Tractable Symmetry Breaking Using Restricted Search Trees

We present a new conceptual abstraction in symmetry breaking – the GE-tree. The construction and traversal of a GE-tree breaks all symmetries in any constraint satisfaction or similar problem. We give a polynomial-time algorithm for this construction in the case of CSPs with arbitrary value symmetries. We have implemented this technique, and supply experimental evidence of its practical effectiveness.

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2004
• Where: ECAI
• Authors: Colva M. Roney-Dougal, Ian P. Gent, Tom Kelsey, Steve Linton
• Keywords: Arbitrary Value Symmetries, Artificial Intelligence, Constraint Satisfaction, ECAI 2004, Polynomial-time Algorithm