Popularity, Mixed Matchings, and Self-Duality

Our input instance is a bipartite graph G where each vertex has a preference list ranking its neighbors in a strict order of preference. A matching M is popular if there is no matching N such that the number of vertices that prefer N to M outnumber those that prefer M to N. Each edge is associated with a utility and we consider the problem of matching vertices in a popular and utility-optimal manner. It is known that it is NP-hard to compute a max-utility popular matching. So we consider mixed matchings: a mixed matching is a probability distribution or a lottery over matchings. Our main result is that the popular fractional matching polytope PG is half-integral and in the special case where a stable matching in G is a perfect matching, this polytope is integral. This implies that there is always a max-utility popular mixed matching which is the average of two integral matchings. So in order to implement a max-utility popular mixed matching in G, we need just a single random bit. We analyze the popular fractional matching polytope whose description may have exponentially many constraints via an extended formulation with a linear number of constraints. The linear program that gives rise to this formulation has an unusual property: self-duality. The self-duality of this LP plays a crucial role in our proof. Our result implies that a max-utility popular half-integral matching in G and also in the roommates problem (where the input graph need not be bipartite) can be computed in polynomial time.

Matching Polytons

Hladký, Hu, and Piguet [Tilings in graphons, preprint] introduced the notions of matching and fractional vertex covers in graphons. These are counterparts to the corresponding notions in finite graphs. Combinatorial optimization studies the structure of the matching polytope and the fractional vertex cover polytope of a graph. Here, in analogy, we initiate the study of the structure of the set of all matchings and of all fractional vertex covers in a graphon. We call these sets the matching polyton and the fractional vertex cover polyton. We also study properties of matching polytons and fractional vertex cover polytons along convergent sequences of graphons. As an auxiliary tool of independent interest, we prove that a graphon is $r$-partite if and only if it contains no graph of chromatic number $r+1$. This in turn gives a characterization of bipartite graphons as those having a symmetric spectrum.

A Note on the Matching Polytope of a Graph

The matching polytope of a graph G, denoted by M(G), is the convex hull of the set of the incidence vectors of the matchings G. The graph G(M(G)), whose vertices and edges are the vertices and edges of M(G), is the skeleton of the matching polytope of G. In this paper, for an arbitrary graph, we prove that the minimum degree of G(M(G)) is equal to the number of edges of G, generalizing a known result for trees. From this, we identify the vertices of the skeleton with the minimum degree and we prove that the union of stars and triangles characterizes regular skeletons of the matching polytopes of graphs.