We give a distributed algorithm which given ε > 0 finds a (1-ε)-factor approximation of a maximum f-matching in graphs G = (V,E) of sub-logarithmic expansion. Using a similar approach we also give a distributed approximation of a maximum b-matching in the same class of graphs provided the function b: V → ℤ^+ is L-Lipschitz for some constant L. Both algorithms run in O(log^* n) rounds in the LOCAL model, which is optimal.

In this paper we will give two distributed approximation algorithms (in the Local model) for the minimum dominating set problem. First we will give a distributed algorithm which finds a dominating set D of size O(gamma(G)) in a graph G which has no topological copy of K_h. The algorithm runs L_h rounds where L_h is a constant which depends on h only. This procedure can be used to obtain a distributed algorithm which given epsilon>0 finds in a graph G with no K_h-minor a dominating set D of size at most (1+epsilon)gamma(G). The second algorithm runs in O(log^*{|V(G)|}) rounds.

We give an efficient distributed algorithm that finds an almost optimal packing of a graph H in a planar graph G. The algorithm is deterministic and its running time is poly-logarithmic in the order of G.

We show that maximal matchings can be computed deterministically in O(log 4 n ) rounds in the synchronous, message-passing model of computation. This is one of the very few cases known of a nontrivial graph structure, and the only "classical" one, which can be computed distributively in polylogarithmic time without recourse to randomization.