Convex Graph Invariant Relaxations For Graph Edit Distance

The edit distance between two graphs is a widely used measure of similarity that evaluates the smallest number of vertex and edge deletions/insertions required to transform one graph to another. It is NP-hard to compute in general, and a large number of heuristics have been proposed for approximating this quantity. With few exceptions, these methods generally provide upper bounds on the edit distance between two graphs. In this paper, we propose a new family of computationally tractable convex relaxations for obtaining lower bounds on graph edit distance. These relaxations can be tailored to the structural properties of the particular graphs via convex graph invariants. Specific examples that we highlight in this paper include constraints on the graph spectrum as well as (tractable approximations of) the stability number and the maximum-cut values of graphs. We prove under suitable conditions that our relaxations are tight (i.e., exactly compute the graph edit distance) when one of the graphs consists of few eigenvalues. We also validate the utility of our framework on synthetic problems as well as real applications involving molecular structure comparison problems in chemistry.Comment: 27 pages, 7 figure

Discrete torsion in non-geometric orbifolds and their open-string descendants

We discuss some Z_N^L x Z_N^R orbifold compactifications of the type IIB superstring to D= 4,6 dimensions and their type I descendants. Although the Z_N^L x Z_N^R generators act asymmetrically on the chiral string modes, they result into left-right symmetric models that admit sensible unorientable reductions. We carefully work out the phases that appear in the modular transformations of the chiral amplitudes and identify the possibility of introducing discrete torsion. We propose a simplifying ansatz for the construction of the open-string descendants in which the transverse-channel Klein-bottle, annulus and Moebius-strip amplitudes are numerically identical in the proper parametrization of the world-sheet. A simple variant of the ansatz for the Z_2^L x Z_2^R orbifold gives rise to models with supersymmetry breaking in the open-string sector.Comment: 21 pages, Latex, minor typos corrected, references added, version to appear in Nuclear Physics