  The vertex-cover problem on the Hanoi networks HN3 and HN5 is analyzed with
an exact renormalization group and parallel-tempering Monte Carlo simulations.
The grand canonical partition function of the equivalent hard-core repulsive
lattice-gas problem is recast first as an Ising-like canonical partition
function, which allows for a closed set of renormalization group equations. The
flow of these equations is analyzed for the limit of infinite chemical
potential, at which the vertex-cover problem is attained. The relevant fixed
point and its neighborhood are analyzed, and non-trivial results are obtained
both, for the coverage as well as for the ground state entropy density, which
indicates the complex structure of the solution space. Using special
hierarchy-dependent operators in the renormalization group and Monte-Carlo
simulations, structural details of optimal configurations are revealed. These
studies indicate that the optimal coverages (or packings) are not related by a
simple symmetry. Using a clustering analysis of the solutions obtained in the
Monte Carlo simulations, a complex solution space structure is revealed for
each system size. Nevertheless, in the thermodynamic limit, the solution
landscape is dominated by one huge set of very similar solutions.
