Abstract
We study the three-dimensional stable matching problem with cyclic preferences. This model involves three types of agents, with an equal number of agents of each type. The types form a cyclic order such that each agent has a complete preference list over the agents of the next type. We consider the open problem of the existence of three-dimensional matchings in which no triple of agents prefer each other to their partners. Such matchings are said to be weakly stable. We show that contrary to published conjectures, weakly stable three-dimensional matchings need not exist. Furthermore, we show that it is NP-complete to determine whether a weakly stable three-dimensional matching exists. We achieve this by reducing from the variant of the problem where preference lists are allowed to be incomplete. Our results can be generalized to the k-dimensional stable matching problem with cyclic preferences for \(k \ge 3\).
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Alkan, A.: Nonexistence of stable threesome matchings. Math. Soc. Sci. 16(2), 207–209 (1988)
Biró, P., McDermid, E.: Three-sided stable matchings with cyclic preferences. Algorithmica 58(1), 5–18 (2010)
Boros, E., Gurvich, V., Jaslar, S., Krasner, D.: Stable matchings in three-sided systems with cyclic preferences. Discrete Math. 289(1), 1–10 (2004)
Cui, L., Jia, W.: Cyclic stable matching for three-sided networking services. Comput. Netw. 57(1), 351–363 (2013)
Danilov, V.I.: Existence of stable matchings in some three-sided systems. Math. Soc. Sci. 46(2), 145–148 (2003)
Eriksson, K., Sjöstrand, J., Strimling, P.: Three-dimensional stable matching with cyclic preferences. Math. Soc. Sci. 52(1), 77–87 (2006)
Escamocher, G., O’Sullivan, B.: Three-dimensional matching instances are rich in stable matchings. In: van Hoeve, W.-J. (ed.) CPAIOR 2018. LNCS, vol. 10848, pp. 182–197. Springer, Cham (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-93031-2_13
Farczadi, L., Georgiou, K., Könemann, J.: Stable marriage with general preferences. Theory Comput. Syst. 59(4), 683–699 (2016)
Gale, D., Shapley, L.S.: College admissions and the stability of marriage. Am. Math. Mon. 69(1), 9–15 (1962)
Hofbauer, J.: \(d\)-dimensional stable matching with cyclic preferences. Math. Soc. Sci. 82, 72–76 (2016)
Huang, C.-C.: Two’s company, three’s a crowd: stable family and threesome roommates problems. In: Arge, L., Hoffmann, M., Welzl, E. (eds.) ESA 2007. LNCS, vol. 4698, pp. 558–569. Springer, Heidelberg (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-75520-3_50
Huang, C.C.: Circular stable matching and 3-way kidney transplant. Algorithmica 58(1), 137–150 (2010)
Knuth, D.E.: Stable Marriage and Its Relation to Other Combinatorial Problems: An Introduction to the Mathematical Analysis of Algorithms. American Mathematical Society, Providence (1997)
Lam, C.K., Plaxton, C.G.: On the existence of three-dimensional stable matchings with cyclic preferences (2019). arXiv:1905.02844
Manlove, D.F.: Algorithmics of Matching Under Preferences. World Scientific, Singapore (2013)
Ng, C., Hirschberg, D.: Three-dimensional stable matching problems. SIAM J. Discrete Math. 4(2), 245–252 (1991)
Pashkovich, K., Poirrier, L.: Three-dimensional stable matching with cyclic preferences (2018). arXiv:1807.05638
Subramanian, A.: A new approach to stable matching problems. SIAM J. Comput. 23(4), 671–700 (1994)
Woeginger, G.J.: Core stability in hedonic coalition formation. In: van Emde Boas, P., Groen, F.C.A., Italiano, G.F., Nawrocki, J., Sack, H. (eds.) SOFSEM 2013. LNCS, vol. 7741, pp. 33–50. Springer, Heidelberg (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-35843-2_4
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this paper
Cite this paper
Lam, CK., Plaxton, C.G. (2019). On the Existence of Three-Dimensional Stable Matchings with Cyclic Preferences. In: Fotakis, D., Markakis, E. (eds) Algorithmic Game Theory. SAGT 2019. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 11801. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-30473-7_22
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-30473-7_22
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-30472-0
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-30473-7
eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)