160 research outputs found
The MSO+U theory of (N, <) is undecidable
We consider the logic MSO+U, which is monadic second-order logic extended
with the unbounding quantifier. The unbounding quantifier is used to say that a
property of finite sets holds for sets of arbitrarily large size. We prove that
the logic is undecidable on infinite words, i.e. the MSO+U theory of (N,<) is
undecidable. This settles an open problem about the logic, and improves a
previous undecidability result, which used infinite trees and additional axioms
from set theory.Comment: 9 pages, with 2 figure
Covering Vectors by Spaces: Regular Matroids
We consider the problem of covering a set of vectors of a given finite dimensional linear space (vector space) by a subspace generated by a set of vectors of minimum size. Specifically, we study the Space Cover problem, where we are given a matrix M and a subset of its columns T; the task is to find a minimum set F of columns of M disjoint with T such that that the linear span of F contains all vectors of T. This is a fundamental problem arising in different domains, such as coding theory, machine learning, and graph algorithms.
We give a parameterized algorithm with running time 2^{O(k)}||M|| ^{O(1)} solving this problem in the case when M is a totally unimodular matrix over rationals, where k is the size of F. In other words, we show that the problem is fixed-parameter tractable parameterized by the rank of the covering subspace. The algorithm is "asymptotically optimal" for the following reasons.
Choice of matrices: Vector matroids corresponding to totally unimodular matrices over rationals are exactly the regular matroids. It is known that for matrices corresponding to a more general class of matroids, namely, binary matroids, the problem becomes W[1]-hard being parameterized by k.
Choice of the parameter: The problem is NP-hard even if |T|=3 on matrix-representations of a subclass of regular matroids, namely cographic matroids. Thus for a stronger parameterization, like by the size of T, the problem becomes intractable.
Running Time: The exponential dependence in the running time of our algorithm cannot be asymptotically improved unless Exponential Time Hypothesis (ETH) fails.
Our algorithm exploits the classical decomposition theorem of Seymour for regular matroids
Unambiguous Separators for Tropical Tree Automata
In this paper we show that given a max-plus automaton (over trees, and with real weights) computing a function f and a min-plus automaton (similar) computing a function g such that f ? g, there exists effectively an unambiguous tropical automaton computing h such that f ? h ? g.
This generalizes a result of Lombardy and Mairesse of 2006 stating that series which are both max-plus and min-plus rational are unambiguous. This generalization goes in two directions: trees are considered instead of words, and separation is established instead of characterization (separation implies characterization). The techniques in the two proofs are very different
Distributed Strong Diameter Network Decomposition
For a pair of positive parameters , a partition of the
vertex set of an -vertex graph into disjoint clusters of
diameter at most each is called a network decomposition, if the
supergraph , obtained by contracting each of the clusters
of , can be properly -colored. The decomposition is
said to be strong (resp., weak) if each of the clusters has strong (resp.,
weak) diameter at most , i.e., if for every cluster and
every two vertices , the distance between them in the induced graph
of (resp., in ) is at most .
Network decomposition is a powerful construct, very useful in distributed
computing and beyond. It was shown by Awerbuch \etal \cite{AGLP89} and
Panconesi and Srinivasan \cite{PS92}, that strong network decompositions can be computed in
distributed time. Linial and Saks \cite{LS93} devised an
ingenious randomized algorithm that constructs {\em weak} network decompositions in time. It was however open till now
if {\em strong} network decompositions with both parameters can be constructed in distributed time.
In this paper we answer this long-standing open question in the affirmative,
and show that strong network decompositions can be
computed in time. We also present a tradeoff between parameters
of our network decomposition. Our work is inspired by and relies on the
"shifted shortest path approach", due to Blelloch \etal \cite{BGKMPT11}, and
Miller \etal \cite{MPX13}. These authors developed this approach for PRAM
algorithms for padded partitions. We adapt their approach to network
decompositions in the distributed model of computation
An Upper Bound on the Complexity of Recognizable Tree Languages
The third author noticed in his 1992 PhD Thesis [Sim92] that every regular
tree language of infinite trees is in a class
for some natural number , where is the game quantifier. We
first give a detailed exposition of this result. Next, using an embedding of
the Wadge hierarchy of non self-dual Borel subsets of the Cantor space
into the class , and the notions of Wadge degree
and Veblen function, we argue that this upper bound on the topological
complexity of regular tree languages is much better than the usual
The complexity of verifying loop-free programs as differentially private
We study the problem of verifying differential privacy for loop-free programs with probabilistic choice. Programs in this class can be seen as randomized Boolean circuits, which we will use as a formal model to answer two different questions: first, deciding whether a program satisfies a prescribed level of privacy; second, approximating the privacy parameters a program realizes. We show that the problem of deciding whether a program satisfies ε-differential privacy is coNP#P-complete. In fact, this is the case when either the input domain or the output range of the program is large. Further, we show that deciding whether a program is (ε,δ)-differentially private is coNP#P-hard, and in coNP#P for small output domains, but always in coNP#P#P. Finally, we show that the problem of approximating the level of differential privacy is both NP-hard and coNP-hard. These results complement previous results by Murtagh and Vadhan showing that deciding the optimal composition of differentially private components is #P-complete, and that approximating the optimal composition of differentially private components is in P
An Optimal Dual Fault Tolerant Reachability Oracle
Let G=(V,E) be an n-vertices m-edges directed graph. Let s inV be any designated source vertex. We address the problem of reporting the reachability information from s under two vertex failures. We show that it is possible to compute in polynomial time an O(n) size data structure that for any query vertex v, and any pair of failed vertices f_1, f_2, answers in O(1) time whether or not there exists a path from s to v in G{f_1,f_2}.
For the simpler case of single vertex failure such a data structure can be obtained using the dominator-tree from the celebrated work of Lengauer and Tarjan [TOPLAS 1979, Vol. 1]. However, no efficient data structure was known in the past for handling more than one failures. We, in addition, also present a labeling scheme with O(log^3(n))-bit size labels such that for any f_1, f_2, v in Vit is possible to determine in poly-logarithmic time if v is reachable from s in G{f_1,f_2} using only the labels of f1, f_2 and v.
Our data structure can also be seen as an efficient mechanism for verifying double-dominators. For any given x, y, v in V we can determine in O(1) time if the pair (x,y) is a double-dominator of v. Earlier the best known method for this problem was using dominator chain from which verification of double-dominators of only a single vertex was possible
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