Space-Efficient Approximation Scheme for Maximum Matching in Sparse Graphs

We present a Logspace Approximation Scheme (LSAS), i.e. an approximation algorithm for maximum matching in planar graphs (not necessarily bipartite) that achieves an approximation ratio arbitrarily close to one, using only logarithmic space. This deviates from the well known Baker\u27s approach for approximation in planar graphs by avoiding the use of distance computation - which is not known to be in Logspace. Our algorithm actually works for any "recursively sparse" graph class which contains a linear size matching and also for certain other classes like bounded genus graphs. The scheme is based on an LSAS in bounded degree graphs which are not known to be amenable to Baker\u27s method. We solve the bounded degree case by parallel augmentation of short augmenting paths. Finding a large number of such disjoint paths can, in turn, be reduced to finding a large independent set in a bounded degree graph. The bounded degree assumption allows us to obtain a Logspace algorithm

A Framework for In-place Graph Algorithms

Read-only memory (ROM) model is a classical model of computation to study time-space tradeoffs of algorithms. A classical result on the ROM model is that any algorithm to sort n numbers using O(s) words of extra space requires Omega (n^2/s) comparisons for lg n <= s <= n/lg n and the bound has also been recently matched by an algorithm. However, if we relax the model, we do have sorting algorithms (say Heapsort) that can sort using O(n lg n) comparisons using O(lg n) bits of extra space, even keeping a permutation of the given input sequence at anytime during the algorithm. We address similar relaxations for graph algorithms. We show that a simple natural relaxation of ROM model allows us to implement fundamental graph search methods like BFS and DFS more space efficiently than in ROM. By simply allowing elements in the adjacency list of a vertex to be permuted, we show that, on an undirected or directed connected graph G having n vertices and m edges, the vertices of G can be output in a DFS or BFS order using O(lg n) bits of extra space and O(n^3 lg n) time. Thus we obtain similar bounds for reachability and shortest path distance (both for undirected and directed graphs). With a little more (but still polynomial) time, we can also output vertices in the lex-DFS order. As reachability in directed graphs (even in DAGs) and shortest path distance (even in undirected graphs) are NL-complete, and lex-DFS is P-complete, our results show that our model is more powerful than ROM if L != P. En route, we also introduce and develop algorithms for another relaxation of ROM where the adjacency lists of the vertices are circular lists and we can modify only the heads of the lists. Here we first show a linear time DFS implementation using n + O(lg n) bits of extra space. Improving the extra space exponentially to only O(lg n) bits, we also obtain BFS and DFS albeit with a slightly slower running time. Both the models we propose maintain the graph structure throughout the algorithm, only the order of vertices in the adjacency list changes. In sharp contrast, for BFS and DFS, to the best of our knowledge, there are no algorithms in ROM that use even O(n^{1-epsilon}) bits of extra space; in fact, implementing DFS using cn bits for c<1 has been mentioned as an open problem. Furthermore, DFS (BFS, respectively) algorithms using n+o(n) (o(n), respectively) bits of extra use Reingold\u27s [JACM, 2008] or Barnes et al\u27s reachability algorithm [SICOMP, 1998] and hence have high runtime. Our results can be contrasted with the recent result of Buhrman et al. [STOC, 2014] which gives an algorithm for directed st-reachability on catalytic Turing machines using O(lg n) bits with catalytic space O(n^2 lg n) and time O(n^9)

Parallelism with limited nondeterminism

Computational complexity theory studies which computational problems can be solved with limited access to resources. The past fifty years have seen a focus on the relationship between intractable problems and efficient algorithms. However, the relationship between inherently sequential problems and highly parallel algorithms has not been as well studied. Are there efficient but inherently sequential problems that admit some relaxed form of highly parallel algorithm? In this dissertation, we develop the theory of structural complexity around this relationship for three common types of computational problems. Specifically, we show tradeoffs between time, nondeterminism, and parallelizability. By clearly defining the notions and complexity classes that capture our intuition for parallelizable and sequential problems, we create a comprehensive framework for rigorously proving parallelizability and non-parallelizability of computational problems. This framework provides the means to prove whether otherwise tractable problems can be effectively parallelized, a need highlighted by the current growth of multiprocessor systems. The views adopted by this dissertation—alternate approaches to solving sequential problems using approximation, limited nondeterminism, and parameterization—can be applied practically throughout computer science