Automatically Generated Algorithms for the Vertex Coloring Problem.docVIP

AutomaticallyGeneratedAlgorithmsfortheVertex ColoringProblem CarlosContrerasBolton1,GustavoGatica2,V?′ctorParada1* 1DepartamentodeIngenier?′aInforma′tica, UniversidaddeSantiagodeChile,Santiago,Chile,2EscueladeInforma′tica, UniversidadAndre′sBello,Santiago,Chile Abstract Thevertexcoloringproblemisaclassicalproblemincombinatorialoptimizationthatconsistsofassigningacolortoeach vertexofagraphsuchthatnoadjacentverticessharethesamecolor,minimizingthenumberofcolorsused.Despitethe variouspracticalapplicationsthatexistforthisproblem,itsNP-hardnessstillrepresentsacomputationalchallenge.Someof the best computational results obtained for this problem are consequences of hybridizing thevarious known heuristics. Automaticallyrevisingthespaceconstitutedbycombiningthesetechniquestofindthemostadequatecombinationhas received less attention. In this paper, we propose exploring the heuristics space for the vertex coloring problem using evolutionaryalgorithms.Weautomaticallygeneratethreenewalgorithmsbycombiningelementaryheuristics.Toevaluate thenewalgorithms,acomputationalexperimentwasperformedthatallowedcomparingthemnumericallywithexisting heuristics.Theobtainedalgorithmspresentanaverage29.97%relativeerror,whilefourotherheuristicsselectedfromthe literaturepresenta59.73%error,considering29ofthemoredifficultinstancesintheDIMACSbenchmark. Citation:ContrerasBoltonC,GaticaG,ParadaV(2013)AutomaticallyGeneratedAlgorithmsfortheVertexColoringProblem.PLoSONE8(3):e58551.doi:10.1371/ journal.pone.0058551 Editor:AaronAlain-JonGolden,AlbertEinsteinCollegeofMedicine,UnitedStatesofAmerica ReceivedJuly26,2012;AcceptedFebruary6,2013;PublishedMarch13,2013 Copyright:?2013ContrerasBoltonetal.Thisisanopen-accessarticledistributedunderthetermsoftheCreativeCommonsAttributionLicense,whichpermits unrestricteduse,distribution,andreproductioninanymedium,providedtheoriginalauthorandsourcearecredited. Funding:FundingwasprovidedbytheComplexEngineeringSystemsInstitute(ICM:P-05-004-F,CONICYT:FBO16)andDICYT-US