We show that the ratio of matched individuals to blocking pairs grows linearly with the number of propose–accept rounds executed by the Gale–Shapley algorithm for the stable marriage problem. Consequently, the participants can arrive at an almost stable matching even without full information about the problem instance; for each participant, knowing only its local neighbourhood is enough. In distributed-systems parlance, this means that if each person has only a constant number of acceptable partners, an almost stable matching emerges after a constant number of synchronous communication rounds. We apply our results to give a distributed (2+e)-approximation algorithm for maximum-weight matching in bicoloured graphs and a centralised randomised constant-time approximation scheme for estimating the size of a stable matching.
Our centralised constant-time approximation algorithm in Theorem is based on the ideas of Parnas and Ron @cite_9 and Nguyen and Onak @cite_21 . Their work presents constant-time approximation algorithms for estimating the size of a maximal matching, maximum-cardinality matching, and maximum-weight matching. Our work complements this line of research by presenting an algorithm for estimating the size of a stable matching.
@cite_9 @cite_21
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We show that the ratio of matched individuals to blocking pairs grows linearly with the number of propose–accept rounds executed by the Gale–Shapley algorithm for the stable marriage problem. Consequently, the participants can arrive at an almost stable matching even without full information about the problem instance; for each participant, knowing only its local neighbourhood is enough. In distributed-systems parlance, this means that if each person has only a constant number of acceptable partners, an almost stable matching emerges after a constant number of synchronous communication rounds. We apply our results to give a distributed (2+e)-approximation algorithm for maximum-weight matching in bicoloured graphs and a centralised randomised constant-time approximation scheme for estimating the size of a stable matching. Abstract We consider two models of computation: centralized local algorithms and local distributed algorithms. Algorithms in one model are adapted to the other model to obtain improved algorithms. Distributed vertex coloring is employed to design improved centralized local algorithms for: maximal independent set, maximal matching, and an approximation scheme for maximum (weighted) matching over bounded degree graphs. The improvement is threefold: the algorithms are deterministic, stateless, and the number of probes grows polynomially in log ⁎ ⁡ n , where n is the number of vertices of the input graph. The recursive centralized local improvement technique by Nguyen and Onak (FOCS 2008) is employed to obtain a distributed approximation scheme for maximum (weighted) matching. We present a technique for transforming classical approximation algorithms into constant-time algorithms that approximate the size of the optimal solution. Our technique is applicable to a certain subclass of algorithms that compute a solution in a constant number of phases. The technique is based on greedily considering local improvements in random order.The problems amenable to our technique include vertex cover, maximum matching, maximum weight matching, set cover, and minimum dominating set. For example, for maximum matching, we give the first constant-time algorithm that for the class of graphs of degree bounded by d, computes the maximum matching size to within epsivn, for any epsivn > 0, where n is the number of nodes in the graph. The running time of the algorithm is independent of n, and only depends on d and epsiv. In this paper, we study distributed algorithms to compute a weighted matching that have constant (or at least sub-logarithmic) running time and that achieve approximation ratio 2 + e or better. In fact we present two such synchronous algorithms, that work on arbitrary weighted trees The first algorithm is a randomised distributed algorithm that computes a weighted matching of an arbitrary weighted tree, that approximates the maximum weighted matching by a factor 2 + e. The running time is O(1). The second algorithm is deterministic, and approximates the maximum weighted matching by a factor 2 + e, but has running time O(log* |V|). Our algorithms can also be used to compute maximum unweighted matchings on regular and almost regular graphs within a constant approximation