학술논문

A colorful Steinitz Lemma with application to block-structured integer programs
Document Type
Original Paper
Source
Mathematical Programming: A Publication of the Mathematical Optimization Society. 204(1-2):677-702
Subject
The Steinitz Lemma
Discrete geometry
Block structured integer programs
90C10
52A40
Language
English
ISSN
0025-5610
1436-4646
Abstract
The Steinitz constant in dimension d is the smallest value c(d) such that for any norm on Rdc(d)≤d and for any finite zero-sum sequence in the unit ball, the sequence can be permuted such that the norm of each partial sum is bounded by c(d). Grinberg and Sevastyanov prove that Rdc(d)≤d and that the bound of d is best possible for arbitrary norms; we refer to their result as the Steinitz Lemma. We present a variation of the Steinitz Lemma that permutes multiple sequences at one time. Our result, which we term a colorful Steinitz Lemma, demonstrates upper bounds that are independent of the number of sequences. Many results in the theory of integer programming are proved by permuting vectors of bounded norm; this includes proximity results, Graver basis algorithms, and dynamic programs. Due to a recent paper of Eisenbrand and Weismantel, there has been a surge of research on how the Steinitz Lemma can be used to improve integer programming results. As an application we prove a proximity result for block-structured integer programs.