Search arXiv⌕ Search
Home/Archive/arXiv

arXiv · 2509.14588

Efficient Algorithms for Disjoint Shortest Paths Problem and its Extensions

Keerti Choudhary·Amit Kumar·Lakshay Saggi
View original source ↗Read source document ↗Export metadata ↓

Abstract

We study the 2-Disjoint Shortest Paths (2-DSP) problem: given a directed weighted graph and two terminal pairs $(s_1,t_1)$ and $(s_2,t_2)$, decide whether there exist vertex-disjoint shortest paths between each pair. Building on recent advances in disjoint shortest paths for DAGs and undirected graphs (Akmal et al. 2024), we present an $O(mn \log n)$ time algorithm for this problem in weighted directed graphs that do not contain negative or zero weight cycles. This algorithm presents a significant improvement over the previously known $O(m^5n)$ time bound (Berczi et al. 2017). Our approach exploits the algebraic structure of polynomials that enumerate shortest paths between terminal pairs. A key insight is that these polynomials admit a recursive decomposition, enabling efficient evaluation via dynamic programming over fields of characteristic two. Furthermore, we demonstrate how to report the corresponding paths in $O(mn^2 \log n)$ time. In addition, we extend our techniques to a more general setting: given two terminal pairs $(s_1, t_1)$ and $(s_2, t_2)$ in a directed graph, find the minimum possible number of vertex intersections between any shortest path from $s_1$ to $t_1$ and $s_2$ to $t_2$. We call this the Minimum 2-Disjoint Shortest Paths (Min-2-DSP) problem. We provide in this paper the first efficient algorithm for this problem, including an $O(m^2 n^3)$ time algorithm for directed graphs with positive edge weights, and an $O(m+n)$ time algorithm for DAGs and undirected graphs. Moreover, if the number of intersecting vertices is at least one, we show that it is possible to report the paths in the same $O(m+n)$ time. This is somewhat surprising, as there is no known $o(mn)$ time algorithm for explicitly reporting the paths if they are vertex-disjoint, and is left as an open problem in (Akmal et al. 2024).

Explore related subjects

cs.DS

Keep this discovery

Explore connections, maps & timelines

BibTeXRIS

Keerti Choudhary, Amit Kumar, Lakshay Saggi. 2025-10-08. Efficient Algorithms for Disjoint Shortest Paths Problem and its Extensions. https://arxiv.org/abs/2509.14588

Cite the original work for its findings. Save a collection to share your selection of sources.

KEEP EXPLORING

Related papers

arXiv2026

Beyond Kruskal: Polynomial-Time Tensor Decomposition under the Lovitz-Petrov Condition

Identifiability criteria certify that a given tensor decomposition is a unique rank decomposition. Kruskal's classical condition is one of the best-known deterministic criteria for identifiability. However, no polynomial-time decomposition algorithm is known under the Kruskal condition, and verifying the condition itself is NP-hard. Lovitz and Petrov introduced a strictly more general identifiability condition which, in contrast, is polynomial-time verifiable, but no polynomial-time decomposition algorithm was previously known under this condition. We give a polynomial-time algorithm for tensor decomposition under the Lovitz--Petrov condition. Moreover, combining our algorithm with polynomial-time verification of the Lovitz--Petrov condition yields an efficient end-to-end certification procedure: after computing a decomposition, one can deterministically certify in polynomial time that it is unique and therefore of minimum rank. This contrasts with an arbitrary tensor decomposition, which certifies only an upper bound on the tensor rank, while determining tensor rank is NP-hard in general.

cs.DS↗
arXiv2026

Poisson Exchange Beyond Submodularity: Effective Approximation Algorithms for Offline and Online Subset Selection over Matroids

Over the past decade, a growing body of research has shown that $γ$-weak submodularity broadly arises in numerous subset selection tasks, including feature selection, neural network pruning, and video summarization. Despite its prevalence, maximizing a $γ$-weakly submodular function subject to a general matroid constraint remains challenging. To date, the only known approximation guarantee is the conservative $(1+1/γ)^{-2}$ factor established by \citet{chen2018weakly}. To improve upon this result, this paper proposes a novel algorithm called \MGPE, which repeatedly performs maximum-gain local exchanges through careful control of a non-homogeneous Poisson clock, and proves that this \MGPE\ can attain an approximation ratio arbitrarily close to $ρ_γ=1-\left(γ/(2-γ)\right)^{ \frac{γ^2}{2(1-γ)} }$. In sharp contrast to the previous guarantee, our obtained factor $ρ_γ$ not only strictly improves upon $(1+1/γ)^{-2}$ for every $γ\in(0,1]$, but also can asymptotically approach the optimal $(1-1/e)$-approximation for submodular maximization as $γ\to1$. Furthermore, we surprisingly find that when the matroid constraint reduces to a cardinality or the objective satisfies the stronger notion of $α$-weak DR-submodularity, \MGPE\ can automatically recover the tight approximation ratios of $1-e^{-γ}$ and $1-e^{-α}$, respectively. Here, $α\in(0,1]$ denotes the DR ratio.

cs.DS↗
arXiv2026

Linear-Query Deterministic Approximation for Non-monotone Submodular Maximization under a Knapsack Constraint

Submodular maximization under a knapsack constraint (SMK) is a fundamental combinatorial optimization problem with broad applications across machine learning and data mining. Motivated by large-scale applications where query efficiency is paramount, we study non-monotone SMK and focus on deterministic algorithms with linear query complexity. Prior deterministic linear-query algorithms achieve at best a $1/5-\varepsilon$ approximation, falling short of the $1/4-\varepsilon$ ratio attainable by randomized algorithms. We close this gap by presenting a deterministic $(1/4-\varepsilon)$-approximation with $O(n\log^2(1/\varepsilon)/\varepsilon^2)$ queries. Our approach partitions the analysis based on the cost of the largest optimal element $r$: when the cost of $r$ is moderate, we refine the threshold-twin-greedy framework via residual-budget enumeration to tighten the analysis; when the cost of $r$ is large, we reduce the problem to bicriteria submodular maximization. As a secondary contribution, we obtain a $(1/2-\varepsilon, O(1/\varepsilon))$-bicriteria approximation with $O(n\log(1/\varepsilon)/\varepsilon^2)$ queries, improving over the previous $O(n^2/\varepsilon)$ query bound.

cs.DS↗