Near Optimal Bounds for Replacement Paths and Related Problems in the CONGEST Model

We present several results in the CONGEST model on round complexity for Replacement Paths (RPaths), Minimum Weight Cycle (MWC), and All Nodes Shortest Cycles (ANSC). We study these fundamental problems in both directed and undirected graphs, both weighted and unweighted. Many of our results are optimal to within a polylog factor: For an $n$-node graph $G$ we establish near linear lower and upper bounds for computing RPaths if $G$ is directed and weighted, and for computing MWC and ANSC if $G$ is weighted, directed or undirected; near $\sqrt{n}$ lower and upper bounds for undirected weighted RPaths; and $Θ(D)$ bound for undirected unweighted RPaths. We also present lower and upper bounds for approximation versions of these problems, notably a $(2-(1/g))$-approximation algorithm for undirected unweighted MWC that runs in $\tilde{O}(\sqrt{n}+D)$ rounds, improving on the previous best bound of $\tilde{O}(\sqrt{ng}+D)$ rounds, where $g$ is the MWC length. We present a $(1+ε)$-approximation algorithm for directed weighted RPaths, which beats the linear lower bound for exact RPaths.