27 research outputs found
Deterministically Isolating a Perfect Matching in Bipartite Planar Graphs
We present a deterministic way of assigning small (log bit) weights to the
edges of a bipartite planar graph so that the minimum weight perfect matching
becomes unique. The isolation lemma as described in (Mulmuley et al. 1987)
achieves the same for general graphs using a randomized weighting scheme,
whereas we can do it deterministically when restricted to bipartite planar
graphs. As a consequence, we reduce both decision and construction versions of
the matching problem to testing whether a matrix is singular, under the promise
that its determinant is 0 or 1, thus obtaining a highly parallel SPL algorithm
for bipartite planar graphs. This improves the earlier known bounds of
non-uniform SPL by (Allender et al. 1999) and by (Miller and Naor 1995,
Mahajan and Varadarajan 2000). It also rekindles the hope of obtaining a
deterministic parallel algorithm for constructing a perfect matching in
non-bipartite planar graphs, which has been open for a long time. Our
techniques are elementary and simple
The complexity of Solitaire
AbstractKlondike is the well-known 52-card Solitaire game available on almost every computer. The problem of determining whether an n-card Klondike initial configuration can lead to a win is shown NP-complete. The problem remains NP-complete when only three suits are allowed instead of the usual four. When only two suits of opposite color are available, the problem is shown NL-hard. When the only two suits have the same color, two restrictions are shown in AC0 and in NL respectively. When a single suit is allowed, the problem drops in complexity down to AC0[3], that is, the problem is solvable by a family of constant-depth unbounded-fan-in {and, or, mod3 }-circuits. Other cases are studied: for example, “no King” variant with an arbitrary number of suits of the same color and with an empty “pile” is NL-complete
On Iterated Dominance, Matrix Elimination, and Matched Paths
We study computational problems arising from the iterated removal of weakly
dominated actions in anonymous games. Our main result shows that it is
NP-complete to decide whether an anonymous game with three actions can be
solved via iterated weak dominance. The two-action case can be reformulated as
a natural elimination problem on a matrix, the complexity of which turns out to
be surprisingly difficult to characterize and ultimately remains open. We
however establish connections to a matching problem along paths in a directed
graph, which is computationally hard in general but can also be used to
identify tractable cases of matrix elimination. We finally identify different
classes of anonymous games where iterated dominance is in P and NP-complete,
respectively.Comment: 12 pages, 3 figures, 27th International Symposium on Theoretical
Aspects of Computer Science (STACS
Log-space Algorithms for Paths and Matchings in k-trees
Reachability and shortest path problems are NL-complete for general graphs.
They are known to be in L for graphs of tree-width 2 [JT07]. However, for
graphs of tree-width larger than 2, no bound better than NL is known. In this
paper, we improve these bounds for k-trees, where k is a constant. In
particular, the main results of our paper are log-space algorithms for
reachability in directed k-trees, and for computation of shortest and longest
paths in directed acyclic k-trees.
Besides the path problems mentioned above, we also consider the problem of
deciding whether a k-tree has a perfect macthing (decision version), and if so,
finding a perfect match- ing (search version), and prove that these two
problems are L-complete. These problems are known to be in P and in RNC for
general graphs, and in SPL for planar bipartite graphs [DKR08].
Our results settle the complexity of these problems for the class of k-trees.
The results are also applicable for bounded tree-width graphs, when a
tree-decomposition is given as input. The technique central to our algorithms
is a careful implementation of divide-and-conquer approach in log-space, along
with some ideas from [JT07] and [LMR07].Comment: Accepted in STACS 201
Balancing Bounded Treewidth Circuits
Algorithmic tools for graphs of small treewidth are used to address questions
in complexity theory. For both arithmetic and Boolean circuits, it is shown
that any circuit of size and treewidth can be
simulated by a circuit of width and size , where , if , and otherwise. For our main construction,
we prove that multiplicatively disjoint arithmetic circuits of size
and treewidth can be simulated by bounded fan-in arithmetic formulas of
depth . From this we derive the analogous statement for
syntactically multilinear arithmetic circuits, which strengthens a theorem of
Mahajan and Rao. As another application, we derive that constant width
arithmetic circuits of size can be balanced to depth ,
provided certain restrictions are made on the use of iterated multiplication.
Also from our main construction, we derive that Boolean bounded fan-in circuits
of size and treewidth can be simulated by bounded fan-in
formulas of depth . This strengthens in the non-uniform setting
the known inclusion that . Finally, we apply our
construction to show that {\sc reachability} for directed graphs of bounded
treewidth is in
Verifying proofs in constant depth
In this paper we initiate the study of proof systems where verification of proofs proceeds by NC circuits. We investigate the question which languages admit proof systems in this very restricted model. Formulated alternatively, we ask which languages can be enumerated by NC functions. Our results show that the answer to this problem is not determined by the complexity of the language. On the one hand, we construct NC proof systems for a variety of languages ranging from regular to NP-complete. On the other hand, we show by combinatorial methods that even easy regular languages such as Exact-OR do not admit NC proof systems. We also present a general construction of proof systems for regular languages with strongly connected NFA's
AND and/or OR: Uniform Polynomial-Size Circuits
We investigate the complexity of uniform OR circuits and AND circuits of
polynomial-size and depth. As their name suggests, OR circuits have OR gates as
their computation gates, as well as the usual input, output and constant (0/1)
gates. As is the norm for Boolean circuits, our circuits have multiple sink
gates, which implies that an OR circuit computes an OR function on some subset
of its input variables. Determining that subset amounts to solving a number of
reachability questions on a polynomial-size directed graph (which input gates
are connected to the output gate?), taken from a very sparse set of graphs.
However, it is not obvious whether or not this (restricted) reachability
problem can be solved, by say, uniform AC^0 circuits (constant depth,
polynomial-size, AND, OR, NOT gates). This is one reason why characterizing the
power of these simple-looking circuits in terms of uniform classes turns out to
be intriguing. Another is that the model itself seems particularly natural and
worthy of study.
Our goal is the systematic characterization of uniform polynomial-size OR
circuits, and AND circuits, in terms of known uniform machine-based complexity
classes. In particular, we consider the languages reducible to such uniform
families of OR circuits, and AND circuits, under a variety of reduction types.
We give upper and lower bounds on the computational power of these language
classes. We find that these complexity classes are closely related to tallyNL,
the set of unary languages within NL, and to sets reducible to tallyNL.
Specifically, for a variety of types of reductions (many-one, conjunctive truth
table, disjunctive truth table, truth table, Turing) we give characterizations
of languages reducible to OR circuit classes in terms of languages reducible to
tallyNL classes. Then, some of these OR classes are shown to coincide, and some
are proven to be distinct. We give analogous results for AND circuits. Finally,
for many of our OR circuit classes, and analogous AND circuit classes, we prove
whether or not the two classes coincide, although we leave one such inclusion
open.Comment: In Proceedings MCU 2013, arXiv:1309.104
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