A fault-containing self-stabilizing [formula omitted]-approximation algorithm for vertex cover in anonymous networks

Abstract

The non-computability of many distributed tasks in anonymous networks is well known. This paper presents a deterministic self-stabilizing algorithm to compute a ( 3 − 2 Δ + 1 ) -approximation of a minimum vertex cover in anonymous networks. The algorithm operates under the distributed unfair scheduler, stabilizes after O ( n + m ) moves respectively O ( Δ ) rounds, and requires O ( log n ) storage per node. Recovery from a single fault is reached within a constant time and the contamination number is O ( Δ ) . For trees the algorithm computes a 2 -approximation of a minimum vertex cover.