Vertex elimination orderings for hereditary graph classes

We provide a general method to prove the existence and compute efficiently elimination orderings in graphs. Our method relies on several tools that were known before, but that were not put together so far: the algorithm LexBFS due to Rose, Tarjan and Lueker, one of its properties discovered by Berry and Bordat, and a local decomposition property of graphs discovered by Maffray, Trotignon and Vu\vskovi\'c. We use this method to prove the existence of elimination orderings in several classes of graphs, and to compute them in linear time. Some of the classes have already been studied, namely even-hole-free graphs, square-theta-free Berge graphs, universally signable graphs and wheel-free graphs. Some other classes are new. It turns out that all the classes that we study in this paper can be defined by excluding some of the so-called Truemper configurations. For several classes of graphs, we obtain directly bounds on the chromatic number, or fast algorithms for the maximum clique problem or the coloring problem

Compact Labelings For Efficient First-Order Model-Checking

We consider graph properties that can be checked from labels, i.e., bit sequences, of logarithmic length attached to vertices. We prove that there exists such a labeling for checking a first-order formula with free set variables in the graphs of every class that is \emph{nicely locally cwd-decomposable}. This notion generalizes that of a \emph{nicely locally tree-decomposable} class. The graphs of such classes can be covered by graphs of bounded \emph{clique-width} with limited overlaps. We also consider such labelings for \emph{bounded} first-order formulas on graph classes of \emph{bounded expansion}. Some of these results are extended to counting queries

On the Complexity of Distributed Splitting Problems

One of the fundamental open problems in the area of distributed graph algorithms is the question of whether randomization is needed for efficient symmetry breaking. While there are fast, $\text{poly}\log n$-time randomized distributed algorithms for all of the classic symmetry breaking problems, for many of them, the best deterministic algorithms are almost exponentially slower. The following basic local splitting problem, which is known as the \emph{weak splitting} problem takes a central role in this context: Each node of a graph $G=(V,E)$ has to be colored red or blue such that each node of sufficiently large degree has at least one node of each color among its neighbors. Ghaffari, Kuhn, and Maus [STOC '17] showed that this seemingly simple problem is complete w.r.t. the above fundamental open question in the following sense: If there is an efficient $\text{poly}\log n$-time determinstic distributed algorithm for weak splitting, then there is such an algorithm for all locally checkable graph problems for which an efficient randomized algorithm exists. In this paper, we investigate the distributed complexity of weak splitting and some closely related problems. E.g., we obtain efficient algorithms for special cases of weak splitting, where the graph is nearly regular. In particular, we show that if $\delta$ and $\Delta$ are the minimum and maximum degrees of $G$ and if $\delta=\Omega(\log n)$, weak splitting can be solved deterministically in time $O\big(\frac{\Delta}{\delta}\cdot\text{poly}(\log n)\big)$. Further, if $\delta = \Omega(\log\log n)$ and $\Delta\leq 2^{\varepsilon\delta}$, there is a randomized algorithm with time complexity $O\big(\frac{\Delta}{\delta}\cdot\text{poly}(\log\log n)\big)$

Fast Local Computation Algorithms

For input $x$, let $F(x)$ denote the set of outputs that are the "legal" answers for a computational problem $F$. Suppose $x$ and members of $F(x)$ are so large that there is not time to read them in their entirety. We propose a model of {\em local computation algorithms} which for a given input $x$, support queries by a user to values of specified locations $y_i$ in a legal output $y \in F(x)$. When more than one legal output $y$ exists for a given $x$, the local computation algorithm should output in a way that is consistent with at least one such $y$. Local computation algorithms are intended to distill the common features of several concepts that have appeared in various algorithmic subfields, including local distributed computation, local algorithms, locally decodable codes, and local reconstruction. We develop a technique, based on known constructions of small sample spaces of $k$-wise independent random variables and Beck's analysis in his algorithmic approach to the Lov{\'{a}}sz Local Lemma, which under certain conditions can be applied to construct local computation algorithms that run in {\em polylogarithmic} time and space. We apply this technique to maximal independent set computations, scheduling radio network broadcasts, hypergraph coloring and satisfying $k$-SAT formulas.Comment: A preliminary version of this paper appeared in ICS 2011, pp. 223-23

Distributed Symmetry Breaking in Hypergraphs

Fundamental local symmetry breaking problems such as Maximal Independent Set (MIS) and coloring have been recognized as important by the community, and studied extensively in (standard) graphs. In particular, fast (i.e., logarithmic run time) randomized algorithms are well-established for MIS and $\Delta +1$-coloring in both the LOCAL and CONGEST distributed computing models. On the other hand, comparatively much less is known on the complexity of distributed symmetry breaking in {\em hypergraphs}. In particular, a key question is whether a fast (randomized) algorithm for MIS exists for hypergraphs. In this paper, we study the distributed complexity of symmetry breaking in hypergraphs by presenting distributed randomized algorithms for a variety of fundamental problems under a natural distributed computing model for hypergraphs. We first show that MIS in hypergraphs (of arbitrary dimension) can be solved in $O(\log^2 n)$ rounds ($n$ is the number of nodes of the hypergraph) in the LOCAL model. We then present a key result of this paper --- an $O(\Delta^{\epsilon}\text{polylog}(n))$-round hypergraph MIS algorithm in the CONGEST model where $\Delta$ is the maximum node degree of the hypergraph and $\epsilon > 0$ is any arbitrarily small constant. To demonstrate the usefulness of hypergraph MIS, we present applications of our hypergraph algorithm to solving problems in (standard) graphs. In particular, the hypergraph MIS yields fast distributed algorithms for the {\em balanced minimal dominating set} problem (left open in Harris et al. [ICALP 2013]) and the {\em minimal connected dominating set problem}. We also present distributed algorithms for coloring, maximal matching, and maximal clique in hypergraphs.Comment: Changes from the previous version: More references adde

Fast Distributed Approximation for Max-Cut

Finding a maximum cut is a fundamental task in many computational settings. Surprisingly, it has been insufficiently studied in the classic distributed settings, where vertices communicate by synchronously sending messages to their neighbors according to the underlying graph, known as the $\mathcal{LOCAL}$ or $\mathcal{CONGEST}$ models. We amend this by obtaining almost optimal algorithms for Max-Cut on a wide class of graphs in these models. In particular, for any $\epsilon > 0$, we develop randomized approximation algorithms achieving a ratio of $(1-\epsilon)$ to the optimum for Max-Cut on bipartite graphs in the $\mathcal{CONGEST}$ model, and on general graphs in the $\mathcal{LOCAL}$ model. We further present efficient deterministic algorithms, including a $1/3$-approximation for Max-Dicut in our models, thus improving the best known (randomized) ratio of $1/4$. Our algorithms make non-trivial use of the greedy approach of Buchbinder et al. (SIAM Journal on Computing, 2015) for maximizing an unconstrained (non-monotone) submodular function, which may be of independent interest