Exact Sampling from Perfect Matchings of Dense Nearly Regular Bipartite Graphs

Abstract

We present the first algorithm for generating random variates exactly uniformly from the set of perfect matchings of a bipartite graph with a polynomial expected running time over a nontrivial set of graphs. Previous Markov chain approaches obtain approximately uniform variates for arbitrary graphs in polynomial time, but their general running time is $\Theta(n^{26} (\ln n)^2).$ Our algorithm employs acceptance/rejection together with a new upper limit on the permanent of a form similar to Bregman's Theorem. For a graph with $2n$ nodes where the degree of every node is nearly $\gamma n$ for a constant $\gamma$, the expected running time is $O(n^{1.5 + .5/\gamma})$. Under these conditions, Jerrum and Sinclair showed that a Markov chain of Broder can generate approximately uniform variates in $\Theta(n^{4.5 + .5/\gamma} \ln n)$ time, making our algorithm significantly faster on this class of graph. With our approach, approximately counting the number of perfect matchings (equivalent to finding the permanent of a 0-1 matrix and so $\sharp P$ complete) can be done without use of selfreducibility.