@misc{BorndoerferHeismann, author = {Bornd{\"o}rfer, Ralf and Heismann, Olga}, title = {The Hypergraph Assignment Problem}, issn = {1438-0064}, doi = {10.1016/j.disopt.2014.11.002}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0297-zib-14822}, abstract = {The hypergraph assignment problem (HAP) is the generalization of assignments from directed graphs to directed hypergraphs. It serves, in particular, as a universal tool to model several train composition rules in vehicle rotation planning for long distance passenger railways. We prove that even for problems with a small hyperarc size and hypergraphs with a special partitioned structure the HAP is NP-hard and APX-hard. Further, we present an extended integer linear programming formulation which implies, e. g., all clique inequalities.}, language = {en} } @phdthesis{Heismann, author = {Heismann, Olga}, title = {The Hypergraph Assignment Problem}, abstract = {This thesis deals with the hypergraph assignment problem (HAP), a set partitioning problem in a special type of hypergraph. The HAP generalizes the assignment problem from bipartite graphs to what we call bipartite hypergraphs, and is motivated by applications in railway vehicle rotation planning. The main contributions of this thesis concern complexity, polyhedral results, analyses of random instances, and primal methods for the HAP. We prove that the HAP is NP-hard and APX-hard even for small hyperedge sizes and hypergraphs with a special partitioned structure. We also study the complexity of the set packing and covering relaxations of the HAP, and present for certain cases polynomial exact or approximation algorithms. A complete linear description is known for the assignment problem. We therefore also study the HAP polytope. There, we have a huge number of facet-defining inequalities already for a very small problem size. We describe a method for dividing the inequalities into equivalence classes without resorting to a normal form. Within each class, facets are related by certain symmetries and it is sufficient to list one representative of each class to give a complete picture of the structural properties of the polytope. We propose the algorithm "HUHFA" for the classification that is applicable not only to the HAP but combinatorial optimization problems involving symmetries in general. In the largest possible HAP instance for which we could calculate the complete linear description, we have 14049 facets, which can be divided into 30 symmetry classes. We can combinatorially interpret 16 of these classes. This is possible by employing cliques to generalize the odd set inequalities for the matching problem. The resulting inequalities are valid for the polytope associated with the set packing problem in arbitrary hypergraphs and have a clear combinatorial meaning. An analysis of random instances provides a better insight into the structure of hyperassignments. Previous work has extensively analyzed random instances for the assignment problem theoretically and practically. As a generalization of these results for the HAP, we prove bounds on the expected value of a minimum cost hyperassignment that uses half of the maximum possible number of hyperedges that are not edges. In a certain complete partitioned hypergraph G2,2n with i. i. d. exponential random variables with mean 1 as hyperedge costs it lies between 0.3718 and 1.8310 if the vertex number tends to infinity. Finally, we develop an exact combinatorial solution algorithm for the HAP that combines three methods: A very large-scale neighborhood search, the composite columns method for the set partitioning problem, and the network simplex algorithm.}, language = {en} }