Random minimum spanning tree

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In mathematics, a random minimum spanning tree may be formed by assigning independent random weights from some distribution to the edges of an undirected graph, and then constructing the minimum spanning tree of the graph.

When the given graph is a complete graph on n vertices, and the edge weights have a continuous distribution function whose derivative at zero is D > 0, then the expected weight of its random minimum spanning trees is bounded by a constant, rather than growing as a function of n. More precisely, this constant tends in the limit (as n goes to infinity) to ζ(3)/D, where ζ is the Riemann zeta function and ζ(3) is Apéry's constant. For instance, for edge weights that are uniformly distributed on the unit interval, the derivative is D = 1, and the limit is just ζ(3). [1]

In contrast to uniformly random spanning trees of complete graphs, for which the typical diameter is proportional to the square root of the number of vertices, random minimum spanning trees of complete graphs have typical diameter proportional to the cube root. [2] [3]

Random minimum spanning trees of grid graphs may be used for invasion percolation models of liquid flow through a porous medium, [4] and for maze generation. [5]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Minimum spanning tree</span> Least-weight tree connecting graph vertices

A minimum spanning tree (MST) or minimum weight spanning tree is a subset of the edges of a connected, edge-weighted undirected graph that connects all the vertices together, without any cycles and with the minimum possible total edge weight. That is, it is a spanning tree whose sum of edge weights is as small as possible. More generally, any edge-weighted undirected graph has a minimum spanning forest, which is a union of the minimum spanning trees for its connected components.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kruskal's algorithm</span> Minimum spanning forest algorithm that greedily adds edges

Kruskal's algorithm finds a minimum spanning forest of an undirected edge-weighted graph. If the graph is connected, it finds a minimum spanning tree. It is a greedy algorithm that in each step adds to the forest the lowest-weight edge that will not form a cycle. The key steps of the algorithm are sorting and the use of a disjoint-set data structure to detect cycles. Its running time is dominated by the time to sort all of the graph edges by their weight.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Prim's algorithm</span> Method for finding minimum spanning trees

In computer science, Prim's algorithm is a greedy algorithm that finds a minimum spanning tree for a weighted undirected graph. This means it finds a subset of the edges that forms a tree that includes every vertex, where the total weight of all the edges in the tree is minimized. The algorithm operates by building this tree one vertex at a time, from an arbitrary starting vertex, at each step adding the cheapest possible connection from the tree to another vertex.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Depth-first search</span> Search algorithm

Depth-first search (DFS) is an algorithm for traversing or searching tree or graph data structures. The algorithm starts at the root node and explores as far as possible along each branch before backtracking. Extra memory, usually a stack, is needed to keep track of the nodes discovered so far along a specified branch which helps in backtracking of the graph.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Borůvka's algorithm</span> Method for finding minimum spanning trees

Borůvka's algorithm is a greedy algorithm for finding a minimum spanning tree in a graph, or a minimum spanning forest in the case of a graph that is not connected.

This is a glossary of graph theory. Graph theory is the study of graphs, systems of nodes or vertices connected in pairs by lines or edges.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Random graph</span> Graph generated by a random process

In mathematics, random graph is the general term to refer to probability distributions over graphs. Random graphs may be described simply by a probability distribution, or by a random process which generates them. The theory of random graphs lies at the intersection between graph theory and probability theory. From a mathematical perspective, random graphs are used to answer questions about the properties of typical graphs. Its practical applications are found in all areas in which complex networks need to be modeled – many random graph models are thus known, mirroring the diverse types of complex networks encountered in different areas. In a mathematical context, random graph refers almost exclusively to the Erdős–Rényi random graph model. In other contexts, any graph model may be referred to as a random graph.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Spanning tree</span> Tree which includes all vertices of a graph

In the mathematical field of graph theory, a spanning treeT of an undirected graph G is a subgraph that is a tree which includes all of the vertices of G. In general, a graph may have several spanning trees, but a graph that is not connected will not contain a spanning tree. If all of the edges of G are also edges of a spanning tree T of G, then G is a tree and is identical to T.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Euclidean minimum spanning tree</span> Shortest network connecting points

A Euclidean minimum spanning tree of a finite set of points in the Euclidean plane or higher-dimensional Euclidean space connects the points by a system of line segments with the points as endpoints, minimizing the total length of the segments. In it, any two points can reach each other along a path through the line segments. It can be found as the minimum spanning tree of a complete graph with the points as vertices and the Euclidean distances between points as edge weights.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Loop-erased random walk</span> Model for a random simple path

In mathematics, loop-erased random walk is a model for a random simple path with important applications in combinatorics, physics and quantum field theory. It is intimately connected to the uniform spanning tree, a model for a random tree. See also random walk for more general treatment of this topic.

<i>k</i>-minimum spanning tree

The k-minimum spanning tree problem, studied in theoretical computer science, asks for a tree of minimum cost that has exactly k vertices and forms a subgraph of a larger graph. It is also called the k-MST or edge-weighted k-cardinality tree. Finding this tree is NP-hard, but it can be approximated to within a constant approximation ratio in polynomial time.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dual graph</span> Graph representing faces of another graph

In the mathematical discipline of graph theory, the dual graph of a planar graph G is a graph that has a vertex for each face of G. The dual graph has an edge for each pair of faces in G that are separated from each other by an edge, and a self-loop when the same face appears on both sides of an edge. Thus, each edge e of G has a corresponding dual edge, whose endpoints are the dual vertices corresponding to the faces on either side of e. The definition of the dual depends on the choice of embedding of the graph G, so it is a property of plane graphs rather than planar graphs. For planar graphs generally, there may be multiple dual graphs, depending on the choice of planar embedding of the graph.

In computer science, graph traversal refers to the process of visiting each vertex in a graph. Such traversals are classified by the order in which the vertices are visited. Tree traversal is a special case of graph traversal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Erdős–Rényi model</span> Two closely related models for generating random graphs

In the mathematical field of graph theory, the Erdős–Rényi model refers to one of two closely related models for generating random graphs or the evolution of a random network. These models are named after Hungarian mathematicians Paul Erdős and Alfréd Rényi, who introduced one of the models in 1959. Edgar Gilbert introduced the other model contemporaneously with and independently of Erdős and Rényi. In the model of Erdős and Rényi, all graphs on a fixed vertex set with a fixed number of edges are equally likely. In the model introduced by Gilbert, also called the Erdős–Rényi–Gilbert model, each edge has a fixed probability of being present or absent, independently of the other edges. These models can be used in the probabilistic method to prove the existence of graphs satisfying various properties, or to provide a rigorous definition of what it means for a property to hold for almost all graphs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pseudoforest</span> Graph with one cycle per component

In graph theory, a pseudoforest is an undirected graph in which every connected component has at most one cycle. That is, it is a system of vertices and edges connecting pairs of vertices, such that no two cycles of consecutive edges share any vertex with each other, nor can any two cycles be connected to each other by a path of consecutive edges. A pseudotree is a connected pseudoforest.

Capacitated minimum spanning tree is a minimal cost spanning tree of a graph that has a designated root node and satisfies the capacity constraint . The capacity constraint ensures that all subtrees incident on the root node have no more than nodes. If the tree nodes have weights, then the capacity constraint may be interpreted as follows: the sum of weights in any subtree should be no greater than . The edges connecting the subgraphs to the root node are called gates. Finding the optimal solution is NP-hard.

In graph theory, a Trémaux tree of an undirected graph is a type of spanning tree, generalizing depth-first search trees. They are defined by the property that every edge of connects an ancestor–descendant pair in the tree. Trémaux trees are named after Charles Pierre Trémaux, a 19th-century French author who used a form of depth-first search as a strategy for solving mazes. They have also been called normal spanning trees, especially in the context of infinite graphs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Widest path problem</span> Path-finding using high-weight graph edges

In graph algorithms, the widest path problem is the problem of finding a path between two designated vertices in a weighted graph, maximizing the weight of the minimum-weight edge in the path. The widest path problem is also known as the maximum capacity path problem. It is possible to adapt most shortest path algorithms to compute widest paths, by modifying them to use the bottleneck distance instead of path length. However, in many cases even faster algorithms are possible.

The expected linear time MST algorithm is a randomized algorithm for computing the minimum spanning forest of a weighted graph with no isolated vertices. It was developed by David Karger, Philip Klein, and Robert Tarjan. The algorithm relies on techniques from Borůvka's algorithm along with an algorithm for verifying a minimum spanning tree in linear time. It combines the design paradigms of divide and conquer algorithms, greedy algorithms, and randomized algorithms to achieve expected linear performance.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hyperbolic geometric graph</span>

A hyperbolic geometric graph (HGG) or hyperbolic geometric network (HGN) is a special type of spatial network where (1) latent coordinates of nodes are sprinkled according to a probability density function into a hyperbolic space of constant negative curvature and (2) an edge between two nodes is present if they are close according to a function of the metric (typically either a Heaviside step function resulting in deterministic connections between vertices closer than a certain threshold distance, or a decaying function of hyperbolic distance yielding the connection probability). A HGG generalizes a random geometric graph (RGG) whose embedding space is Euclidean.

References

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  2. Goldschmidt, Christina, Random minimum spanning trees, Mathematical Institute, University of Oxford , retrieved 2019-09-13
  3. Addario-Berry, Louigi; Broutin, Nicolas; Goldschmidt, Christina; Miermont, Grégory (2017), "The scaling limit of the minimum spanning tree of the complete graph", Annals of Probability, 45 (5): 3075–3144, doi:10.1214/16-AOP1132
  4. Duxbury, P. M.; Dobrin, R.; McGarrity, E.; Meinke, J. H.; Donev, A.; Musolff, C.; Holm, E. A. (2004), "Network algorithms and critical manifolds in disordered systems", Computer Simulation Studies in Condensed-Matter Physics XVI: Proceedings of the Fifteenth Workshop, Athens, GA, USA, February 24–28, 2003, Springer Proceedings in Physics, vol. 95, Springer-Verlag, pp. 181–194, doi:10.1007/978-3-642-59293-5_25 .
  5. Foltin, Martin (2011), Automated Maze Generation and Human Interaction (PDF), Diploma Thesis, Brno: Masaryk University, Faculty of Informatics.