Beating Two-Thirds For Random-Order Streaming Matching

We study the maximum matching problem in the random-order semi-streaming setting. In this problem, the edges of an arbitrary $n$-vertex graph $G=(V, E)$ arrive in a stream one by one and in a random order. The goal is to have a single pass over the stream, use $n \cdot poly(\log n)$ space, and output a large matching of $G$. We prove that for an absolute constant $ε_0 > 0$, one can find a $(2/3 + ε_0)$-approximate maximum matching of $G$ using $O(n \log n)$ space with high probability. This breaks the natural boundary of $2/3$ for this problem prevalent in the prior work and resolves an open problem of Bernstein [ICALP'20] on whether a $(2/3 + Ω(1))$-approximation is achievable.

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