A polylogarithmic approximation algorithm for the group Steiner tree problem

Given a weighted graph with some subsets of vertices called groups, the group Steiner tree problem is to find a minimum-weight subgraph which contains at least one vertex from each group. We give a randomized algorithm with a polylogarithmic approximation guarantee for the group Steiner tree problem. The previous best approximation guarantee was O(i 2 k 1/i ) in time O(n i k 2i ) (Charikar, Chekuri, Goel, and Guha). Our algorithm also improves existing approximation results for network design problems with location-based constraints and for the symmetric generalized traveling salesman problem.

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