Algorithms and Adaptivity Gaps for Stochastic k-TSP
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Given a metric (V,d) and a root∈ V, the classic k-TSP problem is to find a tour originating at the root of minimum length that visits at least k nodes in V. In this work, motivated by applications where the input to an optimization problem is uncertain, we study two stochastic versions of k-TSP. In Stoch-Reward k-TSP, originally defined by Ene-Nagarajan-Saket [ENS17], each vertex v in the given metric (V,d) contains a stochastic reward R_v. The goal is to adaptively find a tour of minimum expected length that collects at least reward k; here "adaptively" means our next decision may depend on previous outcomes. Ene et al. give an O(log k)-approximation adaptive algorithm for this problem, and left open if there is an O(1)-approximation algorithm. We totally resolve their open question and even give an O(1)-approximation non-adaptive algorithm for this problem. We also introduce and obtain similar results for the Stoch-Cost k-TSP problem. In this problem each vertex v has a stochastic cost C_v, and the goal is to visit and select at least k vertices to minimize the expected sum of tour length and cost of selected vertices. This problem generalizes the Price of Information framework [Singla18] from deterministic probing costs to metric probing costs. Our techniques are based on two crucial ideas: "repetitions" and "critical scaling". We show using Freedman's and Jogdeo-Samuels' inequalities that for our problems, if we truncate the random variables at an ideal threshold and repeat, then their expected values form a good surrogate. Unfortunately, this ideal threshold is adaptive as it depends on how far we are from achieving our target k, so we truncate at various different scales and identify a "critical" scale.
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