32 research outputs found
The complexity of quantified constraints using the algebraic formulation
Peer reviewedFinal Published versio
Quantified Constraints in Twenty Seventeen
I present a survey of recent advances in the algorithmic and computational complexity theory of non-Boolean Quantified Constraint Satisfaction Problems, incorporating some more modern research directions
Low-level dichotomy for Quantified Constraint Satisfaction Problems
Building on a result of Larose and Tesson for constraint satisfaction
problems (CSP s), we uncover a dichotomy for the quantified constraint
satisfaction problem QCSP(B), where B is a finite structure that is a core.
Specifically, such problems are either in ALogtime or are L-hard. This involves
demonstrating that if CSP(B) is first-order expressible, and B is a core, then
QCSP(B) is in ALogtime.
We show that the class of B such that CSP(B) is first-order expressible
(indeed, trivially true) is a microcosm for all QCSPs. Specifically, for any B
there exists a C such that CSP(C) is trivially true, yet QCSP(B) and QCSP(C)
are equivalent under logspace reductions
From Complexity to Algebra and Back: Digraph Classes, Collapsibility, and the PGP
Inspired by computational complexity results for the quantified constraint satisfaction problem, we study the clones of idem potent polymorphisms of certain digraph classes. Our first results are two algebraic dichotomy, even "gap", theorems. Building on and extending [Martin CP'11], we prove that partially reflexive paths bequeath a set of idem potent polymorphisms whose associated clone algebra has: either the polynomially generated powers property (PGP), or the exponentially generated powers property (EGP). Similarly, we build on [DaMM ICALP'14] to prove that semi complete digraphs have the same property. These gap theorems are further motivated by new evidence that PGP could be the algebraic explanation that a QCSP is in NP even for unbounded alternation. Along the way we also effect a study of a concrete form of PGP known as collapsibility, tying together the algebraic and structural threads from [Chen Sicomp'08], and show that collapsibility is equivalent to its Pi2-restriction. We also give a decision procedure for k-collapsibility from a singleton source of a finite structure (a form of collapsibility which covers all known examples of PGP for finite structures). Finally, we present a new QCSP trichotomy result, for partially reflexive paths with constants. Without constants it is known these QCSPs are either in NL or Pspace-complete [Martin CP'11], but we prove that with constants they attain the three complexities NL, NP-complete and Pspace-complete
An Algebraic Preservation Theorem for Aleph-Zero Categorical Quantified Constraint Satisfaction
We prove an algebraic preservation theorem for positive Horn definability in
aleph-zero categorical structures. In particular, we define and study a
construction which we call the periodic power of a structure, and define a
periomorphism of a structure to be a homomorphism from the periodic power of
the structure to the structure itself. Our preservation theorem states that,
over an aleph-zero categorical structure, a relation is positive Horn definable
if and only if it is preserved by all periomorphisms of the structure. We give
applications of this theorem, including a new proof of the known complexity
classification of quantified constraint satisfaction on equality templates
Logic Column 17: A Rendezvous of Logic, Complexity, and Algebra
This article surveys recent advances in applying algebraic techniques to
constraint satisfaction problems.Comment: 30 page
QCSP on partially reflexive forests
We study the (non-uniform) quantified constraint satisfaction problem QCSP(H)
as H ranges over partially reflexive forests. We obtain a complexity-theoretic
dichotomy: QCSP(H) is either in NL or is NP-hard. The separating condition is
related firstly to connectivity, and thereafter to accessibility from all
vertices of H to connected reflexive subgraphs. In the case of partially
reflexive paths, we give a refinement of our dichotomy: QCSP(H) is either in NL
or is Pspace-complete