1,981 research outputs found
Streaming Hardness of Unique Games
We study the problem of approximating the value of a Unique Game instance in the streaming model. A simple count of the number of constraints divided by p, the alphabet size of the Unique Game, gives a trivial p-approximation that can be computed in O(log n) space. Meanwhile, with high probability, a sample of O~(n) constraints suffices to estimate the optimal value to (1+epsilon) accuracy. We prove that any single-pass streaming algorithm that achieves a (p-epsilon)-approximation requires Omega_epsilon(sqrt n) space. Our proof is via a reduction from lower bounds for a communication problem that is a p-ary variant of the Boolean Hidden Matching problem studied in the literature. Given the utility of Unique Games as a starting point for reduction to other optimization problems, our strong hardness for approximating Unique Games could lead to downstream hardness results for streaming approximability for other CSP-like problems
Streaming Approximation Resistance of Every Ordering CSP
An ordering constraint satisfaction problem (OCSP) is given by a positive
integer and a constraint predicate mapping permutations on
to . Given an instance of OCSP on
variables and constraints, the goal is to find an ordering of the
variables that maximizes the number of constraints that are satisfied, where a
constraint specifies a sequence of distinct variables and the constraint is
satisfied by an ordering on the variables if the ordering induced on the
variables in the constraint satisfies . OCSPs capture natural problems
including "Maximum acyclic subgraph (MAS)" and "Betweenness".
In this work we consider the task of approximating the maximum number of
satisfiable constraints in the (single-pass) streaming setting, where an
instance is presented as a stream of constraints. We show that for every ,
OCSP is approximation-resistant to -space streaming algorithms.
This space bound is tight up to polylogarithmic factors. In the case of MAS our
result shows that for every , MAS is not
-approximable in space. The previous best
inapproximability result only ruled out a -approximation in
space.
Our results build on recent works of Chou, Golovnev, Sudan, Velingker, and
Velusamy who show tight, linear-space inapproximability results for a broad
class of (non-ordering) constraint satisfaction problems over arbitrary
(finite) alphabets. We design a family of appropriate CSPs (one for every )
from any given OCSP, and apply their work to this family of CSPs. We show that
the hard instances from this earlier work have a particular "small-set
expansion" property. By exploiting this combinatorial property, in combination
with the hardness results of the resulting families of CSPs, we give optimal
inapproximability results for all OCSPs.Comment: 23 pages, 1 figure. Replaces earlier version with lower
bound, using new bounds from arXiv:2106.13078. To appear in APPROX'2
Incidence Geometries and the Pass Complexity of Semi-Streaming Set Cover
Set cover, over a universe of size , may be modelled as a data-streaming
problem, where the sets that comprise the instance are to be read one by
one. A semi-streaming algorithm is allowed only space to process this stream. For each , we give a very
simple deterministic algorithm that makes passes over the input stream and
returns an appropriately certified -approximation to the
optimum set cover. More importantly, we proceed to show that this approximation
factor is essentially tight, by showing that a factor better than
is unachievable for a -pass semi-streaming
algorithm, even allowing randomisation. In particular, this implies that
achieving a -approximation requires
passes, which is tight up to the factor. These results extend to a
relaxation of the set cover problem where we are allowed to leave an
fraction of the universe uncovered: the tight bounds on the best
approximation factor achievable in passes turn out to be
. Our lower bounds are based
on a construction of a family of high-rank incidence geometries, which may be
thought of as vast generalisations of affine planes. This construction, based
on algebraic techniques, appears flexible enough to find other applications and
is therefore interesting in its own right.Comment: 20 page
Hardness of Exact Distance Queries in Sparse Graphs Through Hub Labeling
A distance labeling scheme is an assignment of bit-labels to the vertices of
an undirected, unweighted graph such that the distance between any pair of
vertices can be decoded solely from their labels. An important class of
distance labeling schemes is that of hub labelings, where a node
stores its distance to the so-called hubs , chosen so that for
any there is belonging to some shortest
path. Notice that for most existing graph classes, the best distance labelling
constructions existing use at some point a hub labeling scheme at least as a
key building block. Our interest lies in hub labelings of sparse graphs, i.e.,
those with , for which we show a lowerbound of
for the average size of the hubsets.
Additionally, we show a hub-labeling construction for sparse graphs of average
size for some , where is the
so-called Ruzsa-Szemer{\'e}di function, linked to structure of induced
matchings in dense graphs. This implies that further improving the lower bound
on hub labeling size to would require a
breakthrough in the study of lower bounds on , which have resisted
substantial improvement in the last 70 years. For general distance labeling of
sparse graphs, we show a lowerbound of , where is the communication complexity of the
Sum-Index problem over . Our results suggest that the best achievable
hub-label size and distance-label size in sparse graphs may be
for some
On streaming approximation algorithms for constraint satisfaction problems
In this thesis, we explore streaming algorithms for approximating constraint
satisfaction problems (CSPs). The setup is roughly the following: A computer
has limited memory space, sees a long "stream" of local constraints on a set of
variables, and tries to estimate how many of the constraints may be
simultaneously satisfied. The past ten years have seen a number of works in
this area, and this thesis includes both expository material and novel
contributions. Throughout, we emphasize connections to the broader theories of
CSPs, approximability, and streaming models, and highlight interesting open
problems.
The first part of our thesis is expository: We present aspects of previous
works that completely characterize the approximability of specific CSPs like
Max-Cut and Max-Dicut with -space streaming algorithm (on
-variable instances), while characterizing the approximability of all CSPs
in space in the special case of "composable" (i.e., sketching)
algorithms, and of a particular subclass of CSPs with linear-space streaming
algorithms.
In the second part of the thesis, we present two of our own joint works. We
begin with a work with Madhu Sudan and Santhoshini Velusamy in which we prove
linear-space streaming approximation-resistance for all ordering CSPs (OCSPs),
which are "CSP-like" problems maximizing over sets of permutations. Next, we
present joint work with Joanna Boyland, Michael Hwang, Tarun Prasad, and
Santhoshini Velusamy in which we investigate the -space streaming
approximability of symmetric Boolean CSPs with negations. We give explicit
-space sketching approximability ratios for several families of CSPs,
including Max-AND; develop simpler optimal sketching approximation
algorithms for threshold predicates; and show that previous lower bounds fail
to characterize the -space streaming approximability of Max-AND.Comment: Harvard College senior thesis; 119 pages plus references; abstract
shortened for arXiv; formatted with Dissertate template (feel free to copy!);
exposits papers arXiv:2105.01782 (APPROX 2021) and arXiv:2112.06319 (APPROX
2022
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