4,245 research outputs found
Computational complexity of the landscape I
We study the computational complexity of the physical problem of finding
vacua of string theory which agree with data, such as the cosmological
constant, and show that such problems are typically NP hard. In particular, we
prove that in the Bousso-Polchinski model, the problem is NP complete. We
discuss the issues this raises and the possibility that, even if we were to
find compelling evidence that some vacuum of string theory describes our
universe, we might never be able to find that vacuum explicitly.
In a companion paper, we apply this point of view to the question of how
early cosmology might select a vacuum.Comment: JHEP3 Latex, 53 pp, 2 .eps figure
Large induced subgraphs via triangulations and CMSO
We obtain an algorithmic meta-theorem for the following optimization problem.
Let \phi\ be a Counting Monadic Second Order Logic (CMSO) formula and t be an
integer. For a given graph G, the task is to maximize |X| subject to the
following: there is a set of vertices F of G, containing X, such that the
subgraph G[F] induced by F is of treewidth at most t, and structure (G[F],X)
models \phi.
Some special cases of this optimization problem are the following generic
examples. Each of these cases contains various problems as a special subcase:
1) "Maximum induced subgraph with at most l copies of cycles of length 0
modulo m", where for fixed nonnegative integers m and l, the task is to find a
maximum induced subgraph of a given graph with at most l vertex-disjoint cycles
of length 0 modulo m.
2) "Minimum \Gamma-deletion", where for a fixed finite set of graphs \Gamma\
containing a planar graph, the task is to find a maximum induced subgraph of a
given graph containing no graph from \Gamma\ as a minor.
3) "Independent \Pi-packing", where for a fixed finite set of connected
graphs \Pi, the task is to find an induced subgraph G[F] of a given graph G
with the maximum number of connected components, such that each connected
component of G[F] is isomorphic to some graph from \Pi.
We give an algorithm solving the optimization problem on an n-vertex graph G
in time O(#pmc n^{t+4} f(t,\phi)), where #pmc is the number of all potential
maximal cliques in G and f is a function depending of t and \phi\ only. We also
show how a similar running time can be obtained for the weighted version of the
problem. Pipelined with known bounds on the number of potential maximal
cliques, we deduce that our optimization problem can be solved in time
O(1.7347^n) for arbitrary graphs, and in polynomial time for graph classes with
polynomial number of minimal separators
Testing Cluster Structure of Graphs
We study the problem of recognizing the cluster structure of a graph in the
framework of property testing in the bounded degree model. Given a parameter
, a -bounded degree graph is defined to be -clusterable, if it can be partitioned into no more than parts, such
that the (inner) conductance of the induced subgraph on each part is at least
and the (outer) conductance of each part is at most
, where depends only on . Our main
result is a sublinear algorithm with the running time
that takes as
input a graph with maximum degree bounded by , parameters , ,
, and with probability at least , accepts the graph if it
is -clusterable and rejects the graph if it is -far from
-clusterable for , where depends only on . By the lower
bound of on the number of queries needed for testing graph
expansion, which corresponds to in our problem, our algorithm is
asymptotically optimal up to polylogarithmic factors.Comment: Full version of STOC 201
Survival probability of a diffusing particle in the presence of Poisson-distributed mobile traps
The problem of a diffusing particle moving among diffusing traps is analyzed
in general space dimension d. We consider the case where the traps are
initially randomly distributed in space, with uniform density rho, and derive
upper and lower bounds for the probability Q(t) (averaged over all particle and
trap trajectories) that the particle survives up to time t. We show that, for
1<=d<2, the bounds converge asymptotically to give where and D
is the diffusion constant of the traps, and that for d=2. For d>2 bounds can still be derived, but they no longer
converge for large t. For 1<=d<=2, these asymptotic form are independent of the
diffusion constant of the particle. The results are compared with simulation
results obtained using a new algorithm [V. Mehra and P. Grassberger, Phys. Rev.
E v65 050101 (2002)] which is described in detail. Deviations from the
predicted asymptotic forms are found to be large even for very small values of
Q(t), indicating slowly decaying corrections whose form is consistent with the
bounds. We also present results in d=1 for the case where the trap densities on
either side of the particle are different. For this case we can still obtain
exact bounds but they no longer converge.Comment: 13 pages, RevTeX4, 6 figures. Figures and references updated;
equations corrected; discussion clarifie
The Quantum PCP Conjecture
The classical PCP theorem is arguably the most important achievement of
classical complexity theory in the past quarter century. In recent years,
researchers in quantum computational complexity have tried to identify
approaches and develop tools that address the question: does a quantum version
of the PCP theorem hold? The story of this study starts with classical
complexity and takes unexpected turns providing fascinating vistas on the
foundations of quantum mechanics, the global nature of entanglement and its
topological properties, quantum error correction, information theory, and much
more; it raises questions that touch upon some of the most fundamental issues
at the heart of our understanding of quantum mechanics. At this point, the jury
is still out as to whether or not such a theorem holds. This survey aims to
provide a snapshot of the status in this ongoing story, tailored to a general
theory-of-CS audience.Comment: 45 pages, 4 figures, an enhanced version of the SIGACT guest column
from Volume 44 Issue 2, June 201
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