We show that the problem is NP-hard even in the uniform case when all the
weights are the same. We analyze the performance of a natural local-
improvement heuristic for the general problem and prove a performance
ration of 3.25. We extend the heuristic to the problem of finding a
maximum-weight independent set in (d+1)-claw free graphs, and show a tight
performance ration of (d - 1 + (1/d)). A performance ratio of d/2 was known
for the heuristic when applied to the uniform case. Our contributions are
proving the hardness of the problem and providing a tight analysis of the
local-improvement algorithm for the general weighted case.
Paper available at:
ftp://dimacs.rutgers.edu/pub/dimacs/TechnicalReports/TechReports/1995/95-36.ps.gz
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