scholarly journals Optimal Bounds for the k -cut Problem

2022 ◽  
Vol 69 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-18
Author(s):  
Anupam Gupta ◽  
David G. Harris ◽  
Euiwoong Lee ◽  
Jason Li
Keyword(s):  
Lower Bound ◽  
Lower Bounds ◽  
Connected Components ◽  
Small Integer ◽  
Main Ingredient ◽  
Fine Grained ◽  
Optimal Bounds ◽  
Sunflower Lemma ◽  
General Graphs ◽  
New Algorithms

In the k -cut problem, we want to find the lowest-weight set of edges whose deletion breaks a given (multi)graph into k connected components. Algorithms of Karger and Stein can solve this in roughly O ( n 2k ) time. However, lower bounds from conjectures about the k -clique problem imply that Ω ( n (1- o (1)) k ) time is likely needed. Recent results of Gupta, Lee, and Li have given new algorithms for general k -cut in n 1.98k + O(1) time, as well as specialized algorithms with better performance for certain classes of graphs (e.g., for small integer edge weights). In this work, we resolve the problem for general graphs. We show that the Contraction Algorithm of Karger outputs any fixed k -cut of weight α λ k with probability Ω k ( n - α k ), where λ k denotes the minimum k -cut weight. This also gives an extremal bound of O k ( n k ) on the number of minimum k -cuts and an algorithm to compute λ k with roughly n k polylog( n ) runtime. Both are tight up to lower-order factors, with the algorithmic lower bound assuming hardness of max-weight k -clique. The first main ingredient in our result is an extremal bound on the number of cuts of weight less than 2 λ k / k , using the Sunflower lemma. The second ingredient is a fine-grained analysis of how the graph shrinks—and how the average degree evolves—in the Karger process.

scholarly journals Sunflower Theorems in Monotone Circuit Complexity

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bruno Pasqualotto Cavalar ◽  
Yoshiharu Kohayakawa
Keyword(s):  
Lower Bound ◽  
Lower Bounds ◽  
Circuit Complexity ◽  
Restricted Range ◽  
Significant Progress ◽  
Randomness Extractors ◽  
Monotone Circuits ◽  
Monotone Boolean Function ◽  
Sunflower Lemma ◽  
Clique Problem

Alexander Razborov (1985) developed the approximation method to obtain lower bounds on the size of monotone circuits deciding if a graph contains a clique. Given a "small" circuit, this technique consists in finding a monotone Boolean function which approximates the circuit in a distribution of interest, but makes computation errors in that same distribution. To prove that such a function is indeed a good approximation, Razborov used the sunflower lemma of Erd\H{o}s and Rado (1960). This technique was improved by Alon and Boppana (1987) to show lower bounds for a larger class of monotone computational problems. In that same work, the authors also improved the result of Razborov for the clique problem, using a relaxed variant of sunflowers. More recently, Rossman (2010) developed another variant of sunflowers, now called "robust sunflowers", to obtain lower bounds for the clique problem in random graphs. In the following years, the concept of robust sunflowers found applications in many areas of computational complexity, such as DNF sparsification, randomness extractors and lifting theorems. Even more recent was the breakthrough result of Alweiss, Lovett, Wu and Zhang (2020), which improved Rossman's bound on the size of hypergraphs without robust sunflowers. This result was employed to obtain a significant progress on the sunflower conjecture. In this work, we will show how the recent progress in sunflower theorems can be applied to improve monotone circuit lower bounds. In particular, we will show the best monotone circuit lower bound obtained up to now, breaking a 20-year old record of Harnik and Raz (2000). We will also improve the lower bound of Alon and Boppana for the clique function in a slightly more restricted range of clique sizes. Our exposition is self-contained. These results were obtained in a collaboration with Benjamin Rossman and Mrinal Kumar.

The (Coarse) Fine-Grained Structure of NP-Hard SAT and CSP Problems

2022 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-54
Author(s):  
Victor Lagerkvist ◽  
Magnus Wahlström
Keyword(s):  
Lower Bound ◽  
Lower Bounds ◽  
Constraint Satisfaction Problems ◽  
Close Connection ◽  
Algebraic Characterization ◽  
Sat Problem ◽  
Fine Grained ◽  
Algebraic Framework ◽  
Fine Grained Structure ◽  
Np Complete

We study the fine-grained complexity of NP-complete satisfiability (SAT) problems and constraint satisfaction problems (CSPs) in the context of the strong exponential-time hypothesis (SETH) , showing non-trivial lower and upper bounds on the running time. Here, by a non-trivial lower bound for a problem SAT (Γ) (respectively CSP (Γ)) with constraint language Γ, we mean a value c 0 > 1 such that the problem cannot be solved in time O ( c n ) for any c < c 0 unless SETH is false, while a non-trivial upper bound is simply an algorithm for the problem running in time O ( c n ) for some c < 2. Such lower bounds have proven extremely elusive, and except for cases where c 0 =2 effectively no such previous bound was known. We achieve this by employing an algebraic framework, studying constraint languages Γ in terms of their algebraic properties. We uncover a powerful algebraic framework where a mild restriction on the allowed constraints offers a concise algebraic characterization. On the relational side we restrict ourselves to Boolean languages closed under variable negation and partial assignment, called sign-symmetric languages. On the algebraic side this results in a description via partial operations arising from system of identities, with a close connection to operations resulting in tractable CSPs, such as near unanimity operations and edge operations . Using this connection we construct improved algorithms for several interesting classes of sign-symmetric languages, and prove explicit lower bounds under SETH. Thus, we find the first example of an NP-complete SAT problem with a non-trivial algorithm which also admits a non-trivial lower bound under SETH. This suggests a dichotomy conjecture with a close connection to the CSP dichotomy theorem: an NP-complete SAT problem admits an improved algorithm if and only if it admits a non-trivial partial invariant of the above form.

A Lower Bound for Schur Numbers and Multicolor Ramsey Numbers

10.37236/1188 ◽  
1994 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Geoffrey Exoo
Keyword(s):  
Lower Bound ◽  
Lower Bounds ◽  
Ramsey Numbers

For $k \geq 5$, we establish new lower bounds on the Schur numbers $S(k)$ and on the k-color Ramsey numbers of $K_3$.

scholarly journals A Lower Bound for the Query Phase of Contraction Hierarchies and Hub Labels and a Provably Optimal Instance-Based Schema

Algorithms ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (6) ◽  
pp. 164
Author(s):  
Tobias Rupp ◽  
Stefan Funke
Keyword(s):  
Lower Bound ◽  
Lower Bounds ◽  
Real World ◽  
Road Network ◽  
Upper And Lower Bounds ◽  
Bounded Degree ◽  
Shortest Path Routing ◽  
Graph Classes ◽  
Speed Up ◽  
To Come

We prove a Ω(n) lower bound on the query time for contraction hierarchies (CH) as well as hub labels, two popular speed-up techniques for shortest path routing. Our construction is based on a graph family not too far from subgraphs that occur in real-world road networks, in particular, it is planar and has a bounded degree. Additionally, we borrow ideas from our lower bound proof to come up with instance-based lower bounds for concrete road network instances of moderate size, reaching up to 96% of an upper bound given by a constructed CH. For a variant of our instance-based schema applied to some special graph classes, we can even show matching upper and lower bounds.

scholarly journals On Computing Multilinear Polynomials Using Multi- r -ic Depth Four Circuits

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 1-21
Author(s):  
Suryajith Chillara
Keyword(s):  
Lower Bound ◽  
Lower Bounds ◽  
Complexity Measure ◽  
Natural Question ◽  
Multilinear Polynomial ◽  
Arithmetic Circuit ◽  
Theory Of Computing ◽  
Small Constant ◽  
Multilinear Polynomials ◽  
The Individual

In this article, we are interested in understanding the complexity of computing multilinear polynomials using depth four circuits in which the polynomial computed at every node has a bound on the individual degree of r ≥ 1 with respect to all its variables (referred to as multi- r -ic circuits). The goal of this study is to make progress towards proving superpolynomial lower bounds for general depth four circuits computing multilinear polynomials, by proving better bounds as the value of r increases. Recently, Kayal, Saha and Tavenas (Theory of Computing, 2018) showed that any depth four arithmetic circuit of bounded individual degree r computing an explicit multilinear polynomial on n O (1) variables and degree d must have size at least ( n / r 1.1 ) Ω(√ d / r ) . This bound, however, deteriorates as the value of r increases. It is a natural question to ask if we can prove a bound that does not deteriorate as the value of r increases, or a bound that holds for a larger regime of r . In this article, we prove a lower bound that does not deteriorate with increasing values of r , albeit for a specific instance of d = d ( n ) but for a wider range of r . Formally, for all large enough integers n and a small constant η, we show that there exists an explicit polynomial on n O (1) variables and degree Θ (log 2 n ) such that any depth four circuit of bounded individual degree r ≤ n η must have size at least exp(Ω(log 2 n )). This improvement is obtained by suitably adapting the complexity measure of Kayal et al. (Theory of Computing, 2018). This adaptation of the measure is inspired by the complexity measure used by Kayal et al. (SIAM J. Computing, 2017).

scholarly journals Lower bounds for the state complexity of probabilistic languages and the language of prime numbers

2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 175-192
Author(s):  
NathanaËl Fijalkow
Keyword(s):  
Lower Bound ◽  
Lower Bounds ◽  
Prime Numbers ◽  
Regular Languages ◽  
Automata Theory ◽  
Seminal Paper ◽  
Probabilistic Automata ◽  
State Complexity ◽  
Probabilistic Languages ◽  
Alternating Automata

Abstract This paper studies the complexity of languages of finite words using automata theory. To go beyond the class of regular languages, we consider infinite automata and the notion of state complexity defined by Karp. Motivated by the seminal paper of Rabin from 1963 introducing probabilistic automata, we study the (deterministic) state complexity of probabilistic languages and prove that probabilistic languages can have arbitrarily high deterministic state complexity. We then look at alternating automata as introduced by Chandra, Kozen and Stockmeyer: such machines run independent computations on the word and gather their answers through boolean combinations. We devise a lower bound technique relying on boundedly generated lattices of languages, and give two applications of this technique. The first is a hierarchy theorem, stating that there are languages of arbitrarily high polynomial alternating state complexity, and the second is a linear lower bound on the alternating state complexity of the prime numbers written in binary. This second result strengthens a result of Hartmanis and Shank from 1968, which implies an exponentially worse lower bound for the same model.

Recent Advances in Lower Bound Shakedown Analysis

2009 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dieter Weichert ◽  
Abdelkader Hachemi
Keyword(s):  
Finite Element ◽  
Lower Bound ◽  
Process Engineering ◽  
Operating Conditions ◽  
Structural Elements ◽  
Shakedown Analysis ◽  
Material Models ◽  
Practical Engineering ◽  
Safe Operating ◽  
New Algorithms

The special interest in lower bound shakedown analysis is that it provides, at least in principle, safe operating conditions for sensitive structures or structural elements under fluctuating thermo-mechanical loading as to be found in power- and process engineering. In this paper achievements obtained over the last years to introduce more sophisticated material models into the framework of shakedown analysis are developed. Also new algorithms will be presented that allow using the addressed numerical methods as post-processor for commercial finite element codes. Examples from practical engineering will illustrate the potential of the methodology.

scholarly journals Encoding Two-Dimensional Range Top-k Queries

Algorithmica ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Seungbum Jo ◽  
Rahul Lingala ◽  
Srinivasa Rao Satti
Keyword(s):  
Lower Bound ◽  
Lower Bounds ◽  
Upper Bound ◽  
Total Order ◽  
Two Dimensional ◽  
Information Theoretic ◽  
Cartesian Tree ◽  
Dimensional Range

AbstractWe consider the problem of encoding two-dimensional arrays, whose elements come from a total order, for answering $${\text{Top-}}{k}$$ Top- k queries. The aim is to obtain encodings that use space close to the information-theoretic lower bound, which can be constructed efficiently. For an $$m \times n$$ m × n array, with $$m \le n$$ m ≤ n , we first propose an encoding for answering 1-sided $${\textsf {Top}}{\text {-}}k{}$$ Top - k queries, whose query range is restricted to $$[1 \dots m][1 \dots a]$$ [ 1 ⋯ m ] [ 1 ⋯ a ] , for $$1 \le a \le n$$ 1 ≤ a ≤ n . Next, we propose an encoding for answering for the general (4-sided) $${\textsf {Top}}{\text {-}}k{}$$ Top - k queries that takes $$(m\lg {{(k+1)n \atopwithdelims ()n}}+2nm(m-1)+o(n))$$ ( m lg ( k + 1 ) n n + 2 n m ( m - 1 ) + o ( n ) ) bits, which generalizes the joint Cartesian tree of Golin et al. [TCS 2016]. Compared with trivial $$O(nm\lg {n})$$ O ( n m lg n ) -bit encoding, our encoding takes less space when $$m = o(\lg {n})$$ m = o ( lg n ) . In addition to the upper bound results for the encodings, we also give lower bounds on encodings for answering 1 and 4-sided $${\textsf {Top}}{\text {-}}k{}$$ Top - k queries, which show that our upper bound results are almost optimal.

Lower Bounds to the Eigenvalues in One-Dimensional Problems by a Shift in the Weight Function

1970 ◽  
Vol 37 (2) ◽  
pp. 267-270 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. Pnueli
Keyword(s):  
Lower Bound ◽  
Weight Function ◽  
Lower Bounds ◽  
Variational Formulation ◽  
Ritz Method ◽  
The Other ◽  
One Dimensional ◽  
Systematic Shift ◽  
The One ◽  
Detailed Computation

A method is presented to obtain both upper and lower bound to eigenvalues when a variational formulation of the problem exists. The method consists of a systematic shift in the weight function. A detailed procedure is offered for one-dimensional problems, which makes improvement of the bounds possible, and which involves the same order of detailed computation as the Rayleigh-Ritz method. The main contribution of this method is that it yields the “other bound;” i.e., the one which cannot be obtained by the Rayleigh-Ritz method.

Lower Bounds For Induced Forests in Cubic Graphs

1987 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 193-199 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. A. Bondy ◽  
Glenn Hopkins ◽  
William Staton
Keyword(s):  
Lower Bound ◽  
Lower Bounds ◽  
Cubic Graphs ◽  
Cubic Graph

AbstractIf G is a connected cubic graph with ρ vertices, ρ > 4, then G has a vertex-induced forest containing at least (5ρ - 2)/8 vertices. In case G is triangle-free, the lower bound is improved to (2ρ — l)/3. Examples are given to show that no such lower bound is possible for vertex-induced trees.

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