Supermodular Maximization with Cardinality Constraints

TL;DR

This paper introduces approximation algorithms for maximizing nonnegative monotone supermodular functions under cardinality constraints, especially when the function is decomposable, with improved results for the densest connected subgraph problem.

Contribution

It presents the first polynomial-time approximation algorithms for supermodular maximization with decomposability and connectivity constraints, achieving better ratios for the densest connected subgraph.

Findings

Provides an $O(n^{(r-1)/2})$-approximation algorithm for decomposable supermodular maximization.

Introduces a polynomial-time $O(n^{(r-1)/2})$-approximation for the connected case.

Improves the approximation ratio for the densest connected $k$-subgraph from $O(n^{2/3})$ to $O(n^{1/2})$.

Abstract

Let $V$ be a finite set of $n$ elements, $f: 2^V \rightarrow \mathbb{R}_+$ be a nonnegative monotone supermodular function, and $k$ be a positive integer no greater than $n$. This paper addresses the problem of maximizing $f(S)$ over all subsets $S \subseteq V$ subject to the cardinality constraint $|S| = k$ or $|S|\le k$. Let $r$ be a constant integer. The function $f$ is assumed to be {\em $r$-decomposable}, meaning there exist $m\,(\ge1)$ subsets $V_1, \dots, V_m$ of $V$, each with a cardinality at most $r$, and a corresponding set of nonnegative supermodular functions $f_i : 2^{V_i} \rightarrow \mathbb{R}_+$, $i=1,\ldots,m$ such that $f(S) =\sum_{i=1}^m f_i(S \cap V_i)$ holds for each $S \subseteq V$. Given $r$ as an input, we present a polynomial-time $O(n^{(r-1)/2})$-approximation algorithm for this maximization problem, which does not require prior knowledge of the specific decomposition. When the decomposition $(V_i,f_i)_{i=1}^m$ is known, an additional connectivity requirement is introduced to the problem. Let $G$ be the graph with vertex set $V$ and edge set $\cup_{i=1}^m \{uv:u,v\in V_i,u\neq v\}$. The cardinality constrained solution set $S$ is required to induce a connected subgraph in $G$. This model generalizes the well-known problem of finding the densest connected $k$-subgraph. We propose a polynomial time $O(n^{(r-1)/2})$-approximation algorithm for this generalization. Notably, this algorithm gives an $O(n^{1/2})$-approximation for the densest connected $k$-subgraph problem, improving upon the previous best-known approximation ratio of $O(n^{2/3})$.