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

A Note on the Sparing Number of Graphs

An integer additive set-indexer is defined as an injective function $f:V(G)\rightarrow 2^{\mathbb{N}_0}$ such that the induced function $g_f:E(G) \rightarrow 2^{\mathbb{N}_0}$ defined by $g_f (uv) = f(u)+ f(v)$ is also injective. An IASI $f$ is said to be a weak IASI if $|g_f(uv)|=max(|f(u)|,|f(v)|)$ for all $u,v\in V(G)$. A graph which admits a weak IASI may be called a weak IASI graph. The set-indexing number of an element of a graph $G$, a vertex or an edge, is the cardinality of its set-labels. The sparing number of a graph $G$ is the minimum number of edges with singleton set-labels, required for a graph $G$ to admit a weak IASI. In this paper, we study the sparing number of certain graphs and the relation of sparing number with some other parameters like matching number, chromatic number, covering number, independence number etc.Comment: 10 pages, 10 figures, submitte

On the order of countable graphs

A set of graphs is said to be independent if there is no homomorphism between distinct graphs from the set. We consider the existence problems related to the independent sets of countable graphs. While the maximal size of an independent set of countable graphs is 2^omega the On Line problem of extending an independent set to a larger independent set is much harder. We prove here that singletons can be extended (``partnership theorem''). While this is the best possible in general, we give structural conditions which guarantee independent extensions of larger independent sets. This is related to universal graphs, rigid graphs and to the density problem for countable graphs

On globally sparse Ramsey graphs

We say that a graph $G$ has the Ramsey property w.r.t.\ some graph $F$ and some integer $r\geq 2$, or $G$ is $(F,r)$-Ramsey for short, if any $r$-coloring of the edges of $G$ contains a monochromatic copy of $F$. R{\"o}dl and Ruci{\'n}ski asked how globally sparse $(F,r)$-Ramsey graphs $G$ can possibly be, where the density of $G$ is measured by the subgraph $H\subseteq G$ with the highest average degree. So far, this so-called Ramsey density is known only for cliques and some trivial graphs $F$. In this work we determine the Ramsey density up to some small error terms for several cases when $F$ is a complete bipartite graph, a cycle or a path, and $r\geq 2$ colors are available

Hamilton cycles, minimum degree and bipartite holes

We present a tight extremal threshold for the existence of Hamilton cycles in graphs with large minimum degree and without a large ``bipartite hole`` (two disjoint sets of vertices with no edges between them). This result extends Dirac's classical theorem, and is related to a theorem of Chv\'atal and Erd\H{o}s. In detail, an $(s, t)$-bipartite-hole in a graph $G$ consists of two disjoint sets of vertices $S$ and $T$ with $|S|= s$ and $|T|=t$ such that there are no edges between $S$ and $T$; and $\widetilde{\alpha}(G)$ is the maximum integer $r$ such that $G$ contains an $(s, t)$-bipartite-hole for every pair of non-negative integers $s$ and $t$ with $s + t = r$. Our central theorem is that a graph $G$ with at least $3$ vertices is Hamiltonian if its minimum degree is at least $\widetilde{\alpha}(G)$. From the proof we obtain a polynomial time algorithm that either finds a Hamilton cycle or a large bipartite hole. The theorem also yields a condition for the existence of $k$ edge-disjoint Hamilton cycles. We see that for dense random graphs $G(n,p)$, the probability of failing to contain many edge-disjoint Hamilton cycles is $(1 - p)^{(1 + o(1))n}$. Finally, we discuss the complexity of calculating and approximating $\widetilde{\alpha}(G)$

Computing Graph Roots Without Short Cycles

Graph G is the square of graph H if two vertices x, y have an edge in G if and only if x, y are of distance at most two in H. Given H it is easy to compute its square H2, however Motwani and Sudan proved that it is NP-complete to determine if a given graph G is the square of some graph H (of girth 3). In this paper we consider the characterization and recognition problems of graphs that are squares of graphs of small girth, i.e. to determine if G = H2 for some graph H of small girth. The main results are the following. - There is a graph theoretical characterization for graphs that are squares of some graph of girth at least 7. A corollary is that if a graph G has a square root H of girth at least 7 then H is unique up to isomorphism. - There is a polynomial time algorithm to recognize if G = H2 for some graph H of girth at least 6. - It is NP-complete to recognize if G = H2 for some graph H of girth 4. These results almost provide a dichotomy theorem for the complexity of the recognition problem in terms of girth of the square roots. The algorithmic and graph theoretical results generalize previous results on tree square roots, and provide polynomial time algorithms to compute a graph square root of small girth if it exists. Some open questions and conjectures will also be discussed

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 $O(\log^3 n)$ time on $n^{O(\log^2 n)}$ 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