<p>One of the most famous conjectures in combinatorial optimization is the four-thirds conjecture, which states that the integrality gap of the Subtour LP relaxation of the TSP is equal to <InlineEquation ID="IEq1"> <EquationSource Format="TEX">\(\frac{4}{3}\)</EquationSource> <EquationSource Format="MATHML"><math> <mfrac> <mn>4</mn> <mn>3</mn> </mfrac> </math></EquationSource> </InlineEquation>. For 40 years, the best known upper bound was 1.5, due to Wolsey [<CitationRef CitationID="CR1">1</CitationRef>]. Recently, Karlin, Klein, and Oveis Gharan [<CitationRef CitationID="CR2">2</CitationRef>] showed that the max entropy algorithm for the TSP gives an improved bound of <InlineEquation ID="IEq2"> <EquationSource Format="TEX">\(1.5 - 10^{-36}\)</EquationSource> <EquationSource Format="MATHML"><math> <mrow> <mn>1.5</mn> <mo>-</mo> <msup> <mn>10</mn> <mrow> <mo>-</mo> <mn>36</mn> </mrow> </msup> </mrow> </math></EquationSource> </InlineEquation>. In this paper, we show that the approximation ratio of the max entropy algorithm is at least 1.375, even for graph TSP. Thus the max entropy algorithm does not appear to be the algorithm that will ultimately resolve the four-thirds conjecture in the affirmative, should that be possible.</p>

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A lower bound for the max entropy algorithm for TSP

  • Billy Jin,
  • Nathan Klein,
  • David P. Williamson

摘要

One of the most famous conjectures in combinatorial optimization is the four-thirds conjecture, which states that the integrality gap of the Subtour LP relaxation of the TSP is equal to \(\frac{4}{3}\) 4 3 . For 40 years, the best known upper bound was 1.5, due to Wolsey [1]. Recently, Karlin, Klein, and Oveis Gharan [2] showed that the max entropy algorithm for the TSP gives an improved bound of \(1.5 - 10^{-36}\) 1.5 - 10 - 36 . In this paper, we show that the approximation ratio of the max entropy algorithm is at least 1.375, even for graph TSP. Thus the max entropy algorithm does not appear to be the algorithm that will ultimately resolve the four-thirds conjecture in the affirmative, should that be possible.