Difference between revisions of "CATS-Apr-11-2014"

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== Title ==
 
== Title ==
The Theory of Equilibrium Computation Has Come Of Age
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Greedy-like algorithms and a myopic model for the non-monotone submodular maximization problem
  
 
== Speaker ==
 
== Speaker ==
Vijay Vazirani got his Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science from MIT in 1979 and his Ph.D. from the University  
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Allan Borodin received his BSC from Rutgers University in 1963,
of California at Berkeley in 1983. His research career has been centered around the design of algorithms and  
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and obtained an MSC degree in 1966 from Stevens Institute of Technology
computational complexity theory. He has made seminal contributions to the classical maximum matching problem,  
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while working as a Member of the Technical Staff at Bell Laboratories.
approximation algorithms and the computability of equilibria, particularly algorithms for computing market equilibria.
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He returned full time to graduate school at Cornell in 1966
His work in complexity theory includes the Valiant-Vazirani theorem, proving that if UNIQUE-SAT is in P then NP = RP.
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and received his PhD in 1969. He came to Canada and the University of
 
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Toronto in 1969 for a year or two but forgot to leave. He has been
In 2001 he published what was widely regarded as the definitive book on Approximation Algorithms. This book has
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on the faculty of the Department of Computer Science at Toronto since 1969
been translated into Japanese, Polish, French and Chinese.  He was a Distinguished SISL Visitor at the Social and
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and served as department chair from 1980-1985. He has held
Information Sciences Laboratory at Caltech during 2011-12. He is a Guggenheim Fellow and an ACM Fellow.
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visiting positions at Cornell, ETH Zurich, Universite' de Nice,
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Hebrew University, Weizmann University, Technion, Tel Aviv University,
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University of Washington
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and the Institute for Advanced Study. Professor Borodin is
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a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and a recipient of the
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2008 CRM-Fields-PIMS Prize. He was appointed a University Professor
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in 2011.
  
 
== Abstract ==
 
== Abstract ==
Profound insights, obtained over the last decade, have elevated equilibrium computation to a
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We are generally interested in the following not-well defined problem: What
full-fledged area within the theory of algorithms and computational complexity. It has its own
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is a conceptually simple algorithm and what is the power and limitations
character which is quite distinct from the computability of optimization problems.
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of such algorithms? In particular, what is a greedy algorithm
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or more generally a myopic algorithm for a combinatorial optimization
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problem? And to be even more specific,
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motivated by the Buchbinder et al ``online greedy algorithm'' for the
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unconstrained non-monotone
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submodular maximization problem, what are (if any) the limitations of
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algorithms "of this genre" for the general unconstrained problem and for
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specific instances of the problem, such as Max-Di-Cut?
  
Using the powerful notions of complementarity and complementary pivot algorithms, traditional
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Joint work with Norman Huang
complexity classes NP, co-NP, ETR (Existential Theory of Reals) and UTR (Universal Theory of Reals),
 
and new classes PPAD and FIXP, we will provide a broad overview of this theory as it stands today.
 
The picture is intensely beautiful! The area still has low-hanging fruit -- we will indicate where.
 

Latest revision as of 14:15, 3 April 2014

Title[edit]

Greedy-like algorithms and a myopic model for the non-monotone submodular maximization problem

Speaker[edit]

Allan Borodin received his BSC from Rutgers University in 1963, and obtained an MSC degree in 1966 from Stevens Institute of Technology while working as a Member of the Technical Staff at Bell Laboratories. He returned full time to graduate school at Cornell in 1966 and received his PhD in 1969. He came to Canada and the University of Toronto in 1969 for a year or two but forgot to leave. He has been on the faculty of the Department of Computer Science at Toronto since 1969 and served as department chair from 1980-1985. He has held visiting positions at Cornell, ETH Zurich, Universite' de Nice, Hebrew University, Weizmann University, Technion, Tel Aviv University, University of Washington and the Institute for Advanced Study. Professor Borodin is a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and a recipient of the 2008 CRM-Fields-PIMS Prize. He was appointed a University Professor in 2011.

Abstract[edit]

We are generally interested in the following not-well defined problem: What is a conceptually simple algorithm and what is the power and limitations of such algorithms? In particular, what is a greedy algorithm or more generally a myopic algorithm for a combinatorial optimization problem? And to be even more specific, motivated by the Buchbinder et al ``online greedy algorithm for the unconstrained non-monotone submodular maximization problem, what are (if any) the limitations of algorithms "of this genre" for the general unconstrained problem and for specific instances of the problem, such as Max-Di-Cut?

Joint work with Norman Huang