ARC Colloquium: David Karger (MIT)

Video of this talk is available at: https://smartech.gatech.edu/handle/1853/55915

Full collection of talk videos are available at: https://smartech.gatech.edu/handle/1853/46836

Algorithms & Randomness Center (ARC)

David Karger - MIT

Monday, September 26, 2016
Klaus 1116 East - 11:00 am

Title:
A Fast and Simple Unbiased Estimator for Network (Un)reliability

Abstract:
The following procedure yields an unbiased estimator for the disconnection probability of an n-vertex graph with minimum cut c if every edge fails independently with probability p: (i) contract every edge independently with probability 1-n^{-2/c}, then (ii) recursively compute the disconnection probability of the resulting tiny graph if each edge fails with probability n^{2/c}p.  We give a short, simple, self-contained proof that this estimator can be computed in linear time and has relative variance O(n^2).  Combining these two facts with a relatively standard sparsification argument yields an O(n^3\log n)-time algorithm for estimating the (un)reliability of a network.  We also show how the technique can be used to create unbiased samples of disconnected networks.

Speaker's webpage: http://people.csail.mit.edu/karger/
Fall 2016 ARC Seminar Schedule:  http://arc.gatech.edu/node/114

 

For More Information Contact

Dani Denton

denton at cc dot gatech dot edu