Geometric versions of the 3-dimensional assignment problem under general norms

Abstract: We discuss the computational complexity of special cases of the 3-dimensional (axial) assignment problem where the elements are points in a Cartesian space and where the cost coefficients are the perimeters of the corresponding triangles measured according to a certain norm. (All our results also carry over to the corresponding special cases of the 3-dimensional matching problem.) The minimization version is NP-hard for every norm, even if the underlying Cartesian space is 2-dimensional. The maximization version is polynomially solvable, if the dimension of the Cartesian space is fixed and if the considered norm has a polyhedral unit ball. If the dimension of the Cartesian space is part of the input, the maximization version is NP-hard for every $L_p$ norm; in particular the problem is NP-hard for the Manhattan norm $L_1$ and the Maximum norm $L_{\infty}$ which both have polyhedral unit balls.