FPT-Approximability of Stable Matching Problems

Abstract: We study parameterized approximability of three optimization problems related to stable matching: (1) Min-BP-SMI: Given a stable marriage instance and a number k, find a size-at-least-k matching that minimizes the number $\beta$ of blocking pairs; (2) Min-BP-SRI: Given a stable roommates instance, find a matching that minimizes the number $\beta$ of blocking pairs; (3) Max-SMTI: Given a stable marriage instance with preferences containing ties, find a maximum-size stable matching. The first two problems are known to be NP-hard to approximate to any constant factor and W[1]-hard with respect to $\beta$, making the existence of an EPTAS or FPT-algorithms unlikely. We show that they are W[1]-hard with respect to $\beta$ to approximate to any function of $\beta$. This means that unless FPT=W[1], there is no FPT-approximation scheme for the parameter $\beta$. The last problem (Max-SMTI) is known to be NP-hard to approximate to factor-29/33 and W[1]-hard with respect to the number of ties. We complement this and present an FPT-approximation scheme for the parameter "number of agents with ties".