The stochastic traveling salesman problem: Finite size scaling and the cavity prediction
- Los Alamos National Lab., NM (United States). Center for Nonlinear Studies
- Universite Paris-Sud, Orsay (France). Div. de Physique Theorique
The authors study the random link traveling salesman problem, where lengths l{sub ij} between city i and city j are taken to be independent, identically distributed random variables. They discuss a theoretical approach, the cavity method, that has been proposed for finding the optimum tour length over this random ensemble, given the assumption of replica symmetry. Using finite size scaling and a renormalized model, they test the cavity predictions against the results of simulations, and find excellent agreement over a range of distributions. They thus provide numerical evidence that the replica symmetric solution to this problem is the correct one. Finally, the authors note a surprising result concerning the distribution of kth-nearest neighbor links in optimal tours, and invite a theoretical understanding of this phenomenon.
- OSTI ID:
- 355622
- Journal Information:
- Journal of Statistical Physics, Vol. 94, Issue 5-6; Other Information: PBD: Mar 1999
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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