906 research outputs found
The Matching Problem in General Graphs is in Quasi-NC
We show that the perfect matching problem in general graphs is in Quasi-NC.
That is, we give a deterministic parallel algorithm which runs in
time on processors. The result is obtained by a
derandomization of the Isolation Lemma for perfect matchings, which was
introduced in the classic paper by Mulmuley, Vazirani and Vazirani [1987] to
obtain a Randomized NC algorithm.
Our proof extends the framework of Fenner, Gurjar and Thierauf [2016], who
proved the analogous result in the special case of bipartite graphs. Compared
to that setting, several new ingredients are needed due to the significantly
more complex structure of perfect matchings in general graphs. In particular,
our proof heavily relies on the laminar structure of the faces of the perfect
matching polytope.Comment: Accepted to FOCS 2017 (58th Annual IEEE Symposium on Foundations of
Computer Science
Kasteleyn cokernels
We consider Kasteleyn and Kasteleyn-Percus matrices, which arise in
enumerating matchings of planar graphs, up to matrix operations on their rows
and columns. If such a matrix is defined over a principal ideal domain, this is
equivalent to considering its Smith normal form or its cokernel. Many
variations of the enumeration methods result in equivalent matrices. In
particular, Gessel-Viennot matrices are equivalent to Kasteleyn-Percus
matrices.
We apply these ideas to plane partitions and related planar of tilings. We
list a number of conjectures, supported by experiments in Maple, about the
forms of matrices associated to enumerations of plane partitions and other
lozenge tilings of planar regions and their symmetry classes. We focus on the
case where the enumerations are round or -round, and we conjecture that
cokernels remain round or -round for related ``impossible enumerations'' in
which there are no tilings. Our conjectures provide a new view of the topic of
enumerating symmetry classes of plane partitions and their generalizations. In
particular we conjecture that a -specialization of a Jacobi-Trudi matrix has
a Smith normal form. If so it could be an interesting structure associated to
the corresponding irreducible representation of \SL(n,\C). Finally we find,
with proof, the normal form of the matrix that appears in the enumeration of
domino tilings of an Aztec diamond.Comment: 14 pages, 19 in-line figures. Very minor copy correction
Trees and Matchings
In this article, Temperley's bijection between spanning trees of the square
grid on the one hand, and perfect matchings (also known as dimer coverings) of
the square grid on the other, is extended to the setting of general planar
directed (and undirected) graphs, where edges carry nonnegative weights that
induce a weighting on the set of spanning trees. We show that the weighted,
directed spanning trees (often called arborescences) of any planar graph G can
be put into a one-to-one weight-preserving correspondence with the perfect
matchings of a related planar graph H.
One special case of this result is a bijection between perfect matchings of
the hexagonal honeycomb lattice and directed spanning trees of a triangular
lattice. Another special case gives a correspondence between perfect matchings
of the ``square-octagon'' lattice and directed weighted spanning trees on a
directed weighted version of the cartesian lattice.
In conjunction with results of Kenyon, our main theorem allows us to compute
the measures of all cylinder events for random spanning trees on any (directed,
weighted) planar graph. Conversely, in cases where the perfect matching model
arises from a tree model, Wilson's algorithm allows us to quickly generate
random samples of perfect matchings.Comment: 32 pages, 19 figures (minor revisions from version 1
Matching Is as Easy as the Decision Problem, in the NC Model
Is matching in NC, i.e., is there a deterministic fast parallel algorithm for
it? This has been an outstanding open question in TCS for over three decades,
ever since the discovery of randomized NC matching algorithms [KUW85, MVV87].
Over the last five years, the theoretical computer science community has
launched a relentless attack on this question, leading to the discovery of
several powerful ideas. We give what appears to be the culmination of this line
of work: An NC algorithm for finding a minimum-weight perfect matching in a
general graph with polynomially bounded edge weights, provided it is given an
oracle for the decision problem. Consequently, for settling the main open
problem, it suffices to obtain an NC algorithm for the decision problem. We
believe this new fact has qualitatively changed the nature of this open
problem.
All known efficient matching algorithms for general graphs follow one of two
approaches: given by Edmonds [Edm65] and Lov\'asz [Lov79]. Our oracle-based
algorithm follows a new approach and uses many of the ideas discovered in the
last five years.
The difficulty of obtaining an NC perfect matching algorithm led researchers
to study matching vis-a-vis clever relaxations of the class NC. In this vein,
recently Goldwasser and Grossman [GG15] gave a pseudo-deterministic RNC
algorithm for finding a perfect matching in a bipartite graph, i.e., an RNC
algorithm with the additional requirement that on the same graph, it should
return the same (i.e., unique) perfect matching for almost all choices of
random bits. A corollary of our reduction is an analogous algorithm for general
graphs.Comment: Appeared in ITCS 202
Pseudo-centrosymmetric matrices, with applications to counting perfect matchings
We consider square matrices A that commute with a fixed square matrix K, both
with entries in a field F not of characteristic 2. When K^2=I, Tao and Yasuda
defined A to be generalized centrosymmetric with respect to K. When K^2=-I, we
define A to be pseudo-centrosymmetric with respect to K; we show that the
determinant of every even-order pseudo-centrosymmetric matrix is the sum of two
squares over F, as long as -1 is not a square in F. When a
pseudo-centrosymmetric matrix A contains only integral entries and is
pseudo-centrosymmetric with respect to a matrix with rational entries, the
determinant of A is the sum of two integral squares. This result, when
specialized to when K is the even-order alternating exchange matrix, applies to
enumerative combinatorics. Using solely matrix-based methods, we reprove a weak
form of Jockusch's theorem for enumerating perfect matchings of 2-even
symmetric graphs. As a corollary, we reprove that the number of domino tilings
of regions known as Aztec diamonds and Aztec pillows is a sum of two integral
squares.Comment: v1: Preprint; 11 pages, 7 figures. v2: Preprint; 15 pages, 7 figures.
Reworked so that linear algebraic results are over a field not of
characteristic 2, not over the real numbers. Accepted, Linear Algebra and its
Application
Space Complexity of Perfect Matching in Bounded Genus Bipartite Graphs
We investigate the space complexity of certain perfect matching problems over
bipartite graphs embedded on surfaces of constant genus (orientable or
non-orientable). We show that the problems of deciding whether such graphs have
(1) a perfect matching or not and (2) a unique perfect matching or not, are in
the logspace complexity class \SPL. Since \SPL\ is contained in the logspace
counting classes \oplus\L (in fact in \modk\ for all ), \CeqL, and
\PL, our upper bound places the above-mentioned matching problems in these
counting classes as well. We also show that the search version, computing a
perfect matching, for this class of graphs is in \FL^{\SPL}. Our results
extend the same upper bounds for these problems over bipartite planar graphs
known earlier. As our main technical result, we design a logspace computable
and polynomially bounded weight function which isolates a minimum weight
perfect matching in bipartite graphs embedded on surfaces of constant genus. We
use results from algebraic topology for proving the correctness of the weight
function.Comment: 23 pages, 13 figure
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