A Spectral Approach to the Shortest Path Problem

Abstract: Let $G=(V,E)$ be a simple, connected graph. One is often interested in a short path between two vertices $u,v$. We propose a spectral algorithm: construct the function $\phi:V \rightarrow \mathbb{R}{\geq 0}$ $$ \phi = \arg\min{f:V \rightarrow \mathbb{R} \atop f(u) = 0, f \not\equiv 0} \frac{\sum_{(w_1, w_2) \in E}{(f(w_1)-f(w_2))^2}}{\sum_{w \in V}{f(w)^2}}.$$ $\phi$ can also be understood as the smallest eigenvector of the Laplacian Matrix $L=D-A$ after the $u-$th row and column have been removed. We start in the point $v$ and construct a path from $v$ to $u$: at each step, we move to the neighbor for which $\phi$ is the smallest. This algorithm provably terminates and results in a short path from $v$ to $u$, often the shortest. The efficiency of this method is due to a discrete analogue of a phenomenon in Partial Differential Equations that is not well understood. We prove optimality for trees and discuss a number of open questions.