The subpower membership problem for semigroups

Fix a finite semigroup $S$ and let $a_1,\ldots,a_k, b$ be tuples in a direct power $S^n$. The subpower membership problem (SMP) asks whether $b$ can be generated by $a_1,\ldots,a_k$. If $S$ is a finite group, then there is a folklore algorithm that decides this problem in time polynomial in $nk$. For semigroups this problem always lies in PSPACE. We show that the SMP for a full transformation semigroup on 3 letters or more is actually PSPACE-complete, while on 2 letters it is in P. For commutative semigroups, we provide a dichotomy result: if a commutative semigroup $S$ embeds into a direct product of a Clifford semigroup and a nilpotent semigroup, then SMP(S) is in P; otherwise it is NP-complete

The Subpower Membership Problem for Finite Algebras with Cube Terms

The subalgebra membership problem is the problem of deciding if a given element belongs to an algebra given by a set of generators. This is one of the best established computational problems in algebra. We consider a variant of this problem, which is motivated by recent progress in the Constraint Satisfaction Problem, and is often referred to as the Subpower Membership Problem (SMP). In the SMP we are given a set of tuples in a direct product of algebras from a fixed finite set $\mathcal{K}$ of finite algebras, and are asked whether or not a given tuple belongs to the subalgebra of the direct product generated by a given set. Our main result is that the subpower membership problem SMP($\mathcal{K}$) is in P if $\mathcal{K}$ is a finite set of finite algebras with a cube term, provided $\mathcal{K}$ is contained in a residually small variety. We also prove that for any finite set of finite algebras $\mathcal{K}$ in a variety with a cube term, each one of the problems SMP($\mathcal{K}$), SMP($\mathbb{HS} \mathcal{K}$), and finding compact representations for subpowers in $\mathcal{K}$, is polynomial time reducible to any of the others, and the first two lie in NP

Efficient enumeration of solutions produced by closure operations

In this paper we address the problem of generating all elements obtained by the saturation of an initial set by some operations. More precisely, we prove that we can generate the closure of a boolean relation (a set of boolean vectors) by polymorphisms with a polynomial delay. Therefore we can compute with polynomial delay the closure of a family of sets by any set of "set operations": union, intersection, symmetric difference, subsets, supersets $\dots$). To do so, we study the $Membership_{\mathcal{F}}$ problem: for a set of operations $\mathcal{F}$, decide whether an element belongs to the closure by $\mathcal{F}$ of a family of elements. In the boolean case, we prove that $Membership_{\mathcal{F}}$ is in P for any set of boolean operations $\mathcal{F}$. When the input vectors are over a domain larger than two elements, we prove that the generic enumeration method fails, since $Membership_{\mathcal{F}}$ is NP-hard for some $\mathcal{F}$. We also study the problem of generating minimal or maximal elements of closures and prove that some of them are related to well known enumeration problems such as the enumeration of the circuits of a matroid or the enumeration of maximal independent sets of a hypergraph. This article improves on previous works of the same authors.Comment: 30 pages, 1 figure. Long version of the article arXiv:1509.05623 of the same name which appeared in STACS 2016. Final version for DMTCS journa

The subpower membership problem of 2-nilpotent algebras

The subpower membership problem SMP(A) of a finite algebraic structure A asks whether a given partial function from A^k to A can be interpolated by a term operation of A, or not. While this problem can be EXPTIME-complete in general, Willard asked whether it is always solvable in polynomial time if A is a Mal'tsev algebras. In particular, this includes many important structures studied in abstract algebra, such as groups, quasigroups, rings, Boolean algebras. In this paper we give an affirmative answer to Willard's question for a big class of 2-nilpotent Mal'tsev algebras. We furthermore develop tools that might be essential in answering the question for general nilpotent Mal'tsev algebras in the future.Comment: 17 pages (including appendix

Hardness Results for the Subpower Membership Problem

We first provide an example of a finite algebra with a Taylor term whose subpower membership problem is NP-hard. We then prove that for any consistent strong linear Maltsev condition M which does not imply the existence of a cube term, there exists a finite algebra satisfying M whose subpower membership problem is EXPTIME-complete. We characterize consistent strong linear Maltsev conditions which do not imply the existence of a cube term, and show as a corollary that there are finite algebras which generate congruence distributive and congruence k-permutable (k ≥ 3) varieties whose subpower membership problem is EXPTIME-complete. Finally, we show that the spectrum of complexities of the problems SMP() for finite algebras in varieties which are congruence distributive and congruence k-permutable (k ≥ 3) is fuller than P and EXPTIME-complete by giving examples of finite algebras in such a variety whose subpower membership problems are NP-complete and PSPACE-complete, respectively

Aichinger equation on commutative semigroups

We consider Aichinger's equation $$f(x_1+\cdots+x_{m+1})=\sum_{i=1}^{m+1}g_i(x_1,x_2,\cdots, \widehat{x_i},\cdots, x_{m+1})$$ for functions defined on commutative semigroups which take values on commutative groups. The solutions of this equation are, under very mild hypotheses, generalized polynomials. We use the canonical form of generalized polynomials to prove that compositions and products of generalized polynomials are again generalized polynomials and that the bounds for the degrees are, in this new context, the natural ones. In some cases, we also show that a polynomial function defined on a semigroup can uniquely be extended to a polynomial function defined on a larger group. For example, if $f$ solves Aichinger's equation under the additional restriction that $x_1,\cdots,x_{m+1}\in \mathbb{R}_+^p$, then there exists a unique polynomial function $F$ defined on $\mathbb{R}^p$ such that $F_{|\mathbb{R}_+^p}=f$. In particular, if $f$ is also bounded on a set $A\subseteq \mathbb{R}_+^p$ with positive Lebesgue measure then its unique polynomial extension $F$ is an ordinary polynomial of $p$ variables with total degree $\leq m$, and the functions $g_i$ are also restrictions to $\mathbb{R}_+^{pm}$ of ordinary polynomials of total degree $\leq m$ defined on $\mathbb{R}^{pm}$.Comment: 8 pages; submitted to a journal. This second version eliminates theorem 10 from the previous one, since it was not righ