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Dynamic structural symmetry breaking for constraint satisfaction problems

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Abstract

In recent years, symmetry breaking for constraint satisfaction problems (CSPs) has attracted considerable attention. Various general schemes have been proposed to eliminate symmetries. In general, these schemes may take exponential space or time to eliminate all the symmetries. We identify several classes of CSPs that encompass many practical problems and for which symmetry breaking for various forms of value or variable interchangeability is tractable using dedicated search procedures. We also show the limits of efficient symmetry breaking for such dominance-detection schemes by proving intractability results for some classes of CSPs.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Information Technology, Uppsala University, Box 337, 751 05, Uppsala, Sweden

    Pierre Flener & Justin Pearson

  2. Department of Computer Science, Brown University, Box 1910, Providence, RI, 02912, USA

    Meinolf Sellmann & Pascal Van Hentenryck

  3. SICS, Box 1263, 164 29, Kista, Sweden

    Magnus Ågren

Authors
  1. Pierre Flener
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  2. Justin Pearson
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  3. Meinolf Sellmann
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  4. Pascal Van Hentenryck
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  5. Magnus Ågren
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Correspondence to Pierre Flener.

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The authors’ names are ordered according to the Swedish alphabet.

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Flener, P., Pearson, J., Sellmann, M. et al. Dynamic structural symmetry breaking for constraint satisfaction problems. Constraints 14, 506–538 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10601-008-9059-7

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