text: The minimum-weight @math -edge-connected spanning subgraph (2-ECSS) problem is a natural generalization of the well-studied minimum-weight spanning tree (MST) problem, and it has received considerable attention in the area of network design. The latter problem asks for a minimum-weight subgraph with an edge connectivity of @math between each pair of vertices while the former strengthens this edge-connectivity requirement to @math . Despite this resemblance, the 2-ECSS problem is considerably more complex than MST. While MST admits a linear-time centralized exact algorithm, 2-ECSS is NP-hard and the best known centralized approximation algorithm for it (that runs in polynomial time) gives a @math -approximation. In this paper, we give a deterministic distributed algorithm with round complexity of @math that computes a @math -approximation of 2-ECSS, for any constant @math . Up to logarithmic factors, this complexity matches the @math lower bound that can be derived from Das [STOC'11], as shown by Censor-Hillel and Dory [OPODIS'17]. Our result is the first distributed constant approximation for 2-ECSS in the nearly optimal time and it improves on a recent randomized algorithm of Dory [PODC'18], which achieved an @math -approximation in @math rounds. We also present an alternative algorithm for @math -approximation, whose round complexity is linear in the low-congestion shortcut parameter of the network, following a framework introduced by Ghaffari and Haeupler [SODA'16]. This algorithm has round complexity @math in worst-case networks but it provably runs much faster in many well-behaved graph families of interest. For instance, it runs in @math time in planar networks and those with bounded genus, bounded path-width or bounded tree-width.
  @cite_26: We give a ( 17 12 ) -approximation algorithm for the following NP- hard problem: Given a simple undirected graph, find a 2-edge connected span- ning subgraph that has the minimum number of edges. The best previous approximation guarantee was ( 3 2 ) . If the well known TSP ( 4 3 ) conjecture holds, then there is a ( 4 3 ) -approximation algorithm. Thus our main result gets half-way to this target.
  @cite_8: We present a randomized linear-time algorithm to find a minimum spanning tree in a connected graph with edge weights. The algorithm uses random sampling in combination with a recently discovered linear-time algorithm for verifying a minimum spanning tree. Our computational model is a unit-cost random-access machine with the restriction that the only operations allowed on edge weights are binary comparisons.
  @cite_2: We prove new results for approximating the graph-TSP and some related problems. We obtain polynomial-time algorithms with improved approximation guarantees. For the graph-TSP itself, we improve the approximation ratio to 7=5. For a generalization, the minimum T-tour problem, we obtain the first nontrivial approximation algorithm, with ratio 3=2. This contains the s-t-path graph-TSP as a special case. Our approximation guarantee for finding a smallest 2-edge-connected spanning subgraph is 4=3. The key new ingredient of all our algorithms is a special kind of ear-decomposition optimized using forest representations of hypergraphs. The same methods also provide the lower bounds (arising from LP relaxations) that we use to deduce the approximation ratios.
  @cite_31: We present the best known algorithms for approximating the minimum-size undirected @math -edge connected spanning subgraph. For simple graphs our approximation ratio is @math . The more precise version of this bound requires @math , and for all such @math it improves the long-standing performance ratio of Cheriyan and Thurimella [SIAM J. Comput., 30 (2000), pp. 528-560], @math . The improvement comes in two steps. First we show that for simple @math -edge connected graphs, any laminar family of degree @math sets is smaller than the general bound ( @math versus @math ). This immediately implies that iterated rounding improves the performance ratio of Cheriyan and Thurimella. The second step carefully chooses good edges for rounding. For multigraphs our approximation ratio is @math . This improves the previous ratio @math [H. N. Gabow, M. X. Goemans, E. Tardos, and D. P. Williamson, Networks, 53 (2009), pp. 345-357]. It is of interest since it is known that for some constant @math , an approximation ratio @math implies @math . Our approximation ratio extends to the minimum-size Steiner network problem, where @math denotes the average vertex demand. The algorithm exploits rounding properties of the first two linear programs in iterated rounding.
  @cite_13: 
  @cite_25: A spanning tree in a graph is the smallest connected spanning subgraph. Given a graph, how does one find the smallest (i.e., least number of edges) 2-connected spanning subgraph (connectivity refers to both edge and vertex connectivity, if not specified)? Unfortunately, the problem is known to be NP-hard. We consider the problem of finding a better approximation to the smallest 2-connected subgraph, by an efficient algorithm. For 2-edge connectivity, our algorithm guarantees a solution that is no more than 3 2 times the optimal. For 2-vertex connectivity, our algorithm guarantees a solution that is no more than 5 3 times the optimal. The previous best approximation factor is 2 for each of these problems. The new algorithms (and their analyses) depend upon a structure called a carving of a graph, which is of independent interest. We show that approximating the optimal solution to within an additive constant is NP-hard as well. We also consider the case where the graph has edge weights. For this case, we show that an approximation factor of 2 is possible in polynomial time for finding a k -edge connected spanning subgraph. This improves an approximation factor of 3 for k = 2, due to Frederickson and Ja´Ja´ [1981], and extends it for any k (with an increased running time though).
summary: The problem of computing a minimum 2-ECSS is known to be NP-hard, by a reduction from the Hamiltonian cycle problem @cite_26 . This already shows that 2-ECSS is much harder than the closely related problem of MST, which admits a linear-time (randomized) centralized exact algorithm @cite_8 . The best known centralized (polynomial-time) approximation algorithms for 2-ECSS give a @math -approximation @cite_25 @cite_13 . These algorithms also give a @math -approximation for the more general minimum-weight @math -edge-connected spanning subgraph ( @math -ECSS). If all edge-weights are equal (i.e., in the unweighted case), then the best known approximation factors become @math and @math , respectively, for 2-ECSS @cite_2 and @math -ECSS @cite_31 .