Graph Isomorphism Parameterized by Elimination Distance to Bounded Degree

A commonly studied means of parameterizing graph problems is the deletion distance from triviality [11], which counts vertices that need to be deleted from a graph to place it in some class for which e cient algorithms are known. In the context of graph isomorphism, we de ne triviality to mean a graph with maximum degree bounded by a constant, as such graph classes admit polynomial-time isomorphism tests. We generalise deletion distance to a measure we call elimination distance to triviality, based on elimination trees or tree-depth decompositions. We establish that graph canonisation, and thus graph isomorphism, is FPT when parameterized by elimination distance to bounded degree, extending results of Bouland et al.The work was supported in part by EPSRC grant EP/H026835, DAAD grant A/13/05456, and DFG project Logik, Struktur und das Graphenisomorphieproblem.This is the final version of the article. It first appeared from Springer via http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00453-015-0045-

Novel Algorithms for Computing Nuclear Correlation Functions in Lattice Quantum Chromodynamics

Techniques to attain numerical solutions of Quantum Chromodynamics have developed to the point of beginning to connect aspects of nuclear physics to the underlying degrees of freedom of the Standard Model. There remain deep physical and numerical challenges, including a proliferation of possibilities for interpolating operators that couple to low-energy states, factorial numerical resource scaling, poor signal-to-noise scaling, and potentially dominating floating-point precision errors. The focus of this work is the computational resource scaling associated with numerically evaluating the correlation function for an interpolating operator possessing the quantum numbers of a multi-baryon system in the context of lattice QCD. The naïve computational cost required to compute nuclear correlation functions grows factorially in the number of quarks, however this work develops a set of novel approaches that reduce this cost by exploiting inherent permutation symmetry. A selection of benchmarks demonstrate that the new methods can offer between one and two orders of magnitude in reduced calculation time (excluding hadron block expression evaluation) for correlation functions of light nuclei when compared against the hadron block method alone.Thesis (MPhil) -- University of Adelaide, School of Physical Sciences, 202

Permutation group approach to association schemes

AbstractWe survey the modern theory of schemes (coherent configurations). The main attention is paid to the schurity problem and the separability problem. Several applications of schemes to constructing polynomial-time algorithms, in particular, graph isomorphism tests, are discussed

Between primitive and 2-transitive : synchronization and its friends

The second author was supported by the Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology) through the project CEMAT-CIÊNCIAS UID/Multi/ 04621/2013An automaton (consisting of a finite set of states with given transitions) is said to be synchronizing if there is a word in the transitions which sends all states of the automaton to a single state. Research on this topic has been driven by the Černý conjecture, one of the oldest and most famous problems in automata theory, according to which a synchronizing n-state automaton has a reset word of length at most (n − 1)2 . The transitions of an automaton generate a transformation monoid on the set of states, and so an automaton can be regarded as a transformation monoid with a prescribed set of generators. In this setting, an automaton is synchronizing if the transitions generate a constant map. A permutation group G on a set Ω is said to synchronize a map f if the monoid (G, f) generated by G and f is synchronizing in the above sense; we say G is synchronizing if it synchronizes every non-permutation. The classes of synchronizing groups and friends form an hierarchy of natural and elegant classes of groups lying strictly between the classes of primitive and 2-homogeneous groups. These classes have been floating around for some years and it is now time to provide a unified reference on them. The study of all these classes has been prompted by the Černý conjecture, but it is of independent interest since it involves a rich mix of group theory, combinatorics, graph endomorphisms, semigroup theory, finite geometry, and representation theory, and has interesting computational aspects as well. So as to make the paper self-contained, we have provided background material on these topics. Our purpose here is to present recent work on synchronizing groups and related topics. In addition to the results that show the connections between the various areas of mathematics mentioned above, we include a new result on the Černý conjecture (a strengthening of a theorem of Rystsov), some challenges to finite geometers (which classical polar spaces can be partitioned into ovoids?), some thoughts about infinite analogues, and a long list of open problems to stimulate further work.PostprintPeer reviewe