1,100 research outputs found
Between Treewidth and Clique-width
Many hard graph problems can be solved efficiently when restricted to graphs
of bounded treewidth, and more generally to graphs of bounded clique-width. But
there is a price to be paid for this generality, exemplified by the four
problems MaxCut, Graph Coloring, Hamiltonian Cycle and Edge Dominating Set that
are all FPT parameterized by treewidth but none of which can be FPT
parameterized by clique-width unless FPT = W[1], as shown by Fomin et al [7,
8]. We therefore seek a structural graph parameter that shares some of the
generality of clique-width without paying this price. Based on splits, branch
decompositions and the work of Vatshelle [18] on Maximum Matching-width, we
consider the graph parameter sm-width which lies between treewidth and
clique-width. Some graph classes of unbounded treewidth, like
distance-hereditary graphs, have bounded sm-width. We show that MaxCut, Graph
Coloring, Hamiltonian Cycle and Edge Dominating Set are all FPT parameterized
by sm-width
On the fine-grained complexity of rainbow coloring
The Rainbow k-Coloring problem asks whether the edges of a given graph can be
colored in colors so that every pair of vertices is connected by a rainbow
path, i.e., a path with all edges of different colors. Our main result states
that for any , there is no algorithm for Rainbow k-Coloring running in
time , unless ETH fails.
Motivated by this negative result we consider two parameterized variants of
the problem. In Subset Rainbow k-Coloring problem, introduced by Chakraborty et
al. [STACS 2009, J. Comb. Opt. 2009], we are additionally given a set of
pairs of vertices and we ask if there is a coloring in which all the pairs in
are connected by rainbow paths. We show that Subset Rainbow k-Coloring is
FPT when parameterized by . We also study Maximum Rainbow k-Coloring
problem, where we are additionally given an integer and we ask if there is
a coloring in which at least anti-edges are connected by rainbow paths. We
show that the problem is FPT when parameterized by and has a kernel of size
for every (thus proving that the problem is FPT), extending the
result of Ananth et al. [FSTTCS 2011]
On the van der Waerden numbers w(2;3,t)
We present results and conjectures on the van der Waerden numbers w(2;3,t)
and on the new palindromic van der Waerden numbers pdw(2;3,t). We have computed
the new number w(2;3,19) = 349, and we provide lower bounds for 20 <= t <= 39,
where for t <= 30 we conjecture these lower bounds to be exact. The lower
bounds for 24 <= t <= 30 refute the conjecture that w(2;3,t) <= t^2, and we
present an improved conjecture. We also investigate regularities in the good
partitions (certificates) to better understand the lower bounds.
Motivated by such reglarities, we introduce *palindromic van der Waerden
numbers* pdw(k; t_0,...,t_{k-1}), defined as ordinary van der Waerden numbers
w(k; t_0,...,t_{k-1}), however only allowing palindromic solutions (good
partitions), defined as reading the same from both ends. Different from the
situation for ordinary van der Waerden numbers, these "numbers" need actually
to be pairs of numbers. We compute pdw(2;3,t) for 3 <= t <= 27, and we provide
lower bounds, which we conjecture to be exact, for t <= 35.
All computations are based on SAT solving, and we discuss the various
relations between SAT solving and Ramsey theory. Especially we introduce a
novel (open-source) SAT solver, the tawSolver, which performs best on the SAT
instances studied here, and which is actually the original DLL-solver, but with
an efficient implementation and a modern heuristic typical for look-ahead
solvers (applying the theory developed in the SAT handbook article of the
second author).Comment: Second version 25 pages, updates of numerical data, improved
formulations, and extended discussions on SAT. Third version 42 pages, with
SAT solver data (especially for new SAT solver) and improved representation.
Fourth version 47 pages, with updates and added explanation
Strong Forms of Stability from Flag Algebra Calculations
Given a hereditary family of admissible graphs and a function
that linearly depends on the statistics of order-
subgraphs in a graph , we consider the extremal problem of determining
, the maximum of over all admissible
graphs of order . We call the problem perfectly -stable for a graph
if there is a constant such that every admissible graph of order
can be made into a blow-up of by changing at most
adjacencies. As special
cases, this property describes all almost extremal graphs of order within
edges and shows that every extremal graph of order is a
blow-up of .
We develop general methods for establishing stability-type results from flag
algebra computations and apply them to concrete examples. In fact, one of our
sufficient conditions for perfect stability is stated in a way that allows
automatic verification by a computer. This gives a unifying way to obtain
computer-assisted proofs of many new results.Comment: 44 pages; incorporates reviewers' suggestion
Low-degree tests at large distances
We define tests of boolean functions which distinguish between linear (or
quadratic) polynomials, and functions which are very far, in an appropriate
sense, from these polynomials. The tests have optimal or nearly optimal
trade-offs between soundness and the number of queries.
In particular, we show that functions with small Gowers uniformity norms
behave ``randomly'' with respect to hypergraph linearity tests.
A central step in our analysis of quadraticity tests is the proof of an
inverse theorem for the third Gowers uniformity norm of boolean functions.
The last result has also a coding theory application. It is possible to
estimate efficiently the distance from the second-order Reed-Muller code on
inputs lying far beyond its list-decoding radius
Copositive matrices, sums of squares and the stability number of a graph
This chapter investigates the cone of copositive matrices, with a focus on the design and analysis of conic inner approximations for it. These approximations are based on various sufficient conditions for matrix copositivity, relying on positivity certificates in terms of sums of squares of polynomials. Their application to the discrete optimization problem asking for a maximum stable set in a graph is also discussed. A central theme in this chapter is understanding when the conic approximations suffice for describing the full copositive cone, and when the corresponding bounds for the stable set problem admit finite convergence
Handelman 's hierarchy for the maximum stable set problem.
The maximum stable set problem is a well-known NP-hard problem in combinatorial optimization, which can be formulated as the maximization of a quadratic square-free polynomial over the (Boolean) hypercube. We investigate a hierarchy of linear programming relaxations for this problem, based on a result of Handelman showing that a positive polynomial over a polytope with non-empty interior can be represented as conic combination of products of the linear constraints defining the polytope. We relate the rank of Handelman's hierarchy with structural properties of graphs. In particular we show a relation to fractional clique covers which we use to upper bound the Handelman rank for perfect graphs and determine its exact value in the vertex-transitive case. Moreover we show two upper bounds on the Handelman rank in terms of the (fractional) stability number of the graph and compute the Handelman rank for several classes of graphs including odd cycles and wheels and their complements. We also point out links to several other linear and semidefinite programming hierarchies
Graph Colouring is Hard for Algorithms Based on Hilbert's Nullstellensatz and Gr\"{o}bner Bases
We consider the graph -colouring problem encoded as a set of polynomial
equations in the standard way over -valued variables. We prove that there
are bounded-degree graphs that do not have legal -colourings but for which
the polynomial calculus proof system defined in [Clegg et al '96, Alekhnovich
et al '02] requires linear degree, and hence exponential size, to establish
this fact. This implies a linear degree lower bound for any algorithms based on
Gr\"{o}bner bases solving graph -colouring using this encoding. The same
bound applies also for the algorithm studied in a sequence of papers [De Loera
et al '08,'09,'11,'15] based on Hilbert's Nullstellensatz proofs for a slightly
different encoding, thus resolving an open problem mentioned in [De Loera et al
'08,'09,'11] and [Li '16]. We obtain our results by combining the polynomial
calculus degree lower bound for functional pigeonhole principle (FPHP) formulas
over bounded-degree bipartite graphs in [Mik\v{s}a and Nordstr\"{o}m '15] with
a reduction from FPHP to -colouring derivable by polynomial calculus in
constant degree
Complexity of certificates, heuristics, and counting types , with applications to cryptography and circuit theory
In dieser Habilitationsschrift werden Struktur und Eigenschaften von Komplexitätsklassen wie P und NP untersucht, vor allem im Hinblick auf: Zertifikatkomplexität, Einwegfunktionen, Heuristiken gegen NP-Vollständigkeit und Zählkomplexität. Zum letzten Punkt werden speziell untersucht: (a) die Komplexität von Zähleigenschaften von Schaltkreisen, (b) Separationen von Zählklassen mit Immunität und (c) die Komplexität des Zählens der Lösungen von ,,tally`` NP-Problemen
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