Estimating the weight of metric minimum spanning trees in sublinear time

In this paper we present a sublinear-time $(1+\varepsilon)$-approximation randomized algorithm to estimate the weight of the minimum spanning tree of an $n$-point metric space. The running time of the algorithm is $\widetilde{\mathcal{O}}(n/\varepsilon^{\mathcal{O}(1)})$. Since the full description of an $n$-point metric space is of size $\Theta(n^2)$, the complexity of our algorithm is sublinear with respect to the input size. Our algorithm is almost optimal as it is not possible to approximate in $o(n)$ time the weight of the minimum spanning tree to within any factor. We also show that no deterministic algorithm can achieve a $B$-approximation in $o(n^2/B^3)$ time. Furthermore, it has been previously shown that no $o(n^2)$ algorithm exists that returns a spanning tree whose weight is within a constant times the optimum

Helly-Type Theorems in Property Testing

Helly's theorem is a fundamental result in discrete geometry, describing the ways in which convex sets intersect with each other. If $S$ is a set of $n$ points in $R^d$, we say that $S$ is $(k,G)$-clusterable if it can be partitioned into $k$ clusters (subsets) such that each cluster can be contained in a translated copy of a geometric object $G$. In this paper, as an application of Helly's theorem, by taking a constant size sample from $S$, we present a testing algorithm for $(k,G)$-clustering, i.e., to distinguish between two cases: when $S$ is $(k,G)$-clusterable, and when it is $\epsilon$-far from being $(k,G)$-clusterable. A set $S$ is $\epsilon$-far $(0<\epsilon\leq1)$ from being $(k,G)$-clusterable if at least $\epsilon n$ points need to be removed from $S$ to make it $(k,G)$-clusterable. We solve this problem for $k=1$ and when $G$ is a symmetric convex object. For $k>1$, we solve a weaker version of this problem. Finally, as an application of our testing result, in clustering with outliers, we show that one can find the approximate clusters by querying a constant size sample, with high probability

A Quantum Lovasz Local Lemma

The Lovasz Local Lemma (LLL) is a powerful tool in probability theory to show the existence of combinatorial objects meeting a prescribed collection of "weakly dependent" criteria. We show that the LLL extends to a much more general geometric setting, where events are replaced with subspaces and probability is replaced with relative dimension, which allows to lower bound the dimension of the intersection of vector spaces under certain independence conditions. Our result immediately applies to the k-QSAT problem: For instance we show that any collection of rank 1 projectors with the property that each qubit appears in at most $2^k/(e \cdot k)$ of them, has a joint satisfiable state. We then apply our results to the recently studied model of random k-QSAT. Recent works have shown that the satisfiable region extends up to a density of 1 in the large k limit, where the density is the ratio of projectors to qubits. Using a hybrid approach building on work by Laumann et al. we greatly extend the known satisfiable region for random k-QSAT to a density of $\Omega(2^k/k^2)$. Since our tool allows us to show the existence of joint satisfying states without the need to construct them, we are able to penetrate into regions where the satisfying states are conjectured to be entangled, avoiding the need to construct them, which has limited previous approaches to product states.Comment: 19 page

Testable properties in general graphs and random order streaming

We present a novel framework closely linking the areas of property testing and data streaming algorithms in the setting of general graphs. It has been recently shown (Monemizadeh et al. 2017) that for bounded-degree graphs, any constant-query tester can be emulated in the random order streaming model by a streaming algorithm that uses only space required to store a constant number of words. However, in a more natural setting of general graphs, with no restriction on the maximum degree, no such results were known because of our lack of understanding of constant-query testers in general graphs and lack of techniques to appropriately emulate in the streaming setting off-line algorithms allowing many high-degree vertices. In this work we advance our understanding on both of these challenges. First, we provide canonical testers for all constant-query testers for general graphs, both, for one-sided and two-sided errors. Such canonizations were only known before (in the adjacency matrix model) for dense graphs (Goldreich and Trevisan 2003) and (in the adjacency list model) for bounded degree (di-)graphs (Goldreich and Ron 2011, Czumaj et al. 2016). Using the concept of canonical testers, we then prove that every property of general graphs that is constant-query testable with one-sided error can also be tested in constant-space with one-sided error in the random order streaming model. Our results imply, among others, that properties like (s,t) disconnectivity, k-path-freeness, etc. are constant-space testable in random order streams

Quantum and approximation algorithms for maximum witnesses of Boolean matrix products

The problem of finding maximum (or minimum) witnesses of the Boolean product of two Boolean matrices (MW for short) has a number of important applications, in particular the all-pairs lowest common ancestor (LCA) problem in directed acyclic graphs (dags). The best known upper time-bound on the MW problem for n\times n Boolean matrices of the form O(n^{2.575}) has not been substantially improved since 2006. In order to obtain faster algorithms for this problem, we study quantum algorithms for MW and approximation algorithms for MW (in the standard computational model). Some of our quantum algorithms are input or output sensitive. Our fastest quantum algorithm for the MW problem, and consequently for the related problems, runs in time \tilde{O}(n^{2+\lambda/2})=\tilde{O}(n^{2.434}), where \lambda satisfies the equation \omega(1, \lambda, 1) = 1 + 1.5 \, \lambda and \omega(1, \lambda, 1) is the exponent of the multiplication of an n \times n^{\lambda}$ matrix by an n^{\lambda} \times n matrix. Next, we consider a relaxed version of the MW problem (in the standard model) asking for reporting a witness of bounded rank (the maximum witness has rank 1) for each non-zero entry of the matrix product. First, by adapting the fastest known algorithm for maximum witnesses, we obtain an algorithm for the relaxed problem that reports for each non-zero entry of the product matrix a witness of rank at most \ell in time \tilde{O}((n/\ell)n^{\omega(1,\log_n \ell,1)}). Then, by reducing the relaxed problem to the so called k-witness problem, we provide an algorithm that reports for each non-zero entry C[i,j] of the product matrix C a witness of rank O(\lceil W_C(i,j)/k\rceil ), where W_C(i,j) is the number of witnesses for C[i,j], with high probability. The algorithm runs in \tilde{O}(n^{\omega}k^{0.4653} +n^2k) time, where \omega=\omega(1,1,1).Comment: 14 pages, 3 figure

Fault-tolerant additive weighted geometric spanners

Let S be a set of n points and let w be a function that assigns non-negative weights to points in S. The additive weighted distance d_w(p, q) between two points p,q belonging to S is defined as w(p) + d(p, q) + w(q) if p \ne q and it is zero if p = q. Here, d(p, q) denotes the (geodesic) Euclidean distance between p and q. A graph G(S, E) is called a t-spanner for the additive weighted set S of points if for any two points p and q in S the distance between p and q in graph G is at most t.d_w(p, q) for a real number t > 1. Here, d_w(p,q) is the additive weighted distance between p and q. For some integer k \geq 1, a t-spanner G for the set S is a (k, t)-vertex fault-tolerant additive weighted spanner, denoted with (k, t)-VFTAWS, if for any set S' \subset S with cardinality at most k, the graph G \ S' is a t-spanner for the points in S \ S'. For any given real number \epsilon > 0, we obtain the following results: - When the points in S belong to Euclidean space R^d, an algorithm to compute a (k,(2 + \epsilon))-VFTAWS with O(kn) edges for the metric space (S, d_w). Here, for any two points p, q \in S, d(p, q) is the Euclidean distance between p and q in R^d. - When the points in S belong to a simple polygon P, for the metric space (S, d_w), one algorithm to compute a geodesic (k, (2 + \epsilon))-VFTAWS with O(\frac{k n}{\epsilon^{2}}\lg{n}) edges and another algorithm to compute a geodesic (k, (\sqrt{10} + \epsilon))-VFTAWS with O(kn(\lg{n})^2) edges. Here, for any two points p, q \in S, d(p, q) is the geodesic Euclidean distance along the shortest path between p and q in P. - When the points in $S$ lie on a terrain T, an algorithm to compute a geodesic (k, (2 + \epsilon))-VFTAWS with O(\frac{k n}{\epsilon^{2}}\lg{n}) edges.Comment: a few update

The Traveling Salesman Problem: Low-Dimensionality Implies a Polynomial Time Approximation Scheme

The Traveling Salesman Problem (TSP) is among the most famous NP-hard optimization problems. We design for this problem a randomized polynomial-time algorithm that computes a (1+eps)-approximation to the optimal tour, for any fixed eps>0, in TSP instances that form an arbitrary metric space with bounded intrinsic dimension. The celebrated results of Arora (A-98) and Mitchell (M-99) prove that the above result holds in the special case of TSP in a fixed-dimensional Euclidean space. Thus, our algorithm demonstrates that the algorithmic tractability of metric TSP depends on the dimensionality of the space and not on its specific geometry. This result resolves a problem that has been open since the quasi-polynomial time algorithm of Talwar (T-04)

Reliably Detecting Connectivity using Local Graph Traits

Local distributed algorithms can only gather sufficient information to identify local graph traits, that is, properties that hold within the local neighborhood of each node. However, it is frequently the case that global graph properties (connectivity, diameter, girth, etc) have a large influence on the execution of a distributed algorithm. This paper studies local graph traits and their relationship with global graph properties. Specifically, we focus on graph k-connectivity. First we prove a negative result that shows there does not exist a local graph trait which perfectly captures graph k-connectivity. We then present three different local graph traits which can be used to reliably predict the k-connectivity of a graph with varying degrees of accuracy. As a simple application of these results, we present upper and lower bounds for a local distributed algorithm which determines if a graph is k-connected. As a more elaborate application of local graph traits, we describe, and prove the correctness of, a local distributed algorithm that preserves k-connectivity in mobile ad hoc networks while allowing nodes to move independently whenever possible

Simple Local Computation Algorithms for the General Lovasz Local Lemma

We consider the task of designing Local Computation Algorithms (LCA) for applications of the Lov\'{a}sz Local Lemma (LLL). LCA is a class of sublinear algorithms proposed by Rubinfeld et al.~\cite{Ronitt} that have received a lot of attention in recent years. The LLL is an existential, sufficient condition for a collection of sets to have non-empty intersection (in applications, often, each set comprises all objects having a certain property). The ground-breaking algorithm of Moser and Tardos~\cite{MT} made the LLL fully constructive, following earlier results by Beck~\cite{beck_lll} and Alon~\cite{alon_lll} giving algorithms under significantly stronger LLL-like conditions. LCAs under those stronger conditions were given in~\cite{Ronitt}, where it was asked if the Moser-Tardos algorithm can be used to design LCAs under the standard LLL condition. The main contribution of this paper is to answer this question affirmatively. In fact, our techniques yield LCAs for settings beyond the standard LLL condition