813 research outputs found
Syntactic characterizations of polynomial time optimization classes
The characterization of important complexity classes by logical descriptions has been an important and prolific area of Descriptive complexity. However, the central focus of the research has been the study of classes like P, NP, L and NL, corresponding to decision problems (e.g. the characterization of NP by Fagin [Fag74] and of P by Gradel [E. 91]). In contrast, optimization problems have received much less attention. Optimization problems corresponding to the NP class have been characterized in terms of logic expressions by Papadimitriou and Yannakakis, Panconesi and Ranjan, Kolaitis and Thakur, Khanna et al, and by Zimand. In this paper, we attempt to characterize the optimization versions of P via expressions in second order logic, many of them using universal Horn formulae with successor relations. These results nicely complement those of Kolaitis and Thakur [KT94] for polynomially bounded NP-optimization problems. The polynomially bounded versions of maximization and minimization problems are treated first, and then the maximization problems in the not necessarily polynomially bounded class
Frameworks for logically classifying polynomial-time optimisation problems.
We show that a logical framework, based around a fragment of existential second-order logic formerly proposed by others so as to capture the class of polynomially-bounded P-optimisation problems, cannot hope to do so, under the assumption that P ≠ NP. We do this by exhibiting polynomially-bounded maximisation and minimisation problems that can be expressed in the framework but whose decision versions are NP-complete. We propose an alternative logical framework, based around inflationary fixed-point logic, and show that we can capture the above classes of optimisation problems. We use the inductive depth of an inflationary fixed-point as a means to describe the objective functions of the instances of our optimisation problems
Strong Equivalence of Qualitative Optimization Problems
We introduce the framework of qualitative optimization problems (or, simply, optimization problems) to represent preference theories. The formalism uses separate modules to describe the space of outcomes to be compared (the generator) and the preferences on outcomes (the selector). We consider two types of optimization problems. They differ in the way the generator, which we model by a propositional theory, is interpreted: by the standard propositional logic semantics, and by the equilibrium-model (answer-set) semantics. Under the latter interpretation of generators, optimization problems directly generalize answer-set optimization programs proposed previously. We study strong equivalence of optimization problems, which guarantees their interchangeability within any larger context. We characterize several versions of strong equivalence obtained by restricting the class of optimization problems that can be used as extensions and establish the complexity of associated reasoning tasks. Understanding strong equivalence is essential for modular representation of optimization problems and rewriting techniques to simplify them without changing their inherent properties
The 2CNF Boolean Formula Satisfiability Problem and the Linear Space Hypothesis
We aim at investigating the solvability/insolvability of nondeterministic
logarithmic-space (NL) decision, search, and optimization problems
parameterized by size parameters using simultaneously polynomial time and
sub-linear space on multi-tape deterministic Turing machines. We are
particularly focused on a special NL-complete problem, 2SAT---the 2CNF Boolean
formula satisfiability problem---parameterized by the number of Boolean
variables. It is shown that 2SAT with variables and clauses can be
solved simultaneously polynomial time and space for an absolute constant . This fact inspires us to
propose a new, practical working hypothesis, called the linear space hypothesis
(LSH), which states that 2SAT---a restricted variant of 2SAT in which each
variable of a given 2CNF formula appears at most 3 times in the form of
literals---cannot be solved simultaneously in polynomial time using strictly
"sub-linear" (i.e., for a certain constant
) space on all instances . An immediate consequence of
this working hypothesis is . Moreover, we use our
hypothesis as a plausible basis to lead to the insolvability of various NL
search problems as well as the nonapproximability of NL optimization problems.
For our investigation, since standard logarithmic-space reductions may no
longer preserve polynomial-time sub-linear-space complexity, we need to
introduce a new, practical notion of "short reduction." It turns out that,
parameterized with the number of variables, is
complete for a syntactically restricted version of NL, called Syntactic
NL, under such short reductions. This fact supports the legitimacy
of our working hypothesis.Comment: (A4, 10pt, 25 pages) This current article extends and corrects its
preliminary report in the Proc. of the 42nd International Symposium on
Mathematical Foundations of Computer Science (MFCS 2017), August 21-25, 2017,
Aalborg, Denmark, Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs),
Schloss Dagstuhl - Leibniz-Zentrum fuer Informatik 2017, vol. 83, pp.
62:1-62:14, 201
Observation of implicit complexity by non confluence
We propose to consider non confluence with respect to implicit complexity. We
come back to some well known classes of first-order functional program, for
which we have a characterization of their intentional properties, namely the
class of cons-free programs, the class of programs with an interpretation, and
the class of programs with a quasi-interpretation together with a termination
proof by the product path ordering. They all correspond to PTIME. We prove that
adding non confluence to the rules leads to respectively PTIME, NPTIME and
PSPACE. Our thesis is that the separation of the classes is actually a witness
of the intentional properties of the initial classes of programs
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