Robust Coin Flipping

Alice seeks an information-theoretically secure source of private random data. Unfortunately, she lacks a personal source and must use remote sources controlled by other parties. Alice wants to simulate a coin flip of specified bias $\alpha$, as a function of data she receives from $p$ sources; she seeks privacy from any coalition of $r$ of them. We show: If $p/2 \leq r < p$, the bias can be any rational number and nothing else; if $0 < r < p/2$, the bias can be any algebraic number and nothing else. The proof uses projective varieties, convex geometry, and the probabilistic method. Our results improve on those laid out by Yao, who asserts one direction of the $r=1$ case in his seminal paper [Yao82]. We also provide an application to secure multiparty computation.Comment: 22 pages, 1 figur

Faster Separators for Shallow Minor-Free Graphs via Dynamic Approximate Distance Oracles

Plotkin, Rao, and Smith (SODA'97) showed that any graph with $m$ edges and $n$ vertices that excludes $K_h$ as a depth $O(\ell\log n)$-minor has a separator of size $O(n/\ell + \ell h^2\log n)$ and that such a separator can be found in $O(mn/\ell)$ time. A time bound of $O(m + n^{2+\epsilon}/\ell)$ for any constant $\epsilon > 0$ was later given (W., FOCS'11) which is an improvement for non-sparse graphs. We give three new algorithms. The first has the same separator size and running time O(\mbox{poly}(h)\ell m^{1+\epsilon}). This is a significant improvement for small $h$ and $\ell$. If $\ell = \Omega(n^{\epsilon'})$ for an arbitrarily small chosen constant $\epsilon' > 0$, we get a time bound of O(\mbox{poly}(h)\ell n^{1+\epsilon}). The second algorithm achieves the same separator size (with a slightly larger polynomial dependency on $h$) and running time O(\mbox{poly}(h)(\sqrt\ell n^{1+\epsilon} + n^{2+\epsilon}/\ell^{3/2})) when $\ell = \Omega(n^{\epsilon'})$. Our third algorithm has running time O(\mbox{poly}(h)\sqrt\ell n^{1+\epsilon}) when $\ell = \Omega(n^{\epsilon'})$. It finds a separator of size O(n/\ell) + \tilde O(\mbox{poly}(h)\ell\sqrt n) which is no worse than previous bounds when $h$ is fixed and $\ell = \tilde O(n^{1/4})$. A main tool in obtaining our results is a novel application of a decremental approximate distance oracle of Roditty and Zwick.Comment: 16 pages. Full version of the paper that appeared at ICALP'14. Minor fixes regarding the time bounds such that these bounds hold also for non-sparse graph

An Efficient Partitioning Oracle for Bounded-Treewidth Graphs

Partitioning oracles were introduced by Hassidim et al. (FOCS 2009) as a generic tool for constant-time algorithms. For any epsilon > 0, a partitioning oracle provides query access to a fixed partition of the input bounded-degree minor-free graph, in which every component has size poly(1/epsilon), and the number of edges removed is at most epsilon*n, where n is the number of vertices in the graph. However, the oracle of Hassidimet al. makes an exponential number of queries to the input graph to answer every query about the partition. In this paper, we construct an efficient partitioning oracle for graphs with constant treewidth. The oracle makes only O(poly(1/epsilon)) queries to the input graph to answer each query about the partition. Examples of bounded-treewidth graph classes include k-outerplanar graphs for fixed k, series-parallel graphs, cactus graphs, and pseudoforests. Our oracle yields poly(1/epsilon)-time property testing algorithms for membership in these classes of graphs. Another application of the oracle is a poly(1/epsilon)-time algorithm that approximates the maximum matching size, the minimum vertex cover size, and the minimum dominating set size up to an additive epsilon*n in graphs with bounded treewidth. Finally, the oracle can be used to test in poly(1/epsilon) time whether the input bounded-treewidth graph is k-colorable or perfect.Comment: Full version of a paper to appear in RANDOM 201

Linear-Space Approximate Distance Oracles for Planar, Bounded-Genus, and Minor-Free Graphs

A (1 + eps)-approximate distance oracle for a graph is a data structure that supports approximate point-to-point shortest-path-distance queries. The most relevant measures for a distance-oracle construction are: space, query time, and preprocessing time. There are strong distance-oracle constructions known for planar graphs (Thorup, JACM'04) and, subsequently, minor-excluded graphs (Abraham and Gavoille, PODC'06). However, these require Omega(eps^{-1} n lg n) space for n-node graphs. We argue that a very low space requirement is essential. Since modern computer architectures involve hierarchical memory (caches, primary memory, secondary memory), a high memory requirement in effect may greatly increase the actual running time. Moreover, we would like data structures that can be deployed on small mobile devices, such as handhelds, which have relatively small primary memory. In this paper, for planar graphs, bounded-genus graphs, and minor-excluded graphs we give distance-oracle constructions that require only O(n) space. The big O hides only a fixed constant, independent of \epsilon and independent of genus or size of an excluded minor. The preprocessing times for our distance oracle are also faster than those for the previously known constructions. For planar graphs, the preprocessing time is O(n lg^2 n). However, our constructions have slower query times. For planar graphs, the query time is O(eps^{-2} lg^2 n). For our linear-space results, we can in fact ensure, for any delta > 0, that the space required is only 1 + delta times the space required just to represent the graph itself

What does the local structure of a planar graph tell us about its global structure?

The local k-neighborhood of a vertex v in an unweighted graph G = (V,E) with vertex set V and edge set E is the subgraph induced by all vertices of distance at most k from v. The rooted k-neighborhood of v is also called a k-disk around vertex v. If a graph has maximum degree bounded by a constant d, and k is also constant, the number of isomorphism classes of k-disks is constant as well. We can describe the local structure of a bounded-degree graph G by counting the number of isomorphic copies in G of each possible k-disk. We can summarize this information in form of a vector that has an entry for each isomorphism class of k-disks. The value of the entry is the number of isomorphic copies of the corresponding k-disk in G. We call this vector frequency vector of k-disks. If we only know this vector, what does it tell us about the structure of G? In this paper we will survey a series of papers in the area of Property Testing that leads to the following result (stated informally): There is a k = k(ε,d) such that for any planar graph G its local structure (described by the frequency vector of k-disks) determines G up to insertion and deletion of at most εd n edges (and relabelling of vertices)

Small grid embeddings of 3-polytopes

We introduce an algorithm that embeds a given 3-connected planar graph as a convex 3-polytope with integer coordinates. The size of the coordinates is bounded by $O(2^{7.55n})=O(188^{n})$. If the graph contains a triangle we can bound the integer coordinates by $O(2^{4.82n})$. If the graph contains a quadrilateral we can bound the integer coordinates by $O(2^{5.46n})$. The crucial part of the algorithm is to find a convex plane embedding whose edges can be weighted such that the sum of the weighted edges, seen as vectors, cancel at every point. It is well known that this can be guaranteed for the interior vertices by applying a technique of Tutte. We show how to extend Tutte's ideas to construct a plane embedding where the weighted vector sums cancel also on the vertices of the boundary face

Valiant's model: from exponential sums to exponential products

12 pagesWe study the power of big products for computing multivariate polynomials in a Valiant-like framework. More precisely, we define a new class \vpip as the set of families of polynomials that are exponential products of easily computable polynomials. We investigate the consequences of the hypothesis that these big products are themselves easily computable. For instance, this hypothesis would imply that the nonuniform versions of P and NP coincide. Our main result relates this hypothesis to Blum, Shub and Smale's algebraic version of P versus NP. Let $K$ be a field of characteristic 0. Roughly speaking, we show that in order to separate \p_K from \np_K using a problem from a fairly large class of ``simple'' problems, one should first be able to show that exponential products are not easily computable. The class of ``simple'' problems under consideration is the class of NP problems in the structure $(K,+,-,=)$, in which multiplication is not allowed

A separator theorem for string graphs and its applications

A string graph is the intersection graph of a collection of continuous arcs in the plane. We show that any string graph with in edges can be separated into two parts of roughly equal size by the removal of O(m(3/4)root log m) vertices. This result is then used to deduce that every string graph with n vertices and no complete bipartite subgraph K-t,K-t has at most c(t)n edges, where c(t) is a constant depending only on t. Another application shows that locally tree-like string graphs are globally tree-like: for any epsilon > 0, there is an integer g(epsilon) such that every string graph with n vertices and girth at least g(epsilon) has at most (1 + epsilon)n edges. Furthermore, the number of such labelled graphs is at most (1 + epsilon)(n) T(n), where T(n) = n(n-2) is the number of labelled trees on n vertices

Engineering Planar Separator Algorithms

We consider classical linear-time planar separator algorithms, determining for a given planar graph a small subset of the nodes whose removal separates the graph into two components of similar size. These algorithms are based upon Planar Separator Theorems, which guarantee separators of size asymptotically in the square root of the number of nodes n and remaining components of size less than 2n/3. In this work, we present a comprehensive experimental study of the algorithms applied to a large variety of graphs, where the main goal is to find separators that do not only satisfy upper bounds but also possess other desirable qualities with respect to separator size and component balance. We propose the usage of fundamental cycles, whose size is at most twice the diameter of the graph, as planar separators: For graphs of small diameter the guaranteed bound is better than the bounds of the classical algorithms, and it turns out that this simple strategy almost always outperforms the other algorithms, even for graphs with large diameter

Do Israelis understand the Hebrew bible?

The Hebrew Bible should be taught like a foreign language in Israel too, argues Ghil'ad Zuckermann, inter alia endorsing Avraham Ahuvia’s recently-launched translation of the Old Testament into what Zuckermann calls high-register 'Israeli'. According to Zuckermann, Tanakh RAM fulfills the mission of 'red 'el ha'am' not only in its Hebrew meaning (Go down to the people) but also – more importantly – in its Yiddish meaning ('red' meaning 'speak!', as opposed to its colorful communist sense). Ahuvia's translation is most useful and dignified. Given its high register, however, Zuckermann predicts that the future promises consequent translations into more colloquial forms of Israeli, a beautifully multi-layered and intricately multi-sourced language, of which to be proud.Ghil'ad Zuckerman