Given n weighted points (positive or negative) in d dimensions, what is
the axis-aligned box which maximizes the total weight of the points it
contains?
The best known algorithm for this problem is based on a reduction to a
related problem, the Weighted Depth problem [T. M. Chan, FOCS'13], and runs in
time O(nd). It was conjectured [Barbay et al., CCCG'13] that this runtime is
tight up to subpolynomial factors. We answer this conjecture affirmatively by
providing a matching conditional lower bound. We also provide conditional lower
bounds for the special case when points are arranged in a grid (a well studied
problem known as Maximum Subarray problem) as well as for other related
problems.
All our lower bounds are based on assumptions that the best known algorithms
for the All-Pairs Shortest Paths problem (APSP) and for the Max-Weight k-Clique
problem in edge-weighted graphs are essentially optimal
