Piecewise Linear Valued CSPs Solvable by Linear Programming Relaxation

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Abstract

Valued constraint satisfaction problems (VCSPs) are a large class of combinatorial optimisation problems. The computational complexity of VCSPs depends on the set of allowed cost functions in the input. Recently, the computational complexity of all VCSPs for finite sets of cost functions over finite domains has been classified. Many natural optimisation problems, however, cannot be formulated as VCSPs over a finite domain. We initiate the systematic investigation of the complexity of infinite-domain VCSPs with piecewise linear homogeneous cost functions. Such VCSPs can be solved in polynomial time if the cost functions are improved by fully symmetric fractional operations of all arities. We show this by reducing the problem to a finite-domain VCSP which can be solved using the basic linear program relaxation. It follows that VCSPs for submodular PLH cost functions can be solved in polynomial time; in fact, we show that submodular PLH functions form a maximally tractable class of PLH cost functions.

Details

Original languageEnglish
Article number1
Pages (from-to)7:1-7:35
Number of pages35
JournalACM transactions on computational logic
Volume23
Issue number1
Publication statusPublished - 1 Jan 2022
Peer-reviewedYes

External IDs

Mendeley 7fd2284c-1812-3092-bcbe-6ee4b0929433
dblp journals/tocl/BodirskyMV22
ORCID /0000-0001-8228-3611/work/142241073

Keywords

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Keywords

  • linear programming relaxation, piecewise linear functions, rational domain, submodularity, Valued constraint satisfaction