Space-Efficient Data Structures in the Word-RAM and Bitprobe Models

This thesis studies data structures in the word-RAM and bitprobe models, with an emphasis on space efficiency. In the word-RAM model of computation the space cost of a data structure is measured in terms of the number of w-bit words stored in memory, and the cost of answering a query is measured in terms of the number of read, write, and arithmetic operations that must be performed. In the bitprobe model, like the word-RAM model, the space cost is measured in terms of the number of bits stored in memory, but the query cost is measured solely in terms of the number of bit accesses, or probes, that are performed. First, we examine the problem of succinctly representing a partially ordered set, or poset, in the word-RAM model with word size Theta(lg n) bits. A succinct representation of a combinatorial object is one that occupies space matching the information theoretic lower bound to within lower order terms. We show how to represent a poset on n vertices using a data structure that occupies n^2/4 + o(n^2) bits, and can answer precedence (i.e., less-than) queries in constant time. Since the transitive closure of a directed acyclic graph is a poset, this implies that we can support reachability queries on an arbitrary directed graph in the same space bound. As far as we are aware, this is the first representation of an arbitrary directed graph that supports reachability queries in constant time, and stores less than n choose 2 bits. We also consider several additional query operations. Second, we examine the problem of supporting range queries on strings of n characters (or, equivalently, arrays of n elements) in the word-RAM model with word size Theta(lg n) bits. We focus on the specific problem of answering range majority queries: i.e., given a range, report the character that is the majority among those in the range, if one exists. We show that these queries can be supported in constant time using a linear space (in words) data structure. We generalize this result in several directions, considering various frequency thresholds, geometric variants of the problem, and dynamism. These results are in stark contrast to recent work on the similar range mode problem, in which the query operation asks for the mode (i.e., most frequent) character in a given range. The current best data structures for the range mode problem take soft-Oh(n^(1/2)) time per query for linear space data structures. Third, we examine the deterministic membership (or dictionary) problem in the bitprobe model. This problem asks us to store a set of n elements drawn from a universe [1,u] such that membership queries can be always answered in t bit probes. We present several new fully explicit results for this problem, in particular for the case when n = 2, answering an open problem posed by Radhakrishnan, Shah, and Shannigrahi [ESA 2010]. We also present a general strategy for the membership problem that can be used to solve many related fundamental problems, such as rank, counting, and emptiness queries. Finally, we conclude with a list of open problems and avenues for future work

In-Memory Storage for Labeled Tree-Structured Data

In this thesis, we design in-memory data structures for labeled and weights trees, so that various types of path queries or operations can be supported with efficient query time. We assume the word RAM model with word size w, which permits random accesses to w-bit memory cells. Our data structures are space-efficient and many of them are even succinct. These succinct data structures occupy space close to the information theoretic lower bounds of the input trees within lower order terms. First, we study the problems of supporting various path queries over weighted trees. A path counting query asks for the number of nodes on a query path whose weights lie within a query range, while a path reporting query requires to report these nodes. A path median query asks for the median weight on a path between two given nodes, and a path selection query returns the k-th smallest weight. We design succinct data structures to support path counting queries in O(lg σ/ lg lg n + 1) time, path reporting queries in O((occ + 1)(lg σ/ lg lg n + 1)) time, and path median and path selection queries in O(lg σ/ lg lg σ) time, where n is the size of the input tree, the weights of nodes are drawn from [1..σ] and occ is the size of the output. Our results not only greatly improve the best known data structures [31, 75, 65], but also match the lower bounds for path counting, median and selection queries [86, 87, 71] when σ = Ω(n/polylog(n)). Second, we study the problem of representing labeled ordinal trees succinctly. Our new representations support a much broader collection of operations than previous work. In our approach, labels of nodes are stored in a preorder label sequence, which can be compressed using any succinct representation of strings that supports access, rank and select operations. Thus, we present a framework for succinct representations of labeled ordinal trees that is able to handle large alphabets. This answers an open problem presented by Geary et al. [54], which asks for representations of labeled ordinal trees that remain space-efficient for large alphabets. We further extend our work and present the first succinct representations for dynamic labeled ordinal trees that support several label-based operations including finding the level ancestor with a given label. Third, we study the problems of supporting path minimum and semigroup path sum queries. In the path minimum problem, we preprocess a tree on n weighted nodes, such that given an arbitrary path, the node with the smallest weight along this path can be located. We design novel succinct indices for this problem under the indexing model, for which weights of nodes are read-only and can be accessed with ranks of nodes in the preorder traversal sequence of the input tree. One of our index structures supports queries in O(α(m,n)) time, and occupies O(m) bits of space in addition to the space required for the input tree, where m is an integer greater than or equal to n and α(m, n) is the inverse-Ackermann function. Following the same approach, we also develop succinct data structures for semigroup path sum queries, for which a query asks for the sum of weights along a given query path. Then, using the succinct indices for path minimum queries, we achieve three different time-space tradeoffs for path reporting queries. Finally, we study the problems of supporting various path queries in dynamic settings. We propose the first non-trivial linear-space solution that supports path reporting in O((lgn/lglgn)^2 +occlgn/lglgn)) query time, where n is the size of the input tree and occ is the output size, and the insertion and deletion of a node of an arbitrary degree in O(lg^{2+ε} n) amortized time, for any constant ε ∈ (0, 1). Obvious solutions based on directly dynamizing solutions to the static version of this problem all require Ω((lg n/ lg lg n)^2) time for each node reported. We also design data structures that support path counting and path reporting queries in O((lg n/ lg lg n)^2) time, and insertions and deletions in O((lg n/ lg lg n)^2) amortized time. This matches the best known results for dynamic two-dimensional range counting [62] and range selection [63], which can be viewed as special cases of path counting and path selection

Efficient Data Structures for Partial Orders, Range Modes, and Graph Cuts

This thesis considers the study of data structures from the perspective of the theoretician, with a focus on simplicity and practicality. We consider both the time complexity as well as space usage of proposed solutions. Topics discussed fall in three main categories: partial order representation, range modes, and graph cuts. We consider two problems in partial order representation. The first is a data structure to represent a lattice. A lattice is a partial order where the set of elements larger than any two elements x and y are all larger than an element z, known as the join of x and y; a similar condition holds for elements smaller than any two elements. Our data structure is the first correct solution that can simultaneously compute joins and the inverse meet operation in sublinear time while also using subquadratic space. The second is a data structure to support queries on a dynamic set of one-dimensional ordered data; that is, essentially any operation computable on a binary search tree. We develop a data structure that is able to interpolate between binary search trees and efficient priority queues, offering more-efficient insertion times than the former when query distribution is non-uniform. We also consider static and dynamic exact and approximate range mode. Given one-dimensional data, the range mode problem is to compute the mode of a subinterval of the data. In the dynamic range mode problem, insertions and deletions are permitted. For the approximate problem, the element returned is to have frequency no less than a factor (1+epsilon) of the true mode, for some epsilon > 0. Our results include a linear-space dynamic exact range mode data structure that simultaneously improves on best previous operation complexity and an exact dynamic range mode data structure that breaks the Theta(n^(2/3)) time per operation barrier. For approximate range mode, we develop a static succinct data structure offering a logarithmic-factor space improvement and give the first dynamic approximate range mode data structure. We also consider approximate range selection. The final category discussed is graph and dynamic graph algorithms. We develop an optimal offline data structure for dynamic 2- and 3- edge and vertex connectivity. Here, the data structure is given the entire sequence of operations in advance, and the dynamic operations are edge insertion and removal. Finally, we give a simplification of Karger's near-linear time minimum cut algorithm, utilizing heavy-light decomposition and iteration in place of dynamic programming in the subroutine to find a minimum cut of a graph G that cuts at most two edges of a spanning tree T of G