Termination Detection of Local Computations

Contrary to the sequential world, the processes involved in a distributed system do not necessarily know when a computation is globally finished. This paper investigates the problem of the detection of the termination of local computations. We define four types of termination detection: no detection, detection of the local termination, detection by a distributed observer, detection of the global termination. We give a complete characterisation (except in the local termination detection case where a partial one is given) for each of this termination detection and show that they define a strict hierarchy. These results emphasise the difference between computability of a distributed task and termination detection. Furthermore, these characterisations encompass all standard criteria that are usually formulated : topological restriction (tree, rings, or triangu- lated networks ...), topological knowledge (size, diameter ...), and local knowledge to distinguish nodes (identities, sense of direction). These results are now presented as corollaries of generalising theorems. As a very special and important case, the techniques are also applied to the election problem. Though given in the model of local computations, these results can give qualitative insight for similar results in other standard models. The necessary conditions involve graphs covering and quasi-covering; the sufficient conditions (constructive local computations) are based upon an enumeration algorithm of Mazurkiewicz and a stable properties detection algorithm of Szymanski, Shi and Prywes

k-Set Agreement in Communication Networks with Omission Faults

We consider an arbitrary communication network G where at most f messages can be lost at each round, and consider the classical k-set agreement problem in this setting. We characterize exactly for which f the k-set agreement problem can be solved on G. The case with k = 1, that is the Consensus problem, has first been introduced by Santoro and Widmayer in 1989, the characterization is already known from [Coulouma/Godard/Peters, TCS, 2015]. As a first contribution, we present a detailed and complete characterization for the 2-set problem. The proof of the impossibility result uses topological methods. We introduce a new subdivision approach for these topological methods that is of independent interest. In the second part, we show how to extend to the general case with k in N. This characterization is the first complete characterization for this kind of synchronous message passing model, a model that is a subclass of the family of oblivious message adversaries

Équivalence du Consensus et de la Diffusion dans les Réseaux à Omissions Bornées

International audienceNous comparons l'existence de solutions pour le problème du Consensus ou le problème de la Diffusion dans le cadre de réseaux de communication synchrones où la transmission de message n'est pas fiable. Certains messages peuvent être perdus et à chaque ronde le nombre de messages perdus est borné d'une certaine manière. Nous montrons que dans ce cas, et quelle que soit la manière de compter les pertes (localement, globalement,...) le problème du Consensus est équivalent au problème de la Diffusion tant en terme de calculabilité qu'en terme de complexité

Minimum feedback vertex set and acyclic coloring

International audienceIn the feedback vertex set problem, the aim is to minimize, in a connected graph G =(V,E), the cardinality of the set overline(V) (G) \subseteq V , whose removal induces an acyclic subgraph. In this paper, we show an interesting relationship between the minimum feedback vertex set problem and the acyclic coloring problem (which consists in coloring vertices of a graph G such that no two colors induce a cycle in G). Then, using results from acyclic coloring, as well as other techniques, we are able to derive new lower and upper bounds on the cardinality of a minimum feedback vertex set in large families of graphs, such as graphs of maximum degree 3, of maximum degree 4, planar graphs, outerplanar graphs, 1-planar graphs, k-trees, etc. Some of these bounds are tight (outerplanar graphs, k-trees), all the others differ by a multiplicative constant never exceeding 2