On the exact learnability of graph parameters: The case of partition functions

We study the exact learnability of real valued graph parameters $f$ which are known to be representable as partition functions which count the number of weighted homomorphisms into a graph $H$ with vertex weights $\alpha$ and edge weights $\beta$. M. Freedman, L. Lov\'asz and A. Schrijver have given a characterization of these graph parameters in terms of the $k$-connection matrices $C(f,k)$ of $f$. Our model of learnability is based on D. Angluin's model of exact learning using membership and equivalence queries. Given such a graph parameter $f$, the learner can ask for the values of $f$ for graphs of their choice, and they can formulate hypotheses in terms of the connection matrices $C(f,k)$ of $f$. The teacher can accept the hypothesis as correct, or provide a counterexample consisting of a graph. Our main result shows that in this scenario, a very large class of partition functions, the rigid partition functions, can be learned in time polynomial in the size of $H$ and the size of the largest counterexample in the Blum-Shub-Smale model of computation over the reals with unit cost.Comment: 14 pages, full version of the MFCS 2016 conference pape

Weighted Automata and Monadic Second Order Logic

Let S be a commutative semiring. M. Droste and P. Gastin have introduced in 2005 weighted monadic second order logic WMSOL with weights in S. They use a syntactic fragment RMSOL of WMSOL to characterize word functions (power series) recognizable by weighted automata, where the semantics of quantifiers is used both as arithmetical operations and, in the boolean case, as quantification. Already in 2001, B. Courcelle, J.Makowsky and U. Rotics have introduced a formalism for graph parameters definable in Monadic Second order Logic, here called MSOLEVAL with values in a ring R. Their framework can be easily adapted to semirings S. This formalism clearly separates the logical part from the arithmetical part and also applies to word functions. In this paper we give two proofs that RMSOL and MSOLEVAL with values in S have the same expressive power over words. One proof shows directly that MSOLEVAL captures the functions recognizable by weighted automata. The other proof shows how to translate the formalisms from one into the other.Comment: In Proceedings GandALF 2013, arXiv:1307.416

Finiteness conditions for graph algebras over tropical semirings

Connection matrices for graph parameters with values in a field have been introduced by M. Freedman, L. Lov{\'a}sz and A. Schrijver (2007). Graph parameters with connection matrices of finite rank can be computed in polynomial time on graph classes of bounded tree-width. We introduce join matrices, a generalization of connection matrices, and allow graph parameters to take values in the tropical rings (max-plus algebras) over the real numbers. We show that rank-finiteness of join matrices implies that these graph parameters can be computed in polynomial time on graph classes of bounded clique-width. In the case of graph parameters with values in arbitrary commutative semirings, this remains true for graph classes of bounded linear clique-width. B. Godlin, T. Kotek and J.A. Makowsky (2008) showed that definability of a graph parameter in Monadic Second Order Logic implies rank finiteness. We also show that there are uncountably many integer valued graph parameters with connection matrices or join matrices of fixed finite rank. This shows that rank finiteness is a much weaker assumption than any definability assumption.Comment: 12 pages, accepted for presentation at FPSAC 2014 (Chicago, June 29 -July 3, 2014), to appear in Discrete Mathematics and Theoretical Computer Scienc