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Approximation algorithms for minimum weight connected 3-path vertex cover. (English) Zbl 1428.05297
Summary: A $$k$$-path vertex cover $$( \text{VCP}_k)$$ is a vertex set $$C$$ of graph $$G$$ such that every path of $$G$$ on $$k$$ vertices has at least one vertex in $$C$$. Because of its background in keeping data integrality of a network, minimum $$\text{VCP}_k$$ problem $$( \text{MinVCP}_k)$$ has attracted a lot of researches in recent years. This paper studies the minimum weight connected $$\text{VCP}_k$$ problem $$( \text{MinWCVCP}_k)$$, in which every vertex has a weight and the $$\text{VCP}_k$$ found by the algorithm induces a connected subgraph and has the minimum weight. It is known that $$\text{MinWCVCP}_k$$ is set-cover-hard. We present two polynomial-time approximation algorithms for $$\text{MinWCVCP}_3$$. The first one is a greedy algorithm achieving approximation ratio $$3\ln n$$. The difficulty lies in its analysis dealing with a non-submodular potential function. The second algorithm is a 2-stage one, finding a $$\text{VCP}_3$$ in the first stage and then adding more vertices for connection. We show that its approximation ratio is at most $$\ln \delta_{\max} + 4 + \ln 2$$, where $$\delta_{\max}$$ is the maximum degree of the graph. Considering the inapproximability of this problem, this ratio is asymptotically tight.

##### MSC:
 05C85 Graph algorithms (graph-theoretic aspects) 05C70 Edge subsets with special properties (factorization, matching, partitioning, covering and packing, etc.)
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