Ergodic theorems for some classical problems in combinatorial optimization

Abstract

We show that the stochastic versions of some classical problems in combinatorial optimization may be imbedded in multiparameter subadditive processes having an intrinsic ergodic structure. A multiparameter generalization of Kingman's subadditive ergodic theorem is used to capture strong laws for these optimization problems, including the traveling salesman and minimal spanning tree processes. In this way we make progress on some open problems and provide alternate proofs of some well known asymptotic results.