConference itemhttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_5794uuid:05fd2ad2-c9c1-4d11-a878-14a6acab1f5aSymplectic Elements at Oxford2012Thapper, JZivny, SA class of valued constraint satisfaction problems (VCSPs) is characterised by a valued constraint language, a fixed set of cost functions on a finite domain. An instance of the problem is specified by a sum of cost functions from the language with the goal to minimise the sum. This framework includes and generalises well-studied constraint satisfaction problems (CSPs) and maximum constraint satisfaction problems (Max-CSPs). Our main result is a precise algebraic characterisation of valued constraint languages whose instances can be solved exactly by the basic linear programming relaxation. Using this result, we obtain tractability of several novel and previously widely-open classes of VCSPs, including problems over valued constraint languages that are: (1) submodular on arbitrary lattices; (2) bisubmodular (also known as k-submodular) on arbitrary finite domains; (3) weakly (and hence strongly) tree-submodular on arbitrary trees.
spellingShingle Thapper, J
Zivny, S
The Power of Linear Programming for Valued CSPs
title The Power of Linear Programming for Valued CSPs
title_full The Power of Linear Programming for Valued CSPs
title_fullStr The Power of Linear Programming for Valued CSPs
title_full_unstemmed The Power of Linear Programming for Valued CSPs
title_short The Power of Linear Programming for Valued CSPs
title_sort power of linear programming for valued csps
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