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A sharp threshold for minimum bounded-depth and bounded-diameter spanning trees and Steiner trees in random networks (2008)

Abstract
In the complete graph on n vertices, when each edge has a weight which is an exponential random variable, Frieze proved that the minimum spanning tree has weight tending to zeta(3)=1/1^3+1/2^3+1/3^3+... as n goes to infinity. We consider spanning trees constrained to have depth bounded by k from a specified root. We prove that if k > log_2 log n+omega(1), where omega(1) is any function going to infinity with n, then the minimum bounded-depth spanning tree still has weight tending to zeta(3) as n -> infinity, and that if k < log_2 log n, then the weight is doubly-exponentially large in log_2 log n - k. It is NP-hard to find the minimum bounded-depth spanning tree, but when k < log_2 log n - omega(1), a simple greedy algorithm is asymptotically optimal, and when k > log_2 log n+omega(1), an algorithm which makes small changes to the minimum (unbounded depth) spanning tree is asymptotically optimal. We prove similar results for minimum bounded-depth Steiner trees, where the tree must connect a specified set of m vertices, and may or may not include other vertices. In particular, when m = const * n, if k > log_2 log n+omega(1), the minimum bounded-depth Steiner tree on the complete graph has asymptotically the same weight as the minimum Steiner tree, and if 1 . Comment: 28 pages

Publication details
Download http://arxiv.org/abs/0810.4908
Repository arXiv (United States)
Keywords Mathematics - Probability, Condensed Matter - Statistical Mechanics, Mathematics - Combinatorics, 05C80, 90C27, 05C05, 60C05, 82B26, 68W40, 68R10, 68W25
Type text