552 research outputs found
The number of matchings in random graphs
We study matchings on sparse random graphs by means of the cavity method. We
first show how the method reproduces several known results about maximum and
perfect matchings in regular and Erdos-Renyi random graphs. Our main new result
is the computation of the entropy, i.e. the leading order of the logarithm of
the number of solutions, of matchings with a given size. We derive both an
algorithm to compute this entropy for an arbitrary graph with a girth that
diverges in the large size limit, and an analytic result for the entropy in
regular and Erdos-Renyi random graph ensembles.Comment: 17 pages, 6 figures, to be published in Journal of Statistical
Mechanic
Exact Covers via Determinants
Given a k-uniform hypergraph on n vertices, partitioned in k equal parts such
that every hyperedge includes one vertex from each part, the k-dimensional
matching problem asks whether there is a disjoint collection of the hyperedges
which covers all vertices. We show it can be solved by a randomized polynomial
space algorithm in time O*(2^(n(k-2)/k)). The O*() notation hides factors
polynomial in n and k.
When we drop the partition constraint and permit arbitrary hyperedges of
cardinality k, we obtain the exact cover by k-sets problem. We show it can be
solved by a randomized polynomial space algorithm in time O*(c_k^n), where
c_3=1.496, c_4=1.642, c_5=1.721, and provide a general bound for larger k.
Both results substantially improve on the previous best algorithms for these
problems, especially for small k, and follow from the new observation that
Lovasz' perfect matching detection via determinants (1979) admits an embedding
in the recently proposed inclusion-exclusion counting scheme for set covers,
despite its inability to count the perfect matchings
Fine-grained dichotomies for the Tutte plane and Boolean #CSP
Jaeger, Vertigan, and Welsh [15] proved a dichotomy for the complexity of
evaluating the Tutte polynomial at fixed points: The evaluation is #P-hard
almost everywhere, and the remaining points admit polynomial-time algorithms.
Dell, Husfeldt, and Wahl\'en [9] and Husfeldt and Taslaman [12], in combination
with Curticapean [7], extended the #P-hardness results to tight lower bounds
under the counting exponential time hypothesis #ETH, with the exception of the
line , which was left open. We complete the dichotomy theorem for the
Tutte polynomial under #ETH by proving that the number of all acyclic subgraphs
of a given -vertex graph cannot be determined in time unless
#ETH fails.
Another dichotomy theorem we strengthen is the one of Creignou and Hermann
[6] for counting the number of satisfying assignments to a constraint
satisfaction problem instance over the Boolean domain. We prove that all
#P-hard cases are also hard under #ETH. The main ingredient is to prove that
the number of independent sets in bipartite graphs with vertices cannot be
computed in time unless #ETH fails. In order to prove our results,
we use the block interpolation idea by Curticapean [7] and transfer it to
systems of linear equations that might not directly correspond to
interpolation.Comment: 16 pages, 1 figur
Narrow sieves for parameterized paths and packings
We present randomized algorithms for some well-studied, hard combinatorial
problems: the k-path problem, the p-packing of q-sets problem, and the
q-dimensional p-matching problem. Our algorithms solve these problems with high
probability in time exponential only in the parameter (k, p, q) and using
polynomial space; the constant bases of the exponentials are significantly
smaller than in previous works. For example, for the k-path problem the
improvement is from 2 to 1.66. We also show how to detect if a d-regular graph
admits an edge coloring with colors in time within a polynomial factor of
O(2^{(d-1)n/2}).
Our techniques build upon and generalize some recently published ideas by I.
Koutis (ICALP 2009), R. Williams (IPL 2009), and A. Bj\"orklund (STACS 2010,
FOCS 2010)
Space Saving by Dynamic Algebraization
Dynamic programming is widely used for exact computations based on tree
decompositions of graphs. However, the space complexity is usually exponential
in the treewidth. We study the problem of designing efficient dynamic
programming algorithm based on tree decompositions in polynomial space. We show
how to construct a tree decomposition and extend the algebraic techniques of
Lokshtanov and Nederlof such that the dynamic programming algorithm runs in
time , where is the maximum number of vertices in the union of
bags on the root to leaf paths on a given tree decomposition, which is a
parameter closely related to the tree-depth of a graph. We apply our algorithm
to the problem of counting perfect matchings on grids and show that it
outperforms other polynomial-space solutions. We also apply the algorithm to
other set covering and partitioning problems.Comment: 14 pages, 1 figur
Approximating Multilinear Monomial Coefficients and Maximum Multilinear Monomials in Multivariate Polynomials
This paper is our third step towards developing a theory of testing monomials
in multivariate polynomials and concentrates on two problems: (1) How to
compute the coefficients of multilinear monomials; and (2) how to find a
maximum multilinear monomial when the input is a polynomial. We
first prove that the first problem is \#P-hard and then devise a
upper bound for this problem for any polynomial represented by an arithmetic
circuit of size . Later, this upper bound is improved to for
polynomials. We then design fully polynomial-time randomized
approximation schemes for this problem for polynomials. On the
negative side, we prove that, even for polynomials with terms of
degree , the first problem cannot be approximated at all for any
approximation factor , nor {\em "weakly approximated"} in a much relaxed
setting, unless P=NP. For the second problem, we first give a polynomial time
-approximation algorithm for polynomials with terms of
degrees no more a constant . On the inapproximability side, we
give a lower bound, for any on the
approximation factor for polynomials. When terms in these
polynomials are constrained to degrees , we prove a lower
bound, assuming ; and a higher lower bound, assuming the
Unique Games Conjecture
Belief-Propagation for Weighted b-Matchings on Arbitrary Graphs and its Relation to Linear Programs with Integer Solutions
We consider the general problem of finding the minimum weight \bm-matching
on arbitrary graphs. We prove that, whenever the linear programming (LP)
relaxation of the problem has no fractional solutions, then the belief
propagation (BP) algorithm converges to the correct solution. We also show that
when the LP relaxation has a fractional solution then the BP algorithm can be
used to solve the LP relaxation. Our proof is based on the notion of graph
covers and extends the analysis of (Bayati-Shah-Sharma 2005 and Huang-Jebara
2007}.
These results are notable in the following regards: (1) It is one of a very
small number of proofs showing correctness of BP without any constraint on the
graph structure. (2) Variants of the proof work for both synchronous and
asynchronous BP; it is the first proof of convergence and correctness of an
asynchronous BP algorithm for a combinatorial optimization problem.Comment: 28 pages, 2 figures. Submitted to SIAM journal on Discrete
Mathematics on March 19, 2009; accepted for publication (in revised form)
August 30, 2010; published electronically July 1, 201
On product, generic and random generic quantum satisfiability
We report a cluster of results on k-QSAT, the problem of quantum
satisfiability for k-qubit projectors which generalizes classical
satisfiability with k-bit clauses to the quantum setting. First we define the
NP-complete problem of product satisfiability and give a geometrical criterion
for deciding when a QSAT interaction graph is product satisfiable with positive
probability. We show that the same criterion suffices to establish quantum
satisfiability for all projectors. Second, we apply these results to the random
graph ensemble with generic projectors and obtain improved lower bounds on the
location of the SAT--unSAT transition. Third, we present numerical results on
random, generic satisfiability which provide estimates for the location of the
transition for k=3 and k=4 and mild evidence for the existence of a phase which
is satisfiable by entangled states alone.Comment: 9 pages, 5 figures, 1 table. Updated to more closely match published
version. New proof in appendi
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