On Isoperimetric Profiles and Computational Complexity

The isoperimetric profile of a graph is a function that measures, for an integer k, the size of the smallest edge boundary over all sets of vertices of size k. We observe a connection between isoperimetric profiles and computational complexity. We illustrate this connection by an example from communication complexity, but our main result is in algebraic complexity. We prove a sharp super-polynomial separation between monotone arithmetic circuits and monotone arithmetic branching programs. This shows that the classical simulation of arithmetic circuits by arithmetic branching programs by Valiant, Skyum, Berkowitz, and Rackoff (1983) cannot be improved, as long as it preserves monotonicity. A key ingredient in the proof is an accurate analysis of the isoperimetric profile of finite full binary trees. We show that the isoperimetric profile of a full binary tree constantly fluctuates between one and almost the depth of the tree

The Query Complexity of Correlated Equilibria

We consider the complexity of finding a correlated equilibrium of an $n$-player game in a model that allows the algorithm to make queries on players' payoffs at pure strategy profiles. Randomized regret-based dynamics are known to yield an approximate correlated equilibrium efficiently, namely, in time that is polynomial in the number of players $n$. Here we show that both randomization and approximation are necessary: no efficient deterministic algorithm can reach even an approximate correlated equilibrium, and no efficient randomized algorithm can reach an exact correlated equilibrium. The results are obtained by bounding from below the number of payoff queries that are needed

Explicit convergence bounds for Metropolis Markov chains: isoperimetry, spectral gaps and profiles

We derive the first explicit bounds for the spectral gap of a random walk Metropolis algorithm on $R^d$ for any value of the proposal variance, which when scaled appropriately recovers the correct $d^{-1}$ dependence on dimension for suitably regular invariant distributions. We also obtain explicit bounds on the ${\rm L}^2$-mixing time for a broad class of models. In obtaining these results, we refine the use of isoperimetric profile inequalities to obtain conductance profile bounds, which also enable the derivation of explicit bounds in a much broader class of models. We also obtain similar results for the preconditioned Crank--Nicolson Markov chain, obtaining dimension-independent bounds under suitable assumptions

Medial Axis Isoperimetric Profiles

Recently proposed as a stable means of evaluating geometric compactness, the isoperimetric profile of a planar domain measures the minimum perimeter needed to inscribe a shape with prescribed area varying from 0 to the area of the domain. While this profile has proven valuable for evaluating properties of geographic partitions, existing algorithms for its computation rely on aggressive approximations and are still computationally expensive. In this paper, we propose a practical means of approximating the isoperimetric profile and show that for domains satisfying a "thick neck" condition, our approximation is exact. For more general domains, we show that our bound is still exact within a conservative regime and is otherwise an upper bound. Our method is based on a traversal of the medial axis which produces efficient and robust results. We compare our technique with the state-of-the-art approximation to the isoperimetric profile on a variety of domains and show significantly tighter bounds than were previously achievable.Comment: Code and supplemental available here: https://github.com/pzpzpzp1/isoperimetric_profil

Holographic Complexity Growth Rate in Horndeski Theory

Based on the context of complexity = action (CA) conjecture, we calculate the holographic complexity of AdS black holes with planar and spherical topologies in Horndeski theory. We find that the rate of change of holographic complexity for neutral AdS black holes saturates the Lloyd's bound. For charged black holes, we find that there exists only one horizon and thus the corresponding holographic complexity can't be expressed as the difference of some thermodynamical potential between two horizons as that of Reissner-Nordstrom AdS black hole in Einstein-Maxwell theory. However, the Lloyd's bound is not violated for charged AdS black hole in Horndeski theory.Comment: 20 pages, 6 figures, references added, typos correcte