Improved approximation ratio for covering pliable set families

Abstract

A classic result of Williamson, Goemans, Mihail, and Vazirani [STOC 1993: 708-717] states that the problem of covering an uncrossable set family by a min-cost edge set admits approximation ratio $2$, by a primal-dual algorithm with a reverse delete phase. Recently, Bansal, Cheriyan, Grout, and Ibrahimpur [ICALP 2023: 15:1-15:19] showed that this algorithm achieves approximation ratio $16$ for a larger class of set families, that have much weaker uncrossing properties. In this paper we will refine their analysis and show an approximation ratio of $10$. This also improves approximation ratios for several variants of the Capacitated $k$-Edge Connected Spanning Subgraph problem.