Complexity Results for Manipulation, Bribery and Control of the Kemeny Judgment Aggregation Procedure

We study the computational complexity of several scenarios of strategic behavior for the Kemeny procedure in the setting of judgment aggregation. In particular, we investigate (1) manipulation, where an individual aims to achieve a better group outcome by reporting an insincere individual opinion, (2) bribery, where an external agent aims to achieve an outcome with certain properties by bribing a number of individuals, and (3) control (by adding or deleting issues), where an external agent aims to achieve an outcome with certain properties by influencing the set of issues in the judgment aggregation situation. We show that determining whether these types of strategic behavior are possible (and if so, computing a policy for successful strategic behavior) is complete for the second level of the Polynomial Hierarchy. That is, we show that these problems are $\Sigma^p_2$-complete

A Parameterized Complexity View on Description Logic Reasoning

Description logics are knowledge representation languages that have been designed to strike a balance between expressivity and computational tractability. Many different description logics have been developed, and numerous computational problems for these logics have been studied for their computational complexity. However, essentially all complexity analyses of reasoning problems for description logics use the one-dimensional framework of classical complexity theory. The multi-dimensional framework of parameterized complexity theory is able to provide a much more detailed image of the complexity of reasoning problems. In this paper we argue that the framework of parameterized complexity has a lot to offer for the complexity analysis of description logic reasoning problems---when one takes a progressive and forward-looking view on parameterized complexity tools. We substantiate our argument by means of three case studies. The first case study is about the problem of concept satisfiability for the logic ALC with respect to nearly acyclic TBoxes. The second case study concerns concept satisfiability for ALC concepts parameterized by the number of occurrences of union operators and the number of occurrences of full existential quantification. The third case study offers a critical look at data complexity results from a parameterized complexity point of view. These three case studies are representative for the wide range of uses for parameterized complexity methods for description logic problems.Comment: To appear in the Proceedings of the 16th International Conference on Principles of Knowledge Representation and Reasoning (KR 2018

Exact Markovian kinetic equation for a quantum Brownian oscillator

We derive an exact Markovian kinetic equation for an oscillator linearly coupled to a heat bath, describing quantum Brownian motion. Our work is based on the subdynamics formulation developed by Prigogine and collaborators. The space of distribution functions is decomposed into independent subspaces that remain invariant under Liouville dynamics. For integrable systems in Poincar\'e's sense the invariant subspaces follow the dynamics of uncoupled, renormalized particles. In contrast for non-integrable systems, the invariant subspaces follow a dynamics with broken-time symmetry, involving generalized functions. This result indicates that irreversibility and stochasticity are exact properties of dynamics in generalized function spaces. We comment on the relation between our Markovian kinetic equation and the Hu-Paz-Zhang equation.Comment: A few typos in the published version are correcte

Algebraic Techniques for Low Communication Secure Protocols

Internet communication is often encrypted with the aid of mathematical problems that are hard to solve. Another method to secure electronic communication is the use of a digital lock of which the digital key must be exchanged first. PhD student Robbert de Haan (CWI) researched models for a guaranteed safe communication between two people without the exchange of a digital key and without assumptions concerning the practical difficulty of solving certain mathematical problems. In ancient times Julius Caesar used secret codes to make his messages illegible for spies. He upped every letter of the alphabet with three positions: A became D, Z became C, and so on. Usually, cryptographers research secure communication between two people through one channel that can be monitored by malevolent people. De Haan studied the use of multiple channels. A minority of these channels may be in the hands of adversaries that can intercept, replace or block the message. He proved the most efficient way to securely communicate along these channels and thus solved a fundamental cryptography problem that was introduced almost 20 years ago by Dole, Dwork, Naor and Yung