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Boxing Problem

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Abstract

We study the Boxing Problem, which seeks a subset of points in Rd\mathbb{R}^d maximizing the total reward of a selection of points minus the width of its axis-aligned bounding box. We also investigate the associated Boxing Set, defined by the epigraph of the width function over binary selection variables. Although the width function is not submodular in general, we restore submodularity by fixing an anchor point. After anchoring, we establish a connection to the intersection of mixing sets with a linking constraint, which yields a polynomial-time optimization algorithm and a polynomial-size extended formulation. We then study the polyhedral structure of the Boxing Set and show that its facets admit laminar families of tight sets and can be obtained by sequential lifting. For the one-dimensional case, we provide a complete description of facet-defining inequalities together with a strongly polynomial-time separation algorithm.

Introduction

Let p1,…,pn∈Rdp^1,\ldots,p^n \in\mathbb{R}^d be an indexed collection of points, with pi=(p1i,…,pdi)p^i=(p^i_1,\ldots,p^i_d) for each i∈[n]i \in[n]. For each nonempty subset S⊆[n]S \subseteq[n] and coordinate t∈[d]t \in[d], define

ut(S):=max⁡i∈Spti,ℓt(S):=min⁡i∈Spti,wd⁡t(S):=ut(S)−ℓt(S).u_t(S):=\max_{i\in S}p^i_t,\qquad\ell_t(S):=\min_{i\in S}p^i_t,\qquad\operatorname{wd}_t(S):=u_t(S)-\ell_t(S).

Set wd⁡t(∅):=0\operatorname{wd}_t(\varnothing):=0 for all t∈[d]t \in[d], and define the total width of any subset S⊆[n]S \subseteq[n] as wd⁡(S):=∑t=1dwd⁡t(S)\operatorname{wd}(S):=\sum_{t=1}^{d}\operatorname{wd}_t(S). In other words, wd⁡(S)\operatorname{wd}(S) is the sum of the side lengths of the smallest axis-aligned box containing the points indexed by SS. Given nonnegative rewards cic_i for i∈[n]i \in[n], let c(S):=∑i∈Scic(S):=\sum_{i\in S}c_i denote the total reward of the points indexed by SS. The Boxing Problem is

Definition 1.1 (Boxing Problem). Given p1,…,pn∈Rdp^1,\ldots,p^n \in\mathbb{R}^d and c∈R+nc \in\mathbb{R}^n_+, compute

BP⁡(c):=max⁡S⊆[n]{c(S)−wd⁡(S)}.\operatorname{BP}(c):=\max_{S\subseteq[n]}\{c(S)-\operatorname{wd}(S)\}.

For z∈{0,1}nz \in\{0,1\}^n, let S(z):={i∈[n]:zi=1}S(z):=\{i \in[n]:z_i=1\}. For S⊆[n]S \subseteq[n], let χS\chi^S denote its incidence vector. We study the convex hull of the associated feasible set.

Definition 1.2 (Boxing set). The Boxing Set is

B:={(w,z)∈R×{0,1}n:w≥wd⁡(S(z))}.B:=\{(w,z)\in\mathbb{R}\times\{0,1\}^n:w\geq\operatorname{wd}(S(z))\}.

For J⊆[n]J \subseteq[n], we also define the restricted boxing set

B[J]:=B∩{(w,z)∈R×{0,1}n:zi=0 for every i∉J}.B[J] := B \cap\{(w,z) \in\mathbb{R} \times\{0,1\}^{n} : z_i = 0 \text{ for every } i \notin J\}.

The Boxing Problem arises naturally in hyper-rectangular clustering, where points are partitioned into clusters to minimize the sum of the widths of their axis-aligned bounding boxes [5, 16]. Delle Donne and Marenco [5] develop a branch-and-price algorithm for this problem.

To illustrate the connection, consider partitioning the points into exactly KK nonempty clusters. Let C=2[n]∖{∅}\mathcal{C} = 2^{[n]} \setminus\{\emptyset\} and introduce a binary variable ySy_S for each potential cluster S∈CS \in\mathcal{C}. A set-partitioning formulation is

min⁡∑S∈Cwd⁡(S)ySs.t.∑S∈C:i∈SyS=1 ∀i∈[n],∑S∈CyS=K,yS∈{0,1} ∀S∈C.\min\sum_{S \in\mathcal{C}} \operatorname{wd}(S)y_S \quad\text{s.t.} \quad\sum_{\substack{S \in\mathcal{C}:\\ i \in S}} y_S = 1 \ \forall i \in[n], \quad\sum_{S \in\mathcal{C}} y_S = K, \quad y_S \in\{0,1\} \ \forall S \in\mathcal{C}.

Since the number of possible clusters is exponential, column generation can be used to solve the linear relaxation. Let cic_i be the dual variable associated with the assignment constraint of point ii, and let γ\gamma be the dual variable for the cluster-count constraint. Then, finding a column of minimum reduced cost amounts to solving min⁡∅≠S⊆[n]wd⁡(S)−c(S)\min_{\emptyset\ne S \subseteq[n]} \operatorname{wd}(S) - c(S), up to the additive constant −γ-\gamma. Since the dual variables cic_i are unrestricted in sign, this is a signed-reward variant of the Boxing Problem restricted to nonempty subsets.

The width function is not submodular on all of 2[n]2^{[n]}, since the empty intersection of two nonempty sets can violate the submodular inequality. However, it satisfies that inequality whenever the two sets intersect. We use this structure, together with a connection to mixing sets, to analyze the Boxing Set.

Related work

Submodular set functions have a well-developed optimization and polyhedral theory. Edmonds [6] established the greedy algorithm for optimizing linear functions over submodular polyhedra, while the Lovász extension gives a convex representation of a submodular function and describes the convex hull of its binary epigraph through extended polymatroid inequalities [15]. Atamtürk and Narayanan [1] develop a polarity-based approach to set-function epigraphs. Their polar relaxation, based on homogeneous inequalities, is exact for submodular functions but generally provides only an outer approximation for non-submodular functions. Related polyhedral convexification results have also been developed for broader classes of submodular functions [23, 24, 25]. In contrast, the box-width function is not globally submodular: it satisfies the submodular inequality for intersecting sets, but the inequality may fail for disjoint sets. Consequently, the standard submodular epigraph description does not directly characterize the Boxing Set. Our approach considers the normalized polar coefficient polyhedron, which explicitly includes the right-hand-side variable needed to characterize nontrivial facets.

The algorithmic theory of submodular functions also provides important tools for our analysis. Edmonds’ greedy algorithm and its extensions to intersecting-submodular polyhedra are closely related to Dilworth truncation and the optimization of partition functions [6, 7]. Nagano, Kawahara, and Iwata [17] use these connections to study parametric partition optimization. Strongly polynomial algorithms for submodular-function minimization are also available [19]. We exploit these techniques and provide a modified greedy procedure based on submodular-function minimization to compute the facet right-hand sides.

Although submodularity is restricted, the Boxing Set has a rich combinatorial structure that allows uncrossing arguments. Uncrossing is widely used in polyhedral combinatorics and approximation algorithms to establish laminar families of tight constraints. For example, Jain [11] shows that the tight cut constraints of a basic LP solution in survivable network design admit a laminar basis, which is central to his iterative-rounding algorithm. Related techniques appear in primal-dual network-design algorithms [8, 21] and are developed systematically by Lau, Ravi, and Singh [14]. Our use of uncrossing is different: rather than analyzing the tight constraints of a basic LP solution, we uncross the tight constraints of the normalized polar coefficient polyhedron associated with a facet of the Boxing Set. This is possible because the width function is intersecting submodular, even though it is not submodular. The resulting laminar family uniquely determines the facet coefficients. By further analyzing its structure, we prove that every nontrivial facet can be obtained through sequential lifting. Thus, our approach extends the polarity-based viewpoint of Atamtürk and Narayanan [1] from homogeneous inequalities to a structural analysis of nontrivial facets with positive right-hand sides.

A separate line of related work concerns mixing sets and their intersections. Günlük and Pochet [9] develop mixing inequalities, while Atamtürk, Nemhauser, and Savelsbergh [2] study systems with multiple continuous variables sharing common binary variables. Conforti, Wolsey, and Zambelli [4] and Küçükyavuz [12] investigate related mixing-set formulations and additional constraints. Most closely related to our work, Kılınç-Karzan, Küçükyavuz, and Lee [13] establish a connection between mixing inequalities and submodularity, and study intersections of mixing sets with common binary variables under an additional linking constraint. Their approach exploits the submodular structure underlying mixing sets. However, it does not directly characterize the Boxing Set, because the original box-width function is not submodular. We overcome this difficulty through anchoring: fixing one selected point expresses the width as a sum of one-sided maxima, each of which is submodular. Thus, every anchored Boxing Set can be represented by an intersection of mixing sets with an epigraph linking constraint. Combining these anchored sets by disjunctive programming then yields a compact extended formulation for the original Boxing Set. Beyond this mixing-set representation, our polyhedral analysis directly addresses the original non-submodular width function, leading to the laminar facet structure and the complete one-dimensional convex-hull description.

In recent independent work, Wu, He, and Tawarmalani [22] develop a convexification framework for disjunctive submodular functions with any finite number of disjuncts. They obtain compact LP separation formulations when the component epigraph convex hulls admit compact formulations, and strongly polynomial separation for the minimum of two submodular functions on a common lattice. Our anchoring construction fits their pointwise-minimum framework, while their greedy construction and Dilworth truncation connect to our fixed-right-hand-side lifting and partition analysis. We exploit the geometry of the Boxing Problem to obtain sparse maximum-weight-closure formulations, a compact extended formulation, and a minimum-cost-flow separation algorithm in one dimension. Our polyhedral analysis further establishes laminar facet structure, a complete one-dimensional facet description, and a characterization of facet right-hand-side parameters through partitions of tight sets.

Contributions

We establish new optimization and polyhedral results for the Boxing Set, whose underlying width function is a monotone set function that is not globally submodular.

  • Optimization and extended formulation. We reduce optimization over the intersection of multiple mixing sets to maximum-weight graph closure. This connection to mixing sets yields a maximum-weight-closure algorithm for the Boxing Problem and a polynomial-size extended formulation for its convex hull.

  • General facet structure. We develop a dimension-independent structural analysis of the facets of the Boxing Set. We show that the tight sets of every nontrivial facet admit a laminar basis. We then prove that every such facet can be obtained through sequential lifting in an ordering induced by the corresponding laminar forest.

  • Complete description in one dimension. We characterize all possible right-hand sides for facet defining inequalities and identify exactly which lifting sequences would yield facet defining inequalities that give the convex hull. We also give a strongly polynomial minimum-cost-flow separation algorithm.

  • Higher-dimensional extensions. We characterize facet right-hand sides through partitions of tight sets, give polynomial-time algorithms for computing the associated partition parameter for a fixed subset and the smallest facet right-hand side, and identify additional families of facets.

The remainder of the paper is organized as follows. § 2 revisits extended formulations and develops optimization algorithms for the intersection of mixing sets over common binary variables. § 3 applies these results to the Boxing Set. § 4 studies general polyhedral properties, including laminarity and sequential lifting. § 5 gives the complete one-dimensional facet description and separation algorithm, and § 6 investigates the higher-dimensional case.

Multi-Mixing Sets

We begin by providing an algorithmic reformulation of known mixing-set structure [9] that is particularly useful for the Boxing Problem. For multiple mixing sets sharing common binary variables and having independent continuous variables, existing convex-hull results yield a compact extended formulation. We then exploit the ordered structure of the mixing coefficients to reduce linear optimization over their intersection to a maximum-weight graph closure problem, which can be solved by a minimum ss–tt cut.

This approach is closely related to the graph-based formulations of Conforti, Wolsey, and Zambelli [4], who study mixed-integer covers on bipartite graphs and their equivalence to network-dual formulations. While their work focuses on deriving convex-hull descriptions through projections of extended formulations, our focus is on constructing a sparse closure graph that directly solves the multi-mixing optimization problem. This representation will be used in § 3 to solve the Boxing Problem after fixing an anchor point.

Let k≥1k \ge1. For each r∈[k]r \in[k], let qr=(qir)i∈[n]∈R+nq^r = (q_i^r)_{i \in[n]} \in\mathbb{R}_+^n. Consider kk mixing sets [9] sharing the same binary vector zz:

MIX⁡r(q):=conv⁡{(u,z)∈Rk×{0,1}n:ur≥qirzi∀i∈[n]}.\operatorname{MIX}_r(q) := \operatorname{conv}\left\{(u,z) \in\mathbb{R}^k \times\{0,1\}^n : u_r \ge q_i^r z_i \quad\forall i \in[n]\right\}.

We call the set

MMIX⁡(q):={(u,z)∈Rk×{0,1}n:ur≥qirzi∀i∈[n], r∈[k]}(1)\operatorname{MMIX}(q) := \left\{(u,z) \in\mathbb{R}^k \times\{0,1\}^n : u_r \ge q_i^r z_i \quad\forall i \in[n],\ r \in[k]\right\} \tag*{(1)}

the multi-mixing set. It is the intersection of kk mixing constraints with common binary variables and independent continuous variables. The convex hull of such intersections was studied by Atamtürk, Nemhauser, and Savelsbergh [2], and later by Kılınç-Karzan, Küçükyavuz, and Lee [13]. In particular, for this multi-mixing set without additional linking constraints, their results give

conv⁡(MMIX⁡(q))=⋂r∈[k]conv⁡(MIX⁡r(q)).(2)\operatorname{conv}(\operatorname{MMIX}(q)) = \bigcap_{r \in[k]} \operatorname{conv}(\operatorname{MIX}_r(q)). \tag*{(2)}

where the convex hull of the mixing set is given by the mixing inequalities [9].

An extended formulation for the convex hull of multi-mixing set

For every r∈[k]r \in[k], choose a permutation σr:[n]→[n]\sigma_r : [n] \to[n] such that qrσr(1)≤qrσr(2)≤⋯≤qrσr(n)q_r^{\sigma_r(1)} \le q_r^{\sigma_r(2)} \le\cdots\le q_r^{\sigma_r(n)}. Set ηr,0:=0\eta_{r,0} := 0, and ηr,ℓ:=qrσr(ℓ)\eta_{r,\ell} := q_r^{\sigma_r(\ell)}, for ℓ∈[n]\ell\in[n]. Define Δr,ℓ:=ηr,ℓ−ηr,ℓ−1\Delta_{r,\ell} := \eta_{r,\ell} - \eta_{r,\ell-1}. For each r∈[k]r \in[k], introduce a block yr∈Rny^r \in\mathbb{R}^n. The extended formulation of the mixing set MIXr\mathrm{MIX}_r is given by [3]

MIX^r:={(u,z,yr):zσr(ℓ)≤yℓrℓ∈[n],yℓ+1r≤yℓrℓ=1,…,n−1,ur≥∑ℓ=1nΔr,ℓyℓr,0≤zi≤1i∈[n],0≤yℓr≤1ℓ∈[n]}.(3)\widehat{\mathrm{MIX}}_r := \left\{(u,z,y^r) : \begin{aligned} z_{\sigma_r(\ell)} &\le y^r_\ell&& \ell\in[n],\\ y^r_{\ell+1} &\le y^r_\ell&& \ell= 1,\ldots,n-1,\\ u_r &\ge\sum_{\ell=1}^{n}\Delta_{r,\ell}y^r_\ell,\\ 0 &\le z_i \le1 && i \in[n],\\ 0 &\le y^r_\ell\le1 && \ell\in[n] \end{aligned} \right\}. \tag*{(3)}

Thus proj⁡u,z(MIX^r(q))=MIXr(q)\operatorname{proj}_{u,z}(\widehat{\mathrm{MIX}}_r(q)) = \mathrm{MIX}_r(q).

Theorem 2.1. The convex hull of the multi-mixing set (1) admits an extended formulation with O(kn)O(kn) variables and inequalities.

Proof. By (2), it suffices to show

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