text: 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.
  @cite_26: We give deterministic distributed algorithms that given i¾?> 0 find in a planar graph G, (1±i¾?)-approximations of a maximum independent set, a maximum matching, and a minimum dominating set. The algorithms run in O(log*|G|) rounds. In addition, we prove that no faster deterministic approximation is possible and show that if randomization is allowed it is possible to beat the lower bound for deterministic algorithms.
  @cite_1: 
  @cite_0: This paper concerns a number of algorithmic problems on graphs and how they may be solved in a distributed fashion. The computational model is such that each node of the graph is occupied by a processor which has its own ID. Processors are restricted to collecting data from others which are at a distance at most t away from them in t time units, but are otherwise computationally unbounded. This model focuses on the issue of locality in distributed processing, namely, to what extent a global solution to a computational problem can be obtained from locally available data.Three results are proved within this model: • A 3-coloring of an n-cycle requires time @math . This bound is tight, by previous work of Cole and Vishkin. • Any algorithm for coloring the d-regular tree of radius r which runs for time at most @math requires at least @math colors. • In an n-vertex graph of largest degree @math , an @math -coloring may be found in time @math .
  @cite_5: 
  @cite_15: Achieving a global goal based on local information is challenging, especially in complex and large-scale networks such as the Internet or even the human brain. In this paper, we provide an almost tight classification of the possible trade-off between the amount of local information and the quality of the global solution for general covering and packing problems. Specifically, we give a distributed algorithm using only small messages which obtains an (ρΔ)1 k-approximation for general covering and packing problems in time O(k2), where ρ depends on the LP's coefficients. If message size is unbounded, we present a second algorithm that achieves an O(n1 k) approximation in O(k) rounds. Finally, we prove that these algorithms are close to optimal by giving a lower bound on the approximability of packing problems given that each node has to base its decision on information from its k-neighborhood.
  @cite_25: The purpose of this paper is a study of computation that can be done locally in a distributed network, where "locally" means within time (or distance) independent of the size of the network. Locally checkable labeling (LCL) problems are considered, where the legality of a labeling can be checked locally (e.g., coloring). The results include the following: There are nontrivial LCL problems that have local algorithms. There is a variant of the dining philosophers problem that can be solved locally. Randomization cannot make an LCL problem local; i.e., if a problem has a local randomized algorithm then it has a local deterministic algorithm. It is undecidable, in general, whether a given LCL has a local algorithm. However, it is decidable whether a given LCL has an algorithm that operates in a given time @math . Any LCL problem that has a local algorithm has one that is order-invariant (the algorithm depends only on the order of the processor IDs).
  @cite_12: The purpose of this paper is a study of computation that can be done locally in a distributed network. By locally we mean within time (or distance) independent of the size of the network. In particular we are interested in algorithms that ore robust, i.e., perform well even if the underlying graph is not stable and links continuously fail and come-up. We introduce and study the happy coloring and orientation problem and show that it yields a robust local solution to the (d,m)-dining philosophers problem of Naor and Stockmeyer [17]. This problem is similar to the usual dining philosophers problem, except that each philosopher has access to d forks but needs only m of them to eat. We give a robust local solution if m spl les [d 2] (necessity of this inequality for any local solution was known previously). Two other problems we investigate are: (1) the amount of initial symmetry-breaking needed to solve certain problems locally (for example, our algorithms need considerably less symmetry-breaking than having a unique ID on each node), and (2) the single-step color reduction problem: given a coloring with c colors of the nodes of a graph, what is the smallest number of colors c' such that every node can recolor itself with one of c' colors as a function of its immediate neighborhood only. >
summary: As we mentioned in , there is a range of negative results related to local algorithms (constant-time distributed algorithms) for maximal matching @cite_0 and approximate maximum matching @cite_26 @cite_1 @cite_15 @cite_5 . Even if each node is assigned a unique identifier and the network topology is an @math -cycle, it is not possible to break the symmetry in the network and find a constant-factor approximation for maximum matching. Without any auxiliary information beyond unique node identifiers, positive results are known only in rare special cases, most notably for graphs where each node has an odd degree @cite_12 @cite_25 .