A 9/7-approximation algorithm for Graphic TSP in cubic bipartite graphs

We prove new results for approximating the Graphic TSP. Specifically, we provide a polynomial-time 9/7-approximation algorithm for cubic bipartite graphs and a (9/7 + 1/21(k-2))-approximation algorithm for k-regular bipartite graphs, both of which are improved approximation factors compared to previous results. Our approach involves finding a cycle cover with relatively few cycles, which we are able to do by leveraging the fact that all cycles in bipartite graphs are of even length along with our knowledge of the structure of cubic graphs. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.