Theory of Computing Report

Authors: Alexander Meiburg

Does computing a composition of total Boolean functions require the product of the randomized query complexities of its factors? We give a negative answer. There are families of total functions $f,g$ such that $R(f\circ g) =Θ\!\left(\frac1{\log R(g)}\right)R(f)R(g)$ This result requires first separating linearized query complexity $\LR$, as well as noisy randomized query complexity $noisyR$, from standard randomized query complexity $R$. Both constructions essentially come from totalizing existing partial function separations, albeit via different techniques. By adapting these techniques, we also construct total functions separating every adjacent pair in the chain from sabotage $RS$, max-conflict $\barχ$, and linearised query complexity $LR$. We show that AND-of-ORs separates conflict $χ$ from max-conflict $\barχ$ complexity and makes conflict and sabotage incomparable. Finally, randomized complexity can be smaller than its composition limit $R^*$ by the maximal factor $Θ(\log R)$. The total--total composition separation is also formalized in Lean.

Authors: Alexander Meiburg

Does computing a composition of total Boolean functions require the product of the randomized query complexities of its factors? We give a negative answer. There are families of total functions $f,g$ such that $R(f\circ g) =Θ\!\left(\frac1{\log R(g)}\right)R(f)R(g)$ This result requires first separating linearized query complexity $\LR$, as well as noisy randomized query complexity $noisyR$, from standard randomized query complexity $R$. Both constructions essentially come from totalizing existing partial function separations, albeit via different techniques. By adapting these techniques, we also construct total functions separating every adjacent pair in the chain from sabotage $RS$, max-conflict $\barχ$, and linearised query complexity $LR$. We show that AND-of-ORs separates conflict $χ$ from max-conflict $\barχ$ complexity and makes conflict and sabotage incomparable. Finally, randomized complexity can be smaller than its composition limit $R^*$ by the maximal factor $Θ(\log R)$. The total--total composition separation is also formalized in Lean.

Friday, October 23 2026, 00:00

Parallel Repetition for k-Player XOR Games

Authors: Mark Braverman, Dor Minzer

In a $k$-XOR game $Ψ$ over $\mathbb{F}_p$, a verifier samples challenges $(x_1,\ldots,x_k)\simμ$ where $μ$ is a distribution over $Σ_1\times\ldots\times Σ_k$, sends $x_i$ to player $i$ and receives an answer $f_i(x_i)\in\mathbb{F}_p$, and accepts if and only if $f_1(x_1)+\ldots+f_k(x_k)=t(x_1,\ldots,x_k)$, where $t\colon Σ_1\times\ldots\times Σ_k\to\mathbb{F}_p$ is a fixed map. We show that if $Ψ$ has value strictly less than $1$, then the value of the $n$-fold repeated game $Ψ^{\otimes n}$ is at most $2^{-cn}$ where $c = c(Ψ)>0$ is a fixed constant. This extends a previous result of [Bhangale-Braverman-Khot-Liu-Minzer] showing exponential decay for some $3$-XOR games. Our proof uses a relaxation of the value of games studied in the quantum setting, called the commuting value of a game. We show a transformation that maps a $k$-player game $Ψ$ with value strictly less than $1$ to a $2k$-player game $Ψ'$ with commuting value less than $1$, such that $\mathsf{val}(Ψ^{\otimes n})\leq \mathsf{val}((Ψ')^{\otimes n})$. We prove that $\mathsf{val}(Ψ')<1$ has a direct proof using nothing more than the Cauchy-Schwarz inequality, which we are able to tensorize to get that $\mathsf{val}((Ψ')^{\otimes n})$ vanishes exponentially fast in $n$.

Authors: Mark Braverman, Dor Minzer

In a $k$-XOR game $Ψ$ over $\mathbb{F}_p$, a verifier samples challenges $(x_1,\ldots,x_k)\simμ$ where $μ$ is a distribution over $Σ_1\times\ldots\times Σ_k$, sends $x_i$ to player $i$ and receives an answer $f_i(x_i)\in\mathbb{F}_p$, and accepts if and only if $f_1(x_1)+\ldots+f_k(x_k)=t(x_1,\ldots,x_k)$, where $t\colon Σ_1\times\ldots\times Σ_k\to\mathbb{F}_p$ is a fixed map. We show that if $Ψ$ has value strictly less than $1$, then the value of the $n$-fold repeated game $Ψ^{\otimes n}$ is at most $2^{-cn}$ where $c = c(Ψ)>0$ is a fixed constant. This extends a previous result of [Bhangale-Braverman-Khot-Liu-Minzer] showing exponential decay for some $3$-XOR games. Our proof uses a relaxation of the value of games studied in the quantum setting, called the commuting value of a game. We show a transformation that maps a $k$-player game $Ψ$ with value strictly less than $1$ to a $2k$-player game $Ψ'$ with commuting value less than $1$, such that $\mathsf{val}(Ψ^{\otimes n})\leq \mathsf{val}((Ψ')^{\otimes n})$. We prove that $\mathsf{val}(Ψ')<1$ has a direct proof using nothing more than the Cauchy-Schwarz inequality, which we are able to tensorize to get that $\mathsf{val}((Ψ')^{\otimes n})$ vanishes exponentially fast in $n$.

Friday, October 23 2026, 00:00

Bridging persistence of discrete and continuous 1D maps: Total variation, permutation equivalence, and diagonal affine transformations

Authors: Matthew Blake, Firas A. Khasawneh

Fundamental to the field of topological signal processing (TSP) is the \textit{persistence diagram} (PD), or barcode, of a signal, which gives noise-resistant measures of topologically significant features as distinct from noise. Existing literature proves that the total persistence computed from these diagrams is equal to the total variation, for certain continuous signals on compact domains. We provide a closed formula for this shared quantity, and generalize to all continuous and discrete functions on bounded domains, and to certain functions on non-compact 1D manifolds. Extending the identification of continuous and discrete persistence, we investigate the similarities of functions with the same PDs, and prove that, for any $n$, the persistence diagram can be calculated as a function of the sequence of critical values; we compute these formulas for $n \leq 6$. Finally, we examine which function transformations cause predictable changes in the PD of the transformed function, characterizing affine and linear transformations.

Authors: Matthew Blake, Firas A. Khasawneh

Fundamental to the field of topological signal processing (TSP) is the \textit{persistence diagram} (PD), or barcode, of a signal, which gives noise-resistant measures of topologically significant features as distinct from noise. Existing literature proves that the total persistence computed from these diagrams is equal to the total variation, for certain continuous signals on compact domains. We provide a closed formula for this shared quantity, and generalize to all continuous and discrete functions on bounded domains, and to certain functions on non-compact 1D manifolds. Extending the identification of continuous and discrete persistence, we investigate the similarities of functions with the same PDs, and prove that, for any $n$, the persistence diagram can be calculated as a function of the sequence of critical values; we compute these formulas for $n \leq 6$. Finally, we examine which function transformations cause predictable changes in the PD of the transformed function, characterizing affine and linear transformations.

Friday, October 23 2026, 00:00

Beyond Homology: Non-Abelian and Orientability Invariants Sensitivity in Cellular Networks

Authors: Raghuwansh Raj, George Panagopoulos, Jun Pang

Topological deep learning (TDL) architectures are typically evaluated on synthetic complex pairs that differ in a target invariant. Yet, whether a model recovers that invariant or an artifact of the chosen discretization is seldom audited. To examine this, we design and test pairs of complexes that look identical to standard homological and local message-passing tests, have the same Hasse graphs, yet differ in the target invariant. We study two beyond-homology regimes: nonAbelian fundamental-group structure and homotopy-matched orientability. For the former, we construct genus-2 pairs that match homology, cell statistics, local incidence profiles, and rank-colored Hasse 1-WL behavior while differing in their fundamental groups. For the latter, we evaluate punctured torus-Klein bottle pairs and show that distance, boundary, cycle, and spectral signals can confound apparent orientability detection, motivating stronger matched controls. Under the tested settings, subcomplex-lifted architectures separate some pairs beyond the matched homological, local-incidence, and Hasse 1-WL controls, while a depth sweep reveals an empirical depth-dependent trend without establishing a general barrier or direct computation of the target invariants. These results show that claims of topological expressivity must be stated relative to the model representation, explicitly controlled information channels, and the precise scope of the benchmark.

Authors: Raghuwansh Raj, George Panagopoulos, Jun Pang

Topological deep learning (TDL) architectures are typically evaluated on synthetic complex pairs that differ in a target invariant. Yet, whether a model recovers that invariant or an artifact of the chosen discretization is seldom audited. To examine this, we design and test pairs of complexes that look identical to standard homological and local message-passing tests, have the same Hasse graphs, yet differ in the target invariant. We study two beyond-homology regimes: nonAbelian fundamental-group structure and homotopy-matched orientability. For the former, we construct genus-2 pairs that match homology, cell statistics, local incidence profiles, and rank-colored Hasse 1-WL behavior while differing in their fundamental groups. For the latter, we evaluate punctured torus-Klein bottle pairs and show that distance, boundary, cycle, and spectral signals can confound apparent orientability detection, motivating stronger matched controls. Under the tested settings, subcomplex-lifted architectures separate some pairs beyond the matched homological, local-incidence, and Hasse 1-WL controls, while a depth sweep reveals an empirical depth-dependent trend without establishing a general barrier or direct computation of the target invariants. These results show that claims of topological expressivity must be stated relative to the model representation, explicitly controlled information channels, and the precise scope of the benchmark.

Friday, October 23 2026, 00:00

The Inverse Mapper Problem for Two-Dimensional Data

Authors: Robin Belton, Patrick Schnider

The Mapper algorithm is a popular graphical tool for data visualization and exploration in topological data analysis (TDA). It takes as input a data set $X$ and returns a graph that aims to capture the underlying topological features of these data. The Mapper algorithm has several parameters that need to be specified by the user: a $\textit{filter function}$ $f:X\to Y$ where $X$ is often a point cloud data set in $\mathbb{R}^n$ and $Y$ is the $\textit{reference space}$ that is often a lower dimensional Euclidean space, a $\textit{cover}$ of $f(X)$, and a $\textit{clustering algorithm}$ that is applied to the pre-image of each element in the cover. In this paper, we consider the following question: What graphs can occur as the output of the Mapper algorithm? It is known that when $Y=\mathbb{R}^3$, any graph can be a Mapper graph. In this work, we focus on a more practical case where the filter function is $f:\mathbb{R}^2\to\mathbb{R}$. We consider two different scenarios. In the first scenario, we fix the parameters of the Mapper algorithm, but vary the data. This way we characterize exactly the graphs that can occur for several choices of parameters. In the second scenario, we fix the data set but vary the parameters. This can be seen as a way to understand how much the output can differ depending on the choices of parameters.In both settings, we find close connections to classical topics in graph drawing.

Authors: Robin Belton, Patrick Schnider

The Mapper algorithm is a popular graphical tool for data visualization and exploration in topological data analysis (TDA). It takes as input a data set $X$ and returns a graph that aims to capture the underlying topological features of these data. The Mapper algorithm has several parameters that need to be specified by the user: a $\textit{filter function}$ $f:X\to Y$ where $X$ is often a point cloud data set in $\mathbb{R}^n$ and $Y$ is the $\textit{reference space}$ that is often a lower dimensional Euclidean space, a $\textit{cover}$ of $f(X)$, and a $\textit{clustering algorithm}$ that is applied to the pre-image of each element in the cover. In this paper, we consider the following question: What graphs can occur as the output of the Mapper algorithm? It is known that when $Y=\mathbb{R}^3$, any graph can be a Mapper graph. In this work, we focus on a more practical case where the filter function is $f:\mathbb{R}^2\to\mathbb{R}$. We consider two different scenarios. In the first scenario, we fix the parameters of the Mapper algorithm, but vary the data. This way we characterize exactly the graphs that can occur for several choices of parameters. In the second scenario, we fix the data set but vary the parameters. This can be seen as a way to understand how much the output can differ depending on the choices of parameters.In both settings, we find close connections to classical topics in graph drawing.

Friday, October 23 2026, 00:00

Near-Quadratic Time Multivariate Polynomial Interpolation

Authors: Chandra Kanta Mohapatra

Let $\F$ be a finite field. Given $N$ distinct points $\bmα_1,\ldots,\bmα_N \in \F^m$ and associated values $β_1,\ldots,β_N \in \F$, we study the problem of computing an $m$-variate polynomial $f(\vy) \in \F[\vy]$ of individual degree less than $d$, with $d^m \ge N$, that satisfies $f(\bmα_i)=β_i$ for all $i\in[N]$, whenever such an $f$ exists. This is known as the\textit{ multivariate polynomial interpolation} problem. In this work, given $N=d^m$, we present a deterministic algorithm for multivariate polynomial interpolation over an arbitrary finite field $\F$ that runs in near-quadratic time $N^{2+o(1)}\poly(m,d,\log|\F|)$, assuming $d$ is $ω(1)$. This bound holds whenever the associated \emph{multivariate Vandermonde} matrix is nonsingular, has constant co-rank, or admits some special structure. In the general case, we give a randomized Las Vegas algorithm attaining the same near-quadratic running time, provided the finite field is sufficiently large and $d$ grows similar to the previous case. Unlike other multivariate interpolation strategies, we do not assume black-box access to the polynomial. In particular, we are not permitted to query arbitrary input points to obtain their evaluations. Our interpolation result follows by combining Wiedemann's classical approach~\cite{w86} for solving sparse linear systems with known bounds for fast \emph{multivariate multipoint evaluation} over finite fields~\cite{umans08, KU11, BGKM23, BGGKU24}. Specifically, our deterministic interpolation strategy relies on a deterministic variant of Wiedemann's approach, which is more commonly used in the randomized setting.

Authors: Chandra Kanta Mohapatra

Let $\F$ be a finite field. Given $N$ distinct points $\bmα_1,\ldots,\bmα_N \in \F^m$ and associated values $β_1,\ldots,β_N \in \F$, we study the problem of computing an $m$-variate polynomial $f(\vy) \in \F[\vy]$ of individual degree less than $d$, with $d^m \ge N$, that satisfies $f(\bmα_i)=β_i$ for all $i\in[N]$, whenever such an $f$ exists. This is known as the\textit{ multivariate polynomial interpolation} problem. In this work, given $N=d^m$, we present a deterministic algorithm for multivariate polynomial interpolation over an arbitrary finite field $\F$ that runs in near-quadratic time $N^{2+o(1)}\poly(m,d,\log|\F|)$, assuming $d$ is $ω(1)$. This bound holds whenever the associated \emph{multivariate Vandermonde} matrix is nonsingular, has constant co-rank, or admits some special structure. In the general case, we give a randomized Las Vegas algorithm attaining the same near-quadratic running time, provided the finite field is sufficiently large and $d$ grows similar to the previous case. Unlike other multivariate interpolation strategies, we do not assume black-box access to the polynomial. In particular, we are not permitted to query arbitrary input points to obtain their evaluations. Our interpolation result follows by combining Wiedemann's classical approach~\cite{w86} for solving sparse linear systems with known bounds for fast \emph{multivariate multipoint evaluation} over finite fields~\cite{umans08, KU11, BGKM23, BGGKU24}. Specifically, our deterministic interpolation strategy relies on a deterministic variant of Wiedemann's approach, which is more commonly used in the randomized setting.

Friday, October 23 2026, 00:00

Coresets for $k$-Means: When Does Uniform Sampling Suffice?

Authors: Amir Carmel, Robert Krauthgamer

Data summarization techniques, such as coresets, are essential for scaling clustering algorithms to massive datasets. We study uniform sampling, which is an extremely simple and ultra-efficient method to construct coresets, in the context of weak, stable, and strong coresets for the $k$-means problem in Hilbert space. We begin with the fundamental case $k=1$, and establish matching upper and lower bounds on the sample complexity of stable and weak coresets, finding that the two notions require different sample complexities. As a consequence, we obtain tight bounds for stable $1$-median coresets in $\ell_1$ and $\ell_2$ (and thus also Kendall--tau and Jaccard metrics), removing the dimension dependence of Carmel and Krauthgamer (ICLR 2026). Our analysis is substantially simpler than prior work and reduces to bounding the deviation of the sample mean. For the general $k$-means problem on $ρ$-separated instances, a well-studied structural assumption on the input, we show that uniform sampling yields a stable coreset for all $O(1)$-approximate solutions, and a strong coreset if the instance additionally has bounded kurtosis. In all these results, the sample complexity is independent of the dimension and the instance size.

Authors: Amir Carmel, Robert Krauthgamer

Data summarization techniques, such as coresets, are essential for scaling clustering algorithms to massive datasets. We study uniform sampling, which is an extremely simple and ultra-efficient method to construct coresets, in the context of weak, stable, and strong coresets for the $k$-means problem in Hilbert space. We begin with the fundamental case $k=1$, and establish matching upper and lower bounds on the sample complexity of stable and weak coresets, finding that the two notions require different sample complexities. As a consequence, we obtain tight bounds for stable $1$-median coresets in $\ell_1$ and $\ell_2$ (and thus also Kendall--tau and Jaccard metrics), removing the dimension dependence of Carmel and Krauthgamer (ICLR 2026). Our analysis is substantially simpler than prior work and reduces to bounding the deviation of the sample mean. For the general $k$-means problem on $ρ$-separated instances, a well-studied structural assumption on the input, we show that uniform sampling yields a stable coreset for all $O(1)$-approximate solutions, and a strong coreset if the instance additionally has bounded kurtosis. In all these results, the sample complexity is independent of the dimension and the instance size.

Friday, October 23 2026, 00:00

Efficient and Optimal Learning of Discrete Distributions with Person-Level Privacy

Authors: Gautam Kamath, Mahbod Majid, Ankur Moitra, Argyris Mouzakis, Jonathan Ullman

We study learning a discrete distribution under person-level differential privacy in the batched setting. Given $n$ users, each contributing $m$ i.i.d. samples from an unknown distribution $μ$ over $[k]$, we seek an estimate of $μ$ with total-variation error $α$. We give polynomial-time algorithms under both pure and approximate differential privacy. Under pure $(\varepsilon,0)$-DP, we achieve $n = \widetilde O(k/(α^2 m)+k/(α\sqrt{m}\varepsilon)+k/\varepsilon)$, the first polynomial-time pure-DP guarantee matching the information-theoretic optimum up to logarithmic factors. Under approximate $(\varepsilon,δ)$-DP, we achieve $n = \widetilde O(k/(α^2 m)+k/(α\sqrt{m}\varepsilon)+k+\log(1/δ)/\varepsilon)$. At $δ=2^{-Θ(k)}$, this is $\widetilde O(k)$ for fixed $α,\varepsilon,m$ and failure probability. Our algorithms use a new degree-6 sum-of-squares estimator for learning from untrusted batches. Its key ingredient is a trace-bounded diagonal majorizer for the difference between the empirical covariance of the repaired batch averages and the multinomial covariance predicted by their mean. We prove that clean data admit this certificate through semidefinite-programming duality and a new application of the stronger symmetric form of Grothendieck's inequality due to Friedland and Lim. The certificate preserves the mean-dependent variance of multinomial batch averages, yielding the near-optimal robust rate $O(η\sqrt{\log(1/η)/m})$ and providing the score required by the privacy reduction. We also prove a statistical query lower bound ruling out a uniformly smaller order of error under fixed polynomial SQ resource bounds.

Authors: Gautam Kamath, Mahbod Majid, Ankur Moitra, Argyris Mouzakis, Jonathan Ullman

We study learning a discrete distribution under person-level differential privacy in the batched setting. Given $n$ users, each contributing $m$ i.i.d. samples from an unknown distribution $μ$ over $[k]$, we seek an estimate of $μ$ with total-variation error $α$. We give polynomial-time algorithms under both pure and approximate differential privacy. Under pure $(\varepsilon,0)$-DP, we achieve $n = \widetilde O(k/(α^2 m)+k/(α\sqrt{m}\varepsilon)+k/\varepsilon)$, the first polynomial-time pure-DP guarantee matching the information-theoretic optimum up to logarithmic factors. Under approximate $(\varepsilon,δ)$-DP, we achieve $n = \widetilde O(k/(α^2 m)+k/(α\sqrt{m}\varepsilon)+k+\log(1/δ)/\varepsilon)$. At $δ=2^{-Θ(k)}$, this is $\widetilde O(k)$ for fixed $α,\varepsilon,m$ and failure probability. Our algorithms use a new degree-6 sum-of-squares estimator for learning from untrusted batches. Its key ingredient is a trace-bounded diagonal majorizer for the difference between the empirical covariance of the repaired batch averages and the multinomial covariance predicted by their mean. We prove that clean data admit this certificate through semidefinite-programming duality and a new application of the stronger symmetric form of Grothendieck's inequality due to Friedland and Lim. The certificate preserves the mean-dependent variance of multinomial batch averages, yielding the near-optimal robust rate $O(η\sqrt{\log(1/η)/m})$ and providing the score required by the privacy reduction. We also prove a statistical query lower bound ruling out a uniformly smaller order of error under fixed polynomial SQ resource bounds.

Friday, October 23 2026, 00:00

Closing All-Exp Gaps in Local Search for the Traveling Salesman Problem and Maximum Constraint Assignment

Authors: Sophia Heimann, Hung P. Hoang, Stefan Hougardy

We prove the all-exp property for the Traveling Salesman Problem with the $2$-opt neighborhood, and for $(3,2,2)$- and $(2,3,2)$-Maximum Constraint Assignment with the flip neighborhood. The all-exp property states that infinitely many instances have an initial solution from which every sequence of improving moves to a local optimum, and hence every run of local search, has exponential length. For the Traveling Salesman Problem, the all-exp property was previously known for every $k$-opt neighborhood with $k \ge 3$, so our result for $2$-opt completes the picture for all $k$-kopt neighborhoods. In $(p,q,r)$-Maximum Constraint Assignment, each constraint involves at most $p$ variables, each variable occurs in at most $q$ constraints, and each domain has size $r$. Decreasing any of the parameters of $(3,2,2)$ or $(2,3,2)$ yields a problem in which every sequence of improving flips has polynomial length, so both Maximum Constraint Assignment results are tight. All three results settle long-standing open problems. Our proofs build on a common construction idea, which reveals a close connection between the local-search dynamics of the three problems.

Authors: Sophia Heimann, Hung P. Hoang, Stefan Hougardy

We prove the all-exp property for the Traveling Salesman Problem with the $2$-opt neighborhood, and for $(3,2,2)$- and $(2,3,2)$-Maximum Constraint Assignment with the flip neighborhood. The all-exp property states that infinitely many instances have an initial solution from which every sequence of improving moves to a local optimum, and hence every run of local search, has exponential length. For the Traveling Salesman Problem, the all-exp property was previously known for every $k$-opt neighborhood with $k \ge 3$, so our result for $2$-opt completes the picture for all $k$-kopt neighborhoods. In $(p,q,r)$-Maximum Constraint Assignment, each constraint involves at most $p$ variables, each variable occurs in at most $q$ constraints, and each domain has size $r$. Decreasing any of the parameters of $(3,2,2)$ or $(2,3,2)$ yields a problem in which every sequence of improving flips has polynomial length, so both Maximum Constraint Assignment results are tight. All three results settle long-standing open problems. Our proofs build on a common construction idea, which reveals a close connection between the local-search dynamics of the three problems.

Friday, October 23 2026, 00:00

Peak-Aware One-Way Trading: Competitive and Learning-Augmented Algorithms for Energy Procurement

Authors: Jackson Bibbens, Adam Lechowicz, Nicolas Christianson, Bo Sun, Mohammad Hajiesmaili

We introduce peak-aware one-way trading ($\texttt{PA-OWT}$), an online problem in which a player must purchase a fixed quantity of an asset by a deadline, minimizing its total cost plus a charge proportional to the largest single purchase at any time. The model is motivated by electricity procurement, where the cost of energy rewards buying at low prices, but peak demand charges discourage concentrating purchases in short periods. Balancing these incentives is challenging when future prices are unknown: a large purchase can establish a peak that later decisions cannot undo. We develop a peak-aware online algorithm that balances price and peak control with deadline feasibility and achieves the order-optimal competitive ratio. We further extend our results to a learning-augmented algorithm that uses predictions of optimal purchasing decisions to achieve an order-optimal consistency-robustness tradeoff, exploiting accurate advice while retaining worst-case guarantees in the face of arbitrary prediction errors. Finally, we evaluate our algorithms in a case study on electricity procurement using historical electricity price traces to understand the benefits of peak-aware purchasing.

Authors: Jackson Bibbens, Adam Lechowicz, Nicolas Christianson, Bo Sun, Mohammad Hajiesmaili

We introduce peak-aware one-way trading ($\texttt{PA-OWT}$), an online problem in which a player must purchase a fixed quantity of an asset by a deadline, minimizing its total cost plus a charge proportional to the largest single purchase at any time. The model is motivated by electricity procurement, where the cost of energy rewards buying at low prices, but peak demand charges discourage concentrating purchases in short periods. Balancing these incentives is challenging when future prices are unknown: a large purchase can establish a peak that later decisions cannot undo. We develop a peak-aware online algorithm that balances price and peak control with deadline feasibility and achieves the order-optimal competitive ratio. We further extend our results to a learning-augmented algorithm that uses predictions of optimal purchasing decisions to achieve an order-optimal consistency-robustness tradeoff, exploiting accurate advice while retaining worst-case guarantees in the face of arbitrary prediction errors. Finally, we evaluate our algorithms in a case study on electricity procurement using historical electricity price traces to understand the benefits of peak-aware purchasing.

Friday, October 23 2026, 00:00

Pipelining vs. Combining in Aggregation Tasks

Authors: Gabriel Marques Domingues, Claire Mathieu, Boaz Patt-Shamir

We study the aggregation task (convergecast) in networks in the case that the values to be aggregated do not fit in a single message. We assume that every node starts with an input value, and there is an aggregation operator that is commutative, associative, and length-preserving, i.e., the result of aggregating two values has the same length as each of the input values. Since values do not fit in a message, they are transferred in a ``train'' of pipelined messages, which must be terminated whenever we want to aggregate values. The goal is to minimize the makespan time of aggregating all values. We present general lower bounds on the problem and optimal algorithms for several prevalent parallel computing architectures, including the hypercube and complete bipartite graphs, under both the splittable and unsplittable flows models. We also present an $O(\log n)$ approximation for general graphs in the unsplittable flows model.

Authors: Gabriel Marques Domingues, Claire Mathieu, Boaz Patt-Shamir

We study the aggregation task (convergecast) in networks in the case that the values to be aggregated do not fit in a single message. We assume that every node starts with an input value, and there is an aggregation operator that is commutative, associative, and length-preserving, i.e., the result of aggregating two values has the same length as each of the input values. Since values do not fit in a message, they are transferred in a ``train'' of pipelined messages, which must be terminated whenever we want to aggregate values. The goal is to minimize the makespan time of aggregating all values. We present general lower bounds on the problem and optimal algorithms for several prevalent parallel computing architectures, including the hypercube and complete bipartite graphs, under both the splittable and unsplittable flows models. We also present an $O(\log n)$ approximation for general graphs in the unsplittable flows model.

Friday, October 23 2026, 00:00

A Sharp Analysis of Fixed Offset Hash Tables

Authors: Yuhao Guo, Seth Pettie, Chengzhang Wan

We consider the class of open addressing hash tables that uses a fixed offset sequence $r_0,r_1,\ldots,r_{n-1}$ to find an open slot in the table. As special cases this subsumes linear probing ($r_i=i$) and quadratic probing ($r_i=i^2$). We give a simple analysis that the expected insertion time when the load factor is $1-ε$ is $O(ε^{-2})$. This bound is tight for linear probing (but not for quadratic probing), so the analysis cannot be improved at this level of generality.

Authors: Yuhao Guo, Seth Pettie, Chengzhang Wan

We consider the class of open addressing hash tables that uses a fixed offset sequence $r_0,r_1,\ldots,r_{n-1}$ to find an open slot in the table. As special cases this subsumes linear probing ($r_i=i$) and quadratic probing ($r_i=i^2$). We give a simple analysis that the expected insertion time when the load factor is $1-ε$ is $O(ε^{-2})$. This bound is tight for linear probing (but not for quadratic probing), so the analysis cannot be improved at this level of generality.

Friday, October 23 2026, 00:00

Hardness and Approximation for Compressing Deterministic Finite Automata

Authors: Philip Bille, Inge Li Gørtz, Christoffer Krogh, Christian Møller Mikkelstrup

The delayed deterministic finite automaton ($\text{D}^2\text{FA}$) is a powerful tool for compressing the prohibitively large deterministic finite automata (DFAs) used in modern signature-based deep packet inspection systems. A $\text{D}^2\text{FA}$ augments a DFA with unlabeled default transitions to remove transitions that are similar. This technique works well in practice and has inspired numerous subsequent studies. However, existing approaches do not guarantee a $\text{D}^2\text{FA}$ of optimal size as they restrict the default transitions to form a forest. In this paper, we consider the problem of finding an optimal $\text{D}^2\text{FA}$. We make the key observation that cycles of default transitions can be valid and produce a smaller $\text{D}^2\text{FA}$, provided that for every character in the alphabet, at least one state in the cycle has an outgoing transition labeled by that character. This observation raises fundamental questions concerning the computational complexity of finding an optimal $\text{D}^2\text{FA}$ and the approximation guarantee of the standard (forest-restricted) approach. We answer both questions by showing that it is NP-hard to find an optimal $\text{D}^2\text{FA}$ and by proving that the standard approach provides a $3/2$-approximation to the optimum. To establish NP-hardness, we construct a reduction from set cover using a DFA with gadgets where valid default transition choices correspond to selecting sets. To prove our approximation ratio, we compare the cycles in an optimal solution to a variant where the default transitions form a forest. Finally, we demonstrate that this $3/2$ ratio is tight via a constructed family of DFAs.

Authors: Philip Bille, Inge Li Gørtz, Christoffer Krogh, Christian Møller Mikkelstrup

The delayed deterministic finite automaton ($\text{D}^2\text{FA}$) is a powerful tool for compressing the prohibitively large deterministic finite automata (DFAs) used in modern signature-based deep packet inspection systems. A $\text{D}^2\text{FA}$ augments a DFA with unlabeled default transitions to remove transitions that are similar. This technique works well in practice and has inspired numerous subsequent studies. However, existing approaches do not guarantee a $\text{D}^2\text{FA}$ of optimal size as they restrict the default transitions to form a forest. In this paper, we consider the problem of finding an optimal $\text{D}^2\text{FA}$. We make the key observation that cycles of default transitions can be valid and produce a smaller $\text{D}^2\text{FA}$, provided that for every character in the alphabet, at least one state in the cycle has an outgoing transition labeled by that character. This observation raises fundamental questions concerning the computational complexity of finding an optimal $\text{D}^2\text{FA}$ and the approximation guarantee of the standard (forest-restricted) approach. We answer both questions by showing that it is NP-hard to find an optimal $\text{D}^2\text{FA}$ and by proving that the standard approach provides a $3/2$-approximation to the optimum. To establish NP-hardness, we construct a reduction from set cover using a DFA with gadgets where valid default transition choices correspond to selecting sets. To prove our approximation ratio, we compare the cycles in an optimal solution to a variant where the default transitions form a forest. Finally, we demonstrate that this $3/2$ ratio is tight via a constructed family of DFAs.

Friday, October 23 2026, 00:00

Kempe Reachability with $k\geq 3$ Colors Is $\mathsf{PSPACE}$-Complete on Claw-Free Graphs

Authors: Duc A. Hoang

A \emph{proper vertex coloring} assigns colors to vertices so that adjacent vertices have distinct colors. A \emph{Kempe change} in a proper vertex coloring exchanges two colors on one component of the subgraph induced by the vertices of those colors. For a fixed palette of $k$ colors, \textsc{Kempe Reachability} asks whether two given proper vertex colorings of the same graph are connected by a sequence of Kempe changes. This problem is known to be $\mathsf{PSPACE}$-complete for every fixed $k\geq 3$. A graph is \emph{claw-free} if no vertex has three pairwise nonadjacent neighbors. The \emph{line graph} of a graph has one vertex for each edge, with two vertices adjacent exactly when the corresponding edges share an end. Line graphs are claw-free, and their Kempe changes correspond to \emph{edge-Kempe changes} in the original graph, which exchange two colors on one component of the subgraph formed by the edges of those colors. A claw-free graph with a proper $k$-coloring has maximum degree at most $2k-2$, whereas for $k\geq 4$ all proper $k$-colorings of a graph of maximum degree at most $k$ are connected by Kempe changes. We show that, for every fixed $k\geq 3$, \textsc{Kempe Reachability} with $k$ colors is $\mathsf{PSPACE}$-complete even on line graphs of connected simple $k$-regular graphs, and hence even on connected $(2k-2)$-regular claw-free graphs. Equivalently, deciding whether two proper $k$-edge-colorings are connected by edge-Kempe changes is $\mathsf{PSPACE}$-complete even on connected simple $k$-regular graphs. ChatGPT 6 Pro and Claude Fable 5.1 were used to assist with developing and reviewing mathematical arguments and drafting and revising the paper. The author takes full responsibility for the correctness and content of the paper.

Authors: Duc A. Hoang

A \emph{proper vertex coloring} assigns colors to vertices so that adjacent vertices have distinct colors. A \emph{Kempe change} in a proper vertex coloring exchanges two colors on one component of the subgraph induced by the vertices of those colors. For a fixed palette of $k$ colors, \textsc{Kempe Reachability} asks whether two given proper vertex colorings of the same graph are connected by a sequence of Kempe changes. This problem is known to be $\mathsf{PSPACE}$-complete for every fixed $k\geq 3$. A graph is \emph{claw-free} if no vertex has three pairwise nonadjacent neighbors. The \emph{line graph} of a graph has one vertex for each edge, with two vertices adjacent exactly when the corresponding edges share an end. Line graphs are claw-free, and their Kempe changes correspond to \emph{edge-Kempe changes} in the original graph, which exchange two colors on one component of the subgraph formed by the edges of those colors. A claw-free graph with a proper $k$-coloring has maximum degree at most $2k-2$, whereas for $k\geq 4$ all proper $k$-colorings of a graph of maximum degree at most $k$ are connected by Kempe changes. We show that, for every fixed $k\geq 3$, \textsc{Kempe Reachability} with $k$ colors is $\mathsf{PSPACE}$-complete even on line graphs of connected simple $k$-regular graphs, and hence even on connected $(2k-2)$-regular claw-free graphs. Equivalently, deciding whether two proper $k$-edge-colorings are connected by edge-Kempe changes is $\mathsf{PSPACE}$-complete even on connected simple $k$-regular graphs. ChatGPT 6 Pro and Claude Fable 5.1 were used to assist with developing and reviewing mathematical arguments and drafting and revising the paper. The author takes full responsibility for the correctness and content of the paper.

Friday, October 23 2026, 00:00

A Polynomial-Time Algorithm for $k$-Path Vertex Cover Reconfiguration on Trees under Token Sliding

Authors: Duc A. Hoang

A $k$-path vertex cover ($k$-PVC) of a graph is a set of vertices meeting every path on $k$ vertices. In Token Sliding, one token occupies each vertex of a cover; a move slides one token along an edge to an unoccupied vertex, preserving the cover property. We study whether two covers of a tree are joined by such moves. The case $k=2$ admits a linear-time decision algorithm. For every integer $k\geq2$, we give an $O(kn^2)$-time decision algorithm on trees of order $n$, with $k$ part of the input. Two covers are reachable precisely when their rigid tokens, which never move, occupy the same set and every component remaining after their deletion has the same token count. The proof transforms configurations of equal size without rigid tokens into a canonical configuration built on properly rooted subtrees, whose paths on $k$ vertices pass through their roots. A rooted-subtree recurrence identifies movable candidate tokens. We also give a direct recursive construction between the supplied endpoints, returning at most $8n^2\,3^{\lceil n/2\rceil}$ slides in $O(n^{10}3^{n/2})$ time. ChatGPT 6 Pro and Claude Fable 5.1 were used to assist with developing and reviewing mathematical arguments and drafting and revising the paper. The author takes full responsibility for the correctness and content of the paper.

Authors: Duc A. Hoang

A $k$-path vertex cover ($k$-PVC) of a graph is a set of vertices meeting every path on $k$ vertices. In Token Sliding, one token occupies each vertex of a cover; a move slides one token along an edge to an unoccupied vertex, preserving the cover property. We study whether two covers of a tree are joined by such moves. The case $k=2$ admits a linear-time decision algorithm. For every integer $k\geq2$, we give an $O(kn^2)$-time decision algorithm on trees of order $n$, with $k$ part of the input. Two covers are reachable precisely when their rigid tokens, which never move, occupy the same set and every component remaining after their deletion has the same token count. The proof transforms configurations of equal size without rigid tokens into a canonical configuration built on properly rooted subtrees, whose paths on $k$ vertices pass through their roots. A rooted-subtree recurrence identifies movable candidate tokens. We also give a direct recursive construction between the supplied endpoints, returning at most $8n^2\,3^{\lceil n/2\rceil}$ slides in $O(n^{10}3^{n/2})$ time. ChatGPT 6 Pro and Claude Fable 5.1 were used to assist with developing and reviewing mathematical arguments and drafting and revising the paper. The author takes full responsibility for the correctness and content of the paper.

Friday, October 23 2026, 00:00

Iterative Randomized Rounding for Better-Than-2 k-Median Approximation

Authors: Jarosław Byrka, Yuhao Guo, Yang Hu, Shi Li, Yongho Shin, Phanu Vajanopath, Chengzhang Wan, Zaixuan Wang

We study the classic $k$-median problem and refine the iterative rounding framework recently introduced by Byrka, Guo, Hu, Li, Wan, and Wang [FOCS'26], which yields a $(2+\varepsilon)$-approximation. Our algorithm opens $k+O(1)$ facilities and achieves an expected connection cost of at most $1.9999$ times the value of the standard LP relaxation. Although the numerical improvement over $2$ is small, it establishes a conceptual result: the integrality gap of the standard relaxation is strictly below $2$ when a constant number of extra facilities is allowed. This partially answers an open question of Li and Svensson [STOC'13]. Combined with their reduction, our result yields a $1.9999$-approximation algorithm for $k$-median. Our approach builds on several technical ingredients. First, we develop a preprocessing routine that makes the LP solution $\mathrm{poly}(\varepsilon)$-integral, at the cost of a $(1+\varepsilon)$ factor in the connection cost and $O(1)$ extra facilities. Unlike the preprocessing of Byrka et al. [FOCS'26], our conversion is unconditional: it requires no special treatment of clients whose fractional facilities are concentrated. Next, we show that the main rounding algorithm can open facilities one at a time, eliminating the batch processing used by Byrka et al. [FOCS'26]. Finally, the improvement over 2 comes from a tighter analysis for clients whose distances from to its facilities are not all equal, and a complementary algorithm for the case in which these distances are nearly uniform.

Authors: Jarosław Byrka, Yuhao Guo, Yang Hu, Shi Li, Yongho Shin, Phanu Vajanopath, Chengzhang Wan, Zaixuan Wang

We study the classic $k$-median problem and refine the iterative rounding framework recently introduced by Byrka, Guo, Hu, Li, Wan, and Wang [FOCS'26], which yields a $(2+\varepsilon)$-approximation. Our algorithm opens $k+O(1)$ facilities and achieves an expected connection cost of at most $1.9999$ times the value of the standard LP relaxation. Although the numerical improvement over $2$ is small, it establishes a conceptual result: the integrality gap of the standard relaxation is strictly below $2$ when a constant number of extra facilities is allowed. This partially answers an open question of Li and Svensson [STOC'13]. Combined with their reduction, our result yields a $1.9999$-approximation algorithm for $k$-median. Our approach builds on several technical ingredients. First, we develop a preprocessing routine that makes the LP solution $\mathrm{poly}(\varepsilon)$-integral, at the cost of a $(1+\varepsilon)$ factor in the connection cost and $O(1)$ extra facilities. Unlike the preprocessing of Byrka et al. [FOCS'26], our conversion is unconditional: it requires no special treatment of clients whose fractional facilities are concentrated. Next, we show that the main rounding algorithm can open facilities one at a time, eliminating the batch processing used by Byrka et al. [FOCS'26]. Finally, the improvement over 2 comes from a tighter analysis for clients whose distances from to its facilities are not all equal, and a complementary algorithm for the case in which these distances are nearly uniform.

Friday, October 23 2026, 00:00

Almost tight distributed approximation for domination in sparse graph classes

Authors: Timothé Picavet

We study distributed approximation of Minimum Dominating Set in a very general class of sparse graphs, extending near-optimal approximation results from the minor-free setting to bounded expansion. In more detail, for fixed $d$ and $\varepsilon>0$, we give a new deterministic constant-round LOCAL algorithm for Minimum Dominating Set on graphs of maximum average degree at most $d$ and bounded depth-one shallow-minor density. Its approximation ratio is $d+1+\varepsilon$, which is optimal up to $\varepsilon$ for every even integer $d\geq 2$. This improves on the recent results of Amiri and Siebertz by extending beyond proper minor-closed classes. From this algorithm, we derive almost-tight constant-round approximations for a number of graph classes. We get $(7+\varepsilon)$-approximations for planar graphs and graphs of bounded Euler genus, and $(5+\varepsilon)$-approximations for their triangle-free subclasses. This answers the $7+\varepsilon$ question of Wawrzyniak positively, and matches the recent results of Amiri and Siebertz. We also apply our algorithm to classes of bounded queue-number or stack-number, obtaining bounds that are tight up to $\varepsilon$. Additionally, we answer questions of Amiri and Siebertz about improving the dependence of the round complexity on $1/\varepsilon$ and obtaining polynomial local computation for fixed parameters, when comparing the output to the usual domination number.

Authors: Timothé Picavet

We study distributed approximation of Minimum Dominating Set in a very general class of sparse graphs, extending near-optimal approximation results from the minor-free setting to bounded expansion. In more detail, for fixed $d$ and $\varepsilon>0$, we give a new deterministic constant-round LOCAL algorithm for Minimum Dominating Set on graphs of maximum average degree at most $d$ and bounded depth-one shallow-minor density. Its approximation ratio is $d+1+\varepsilon$, which is optimal up to $\varepsilon$ for every even integer $d\geq 2$. This improves on the recent results of Amiri and Siebertz by extending beyond proper minor-closed classes. From this algorithm, we derive almost-tight constant-round approximations for a number of graph classes. We get $(7+\varepsilon)$-approximations for planar graphs and graphs of bounded Euler genus, and $(5+\varepsilon)$-approximations for their triangle-free subclasses. This answers the $7+\varepsilon$ question of Wawrzyniak positively, and matches the recent results of Amiri and Siebertz. We also apply our algorithm to classes of bounded queue-number or stack-number, obtaining bounds that are tight up to $\varepsilon$. Additionally, we answer questions of Amiri and Siebertz about improving the dependence of the round complexity on $1/\varepsilon$ and obtaining polynomial local computation for fixed parameters, when comparing the output to the usual domination number.

Friday, October 23 2026, 00:00

Pigeonhole Equal Subset Sum: Subexponential Algorithm, Tight Lower Bounds, and Average-Case Analysis

Authors: Deepak Bhati, Pranjal Dutta, Antoine Joux, Mahesh Sreekumar Rajasree, Karol Wegrzycki

The Equal Subset Sum problem asks, given n positive integers bounded by M, to find two distinct non-empty subsets with the same sum. We study this problem in the regime $M = 2^{o(n)}$, where the pigeonhole principle guarantees that a solution exists, and the main challenge is to find one efficiently. A straightforward dynamic-programming algorithm runs in time poly(n).$M$. After a sequence of improvements, the current best algorithm, due to Jin, Williams, and Zhang (ESA 2025), achieves running time poly(n).$M^{1/3}$. In this work, we give the first poly(n).$M^{o(1)}$-time algorithm for Equal Subset Sum in the regime $M = 2^{o(n)}$. We complement this algorithmic result with a tight conditional lower bound showing that any substantial improvement would require a major breakthrough in approximation algorithms for lattice problems, building on recent techniques of Vafa and Vaikuntanathan (STOC 2025). Finally, we show that our techniques yield an asymptotically faster algorithm for the regime when $M = Θ(2^{n})$: a poly(n)$\cdot 2^{n/4}$-time algorithm in the average case.

Authors: Deepak Bhati, Pranjal Dutta, Antoine Joux, Mahesh Sreekumar Rajasree, Karol Wegrzycki

The Equal Subset Sum problem asks, given n positive integers bounded by M, to find two distinct non-empty subsets with the same sum. We study this problem in the regime $M = 2^{o(n)}$, where the pigeonhole principle guarantees that a solution exists, and the main challenge is to find one efficiently. A straightforward dynamic-programming algorithm runs in time poly(n).$M$. After a sequence of improvements, the current best algorithm, due to Jin, Williams, and Zhang (ESA 2025), achieves running time poly(n).$M^{1/3}$. In this work, we give the first poly(n).$M^{o(1)}$-time algorithm for Equal Subset Sum in the regime $M = 2^{o(n)}$. We complement this algorithmic result with a tight conditional lower bound showing that any substantial improvement would require a major breakthrough in approximation algorithms for lattice problems, building on recent techniques of Vafa and Vaikuntanathan (STOC 2025). Finally, we show that our techniques yield an asymptotically faster algorithm for the regime when $M = Θ(2^{n})$: a poly(n)$\cdot 2^{n/4}$-time algorithm in the average case.

Friday, October 23 2026, 00:00

Truthful by Omission: Click Thinning for LLM-Native Advertising

Authors: Junhua Liu, Zhicheng Liang, Zejun Zhang, Langzhou He, Feng Qian

Generative AI assistants are becoming an advertising medium, embedding sponsored content in their answers. This setting departs from classical position auctions in two ways: an ad's click-through rate depends on the passage that hosts it, and because users stop at their first click, earlier ads take clicks from later ones. This competition for clicks makes truthfulness delicate: a higher bid can reshape the allocation and put a competitor ahead of the bidder, reducing the bidder's clicks. Existing mechanisms either attain a constant fraction of the optimal welfare (advertisers' total click value) but are not known to be truthful, or are truthful but their welfare guarantee degrades as the number of passages grows. We achieve both even when the answer and its editorial order are fixed before bidding. Assuming each ad's click-through rate when reached is known and unaffected by omitting other ads, we give a computationally efficient mechanism that is truthful in expectation and attains at least half the optimal welfare under free reordering. Our key idea, click thinning, omits ads at random, showing earlier ads less often so that each ad's overall click probability no longer depends on the order of the ads. Welfare maximization then reduces to a tractable matching problem, and solving it exactly with VCG-style payments makes truthful bidding optimal in expectation. Characterizing the click probabilities that omission can achieve sharpens the approximation factor from $2$ to $2-(1-δ)^{K-1}$ when at most $K$ ads are shown and each click-through rate is at most $δ$. This factor is the best possible for any order-preserving rule, even one that ignores incentives and computation, so truthfulness and computational efficiency incur no additional worst-case loss.

Authors: Junhua Liu, Zhicheng Liang, Zejun Zhang, Langzhou He, Feng Qian

Generative AI assistants are becoming an advertising medium, embedding sponsored content in their answers. This setting departs from classical position auctions in two ways: an ad's click-through rate depends on the passage that hosts it, and because users stop at their first click, earlier ads take clicks from later ones. This competition for clicks makes truthfulness delicate: a higher bid can reshape the allocation and put a competitor ahead of the bidder, reducing the bidder's clicks. Existing mechanisms either attain a constant fraction of the optimal welfare (advertisers' total click value) but are not known to be truthful, or are truthful but their welfare guarantee degrades as the number of passages grows. We achieve both even when the answer and its editorial order are fixed before bidding. Assuming each ad's click-through rate when reached is known and unaffected by omitting other ads, we give a computationally efficient mechanism that is truthful in expectation and attains at least half the optimal welfare under free reordering. Our key idea, click thinning, omits ads at random, showing earlier ads less often so that each ad's overall click probability no longer depends on the order of the ads. Welfare maximization then reduces to a tractable matching problem, and solving it exactly with VCG-style payments makes truthful bidding optimal in expectation. Characterizing the click probabilities that omission can achieve sharpens the approximation factor from $2$ to $2-(1-δ)^{K-1}$ when at most $K$ ads are shown and each click-through rate is at most $δ$. This factor is the best possible for any order-preserving rule, even one that ignores incentives and computation, so truthfulness and computational efficiency incur no additional worst-case loss.

Friday, October 23 2026, 00:00

Optimal Mixing for Local Edge-Coloring Dynamics on Trees

Authors: Haoran wang

We study the mixing time of two local Markov chains for uniformly sampling proper edge colorings of trees. For a tree with $n$ vertices and maximum degree $Δ$, we establish optimal mixing-time bounds for the single-edge Glauber dynamics when $q\geΔ+2$ and for the neighboring-edge heat-bath dynamics when $q\geΔ+1$. Both chains mix in $O_Δ(n(\log n+\log(1/\varepsilon)))$ steps, uniformly over the number of colors $q$. These bounds are tight in their dependence on $n$ for fixed $Δ$. Our proof establishes log-Sobolev inequalities through local color release, reusable recoloring buffers, and component entropy mixing. The two dynamics require different local constructions: a two-spare-color buffer for single-edge updates and a second-layer controller for neighboring-edge updates. The resulting entropy analysis applies to general bounded-degree trees, including regimes where worst-case spatial mixing fails.

Authors: Haoran wang

We study the mixing time of two local Markov chains for uniformly sampling proper edge colorings of trees. For a tree with $n$ vertices and maximum degree $Δ$, we establish optimal mixing-time bounds for the single-edge Glauber dynamics when $q\geΔ+2$ and for the neighboring-edge heat-bath dynamics when $q\geΔ+1$. Both chains mix in $O_Δ(n(\log n+\log(1/\varepsilon)))$ steps, uniformly over the number of colors $q$. These bounds are tight in their dependence on $n$ for fixed $Δ$. Our proof establishes log-Sobolev inequalities through local color release, reusable recoloring buffers, and component entropy mixing. The two dynamics require different local constructions: a two-spare-color buffer for single-edge updates and a second-layer controller for neighboring-edge updates. The resulting entropy analysis applies to general bounded-degree trees, including regimes where worst-case spatial mixing fails.

Friday, October 23 2026, 00:00

The Cost of Missed States: Online Tracking with Current-Observation Resets

Authors: Hiroyasu Usami

An online tracker retains one state and may reset only to the current observation, although its complete observed history is available. Offline knows the future and obeys the same reset rule. Under a hard discrepancy radius, for every horizon $T\ge5$ and every feasible randomized causal policy, a fixed path on a known five-point metric requires at least $(T+1)/2$ expected refreshes, against exactly two offline refreshes with a strict radius margin. Missing the useful prefix center forces a refresh at every suffix observation. The path visits four values, with resolution fixed as $T$ grows. Write $J_λ$ for cumulative discrepancy plus a charge $λ>0$ per refresh, and $V_T$ for the sum of successive observation distances. A candidate prefix adapts Bienkowski and Schmid's randomized lower bound to this objective under current resets, even with a known horizon and $V_T<3λ$. This construction needs finer grids; a fixed finite metric with positive minimum separation instead admits a competitive policy for penalized tracking. An anytime policy satisfies $J_λ\leλ+4\sqrt{λTV_T}$ without knowing the horizon or final variation. Clipping for a known horizon gives $J_λ\leλT$ and a factor-three comparison with the minimum of three analytical bounds, without knowing final variation. Current-value diameter and readout sensitivity give same-input output bounds for mixtures, including squared-distance softmax.

Authors: Hiroyasu Usami

An online tracker retains one state and may reset only to the current observation, although its complete observed history is available. Offline knows the future and obeys the same reset rule. Under a hard discrepancy radius, for every horizon $T\ge5$ and every feasible randomized causal policy, a fixed path on a known five-point metric requires at least $(T+1)/2$ expected refreshes, against exactly two offline refreshes with a strict radius margin. Missing the useful prefix center forces a refresh at every suffix observation. The path visits four values, with resolution fixed as $T$ grows. Write $J_λ$ for cumulative discrepancy plus a charge $λ>0$ per refresh, and $V_T$ for the sum of successive observation distances. A candidate prefix adapts Bienkowski and Schmid's randomized lower bound to this objective under current resets, even with a known horizon and $V_T<3λ$. This construction needs finer grids; a fixed finite metric with positive minimum separation instead admits a competitive policy for penalized tracking. An anytime policy satisfies $J_λ\leλ+4\sqrt{λTV_T}$ without knowing the horizon or final variation. Clipping for a known horizon gives $J_λ\leλT$ and a factor-three comparison with the minimum of three analytical bounds, without knowing final variation. Current-value diameter and readout sensitivity give same-input output bounds for mixtures, including squared-distance softmax.

Friday, October 23 2026, 00:00

Polynomial pathwidth for graphs vertex-coverable by few shortest paths and algorithms for quasi-shortest path covers

Authors: Li-Hsuan Chen, Florent Foucaud, Ling-Ju Hung, Ralf Klasing, Lucas Lorieau, Peter Rossmanith

We study how covering a graph by a small number of shortest or approximately shortest paths/walks constrains its treewidth and pathwidth. A path or walk is $(α,β)$-quasi-shortest for $α\geq1$ and $β\geq 0$ if each contiguous segment has length at most $α$ times the distance between its endpoints plus $β$. For graphs vertex-covered by $k$ shortest paths, we establish the first known polynomial pathwidth bound of $O(k^3)$. For edge-coverage, we improve the previously known $O(k^4)$ upper bound to $O(k^2\log k)$. As a main ingredient of the proofs, we first show that if the vertices of a graph can be covered by $k$ $(α,β)$-quasi-shortest paths or walks, then its treewidth is $O_{α,β}(k^2)$; this is a consequence of the fact that such graphs have linear metric growth and the technique developed in [Campbell et al., E-JC 2023]. To obtain the above pathwidth upper bounds, we combine this result with techniques from the literature in a nontrivial way. On the other hand, we show that there exist connected bipartite cubic graph whose edges can be covered by $k$ shortest paths and whose pathwidth is $Ω(k\log k)$, providing the first superlinear lower bound. For graphs covered by $k=2$ $(α,0)$-quasi-shortest paths with $α>1$, we show that, unlike treewidth and unlike the case $α=1$ and $β=0$ of exact shortest paths, the pathwidth may be unbounded. Finally, for every fixed rationals $α\geq1$ and $β\geq 0$, we give XP algorithms with a running time of $n^{f(k,α,β)}$ for some function~$f$ that decide whether the vertices of a graph can be covered by at most $k$ $(α,β)$-quasi-shortest paths or walks. The algorithms combine our treewidth upper bounds with an algorithmic meta-theorem from [Dreier et al., LICS 2025]. [abstract shortened to meet the arXiv requirements]

Authors: Li-Hsuan Chen, Florent Foucaud, Ling-Ju Hung, Ralf Klasing, Lucas Lorieau, Peter Rossmanith

We study how covering a graph by a small number of shortest or approximately shortest paths/walks constrains its treewidth and pathwidth. A path or walk is $(α,β)$-quasi-shortest for $α\geq1$ and $β\geq 0$ if each contiguous segment has length at most $α$ times the distance between its endpoints plus $β$. For graphs vertex-covered by $k$ shortest paths, we establish the first known polynomial pathwidth bound of $O(k^3)$. For edge-coverage, we improve the previously known $O(k^4)$ upper bound to $O(k^2\log k)$. As a main ingredient of the proofs, we first show that if the vertices of a graph can be covered by $k$ $(α,β)$-quasi-shortest paths or walks, then its treewidth is $O_{α,β}(k^2)$; this is a consequence of the fact that such graphs have linear metric growth and the technique developed in [Campbell et al., E-JC 2023]. To obtain the above pathwidth upper bounds, we combine this result with techniques from the literature in a nontrivial way. On the other hand, we show that there exist connected bipartite cubic graph whose edges can be covered by $k$ shortest paths and whose pathwidth is $Ω(k\log k)$, providing the first superlinear lower bound. For graphs covered by $k=2$ $(α,0)$-quasi-shortest paths with $α>1$, we show that, unlike treewidth and unlike the case $α=1$ and $β=0$ of exact shortest paths, the pathwidth may be unbounded. Finally, for every fixed rationals $α\geq1$ and $β\geq 0$, we give XP algorithms with a running time of $n^{f(k,α,β)}$ for some function~$f$ that decide whether the vertices of a graph can be covered by at most $k$ $(α,β)$-quasi-shortest paths or walks. The algorithms combine our treewidth upper bounds with an algorithmic meta-theorem from [Dreier et al., LICS 2025]. [abstract shortened to meet the arXiv requirements]

Friday, October 23 2026, 00:00

Tight Bounds for Paging with Time Windows and Joint Replenishment with Varying Opening Costs

Authors: Joseph Seffi Naor, Tomer Tsachor

We study the paging with time windows problem, a natural generalization of classical paging, in which each request must be served within a specified time interval. This model allows the algorithm to delay service and batch service requests over time, but also introduces significant challenges due to overlapping requests. While the problem is well understood in the unweighted setting, where optimal $O(\log k)$-competitive algorithms are known, the weighted case remains more elusive. The best previously known algorithm, due to Gupta, Kumar, and Panigrahi, achieves an $O(\log k \log n)$-competitive ratio, leaving a gap between weighted and unweighted settings. We obtain an $O(\log k)$-competitive algorithm for weighted paging with time windows, matching the optimal competitive ratio. The core of our approach is a structural decomposition that separates the evolution of the cache from the scheduling of page loads. We show that, given a sequence of cache configurations, computing a near-optimal sequence of page loads reduces to a variant of the Joint Replenishment Problem with deadlines (JRP-D) with time-dependent opening costs. We design a constant-competitive online algorithm for this variant and prove that the reduction is tight. Combining this with an existing online construction of cache configurations yields the desired bound.

Authors: Joseph Seffi Naor, Tomer Tsachor

We study the paging with time windows problem, a natural generalization of classical paging, in which each request must be served within a specified time interval. This model allows the algorithm to delay service and batch service requests over time, but also introduces significant challenges due to overlapping requests. While the problem is well understood in the unweighted setting, where optimal $O(\log k)$-competitive algorithms are known, the weighted case remains more elusive. The best previously known algorithm, due to Gupta, Kumar, and Panigrahi, achieves an $O(\log k \log n)$-competitive ratio, leaving a gap between weighted and unweighted settings. We obtain an $O(\log k)$-competitive algorithm for weighted paging with time windows, matching the optimal competitive ratio. The core of our approach is a structural decomposition that separates the evolution of the cache from the scheduling of page loads. We show that, given a sequence of cache configurations, computing a near-optimal sequence of page loads reduces to a variant of the Joint Replenishment Problem with deadlines (JRP-D) with time-dependent opening costs. We design a constant-competitive online algorithm for this variant and prove that the reduction is tight. Combining this with an existing online construction of cache configurations yields the desired bound.

Friday, October 23 2026, 00:00

We, the community, must build our own AI telescope for math

from Emanuele Viola

It will be better and faster than anything else out there, and will be trained and maintained by each of us. All the prompts will be public, and access will be shared equally among the community. It will be a most ambitious research project, like mapping the genome, particle colliders, or space telescopes. We will […]

It will be better and faster than anything else out there, and will be trained and maintained by each of us. All the prompts will be public, and access will be shared equally among the community. It will be a most ambitious research project, like mapping the genome, particle colliders, or space telescopes. We will use it to solve the greatest mysteries in math, like the P vs NP problem. It should be funded at the government level and work on it should start immediately. The project will attract the brightest scientists from all over the world, and make us a beacon for progress.

Otherwise, it is not going to be fun to do astronomy if someone else has a better telescope.

By Manu

Thursday, October 22 2026, 17:06

Polls Without People

from Ben Recht

How statistical prediction blurs into statistical sampling when surveying society.

Hi there, argmin readers! Today’s post is a live blog of Class 14 of my graduate seminar “Forecasting: A Critical Retrospective,” turning to the less controversial subject of public opinion polling. The syllabus and list of past posts are here.

Our next two units on forecasting focus on forecasting societal behavior, and to do that we first need to talk about how we measure properties of society. One of those main measurements is surveys. Today, I want to describe some techniques survey designers use to avoid ever having to interact with actual people.

Let’s start with the basics.1 Let’s say you want to measure some property of a population, like what percentage of dentists recommend chewing sugarless gum. You can’t ask all of the dentists, so you gather a random sample and then extrapolate the fraction in the sample to represent the fraction in the broader population of dentists.

The main idea of why this is reasonable is simple. If you gathered a true random subset of a population of people and asked them a yes-or-no question, then the average of the answers in the sample would most of the time be very close to the average in the population. You can even quantify how close. The expected gap between the sample average and the population average is nearly independent of the population size and mostly a function of the sample size. This gap is inversely proportional to the square root of the sample size, so if you want to estimate the fraction of a population that answers yes to some question, you can get a “margin of error” of a few percentage points with a few hundred people.

This is a colloquial description of the weak law of large numbers. It often feels miraculous. You can get a good estimate of an average with 600 samples no matter how large the population is. But that margin of error is only true if you have a truly random sample. Unfortunately, when you’re harassing people to answer your annoying surveys, you never get a truly random sample! Not everyone will talk to a pollster, and not everyone is reachable in the first place.

So the data that surveyors gather is a mix of randomness, convenience, and population predilections. You can’t just average the responses and hope for the best. Without a truly random sample, that average will be biased. Fortunately or unfortunately, statisticians have spent decades finding clever ways to use math to patch up social scientific deficiencies. They don’t let people’s actual behavior get in the way of a good time!

One idea is to use post-stratification to recalibrate your survey. The idea behind post-stratification is that once you have a fine enough demographic coarse-graining of people, there are no systematic biases in reporting. There are many justifications for this assumption, but more or less it assumes that within each demographic unit, respondents vote like nonrespondents.2 If this is true, you can weight the respondents in your sample by their demographic proportion in the population and combine them into a new estimate that is unbiased, assuming your model relating demography and human behavior is correct. My friends Avi, Eli, and Erin wrote a clear introduction to how this is done in practice and what assumptions have to hold for this reweighting to be unbiased.

Now those demographic weights themselves are also hard to come by. First, you need an accurate census to guess the fraction of the population that belongs to each demographic cell. This creates a problem of turtles all the way down, because it requires doing censuses that have similar response and bias issues. Second, you need to be sure that you actually sample someone from every demographic stratum in your survey. That is almost never true.

So what you do instead is fit the weights in your sample using a statistical prediction model. There are many dark-art techniques to do this, each with its own ornate justifications. Fitting the weights gives modelers a lot of degrees of freedom. Pollsters are now using their own internal models to weight their numbers. Different models can cause swings in estimates far outside the “margin of error” reported with the poll.

This is only one way statistical prediction blurs into statistical sampling. Indeed, you can lower the variance of your survey with a good prediction. In classical survey calibration, you combine your model’s guess of the outcome with the estimated deviation from that model in your survey sample. In this paradigm, if you really believe in your prediction model, you can throw the survey correction out altogether.

If you want to boost your confidence, you can even combine these two prediction techniques. Statisticians hilariously call this “doubly robust.” If the model that predicts poll answers from demographics is correct, the term that depends on the sample data will be small and not mess up your prediction. If the model that predicts who will be in the sample based on demographics is correct, this will cancel out the effect of the answer-predicting function. Unfortunately, some guy told me that all models were wrong. In that case, there are no guarantees.

Regardless, my point here is to show how statistical modeling can replace statistical sampling. As more and more people refuse to answer polls, these statistical models end up replacing talking to people. In practice, surveys become more about what experts believe about society than what society actually is. Many of these experts seem to believe that they can forecast human behavior without ever observing humans.

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1

I debated putting all the equations here, but I try to keep this blog as equation-free as possible. I will do it if enough of you bug me in the comments.

2

Statisticians, don’t @ me for oversimplifying your weird assumptions about how people behave.

By Ben Recht

Thursday, October 22 2026, 14:36

TR26-268 | A Linear Lower Bound on Testing Graph Isomorphism in the Bounded-Degree Model | Amit Dror

from ECCC Papers

We prove a linear query complexity lower bound for two-sided testing of graph isomorphism in the bounded-degree model. Specifically, there are constants $d$ and $\varepsilon_0$ such that, for every sufficiently large $n$, there exists an $n$-vertex graph $H_n$ of maximum degree at most $d$ such that testing isomorphism to $H_n$ requires $\Omega(n)$ queries. The proof proceeds by a reduction from testing the solvability of a fixed sparse system of linear equations over $\mathcal{F}_2$. Given a fixed matrix $A$ and an input vector $b$, we associate $b$ with a graph $G_b$ such that $G_b$ is isomorphic to $G_0$ whenever $Ax=b$ has a solution. We show that each query to the graph can be emulated with at most one query to $b$, and that Hamming distance from $Im(A)$ translates to the distance of $G_b$ from $G_0$. The main result then follows from a linear query lower bound for testing the solvability of the underlying (sparse) linear system.

Thursday, October 22 2026, 10:50

Zero Knowledge for Free up to Linear Query Bounds: Quasilinear-Size Constant-Query Zero-Knowledge PCPs

Authors: Inhyuk Park, Chenglin Fan

We show that for all polynomials $T$ and $b$, every relation in NTIME($T$) has a binary PCP with $O(1)$ non-adaptive queries, perfect completeness, soundness error 1/2 and length $(T+b)\cdot(\log(T+b))^{O(1)}$, which is perfect zero knowledge against every adaptive, possibly malicious verifier making at most $b$ queries. This improves the length $\tilde O(T+b^2)$ of Zeilberger, O'Connor, Gur and Spooner (2026), who observed that Dinur's gap amplification preserves zero knowledge. The simulator runs in expected polynomial time (or in strict polynomial time, with a failure symbol or with negligible statistical error). For $b\le T$ the length is $T\cdot\mathrm{polylog}\,T$, the form of the shortest known constant-query PCPs without zero knowledge. Unless NP $\subseteq$ BPP, the dependence on $b$ is optimal up to the polylogarithmic factor for polynomial-time simulators: zero knowledge is free up to linear query bounds. Zero-knowledge interactive oracle proofs achieved length $\tilde O(T+b)$ in 2016-17; we obtain it for PCPs. Gur, O'Connor and Spooner (STOC 2025) asked whether NP has such PCPs of quasilinear length (their Open Problem 1). This paper answers it for every polynomial query bound, with the simulators above in place of a strict polynomial-time perfect simulator. The proofs were developed with extensive AI assistance and have been checked by the authors. We mask the Reed-Solomon proof of proximity of Ben-Sasson and Sudan at every node of its recursion. By a locator lemma, at every node, whatever $k$ of its proof symbols reveal about its input is determined by $O(k)$ input values. We prove it with the coprime-order argument of Bafna and Vyas (2026); our treatment of domain points is new. Dinur's gap amplification gives constant query complexity. The query count and the polylogarithmic exponent are absolute but very large.

Authors: Inhyuk Park, Chenglin Fan

We show that for all polynomials $T$ and $b$, every relation in NTIME($T$) has a binary PCP with $O(1)$ non-adaptive queries, perfect completeness, soundness error 1/2 and length $(T+b)\cdot(\log(T+b))^{O(1)}$, which is perfect zero knowledge against every adaptive, possibly malicious verifier making at most $b$ queries. This improves the length $\tilde O(T+b^2)$ of Zeilberger, O'Connor, Gur and Spooner (2026), who observed that Dinur's gap amplification preserves zero knowledge. The simulator runs in expected polynomial time (or in strict polynomial time, with a failure symbol or with negligible statistical error). For $b\le T$ the length is $T\cdot\mathrm{polylog}\,T$, the form of the shortest known constant-query PCPs without zero knowledge. Unless NP $\subseteq$ BPP, the dependence on $b$ is optimal up to the polylogarithmic factor for polynomial-time simulators: zero knowledge is free up to linear query bounds. Zero-knowledge interactive oracle proofs achieved length $\tilde O(T+b)$ in 2016-17; we obtain it for PCPs. Gur, O'Connor and Spooner (STOC 2025) asked whether NP has such PCPs of quasilinear length (their Open Problem 1). This paper answers it for every polynomial query bound, with the simulators above in place of a strict polynomial-time perfect simulator. The proofs were developed with extensive AI assistance and have been checked by the authors. We mask the Reed-Solomon proof of proximity of Ben-Sasson and Sudan at every node of its recursion. By a locator lemma, at every node, whatever $k$ of its proof symbols reveal about its input is determined by $O(k)$ input values. We prove it with the coprime-order argument of Bafna and Vyas (2026); our treatment of domain points is new. Dinur's gap amplification gives constant query complexity. The query count and the polylogarithmic exponent are absolute but very large.

Thursday, October 22 2026, 00:00

Optimal Rényi and Logarithmic Additive Functional Entropy Estimation

Authors: Arman Adibi, Piotr Krysta

We characterize the minimax sample complexity of estimating Rényi entropy from independent samples on an alphabet of size at most $k$, when the known order $α>1$ may vary with $k$. For every fixed additive accuracy $\varepsilon\in(0,1/2)$ and success probability $2/3$, we prove matching bounds with constants independent of $k$ and $α$. For $1<α<\log k$, the rate is $Θ_\varepsilon(αk^{1-1/α}X_α(k,\varepsilon))$, where a monotone scalar inequality defines $X_α$ at noninteger orders. The bounds remain uniform as the order approaches one or an integer, or grows with the alphabet. Integer orders below $\log k$ have rate $Θ_\varepsilon(αk^{1-1/α})$; orders at least $\log k$ and min-entropy have rate $Θ_\varepsilon(k\log k)$. We extend the analysis to logarithms of positive additive functionals. For every fixed continuous $f$ satisfying $f(0)=0$, $f(x)>0$ for $x>0$, and $f(x)\sim ax^r$ at zero, with $a>0$ and $r>1$, estimating $-β^{-1}\log\sum_i f(p_i)$ at fixed accuracy, for fixed $β>0$, has sample complexity $Θ(k^{1-1/r})$ for integer $r$ and $Θ(k/\log k)$ otherwise. A replication reduction preserves the sampling experiment and transfers the rates for powers. Smooth flat functions show that regularity alone does not determine the complexity. The upper bound combines polynomial approximation, Gamma count statistics, and an independent pilot, with a global affine correction near order one. The lower bound uses interpolation to construct positive mean-one priors and controls their distinguishability and entropy separation after normalization. Exact count-variance identities and weighted approximation duality connect the two arguments.

Authors: Arman Adibi, Piotr Krysta

We characterize the minimax sample complexity of estimating Rényi entropy from independent samples on an alphabet of size at most $k$, when the known order $α>1$ may vary with $k$. For every fixed additive accuracy $\varepsilon\in(0,1/2)$ and success probability $2/3$, we prove matching bounds with constants independent of $k$ and $α$. For $1<α<\log k$, the rate is $Θ_\varepsilon(αk^{1-1/α}X_α(k,\varepsilon))$, where a monotone scalar inequality defines $X_α$ at noninteger orders. The bounds remain uniform as the order approaches one or an integer, or grows with the alphabet. Integer orders below $\log k$ have rate $Θ_\varepsilon(αk^{1-1/α})$; orders at least $\log k$ and min-entropy have rate $Θ_\varepsilon(k\log k)$. We extend the analysis to logarithms of positive additive functionals. For every fixed continuous $f$ satisfying $f(0)=0$, $f(x)>0$ for $x>0$, and $f(x)\sim ax^r$ at zero, with $a>0$ and $r>1$, estimating $-β^{-1}\log\sum_i f(p_i)$ at fixed accuracy, for fixed $β>0$, has sample complexity $Θ(k^{1-1/r})$ for integer $r$ and $Θ(k/\log k)$ otherwise. A replication reduction preserves the sampling experiment and transfers the rates for powers. Smooth flat functions show that regularity alone does not determine the complexity. The upper bound combines polynomial approximation, Gamma count statistics, and an independent pilot, with a global affine correction near order one. The lower bound uses interpolation to construct positive mean-one priors and controls their distinguishability and entropy separation after normalization. Exact count-variance identities and weighted approximation duality connect the two arguments.

Thursday, October 22 2026, 00:00

A Quasipolynomial Algorithm for $\ell_\infty$ Contractions

Authors: Ashkan Soleymani, Gabriele Farina

We give an algorithm for computing an $\eps$-approximate fixed point of any $d$-dimensional nonexpansion with respect to the $\ell_\infty$ norm in time $\log(1/\eps)^{O(\log^2 d)}$. At its core, our method uses a boosting argument to geometrically shrink a search region. Among other consequences, our algorithm implies that simple stochastic games can be solved in quasipolynomial time.

Authors: Ashkan Soleymani, Gabriele Farina

We give an algorithm for computing an $\eps$-approximate fixed point of any $d$-dimensional nonexpansion with respect to the $\ell_\infty$ norm in time $\log(1/\eps)^{O(\log^2 d)}$. At its core, our method uses a boosting argument to geometrically shrink a search region. Among other consequences, our algorithm implies that simple stochastic games can be solved in quasipolynomial time.

Thursday, October 22 2026, 00:00

Multiplying matrices via polynomials: exposition and barriers

Authors: Alimzhan Amanov, Maxim van den Berg, Jeroen Zuiddam

We give an exposition of OpenAI's recent proof that the exponent $ω_\mathbb{C}$ of matrix multiplication over the complex numbers satisfies $ω_\mathbb{C}\leq9/4$. Our version of the proof gives $ω_\mathbb{F}\leq9/4$ over every field $\mathbb{F}$. We also treat the rectangular matrix multiplication exponent $ω_\mathbb{F}(a,b,c)$. Here we have $ω_\mathbb{F}(1,k,1)=2$ for $0\leq k\leq1/2$ and $ω_\mathbb{F}(1,k,1)\leq1+k+1/(4k)$ for $k\geq1/2$, and, for real numbers $a\geq b\geq c\geq0$, $ω_\mathbb{F}(a,b,c)=a+b$ if $c(a+b)\leq ab$ and $ω_\mathbb{F}(a,b,c)\leq(a+b+c)/2+(ab/c+ac/b+bc/a)/4$ otherwise. Our exposition is in the language of degeneration inequalities among polynomial multiplication tensors and Strassen's asymptotic spectrum duality. We moreover prove an operational barrier (which can be thought of as coming from an operational asymptotic spectrum) showing that the current analysis of all these upper bounds on $ω_\mathbb{F}$ and $ω_\mathbb{F}(a,b,c)$ is optimal and that in fact the current degeneration ingredients cannot improve the bounds.

Authors: Alimzhan Amanov, Maxim van den Berg, Jeroen Zuiddam

We give an exposition of OpenAI's recent proof that the exponent $ω_\mathbb{C}$ of matrix multiplication over the complex numbers satisfies $ω_\mathbb{C}\leq9/4$. Our version of the proof gives $ω_\mathbb{F}\leq9/4$ over every field $\mathbb{F}$. We also treat the rectangular matrix multiplication exponent $ω_\mathbb{F}(a,b,c)$. Here we have $ω_\mathbb{F}(1,k,1)=2$ for $0\leq k\leq1/2$ and $ω_\mathbb{F}(1,k,1)\leq1+k+1/(4k)$ for $k\geq1/2$, and, for real numbers $a\geq b\geq c\geq0$, $ω_\mathbb{F}(a,b,c)=a+b$ if $c(a+b)\leq ab$ and $ω_\mathbb{F}(a,b,c)\leq(a+b+c)/2+(ab/c+ac/b+bc/a)/4$ otherwise. Our exposition is in the language of degeneration inequalities among polynomial multiplication tensors and Strassen's asymptotic spectrum duality. We moreover prove an operational barrier (which can be thought of as coming from an operational asymptotic spectrum) showing that the current analysis of all these upper bounds on $ω_\mathbb{F}$ and $ω_\mathbb{F}(a,b,c)$ is optimal and that in fact the current degeneration ingredients cannot improve the bounds.

Thursday, October 22 2026, 00:00

Tight Bounds on the Randomized Communication Complexity of Vector-in-Subspace

Authors: Chengu Wang

We prove that the randomized communication complexity of Vector-in-Subspace in $\mathbb R^n$ with error at most $1/3$ is $Θ(\sqrt n)$. Alice holds a unit vector $u$ and Bob holds an $n/2$-dimensional subspace $H$; they must distinguish $u\in H$ from $u\in H^\perp$. An exact one-way quantum protocol uses $O(\log n)$ qubits, making the problem a geometric example of an exponential quantum advantage over interactive classical communication. Our lower bound matches Raz's $O(\sqrt n)$ upper bound, improves the $Ω(n^{1/3})$ lower bound of Klartag and Regev, and removes the total-rank restriction in Grupel's $Ω(\sqrt n)$ result. The proof establishes a Gaussian moment bound over complete rectangle partitions. A complex Gaussian representation yields a vanishing even moment whose cancellation is preserved when averaging over the partition. We control the signed conditional moments around a real center by decomposing conditional Gaussian measures into fixed coordinates and sub-Gaussian components. Combining this estimate with spherical harmonic analysis gives the communication lower bound.

Authors: Chengu Wang

We prove that the randomized communication complexity of Vector-in-Subspace in $\mathbb R^n$ with error at most $1/3$ is $Θ(\sqrt n)$. Alice holds a unit vector $u$ and Bob holds an $n/2$-dimensional subspace $H$; they must distinguish $u\in H$ from $u\in H^\perp$. An exact one-way quantum protocol uses $O(\log n)$ qubits, making the problem a geometric example of an exponential quantum advantage over interactive classical communication. Our lower bound matches Raz's $O(\sqrt n)$ upper bound, improves the $Ω(n^{1/3})$ lower bound of Klartag and Regev, and removes the total-rank restriction in Grupel's $Ω(\sqrt n)$ result. The proof establishes a Gaussian moment bound over complete rectangle partitions. A complex Gaussian representation yields a vanishing even moment whose cancellation is preserved when averaging over the partition. We control the signed conditional moments around a real center by decomposing conditional Gaussian measures into fixed coordinates and sub-Gaussian components. Combining this estimate with spherical harmonic analysis gives the communication lower bound.

Thursday, October 22 2026, 00:00

Pfaffian Recognition is in coRP

Authors: Priyanshu Pant, Ranveer Singh

A graph is called Pfaffian if it admits a Pfaffian orientation. The Pfaffian recognition problem asks whether a given graph is Pfaffian. In 1989, Vazirani and Yannakakis showed that this problem is polynomial time equivalent to testing whether a prescribed orientation is Pfaffian, and that the problem belongs to $\mathsf{coNP}$. The complexity of the problem for general graphs has remained open since then. For bipartite graphs, polynomial time recognition algorithms were obtained by Robertson, Seymour, and Thomas in 1999, and independently by McCuaig in 2004. We show that testing whether a given orientation is Pfaffian can be reduced to polynomial identity testing. This gives a randomized polynomial time algorithm for Pfaffian recognition on general graphs, placing the problem in $\mathsf{coRP}$.

Authors: Priyanshu Pant, Ranveer Singh

A graph is called Pfaffian if it admits a Pfaffian orientation. The Pfaffian recognition problem asks whether a given graph is Pfaffian. In 1989, Vazirani and Yannakakis showed that this problem is polynomial time equivalent to testing whether a prescribed orientation is Pfaffian, and that the problem belongs to $\mathsf{coNP}$. The complexity of the problem for general graphs has remained open since then. For bipartite graphs, polynomial time recognition algorithms were obtained by Robertson, Seymour, and Thomas in 1999, and independently by McCuaig in 2004. We show that testing whether a given orientation is Pfaffian can be reduced to polynomial identity testing. This gives a randomized polynomial time algorithm for Pfaffian recognition on general graphs, placing the problem in $\mathsf{coRP}$.

Thursday, October 22 2026, 00:00

Pinch-Free Orientations of Polyomino Grid Graphs

Authors: James Fox, Mirela Damian

We study lattice-based collective construction of a target polyomino on the integer grid, where robots place unit square blocks subject to two physical constraints: the partial structure must remain connected at all times, and no placement may create an unfillable one-cell gap. We present a wavefront sweep algorithm that computes a dependency structure satisfying the local conditions required for safe assembly. Given a list of n cells sorted lexicographically by coordinates, the orientation can be computed in O(n) time using O(n) auxiliary space.

Authors: James Fox, Mirela Damian

We study lattice-based collective construction of a target polyomino on the integer grid, where robots place unit square blocks subject to two physical constraints: the partial structure must remain connected at all times, and no placement may create an unfillable one-cell gap. We present a wavefront sweep algorithm that computes a dependency structure satisfying the local conditions required for safe assembly. Given a list of n cells sorted lexicographically by coordinates, the orientation can be computed in O(n) time using O(n) auxiliary space.

Thursday, October 22 2026, 00:00

Amplified Pruning and Path Selectors for Deterministic Radio Gossiping

Authors: Qin Xin

We study deterministic gossiping in unknown strongly connected directed radio networks with $n$ vertices, $m$ arcs, and distinct identifiers in $\{1,\ldots,N\}$, where $N=n^{\mathcal O(1)}$. Messages are unrestricted; collision detection is unavailable. Our protocol combines amplified reception certificates, adaptive pruning, and permutation selectors. Each pruning iteration costs $\mathcal O(n\log^2n\log\log n)$ rounds. A two-step quadratic contraction limits each receiver and each class of identical closed in-neighborhoods to $\mathcal O(\log\log n)$ qualifying selections. Under an explicit degree-concentration condition, our protocol takes $\mathcal O(m\log^2n(\log\log n)^2)$ rounds. For directed regular graphs with common in- and out-degree $Δ$, our strategy achieves $\widetilde{\mathcal O}(\min\{n\sqrtΔ,n^2/Δ\})$, extending the identifier range of Wu and Chrobak and improving their high-degree bound. At completion entry, let $a\ge1$ count original sources not yet credited as globally disseminated. Permutation selectors reduce our balanced completion budget by a factor of $\log^{2/3}(a+1)$ relative to interleaved path selectors. Our geometric protocol attains $\widetilde{\mathcal O}(k^2+nτ+\min\{u^2,(nu)^{2/3}\})$ for an original path cover of scale $k$, weight $τ$, and $u$ exceptions. Every graph also admits $\widetilde{\mathcal O}(\min\{n^{4/3},N+(mn)^{3/5}\})$ rounds. Only $n,N$ are inputs. Within the stated graph classes and identifier ranges, these results answer the polynomial-identifier and average-degree questions of Wu and Chrobak. The unrestricted general-graph cases remain open.

Authors: Qin Xin

We study deterministic gossiping in unknown strongly connected directed radio networks with $n$ vertices, $m$ arcs, and distinct identifiers in $\{1,\ldots,N\}$, where $N=n^{\mathcal O(1)}$. Messages are unrestricted; collision detection is unavailable. Our protocol combines amplified reception certificates, adaptive pruning, and permutation selectors. Each pruning iteration costs $\mathcal O(n\log^2n\log\log n)$ rounds. A two-step quadratic contraction limits each receiver and each class of identical closed in-neighborhoods to $\mathcal O(\log\log n)$ qualifying selections. Under an explicit degree-concentration condition, our protocol takes $\mathcal O(m\log^2n(\log\log n)^2)$ rounds. For directed regular graphs with common in- and out-degree $Δ$, our strategy achieves $\widetilde{\mathcal O}(\min\{n\sqrtΔ,n^2/Δ\})$, extending the identifier range of Wu and Chrobak and improving their high-degree bound. At completion entry, let $a\ge1$ count original sources not yet credited as globally disseminated. Permutation selectors reduce our balanced completion budget by a factor of $\log^{2/3}(a+1)$ relative to interleaved path selectors. Our geometric protocol attains $\widetilde{\mathcal O}(k^2+nτ+\min\{u^2,(nu)^{2/3}\})$ for an original path cover of scale $k$, weight $τ$, and $u$ exceptions. Every graph also admits $\widetilde{\mathcal O}(\min\{n^{4/3},N+(mn)^{3/5}\})$ rounds. Only $n,N$ are inputs. Within the stated graph classes and identifier ranges, these results answer the polynomial-identifier and average-degree questions of Wu and Chrobak. The unrestricted general-graph cases remain open.

Thursday, October 22 2026, 00:00

How to Walk a Dog in Parallel: On Parallel Computation of the Discrete Frechet Distance

Authors: Leonid Barenboim, Arnold Filtser, Omrit Filtser, Orr Fischer

The Fréchet distance (also known as the dog-leash distance) is a well-studied and prevalent distance measure for polygonal curves. In this paper we present parallel algorithms for computing the discrete \frechet\ distance between two curves, in both the PRAM and MPC models. For two polygonal curves of length $n$, we show that the distance between them can be computed in the PRAM model in $O(\log n/ σ)$ rounds and $\tilde{O}(n^{2+σ})$ total work for any $0<σ<1$. In the sublinear MPC model with $n^ρ$ space per machine, it can be computed in $O(\log n / ρ^2)$ rounds and $\tilde{O}(n^{2+ρ})$ total space. For $c$-packed curves, we match our bounds to the sequential algorithms, showing that a $(1+\eps)$-approximation of the distance can be computed in the PRAM model in $O(\log{n}+1/σ^3)$ rounds and $\tilde{O}(n^{1+σ})$ total work, and in the sublinear MPC model in $O(1 /ρ^3)$ rounds and $\tilde{O}(n^{1+ρ})$ total space, for any constant $\eps>0$. As part of our algorithms for $c$-packed curves, we also present parallel algorithms for computing curve simplifications, which may be of independent interest.

Authors: Leonid Barenboim, Arnold Filtser, Omrit Filtser, Orr Fischer

The Fréchet distance (also known as the dog-leash distance) is a well-studied and prevalent distance measure for polygonal curves. In this paper we present parallel algorithms for computing the discrete \frechet\ distance between two curves, in both the PRAM and MPC models. For two polygonal curves of length $n$, we show that the distance between them can be computed in the PRAM model in $O(\log n/ σ)$ rounds and $\tilde{O}(n^{2+σ})$ total work for any $0<σ<1$. In the sublinear MPC model with $n^ρ$ space per machine, it can be computed in $O(\log n / ρ^2)$ rounds and $\tilde{O}(n^{2+ρ})$ total space. For $c$-packed curves, we match our bounds to the sequential algorithms, showing that a $(1+\eps)$-approximation of the distance can be computed in the PRAM model in $O(\log{n}+1/σ^3)$ rounds and $\tilde{O}(n^{1+σ})$ total work, and in the sublinear MPC model in $O(1 /ρ^3)$ rounds and $\tilde{O}(n^{1+ρ})$ total space, for any constant $\eps>0$. As part of our algorithms for $c$-packed curves, we also present parallel algorithms for computing curve simplifications, which may be of independent interest.

Thursday, October 22 2026, 00:00

The Optimal Sampler for Diverse TSP Solutions: Characterization, Limits, and Learning

Authors: Ssu-Yuan Lo, Ching-Kai Wang, Kuan-Lun Chen, Hao-Tsung Yang

We address the Diverse Traveling Salesman Problem (D-TSP) that seeks a set of $k$ distinct TSP tours. Each selected tour must not exceed a prescribed multiple of the optimal tour length, while the maximum pairwise Jaccard similarity within the selected set is minimized. This formulation is important for applications requiring both solution quality and fault tolerance, such as logistics planning, robotics, and strategic patrolling. We propose a novel hybrid framework that decomposes D-TSP into a sampling stage and a selection stage. The selection stage is a max-min dispersion problem, for which any approximation better than a factor of two is NP-hard; we therefore focus on the sampling stage. Our contributions are both theoretical and empirical. Theoretically, we give two end-to-end guarantees for the optimal sampling distribution, from two perspectives: including an optimal set in the sampled pool, or having at least $k$ mutually distant tours in the pool. The second reduces the number of samples from exponential to linear in $k$, at the cost of weakening the benchmark from the best $k$ tours to the best $βk$ for some $β> 1$. For practical use, we prove that a pipeline that samples spanning trees and then converts to tours does not hurt the quality of the pool in principle. Empirically, both objectives are learnable, and our experiments not only validate the analysis but also outperform the baselines on both in-distribution and out-of-distribution instances, by a single trained model with no fine-tuning.

Authors: Ssu-Yuan Lo, Ching-Kai Wang, Kuan-Lun Chen, Hao-Tsung Yang

We address the Diverse Traveling Salesman Problem (D-TSP) that seeks a set of $k$ distinct TSP tours. Each selected tour must not exceed a prescribed multiple of the optimal tour length, while the maximum pairwise Jaccard similarity within the selected set is minimized. This formulation is important for applications requiring both solution quality and fault tolerance, such as logistics planning, robotics, and strategic patrolling. We propose a novel hybrid framework that decomposes D-TSP into a sampling stage and a selection stage. The selection stage is a max-min dispersion problem, for which any approximation better than a factor of two is NP-hard; we therefore focus on the sampling stage. Our contributions are both theoretical and empirical. Theoretically, we give two end-to-end guarantees for the optimal sampling distribution, from two perspectives: including an optimal set in the sampled pool, or having at least $k$ mutually distant tours in the pool. The second reduces the number of samples from exponential to linear in $k$, at the cost of weakening the benchmark from the best $k$ tours to the best $βk$ for some $β> 1$. For practical use, we prove that a pipeline that samples spanning trees and then converts to tours does not hurt the quality of the pool in principle. Empirically, both objectives are learnable, and our experiments not only validate the analysis but also outperform the baselines on both in-distribution and out-of-distribution instances, by a single trained model with no fine-tuning.

Thursday, October 22 2026, 00:00

Dynamically optimal weight-balanced binary search trees

Authors: John Iacono, Akash Pareek

In STOC 1972, J{ü}rg Nievergelt and Edward M.~Reingold introduced the $BB[α]$-tree, also known as a \emph{weight-balanced} tree, which for any $α\in (0,\frac{1}{2}]$ is a binary search tree where every node with induced subtree size $s$ has children with induced subtree sizes at least $α(s+1)-1$. A new rotation-based binary search tree, the \emph{PopTree}, is introduced. The PopTree stores $n$ elements and is a $BB[\tfrac1{20}]$-tree after the execution of each search and a $BB[\tfrac1{729}]$-tree at all times, notably while rebalancing. For any constant $α$, its performance on search sequences of length $Ω(n \log n)$ is proved to be within a constant factor (which can depend on $α$) of the optimal offline rotation-based binary search tree that maintains the $BB[α]$ balance invariant.

Authors: John Iacono, Akash Pareek

In STOC 1972, J{ü}rg Nievergelt and Edward M.~Reingold introduced the $BB[α]$-tree, also known as a \emph{weight-balanced} tree, which for any $α\in (0,\frac{1}{2}]$ is a binary search tree where every node with induced subtree size $s$ has children with induced subtree sizes at least $α(s+1)-1$. A new rotation-based binary search tree, the \emph{PopTree}, is introduced. The PopTree stores $n$ elements and is a $BB[\tfrac1{20}]$-tree after the execution of each search and a $BB[\tfrac1{729}]$-tree at all times, notably while rebalancing. For any constant $α$, its performance on search sequences of length $Ω(n \log n)$ is proved to be within a constant factor (which can depend on $α$) of the optimal offline rotation-based binary search tree that maintains the $BB[α]$ balance invariant.

Thursday, October 22 2026, 00:00

On the Largest Cardinality Subset Sum

Authors: Deepak Bhati, Anubhav Dhar, Pranjal Dutta, Mahesh Sreekumar Rajasree, Karol Węgrzycki

We study Largest Cardinality Subset Sum (LCSS): given $n$ nonnegative integers and a target $t$, compute a subset summing to $t$ with maximum cardinality. We also consider its all-targets version (ATLCSS), which asks for this maximum for every sum $s\in\{1,\ldots,t\}$. The LCSS problem sits squarely between the subset sum and the knapsack problem. A straightforward dynamic-programming algorithm runs in time $O(nt)$ and solves ATLCSS, and using Jin and Bringmann (both in STOC 2024, independent work) $0$-$1$ knapsack results we achieve a $\widetilde{O}(n + a_{\max}^2)$-time deterministic algorithm for LCSS. Our main result is a randomized $\widetilde{O}(n+\sqrt{n}\,t)$-time algorithm for LCSS. Then, we complement this result with a randomized $\widetilde{O}(n+t^{3/2})$-time algorithm for ATLCSS. Together, our two algorithms give a $\widetilde{O}(n+t\min\{\sqrt{n},\sqrt{t}\})$-time algorithm for LCSS. As an application of ATLCSS, we solve the search version of Projection Subset Sum, introduced by Dutta and Rajasree (SYNSAC 2023), in $\widetilde{O}(n+t^{3/2})$ time for every fixed $\ell_p$ norm with $p\geq 1$. For $\ell_1$, we obtain $\widetilde{O}(n+t)$ time, removing the unique-representation assumption required by their algorithm. Both algorithms output an optimal modified vector and a witnessing subset.

Authors: Deepak Bhati, Anubhav Dhar, Pranjal Dutta, Mahesh Sreekumar Rajasree, Karol Węgrzycki

We study Largest Cardinality Subset Sum (LCSS): given $n$ nonnegative integers and a target $t$, compute a subset summing to $t$ with maximum cardinality. We also consider its all-targets version (ATLCSS), which asks for this maximum for every sum $s\in\{1,\ldots,t\}$. The LCSS problem sits squarely between the subset sum and the knapsack problem. A straightforward dynamic-programming algorithm runs in time $O(nt)$ and solves ATLCSS, and using Jin and Bringmann (both in STOC 2024, independent work) $0$-$1$ knapsack results we achieve a $\widetilde{O}(n + a_{\max}^2)$-time deterministic algorithm for LCSS. Our main result is a randomized $\widetilde{O}(n+\sqrt{n}\,t)$-time algorithm for LCSS. Then, we complement this result with a randomized $\widetilde{O}(n+t^{3/2})$-time algorithm for ATLCSS. Together, our two algorithms give a $\widetilde{O}(n+t\min\{\sqrt{n},\sqrt{t}\})$-time algorithm for LCSS. As an application of ATLCSS, we solve the search version of Projection Subset Sum, introduced by Dutta and Rajasree (SYNSAC 2023), in $\widetilde{O}(n+t^{3/2})$ time for every fixed $\ell_p$ norm with $p\geq 1$. For $\ell_1$, we obtain $\widetilde{O}(n+t)$ time, removing the unique-representation assumption required by their algorithm. Both algorithms output an optimal modified vector and a witnessing subset.

Thursday, October 22 2026, 00:00

Optimal Labeling Schemes for $Γ$-Free Matrices

Authors: Sankardeep Chakraborty, Seungbum Jo

We study labeling schemes for $p \times q$ $Γ$-free binary matrices, which do not contain a submatrix of the form $Γ= \begin{pmatrix} 1 & 1 \\ 1 & 0 \end{pmatrix}$. We give a labeling scheme that uses $O(\log^2 N)$-bit labels for rows and columns, where $N=p+q$, such that any matrix entry can be determined from the corresponding two labels in constant time in the word RAM model. The worst-case label size matches the counting lower bound up to constant factors. We also show that the entrywise least $Γ$-free supermatrix of an arbitrary $p\times q$ binary matrix, together with its labels, can be constructed in $O(pq)$ time. Our construction represents a $Γ$-free matrix by a sequence of rooted forests, where each column corresponds to a node and the $1$-entries of each row form a root path in its corresponding forest. For $n$-vertex strongly chordal and chordal bipartite graphs, our result gives asymptotically optimal $O(\log^2 n)$-bit adjacency labeling schemes with constant-time queries. These results answer both representation questions posed by Spinrad in 1995.

Authors: Sankardeep Chakraborty, Seungbum Jo

We study labeling schemes for $p \times q$ $Γ$-free binary matrices, which do not contain a submatrix of the form $Γ= \begin{pmatrix} 1 & 1 \\ 1 & 0 \end{pmatrix}$. We give a labeling scheme that uses $O(\log^2 N)$-bit labels for rows and columns, where $N=p+q$, such that any matrix entry can be determined from the corresponding two labels in constant time in the word RAM model. The worst-case label size matches the counting lower bound up to constant factors. We also show that the entrywise least $Γ$-free supermatrix of an arbitrary $p\times q$ binary matrix, together with its labels, can be constructed in $O(pq)$ time. Our construction represents a $Γ$-free matrix by a sequence of rooted forests, where each column corresponds to a node and the $1$-entries of each row form a root path in its corresponding forest. For $n$-vertex strongly chordal and chordal bipartite graphs, our result gives asymptotically optimal $O(\log^2 n)$-bit adjacency labeling schemes with constant-time queries. These results answer both representation questions posed by Spinrad in 1995.

Thursday, October 22 2026, 00:00

Near-Optimal Consistency-Robustness Bounds for Non-Clairvoyant Scheduling

Authors: Sizhe Li, Nicolas Christianson, Tongxin Li

We study the problem of characterizing the optimal consistency--robustness tradeoff for single-machine non-clairvoyant scheduling with predicted processing times. For a fixed number of jobs $n$, Wei and Zhang (2020) established a lower bound on the achievable consistency--robustness tradeoff which is known to be tight only in a few restrictive cases, leaving the optimal tradeoff for general $n$ unresolved. A different worst-case-$n$ regime was introduced by Benomar et al. (2025), who applied the former work's construction to show that for $λ\in (0, 1)$, any $(1+λ)$-consistent algorithm must be $1 + Ω(\sqrt{1/λ})$-robust. On the other hand, the best known upper bound gives $(1+λ)$-consistency and $1+O(1/λ)$-robustness, leaving a polynomial gap. In this work, we develop a new lower bound using a multi-stage adversarial construction and a new algorithm that together give a near-optimal characterization of the consistency--robustness tradeoff: for every $n$, our upper bound is within a multiplicative factor $3/2$ of our lower bound, and thus our algorithm is within a multiplicative factor $3/2$ of the online optimal. In particular, our lower bound shows that any $(1+λ)$-consistent algorithm must have robustness at least $1/\sqrtλ$ as $n \to \infty$, while our algorithm achieves robustness at most $\frac{1}{2}+\sqrt{\frac{5}{4}+1/λ}$ for any $n$, matching the lower bound in the leading term as $λ\downarrow 0$; our upper bound also closes the polynomial gap in the worst-case-$n$ regime. We additionally show how our algorithm can be made error-tolerant, preserving the near-optimal consistency-robustness tradeoff while incurring only slightly degraded performance under bounded prediction errors.

Authors: Sizhe Li, Nicolas Christianson, Tongxin Li

We study the problem of characterizing the optimal consistency--robustness tradeoff for single-machine non-clairvoyant scheduling with predicted processing times. For a fixed number of jobs $n$, Wei and Zhang (2020) established a lower bound on the achievable consistency--robustness tradeoff which is known to be tight only in a few restrictive cases, leaving the optimal tradeoff for general $n$ unresolved. A different worst-case-$n$ regime was introduced by Benomar et al. (2025), who applied the former work's construction to show that for $λ\in (0, 1)$, any $(1+λ)$-consistent algorithm must be $1 + Ω(\sqrt{1/λ})$-robust. On the other hand, the best known upper bound gives $(1+λ)$-consistency and $1+O(1/λ)$-robustness, leaving a polynomial gap. In this work, we develop a new lower bound using a multi-stage adversarial construction and a new algorithm that together give a near-optimal characterization of the consistency--robustness tradeoff: for every $n$, our upper bound is within a multiplicative factor $3/2$ of our lower bound, and thus our algorithm is within a multiplicative factor $3/2$ of the online optimal. In particular, our lower bound shows that any $(1+λ)$-consistent algorithm must have robustness at least $1/\sqrtλ$ as $n \to \infty$, while our algorithm achieves robustness at most $\frac{1}{2}+\sqrt{\frac{5}{4}+1/λ}$ for any $n$, matching the lower bound in the leading term as $λ\downarrow 0$; our upper bound also closes the polynomial gap in the worst-case-$n$ regime. We additionally show how our algorithm can be made error-tolerant, preserving the near-optimal consistency-robustness tradeoff while incurring only slightly degraded performance under bounded prediction errors.

Thursday, October 22 2026, 00:00

Solving problems in RDV Graphs faster and easier

Authors: Therese Biedl, Günter Rote

In interval graphs and many generalizations thereof, problems such as Matching, Independent Set, and Dominating Set can be solved with simple greedy algorithms in linear (i.e., $O(m+n)$) time. However, it is sometimes possible to improve on this runtime if a suitable representation as intersection graph is given; for example it is possible to find a minimum dominating set in an interval graph in $O(n)$ time. We study RDV graphs, a generalization of interval graphs, namely, the intersection graphs of directed paths in a rooted tree. It was known that the above three problems can be solved in $O(n\log n)$ time if a suitably small representation is given. In this paper, we reduce the runtime to $O(n)$. Furthermore, while the previous results used non-trivial operations such as range-minimum queries and ray-shooting queries, we need nothing more complicated than lists and (for Matching) a Union-Find data structure.

Authors: Therese Biedl, Günter Rote

In interval graphs and many generalizations thereof, problems such as Matching, Independent Set, and Dominating Set can be solved with simple greedy algorithms in linear (i.e., $O(m+n)$) time. However, it is sometimes possible to improve on this runtime if a suitable representation as intersection graph is given; for example it is possible to find a minimum dominating set in an interval graph in $O(n)$ time. We study RDV graphs, a generalization of interval graphs, namely, the intersection graphs of directed paths in a rooted tree. It was known that the above three problems can be solved in $O(n\log n)$ time if a suitably small representation is given. In this paper, we reduce the runtime to $O(n)$. Furthermore, while the previous results used non-trivial operations such as range-minimum queries and ray-shooting queries, we need nothing more complicated than lists and (for Matching) a Union-Find data structure.

Thursday, October 22 2026, 00:00

Temporal Exploration and Rendezvous via Weisfeiler-Leman Colorings

Authors: Frank Kammer, Sandra Kiefer, Johannes Meintrup

Temporal graphs are graphs whose edge relation changes in discrete time steps. The Temporal Exploration Problem (TEXP) asks for a temporal walk that visits all vertices. We show that every connected temporal graph with $n$ vertices can be explored in $O(qn\log^3(n))$ time steps, where $q$ is the number of vertex color classes induced by the 2-dimensional Weisfeiler-Leman (2-WL) coloring. For small $q$, our bound substantially improves on the known worst-case bound of $Θ(n^2)$ in general connected temporal graphs. A corresponding walk can be constructed in deterministic polynomial time. The upper bound is complemented by lower bounds of $Ω(n\log(n))$ when $q$ is constant and $Ω(qn)$ when $1 \leq q \leq n$. We also apply our techniques to the Temporal Rendezvous Problem (TRP), in which two agents that do not communicate have to meet on a vertex of the temporal graph. Our exploration algorithm yields that, with only polynomial-time computational power, the agents can meet in $O(n\log^3(n))$ time steps, leaving a gap of only $\log^2(n)$ to the known lower bound. Dogeas, Erlebach, Kammer, Meintrup, and Moses Jr. [ICALP'24] have shown an $O(rn^{1+ε})$ bound for TEXP, for every fixed $ε> 0$, where $r$ is the number of orbits, and an $O(n^{1+ε})$ bound for TRP. Both results require superpolynomial computation time. Our contribution improves upon these results in several ways. First, the dependence on $n$ in the upper bounds on the number of time steps is decreased from $n^{1+ε}$ to $n\log^3(n)$ for both TEXP and TRP. Second, for TEXP, we bound the number of time steps linearly by the parameter q, which is efficiently computable and upper bounded by $r$. Third, we provide novel deterministic polynomial-time algorithms for both TEXP and TRP.

Authors: Frank Kammer, Sandra Kiefer, Johannes Meintrup

Temporal graphs are graphs whose edge relation changes in discrete time steps. The Temporal Exploration Problem (TEXP) asks for a temporal walk that visits all vertices. We show that every connected temporal graph with $n$ vertices can be explored in $O(qn\log^3(n))$ time steps, where $q$ is the number of vertex color classes induced by the 2-dimensional Weisfeiler-Leman (2-WL) coloring. For small $q$, our bound substantially improves on the known worst-case bound of $Θ(n^2)$ in general connected temporal graphs. A corresponding walk can be constructed in deterministic polynomial time. The upper bound is complemented by lower bounds of $Ω(n\log(n))$ when $q$ is constant and $Ω(qn)$ when $1 \leq q \leq n$. We also apply our techniques to the Temporal Rendezvous Problem (TRP), in which two agents that do not communicate have to meet on a vertex of the temporal graph. Our exploration algorithm yields that, with only polynomial-time computational power, the agents can meet in $O(n\log^3(n))$ time steps, leaving a gap of only $\log^2(n)$ to the known lower bound. Dogeas, Erlebach, Kammer, Meintrup, and Moses Jr. [ICALP'24] have shown an $O(rn^{1+ε})$ bound for TEXP, for every fixed $ε> 0$, where $r$ is the number of orbits, and an $O(n^{1+ε})$ bound for TRP. Both results require superpolynomial computation time. Our contribution improves upon these results in several ways. First, the dependence on $n$ in the upper bounds on the number of time steps is decreased from $n^{1+ε}$ to $n\log^3(n)$ for both TEXP and TRP. Second, for TEXP, we bound the number of time steps linearly by the parameter q, which is efficiently computable and upper bounded by $r$. Third, we provide novel deterministic polynomial-time algorithms for both TEXP and TRP.

Thursday, October 22 2026, 00:00

Approximation and Inapproximability of Non-Preemptive Dial-a-Ride

Authors: Jingyang Zhao, Mingyu Xiao

The non-preemptive dial-a-ride problem (DaRP) asks for a minimum-cost route of a capacitated vehicle that serves a collection of pickup-and-delivery requests, without allowing objects to be transferred or temporarily unloaded. We study this problem and the closely related minimum-ratio Steiner $k$-Forest (S$k$F) in general symmetric metrics on $n$ locations. We develop a randomized polynomial-time algorithm with expected approximation ratio $\mathcal{O}(n^{1/4}\log^{11}n)$ for the minimum-ratio S$k$F. Our algorithm combines a deterministic approximation on hierarchically well-separated trees with randomized metric embeddings. Using this algorithm, we obtain expected $\mathcal{O}(n^{1/4}\log^{12}n)$-approximations for both the non-preemptive DaRP and the S$k$F. These guarantees improve on the previous $n^{0.3+\varepsilon}$-approximation ratios for the S$k$F and the non-preemptive DaRP, where $\varepsilon>0$ is any fixed constant. Complementing these algorithmic results, we establish the first superconstant inapproximability bounds for the non-preemptive DaRP. Under the Exponential Time Hypothesis (ETH), no deterministic polynomial-time algorithm achieves an $x^{1/(\log\log x)^c}$-approximation for some constant $c>0$, where $x$ denotes either the number of locations $n$ or the vehicle capacity $k$. Under the quantitative Gap-ETH, we rule out every deterministic polynomial-time $x^{o(1)}$-approximation. These bounds hold even on unit-edge stars with $n=(2+o(1))k$.

Authors: Jingyang Zhao, Mingyu Xiao

The non-preemptive dial-a-ride problem (DaRP) asks for a minimum-cost route of a capacitated vehicle that serves a collection of pickup-and-delivery requests, without allowing objects to be transferred or temporarily unloaded. We study this problem and the closely related minimum-ratio Steiner $k$-Forest (S$k$F) in general symmetric metrics on $n$ locations. We develop a randomized polynomial-time algorithm with expected approximation ratio $\mathcal{O}(n^{1/4}\log^{11}n)$ for the minimum-ratio S$k$F. Our algorithm combines a deterministic approximation on hierarchically well-separated trees with randomized metric embeddings. Using this algorithm, we obtain expected $\mathcal{O}(n^{1/4}\log^{12}n)$-approximations for both the non-preemptive DaRP and the S$k$F. These guarantees improve on the previous $n^{0.3+\varepsilon}$-approximation ratios for the S$k$F and the non-preemptive DaRP, where $\varepsilon>0$ is any fixed constant. Complementing these algorithmic results, we establish the first superconstant inapproximability bounds for the non-preemptive DaRP. Under the Exponential Time Hypothesis (ETH), no deterministic polynomial-time algorithm achieves an $x^{1/(\log\log x)^c}$-approximation for some constant $c>0$, where $x$ denotes either the number of locations $n$ or the vehicle capacity $k$. Under the quantitative Gap-ETH, we rule out every deterministic polynomial-time $x^{o(1)}$-approximation. These bounds hold even on unit-edge stars with $n=(2+o(1))k$.

Thursday, October 22 2026, 00:00

Pre-emptive Carbon Aware Scheduling for Edge Workloads

Authors: Cecilia Chen, Rajni Dabas, Samir Khuller, Emilie Rivkin

Power grids use a constantly changing mix of fossil fuels and clean renewables like solar and wind. Because of this, the {\em carbon footprint} fluctuates drastically based on time and geographic location. Time-varying carbon intensity creates opportunities to reduce carbon emissions by shifting workloads to cleaner periods, but deadlines, task dependencies, and limited edge capacity constrain this flexibility. We study carbon-aware scheduling of jobs with release times, deadlines, and arbitrary precedence constraints under piecewise-constant carbon costs. Jobs execute preemptively on a single edge server or are outsourced at job-dependent costs to an unlimited-capacity cloud, modeled as providing instantaneous execution. The objective is to minimize the sum of edge carbon costs and cloud outsourcing costs while satisfying all timing and precedence constraints. For edge-only execution, we give an exact polynomial-time algorithm. Allowing cloud outsourcing makes the problem NP-hard, but we obtain a fully polynomial-time approximation scheme through a reduction to preemptive scheduling with rejection penalties (weighted tardiness). In contrast, even two edge servers without job migration admit no polynomially bounded approximation when carbon-cost variation is unrestricted, unless $P=NP$. We complement these theoretical results with experiments on controlled synthetic workloads and production-derived Alibaba traces. On synthetic instances, our incremental max-flow implementation is $4.96\times$ faster on average than a direct min-cost flow, while experiements on production-derived workloads evaluate its performance under realistic job structures.

Authors: Cecilia Chen, Rajni Dabas, Samir Khuller, Emilie Rivkin

Power grids use a constantly changing mix of fossil fuels and clean renewables like solar and wind. Because of this, the {\em carbon footprint} fluctuates drastically based on time and geographic location. Time-varying carbon intensity creates opportunities to reduce carbon emissions by shifting workloads to cleaner periods, but deadlines, task dependencies, and limited edge capacity constrain this flexibility. We study carbon-aware scheduling of jobs with release times, deadlines, and arbitrary precedence constraints under piecewise-constant carbon costs. Jobs execute preemptively on a single edge server or are outsourced at job-dependent costs to an unlimited-capacity cloud, modeled as providing instantaneous execution. The objective is to minimize the sum of edge carbon costs and cloud outsourcing costs while satisfying all timing and precedence constraints. For edge-only execution, we give an exact polynomial-time algorithm. Allowing cloud outsourcing makes the problem NP-hard, but we obtain a fully polynomial-time approximation scheme through a reduction to preemptive scheduling with rejection penalties (weighted tardiness). In contrast, even two edge servers without job migration admit no polynomially bounded approximation when carbon-cost variation is unrestricted, unless $P=NP$. We complement these theoretical results with experiments on controlled synthetic workloads and production-derived Alibaba traces. On synthetic instances, our incremental max-flow implementation is $4.96\times$ faster on average than a direct min-cost flow, while experiements on production-derived workloads evaluate its performance under realistic job structures.

Thursday, October 22 2026, 00:00

A Sharp Dynamic Haussler Lemma

Authors: Shihao Shao, Dacheng Tao

Haussler's covering lemma (JCTA 1995) gives the sharp $(C/δ)^d$ metric-entropy bound for binary VC classes under normalized $\ell_1$ distance. We prove a sharp global dynamic analogue for bounded real-valued classes in normalized $\ell_p$, for every $1\le p<\infty$. Writing $d=\operatorname{sfat}_{\varepsilon/32}(\mathcal F)$, we obtain a global dynamic cover of size at most $(C/\varepsilon^p)^d$ for every horizon and $0<\varepsilon<1/2$. Here a single family of deterministic causal experts, fixed independently of the instance sequence, covers every target on every sequence. For $0<\varepsilon<1/4$, a matching worst-case lower bound $(c/\varepsilon)^{pd}$ holds already for binary classes on one fixed sequence, even with real-valued experts. The constants are universal, independent of $p$. For $p=2$, this resolves the horizon-independent sequential $\ell_2$ covering problem of Rakhlin, Sridharan, and Tewari (PTRF 2015) in a stronger global form. For $p=1$, it gives the sharp $(C/δ)^{\operatorname{Ldim}(\mathcal H)}$ global dynamic covering bound for binary classes, resolving questions of Alon, Ben-Eliezer, Dagan, Moran, Naor, and Yogev (STOC 2021) and Malliaris and Moran (Trans. AMS 2024). Our proof combines rank-decreasing correction schedules and accurate sampled prefixes with exact continuations after target identification. Shared-parent routing distributes these continuations among eligible prefixes, eliminating the logarithmic overhead.

Authors: Shihao Shao, Dacheng Tao

Haussler's covering lemma (JCTA 1995) gives the sharp $(C/δ)^d$ metric-entropy bound for binary VC classes under normalized $\ell_1$ distance. We prove a sharp global dynamic analogue for bounded real-valued classes in normalized $\ell_p$, for every $1\le p<\infty$. Writing $d=\operatorname{sfat}_{\varepsilon/32}(\mathcal F)$, we obtain a global dynamic cover of size at most $(C/\varepsilon^p)^d$ for every horizon and $0<\varepsilon<1/2$. Here a single family of deterministic causal experts, fixed independently of the instance sequence, covers every target on every sequence. For $0<\varepsilon<1/4$, a matching worst-case lower bound $(c/\varepsilon)^{pd}$ holds already for binary classes on one fixed sequence, even with real-valued experts. The constants are universal, independent of $p$. For $p=2$, this resolves the horizon-independent sequential $\ell_2$ covering problem of Rakhlin, Sridharan, and Tewari (PTRF 2015) in a stronger global form. For $p=1$, it gives the sharp $(C/δ)^{\operatorname{Ldim}(\mathcal H)}$ global dynamic covering bound for binary classes, resolving questions of Alon, Ben-Eliezer, Dagan, Moran, Naor, and Yogev (STOC 2021) and Malliaris and Moran (Trans. AMS 2024). Our proof combines rank-decreasing correction schedules and accurate sampled prefixes with exact continuations after target identification. Shared-parent routing distributes these continuations among eligible prefixes, eliminating the logarithmic overhead.

Thursday, October 22 2026, 00:00

Asymmetric Likelihood-Free Hypothesis Testing

Authors: Gunjan Kumar, Yash Pote, Jonathan Scarlett

In likelihood-free hypothesis testing (LFHT), given samples from two unknown distributions $P,Q$ on $[n]$ with $\mathrm{d_{TV}}(P,Q)\geq\varepsilon$, and from a third distribution $D\in\{P,Q\}$, the goal is to identify whether $D=P$ or $D=Q$. We study asymmetric likelihood-free hypothesis testing, where the sample budgets $s_P$ and $s_Q$ for $P$ and $Q$ may differ, and characterize the feasible triples $(s_P,s_Q,s_D)$ up to logarithmic factors. We establish that unequal reference budgets can give a polynomial saving. For instance, for constant separation, $n$ samples from $P$ and $n^{3/4}$ from $Q$ allow testing with $\widetilde O(n^{1/4})$ samples from $D$, whereas both existing baselines---symmetric LFHT and unequal-sample closeness testing---require $Ω(\sqrt n)$ samples from $D$. We further apply our results to non-adaptive distribution 2-clustering, where the sample allocation among $k$ distributions must be fixed before observing any data. We obtain matching upper and lower bounds for this problem up to logarithmic factors in terms of the domain size, number of distributions, smaller cluster size, and separation, both with one cluster distribution known and with both unknown. Comparing with known bounds for adaptive sample allocation gives a worst-case adaptivity gap of $\widetildeΘ(k^{1/4})$.

Authors: Gunjan Kumar, Yash Pote, Jonathan Scarlett

In likelihood-free hypothesis testing (LFHT), given samples from two unknown distributions $P,Q$ on $[n]$ with $\mathrm{d_{TV}}(P,Q)\geq\varepsilon$, and from a third distribution $D\in\{P,Q\}$, the goal is to identify whether $D=P$ or $D=Q$. We study asymmetric likelihood-free hypothesis testing, where the sample budgets $s_P$ and $s_Q$ for $P$ and $Q$ may differ, and characterize the feasible triples $(s_P,s_Q,s_D)$ up to logarithmic factors. We establish that unequal reference budgets can give a polynomial saving. For instance, for constant separation, $n$ samples from $P$ and $n^{3/4}$ from $Q$ allow testing with $\widetilde O(n^{1/4})$ samples from $D$, whereas both existing baselines---symmetric LFHT and unequal-sample closeness testing---require $Ω(\sqrt n)$ samples from $D$. We further apply our results to non-adaptive distribution 2-clustering, where the sample allocation among $k$ distributions must be fixed before observing any data. We obtain matching upper and lower bounds for this problem up to logarithmic factors in terms of the domain size, number of distributions, smaller cluster size, and separation, both with one cluster distribution known and with both unknown. Comparing with known bounds for adaptive sample allocation gives a worst-case adaptivity gap of $\widetildeΘ(k^{1/4})$.

Thursday, October 22 2026, 00:00

An experimental evaluation of static k-center clustering algorithms on graphs

Authors: Sebastian Forster, Martin Grösbacher

The $k$-center problem is one of the most fundamental clustering problems and has applications in a wide range of areas, including facility location, network design, data mining, and machine learning. Given a set of objects together with a distance measure, the goal is to select $k$ centers such that the maximum distance from any object to its closest center is minimized. The $k$-center problem has been studied extensively from a theoretical perspective, both in metric spaces and on graphs. While there have been experimental studies for $k$-center clustering in metric spaces, a comprehensive experimental comparison of graph-based $k$-center algorithms on large-scale graphs is still lacking. In this paper, we bridge this gap by evaluating a set of algorithms ranging from classical approaches such as Gonzalez's greedy algorithm [TCS 1985], an algorithm based on the framework established by Hochbaum and Shmoys [Math. Oper. Res. 1985], to more recent methods, including algorithms by Thorup [SICOMP 2001] and Abboud et al. [SOSA 2023]. Our study considers both running time, solution quality and the effects of parallelism on a variety of synthetic and real-world datasets. Our goal is to provide a comprehensive comparison of state-of-the-art $k$-center algorithms on graphs and identify the strengths and weaknesses of different approaches in practice.

Authors: Sebastian Forster, Martin Grösbacher

The $k$-center problem is one of the most fundamental clustering problems and has applications in a wide range of areas, including facility location, network design, data mining, and machine learning. Given a set of objects together with a distance measure, the goal is to select $k$ centers such that the maximum distance from any object to its closest center is minimized. The $k$-center problem has been studied extensively from a theoretical perspective, both in metric spaces and on graphs. While there have been experimental studies for $k$-center clustering in metric spaces, a comprehensive experimental comparison of graph-based $k$-center algorithms on large-scale graphs is still lacking. In this paper, we bridge this gap by evaluating a set of algorithms ranging from classical approaches such as Gonzalez's greedy algorithm [TCS 1985], an algorithm based on the framework established by Hochbaum and Shmoys [Math. Oper. Res. 1985], to more recent methods, including algorithms by Thorup [SICOMP 2001] and Abboud et al. [SOSA 2023]. Our study considers both running time, solution quality and the effects of parallelism on a variety of synthetic and real-world datasets. Our goal is to provide a comprehensive comparison of state-of-the-art $k$-center algorithms on graphs and identify the strengths and weaknesses of different approaches in practice.

Thursday, October 22 2026, 00:00

Fully Dynamic Triangle and 4-Vertex Subgraph Counting: From Theory to Practice and Back Again

Authors: Kathrin Hanauer, Sophia Heck, Monika Henzinger, Leonhard Sidl

Counting small patterns is a core primitive in large-scale graph analytics, with numerous applications in data management and network analysis. As modern graphs are massive and continuously evolving, maintaining such counts efficiently under updates is essential. Although specialized dynamic algorithms for patterns with up to four vertices exist, they remain largely theoretical; practitioners instead rely on general-purpose or approximate methods. We present an in-depth study of two dynamic approaches by Eppstein et al. and Hanauer et al. for maintaining counts of triangles and all connected four-vertex subgraph patterns, both based on variants of heavy-light vertex partitioning. We introduce theoretical and practical optimizations and develop hybrid variants that combine complementary strengths of both approaches. Experiments on 56 large real-world and synthetic dynamic graphs show that our optimized algorithms outperform the original methods and strong static and dynamic baselines on nearly all instances, both in total running time and worst-case update time, with speedups of up to several orders of magnitude. We further provide practical guidelines for algorithm selection and tuning. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first comprehensive empirical study of heavy-light partitioning for dynamic subgraph counting, and our findings may inform other algorithms based on this technique.

Authors: Kathrin Hanauer, Sophia Heck, Monika Henzinger, Leonhard Sidl

Counting small patterns is a core primitive in large-scale graph analytics, with numerous applications in data management and network analysis. As modern graphs are massive and continuously evolving, maintaining such counts efficiently under updates is essential. Although specialized dynamic algorithms for patterns with up to four vertices exist, they remain largely theoretical; practitioners instead rely on general-purpose or approximate methods. We present an in-depth study of two dynamic approaches by Eppstein et al. and Hanauer et al. for maintaining counts of triangles and all connected four-vertex subgraph patterns, both based on variants of heavy-light vertex partitioning. We introduce theoretical and practical optimizations and develop hybrid variants that combine complementary strengths of both approaches. Experiments on 56 large real-world and synthetic dynamic graphs show that our optimized algorithms outperform the original methods and strong static and dynamic baselines on nearly all instances, both in total running time and worst-case update time, with speedups of up to several orders of magnitude. We further provide practical guidelines for algorithm selection and tuning. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first comprehensive empirical study of heavy-light partitioning for dynamic subgraph counting, and our findings may inform other algorithms based on this technique.

Thursday, October 22 2026, 00:00

Tight Space Bounds for Pivot-Based Distance Oracles in Sparse Graphs

Authors: Avi Kadria, Liam Roditty

An approximate distance oracle (ADO) is a compact data structure that answers distance queries within a multiplicative \emph{stretch} $k$. The classical oracle of Thorup and Zwick~[STOC'01, JACM'05] has stretch $k=2\ell-1$ and uses $O(\ell n^{1+1/\ell})$ space, for every integer $\ell\ge1$, and this trade-off is optimal for dense graphs under the Erdős girth conjecture. However, for sparse graphs ($m=O(n)$), their lower bound yields nothing beyond $Ω(m)$ space. A pivot-based $1$-hop ADO gives every vertex $\tilde{O}(1)$ pivots and returns as an estimate the length of a walk of the form $u\to p_u \to p_v \to v$, where $p_u$ is a pivot of $u$, $p_v$ is a pivot of $v$, and $p_u\to p_v$ is a stored distance. We observe that all the state-of-the-art ADOs with $\tilde{O}(1)$ query time are in fact pivot-based $1$-hop ADOs. Our main result is that, under the Erdős girth conjecture for graphs with constant degree, there are sparse graphs on which every \emph{pivot-based} $1$-hop ADO with stretch $k$ requires $\widetildeΩ(m^{1+2/(k+1)})$ space, for every \emph{real} $k\ge1$. This matches the best known upper bounds with $\tilde{O}(1)$ query time, up to polylogarithmic factors, at every stretch where they are known. We also extend our lower bound to pivot-based ADOs with any constant number $β$ of hops, showing that they require $\widetildeΩ(m^{1+2/(β(k+1))})$ space. In addition, we obtain a tight lower bound for two-hop hopsets. Under the Erdős girth conjecture, for every integer $\ell\ge3$, $(2\ell-3,2)$-hopsets on sparse graphs require size $Ω(m^{1+1/\ell})$, which matches a construction based on the oracles of [Kadria and Roditty, ISAAC'25]. Using the recent explicit high-girth graphs of Double Agent~[doubleAI'26], we also obtain unconditional versions of our ADO lower bounds, with the exponent above $1$ multiplied by $4/5$.

Authors: Avi Kadria, Liam Roditty

An approximate distance oracle (ADO) is a compact data structure that answers distance queries within a multiplicative \emph{stretch} $k$. The classical oracle of Thorup and Zwick~[STOC'01, JACM'05] has stretch $k=2\ell-1$ and uses $O(\ell n^{1+1/\ell})$ space, for every integer $\ell\ge1$, and this trade-off is optimal for dense graphs under the Erdős girth conjecture. However, for sparse graphs ($m=O(n)$), their lower bound yields nothing beyond $Ω(m)$ space. A pivot-based $1$-hop ADO gives every vertex $\tilde{O}(1)$ pivots and returns as an estimate the length of a walk of the form $u\to p_u \to p_v \to v$, where $p_u$ is a pivot of $u$, $p_v$ is a pivot of $v$, and $p_u\to p_v$ is a stored distance. We observe that all the state-of-the-art ADOs with $\tilde{O}(1)$ query time are in fact pivot-based $1$-hop ADOs. Our main result is that, under the Erdős girth conjecture for graphs with constant degree, there are sparse graphs on which every \emph{pivot-based} $1$-hop ADO with stretch $k$ requires $\widetildeΩ(m^{1+2/(k+1)})$ space, for every \emph{real} $k\ge1$. This matches the best known upper bounds with $\tilde{O}(1)$ query time, up to polylogarithmic factors, at every stretch where they are known. We also extend our lower bound to pivot-based ADOs with any constant number $β$ of hops, showing that they require $\widetildeΩ(m^{1+2/(β(k+1))})$ space. In addition, we obtain a tight lower bound for two-hop hopsets. Under the Erdős girth conjecture, for every integer $\ell\ge3$, $(2\ell-3,2)$-hopsets on sparse graphs require size $Ω(m^{1+1/\ell})$, which matches a construction based on the oracles of [Kadria and Roditty, ISAAC'25]. Using the recent explicit high-girth graphs of Double Agent~[doubleAI'26], we also obtain unconditional versions of our ADO lower bounds, with the exponent above $1$ multiplied by $4/5$.

Thursday, October 22 2026, 00:00

Reading Messy Proofs

from Computational Complexity

In fall of 1985 when I started graduate school, my advisor Michael Sipser asked me to read an early handwritten manuscript by Johan Håstad of his switching lemma. I spent many hours decoding the notation and working through the messy conditional probabilities until I felt I had checked every step of the proof. When I started presenting this to Sipser, he stopped me and said he didn't want the details but instead the intuition of the proof. I had nothing.

I'm reminded of this story as I hear the complaints of how badly OpenAI wrote the 712 papers released on October 6th, as though humans wrote crystal-clear proofs beforehand, definitely not the case in general, especially in the early versions.

Noam Nisan once told me that reading a badly written proof leads to better understanding since you really need to figure out the details instead of having them neatly spelled out. Perhaps, but do not use this as an excuse for not taking the time to write the details properly.

I approach reading the proof of a new result by assuming the proof is wrong until I'm convinced otherwise. Working my way through early versions of Immerman-Szelepcsényi and Toda's theorem definitely forced me to understand these proofs well so I could explain them to others.

I just gave up on fully understanding some results like the original PCP theorem and Ran Raz's Parallel Repetition Theorem, despite seeing the authors give talks on the papers. Sometimes you have to trust the authors and others who hopefully have read the paper. Don't even get me started on László Babai's Graph Isomorphism in quasipolynomial time. And some papers, like Primes in P, require mathematical results in other subfields that I just have to accept.

Sometimes you'll just get better versions of proofs, most famously Irit Dinur's combinatorial proof of the PCP theorem. I only really understood the switching lemma years later when Sophie Laplante and I wrote a Kolmogorov complexity-based proof building on a then-new proof of Alexander Razborov.

When I get stuck in a proof, I sometimes ask the authors, but usually as a last resort unless I can talk to them in person. That's an advantage we have now: you can ask AI to get you over a hurdle in a proof. Claude, while maybe not as good at proving theorems as the unreleased OpenAI model, does a better job writing them up. And one hopes that we'll see simplified and possibly strengthened versions of some of these important results, written by humans or human-AI collaborations. Maybe we'll even get the intuition Sipser told me to seek all those years ago.

By Lance Fortnow

In fall of 1985 when I started graduate school, my advisor Michael Sipser asked me to read an early handwritten manuscript by Johan Håstad of his switching lemma. I spent many hours decoding the notation and working through the messy conditional probabilities until I felt I had checked every step of the proof. When I started presenting this to Sipser, he stopped me and said he didn't want the details but instead the intuition of the proof. I had nothing.

I'm reminded of this story as I hear the complaints of how badly OpenAI wrote the 712 papers released on October 6th, as though humans wrote crystal-clear proofs beforehand, definitely not the case in general, especially in the early versions.

Noam Nisan once told me that reading a badly written proof leads to better understanding since you really need to figure out the details instead of having them neatly spelled out. Perhaps, but do not use this as an excuse for not taking the time to write the details properly.

I approach reading the proof of a new result by assuming the proof is wrong until I'm convinced otherwise. Working my way through early versions of Immerman-Szelepcsényi and Toda's theorem definitely forced me to understand these proofs well so I could explain them to others.

I just gave up on fully understanding some results like the original PCP theorem and Ran Raz's Parallel Repetition Theorem, despite seeing the authors give talks on the papers. Sometimes you have to trust the authors and others who hopefully have read the paper. Don't even get me started on László Babai's Graph Isomorphism in quasipolynomial time. And some papers, like Primes in P, require mathematical results in other subfields that I just have to accept.

Sometimes you'll just get better versions of proofs, most famously Irit Dinur's combinatorial proof of the PCP theorem. I only really understood the switching lemma years later when Sophie Laplante and I wrote a Kolmogorov complexity-based proof building on a then-new proof of Alexander Razborov.

When I get stuck in a proof, I sometimes ask the authors, but usually as a last resort unless I can talk to them in person. That's an advantage we have now: you can ask AI to get you over a hurdle in a proof. Claude, while maybe not as good at proving theorems as the unreleased OpenAI model, does a better job writing them up. And one hopes that we'll see simplified and possibly strengthened versions of some of these important results, written by humans or human-AI collaborations. Maybe we'll even get the intuition Sipser told me to seek all those years ago.

By Lance Fortnow

Wednesday, October 21 2026, 18:32

Into the Waves

from Ben Recht

On the most impactful forecast of all time: The Imperial College report on reducing COVID-19 mortality.

Hi there, argmin readers! Today’s post is a live blog of Class 13 of my graduate seminar “Forecasting: A Critical Retrospective,” in which we touched the third rail of forecasting discourse: pandemic modeling. The syllabus and list of past posts are here.

No forecast had a greater impact on our lives than “Report 9: Impact of non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) to reduce COVID-19 mortality and healthcare demand.” Written by epidemiologist Neil Ferguson and colleagues, the report presented prefactual scenarios of what would happen in the UK and the US under various pandemic mitigation strategies. Report 9 was released on March 16, 2020, and many nations and states soon heeded its advice, closing schools and businesses and mandating that citizens lock themselves in their houses.

The report estimated the death tolls—without error bars—for three potential policy scenarios. Doing nothing would lead to 510,000 deaths in the UK. Enacting a “mitigation” policy, where symptomatic people isolated at home and people at risk practiced “social distancing,” would lead to 250,000 deaths. Most optimistically, following the lead of China and enacting a policy of “suppression”—an aggressive, authoritarian shutdown of society—would “flatten the curve” and lead to only 20,000 deaths.

These numbers came from a complex computer simulation with over 900 parameters, almost all of which were unknown. Despite this tremendous uncertainty, the report concluded that “epidemic suppression is the only viable strategy at the current time.”

Even at the time, it was clear that Report 9 was more an advocacy document than a scientific report. Report 9 provided a scenario under which a better future, under a completely untried and untested policy, was possible. Unfortunately, that better future didn’t manifest itself, and faith in public health agencies and other decision-making institutions has never recovered. The team leaned on its institutionally approved scientific expertise to sway public opinion. This was a major risk, and, in retrospect, I wonder if the broader public health community thinks it was worth it.

I don’t want to litigate pandemic policies today, but we can’t talk about what forecasting does without talking about Report 9. It has all the hallmarks of a bad forecast. Its authors used a complex model to produce concrete numbers with no qualification of the tremendous uncertainty in their numbers. They didn’t share their baroque model with the public for over a month. Once it was released, others showed the model itself only shakily supported its own findings. Indeed, Edeling et al. showed that under a mild sensitivity analysis, the 20,000-deaths forecast was at the lower boundary of the 68% confidence interval, well below the mean forecast. It’s as if the team chose parameters to make their policy look as good as possible.

Moreover, the team refused to estimate any of the impacts of their policies beyond burden on the health system and deaths. Report 9 wrote, “while experience in China and now South Korea show that suppression is possible in the short term, it remains to be seen whether it is possible long-term, and whether the social and economic costs of the interventions adopted thus far can be reduced.” They had only a single sentence estimating these costs: “The social and economic effects of the measures which are needed to achieve this policy goal will be profound.” They claimed estimating these social impacts, whether on educational outcomes or economic output, was outside their expertise. Many interpreted this as the team asserting these outcomes were not ethically significant enough to even attempt to model.

As the pandemic progressed, it became apparent that the epidemiology community was bad at short-term forecasting. Human pandemics had basic rise-and-fall shapes predicted by elementary compartment models (known as SIR models), but when they would rise and peak was much harder to guess than Report 9 suggested. Indeed, recent work by White and Leon suggests that overconfidence in forecasts comes from trends that are easy to spot: seasonal trends, statistical smoothing, and exponential growth make pandemics easy to predict. Without these features, disease impact is impossible to predict. Scoring rules paper over the fact that we mostly have no idea how to forecast these things. We all learned in real time that epidemiological tools have very little predictive power. They are, at best, descriptive. And yet we were told in March 2020 to trust their long-term forecasting.

The actual death toll in the UK was later estimated to be around 230,000. Whatever the actual number is, the consensus is that it is much, much larger than 20,000. As is always the case when a forecast doesn’t pan out, the forecasters can argue there is no true Scotsman. They might say the policy was poorly implemented and the disease would have gone away if we had acted better. Such arguments carry no water in medicine, and they shouldn’t carry water here. A medical intervention is only effective if a patient population is willing to take it. A real population isn’t what you wish it would be. None of the proposed non-pharmaceutical interventions stopped the eventual wave of disease anywhere on earth, even in China.

Whether the suppression strategy worked is unknowable. We know that more than twenty thousand people died. We don’t know how many would have died under a different policy. We can’t know what the economic and educational outcomes would have been under a different policy either.

What exactly can we conclude then? A while back, I wrote about the Y2K bug and the preparedness paradox and latched onto John Quiggin’s argument that there were multiple true interpretations of the decision making. The COVID pandemic brought a similar pattern of simultaneous truths. It’s true that many people suffered and died, and some were saved by avoiding contact with others. It’s true that we overreacted and harmed children’s education and socialization. It’s true that “the other side” promoted plenty of craziness (Ivermectin? Hydroxychloroquine? Injected bleach?). I could make a long list of truths that would logically contradict each other.

But it’s also true that no one was able to predict the future. It’s obvious in retrospect, but questions of what should be normalized are questions of values, not data science. And in most political decisions, values have to trump science and its messy uncertainty. COVID forced us to make massively consequential decisions in the face of massive uncertainty. We used numerical reports and forecasts to dodge the moral consequences of our actions.

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By Ben Recht

Wednesday, October 21 2026, 14:32

Progress on Borsuk’s Problem and Answer to TYI 60.

from Gil Kalai

The Finite and the Infinite Borsuk problem TYI(60) The question Let f(d) be the smallest integer so that every set of diameter one in can be covered by f(d) sets of smaller diameter. Let g(d) be the smallest integer so … Continue reading →

The Finite and the Infinite Borsuk problem TYI(60) The question

Let f(d) be the smallest integer so that every set of diameter one in $\mathbb R^d$ can be covered by f(d) sets of smaller diameter.

Let g(d) be the smallest integer so that every finite set of diameter one in $\mathbb R^d$ can be covered by g(d) sets of smaller diameter.

Clearly g(d) ≤ f(d)

Test your intuition: Is g(d)=f(d) ?

TYI (60): my intuition

The answer is not known, but my own intuition is that g(d)<f(d) for every large d. In my lecture around the Borsuk Conjecture at Jeff Kahn’s fest I raised the conjecture that this is indeed the case. I also mentioned an interesting psychological fact: Over the years, both before and after I wrote my 2015 survey article on problems around Borsuk’s conjecture, I have encountered several incorrect proofs that g(d) = f(d). Often these proofs involve the De Bruijn–Erdős theorem, which asserts that an infinite graph with finite chromatic number has a finite subgraph with the same chromatic number. (This result is also an easy consequence of compactness in mathematical logic.) Some proofs also involve the claim that there is a constant c < 1 such that every set of diameter one in $\mathbb R^d$ can be covered by g(d) sets of diameter at most c.

In my lecture at Jeff Kahn’s conference I mentioned that I am usually convinced by such proofs for a while, until the prover (and sometimes I) finds the mistake. This gave me extra motivation to firmly conjecture that for some dimensions (or even for almost all dimensions) g(d)<f(d). Sure enough, this happened again after my talk, once again I was convinced for a short while by proofs presented to me that g(d)=f(d).

Open AI’s proof that f(9)>10

One of the 700 or so papers released by Open AI on October 6, 2026 asserts that f(9)>10. This is a major progress on the Borsuk’s problem. (Of course, the proof needs to be carefully checked. The main theorem has also been formalized in Lean.)

The construction itself is one of the constructions Jeff and I studied—the set of matrices of the form $(x_ix_j: 1 \le i \ne j\le n)$ where $(x_1,x_2,\dots, x_n)$ is a unit vector in $\mathbb R^n$ . For $n=4$ , these are symmetric matrices of trace one, and therefore they lie in a nine-dimensional affine space. The distance between two such matrices is maximal precisely when the corresponding vectors are orthogonal.

What is new is the proof that this set cannot be covered by ten sets of smaller diameter. The proof is topological. You can regard it as related to the topological proof of the Borsuk–Ulam theorem, which implies that when you cover the unit sphere in $\mathbb R^d$ with $d$ closed sets, one of these sets must contain a pair of antipodal points. The topology here looks more complicated and the proof looks very beautiful!

One of the reasons for my (shaky) intuition regarding g(d) < f(d) is that I do not see, for example, why the Borsuk–Ulam theorem or its proof implies (the easy fact) that there is a finite set of diameter one that cannot be covered by d+1 sets of smaller diameter.

A figure from the AI paper

Can transversality save Borsuk’s conjecture? And Gábor Damásdi’s characterization of spatial diameter graphs

In my lecture at Jeff Kahn’s conference, I mentioned several new developments around Borsuk’s conjecture. I will mention here one development from Gábor Damásdi’s October 2026 paper, which characterizes finite diameter graphs in three-dimensional space.

This work fits in a nice way with my attempt to save Borsuk’s conjecture using transversality. My conjecture applies to both finite and infinite sets, but for finite sets it has a simple formulation: If the diameter graph of a finite set in $\mathbb R^d$ is stress-free, then it is (d+1)-colorable. Here stress-free means that there is no nonzero assignment of equilibrium stresses to the edges of the diameter graph.

Gábor Damásdi proved that extremal diameter frameworks in three-dimensional space are stress-free. He also achieved a complete characterization of finite diameter graphs in three-dimensional space: they are precisely the subgraphs of non-bipartite quadrangulations of the projective plane (with at least one edge). Earlier, Yaakov Kupitz, Horst Martini, and Micha Perles showed that the graphs associated with extremal configurations in three dimensions (with (2n-2) diameter pairs) have a remarkable strong self-duality property, and they conjectured a converse that Damásdi has now proved and strengthened.

Pictures from the last two lectures in Jeff Kahn’s fest.

I first met Fan Fei at the conference.

I first met Paul Seymour, path-width, tree-width, and tree-decompositions in 1983.

By Gil Kalai

Wednesday, October 21 2026, 12:18

Bernoulli Center – Call for research programmes 2028

from CS Theory Events

January 1 – December 31, 2028 Lausanne, Switzerland bernoulli.epfl.ch/bernoulli-programs/ Submission deadline: March 31, 2027 The Bernoulli Center for fundamental studies calls for research programme proposals in the areas of mathematics, theoretical physics, and / or theoretical computer science. Programmes can range from two to nine weeks in duration. The period covered by the call is … Continue reading Bernoulli Center – Call for research programmes 2028

By shacharlovett

January 1 – December 31, 2028 Lausanne, Switzerland https://bernoulli.epfl.ch/bernoulli-programs/ Submission deadline: March 31, 2027 The Bernoulli Center for fundamental studies calls for research programme proposals in the areas of mathematics, theoretical physics, and / or theoretical computer science. Programmes can range from two to nine weeks in duration. The period covered by the call is … Continue reading Bernoulli Center – Call for research programmes 2028

By shacharlovett

Wednesday, October 21 2026, 05:15

Vote!

from Scott Aaronson

Today, I take a break from your regularly-scheduled AI mathocalypse programming to urge my American readers to vote in the Congressional midterms, early if possible, if you haven’t already. Especially if your state faces one or more major contests, as does my adopted home state of Texas. Me, I voted straight-ticket Democrat today, as I’ve […]

Today, I take a break from your regularly-scheduled AI mathocalypse programming to urge my American readers to vote in the Congressional midterms, early if possible, if you haven’t already. Especially if your state faces one or more major contests, as does my adopted home state of Texas.

Me, I voted straight-ticket Democrat today, as I’ve done in every election since I became eligible over a quarter-century ago (except for when I vote-swapped with someone from another state).

So yes, I voted for the guy who studied theology a short walk from my house, and who seems to have really internalized the whole Jesus thing about kindness to everyone—

—over his sneering, thuggish, cartoonishly mafia-like opponent. Fingers crossed that Talarico pulls off a historic upset for our state (he’s currently a 2-to-1 favorite in the prediction markets).

The Texas Republicans did everything they possibly could to make this choice easy for me, by being corrupt, conspiratorial, racist, and Taliban-like even by the jaw-droppingly debased standards of MAGA in 2026. As I draw breath, I could never vote for a slate one of whose candidates attacked UT students for the crime of being visibly Southeast Asian while cheering their school’s football victory from the stands—and whose other candidates could barely bring themselves to condemn this knuckle-dragging racist, for fear of angering their base. (It’s like, didn’t you want immigrants to assimilate to American culture? What more could these kids possibly do, short of skin bleach?)

All the same, this was also the first US election in my lifetime where I felt like my vote was genuinely in play—especially when I listened to Talarico’s condemnations of Israel, for having the temerity to fight the same kind of war any random other nation would’ve fought had it been attacked as Israel was on October 7. When Hasan Piker came to speak to a cheering crowd here at UT Austin, I actually wrote to someone I know in the Talarico campaign, to ask whether Talarico would show enough balls to condemn Piker’s many antisemitic and anti-American statements, and renounce his support. My contact was nice enough to reply to me, saying: don’t worry, James is taking care to be far away from Austin during Piker’s visit, so he won’t need to engage at all!

So then, this is my candidate: the guy who’s strategically silent on the wildly-popular streamer who’d gladly see my Israeli family members raped and beheaded, rather than campaigning with that streamer like Abdul El-Sayed did in Michigan. I unironically believe that, for Talarico, it took genuine moral courage to resist the whole momentum of his party’s youth even to this extent.

To earn my vote in the near future under these circumstances, all a Texas Republican would need to do is be somewhat sane or reasonable. He or she might affirm, for example, that racism is bad, that abortion is a woman’s choice, that Christianity is not the state religion of the US, that Covid vaccines work, that human emissions are worryingly changing the earth’s climate, and/or that Joe Biden won in 2020, while still being arbitrarily right-wing on taxes and other stuff. He or she could then simply wait for the Democrats to descend fully into the worldview of the masked hooligans who are currently setting France’s beautiful cities aflame, terrorizing its shopkeepers, and looting as many Louis Vuitton handbags as they can carry … all for Palestine, of course, and for the death of global capitalism, and for the violent overthrow of the scheming, money-grubbing, hook-nosed, international Talmudic … err, I mean “Zionists.”

What I’m trying to say is, it was a genuine achievement on the part of the Texas Republicans to fail to earn a single vote from me this cycle.

By Scott

Wednesday, October 21 2026, 05:13

TR26-267 | Hitting Set Generators for low-degree F2-polynomials with almost optimal density | Tal Yankovitz

from ECCC Papers

We construct explicit hitting set generators for $\mathbb{F}_2$-polynomials in $n$ variables of degree at most $d$ with an almost optimal density, and seed length $O(d \log n+d^2)$, which is optimal for $d = O(\log n)$. Second, we address large-field hitting set generators. The influential state-of-the-art construction by Guruswami and Xing (CCC '14) - which is based on machinery from algebraic geometric codes - had an almost optimal seed length and density. Our first contribution there is a construction with an improved density. Our second large-field contribution is a comparable construction which is based on elementary machinery only.

Wednesday, October 21 2026, 05:10

TR26-266 | Better Binary Tree Codes From MDS Tree Codes | Tal Yankovitz

from ECCC Papers

Finding good tree code constructions is among the most natural questions in error-correcting codes over the Hamming channel. Unlike the usual setting, where one encodes a single message against adversarial errors, tree codes allow a sender to encode and send a stream, in an online manner, while protecting it from adversarial errors. Moreover, Schulman (STOC 93) showed that tree codes yield schemes which protect any two-party communication protocol from adversarial errors. Schulman asked whether there are explicit tree code families with constant distance and constant rate. While this question remains open, in a breakthrough, Cohen, Haeupler and Schulman (STOC 2018) constructed explicit constant-distance tree codes with rate $1/O(\log\log n)$, where $n$ denotes the message length, improving upon the $1/O(\log n)$ previously known. Subsequently, Ben-Yaacov, Cohen and Yankovitz (STOC 22) improved the rate-distance tradeoff, constructing explicit distance-$\delta$ tree codes with rate $1/O(\sqrt{\delta}\log\log n)$. In this work we construct explicit distance-$\delta$ tree codes with rate $1/O(\delta\log\log n)$. In particular, this implies explicit tree codes with constant rate and distance $1/O(\log\log n)$, improving upon the previously known $1/O(\log^2\log n)$. To achieve this improved rate-distance tradeoff, new ideas are required. Specifically, we devise a construction whose key idea relies on MDS tree codes. MDS tree codes were first considered by Pudlák (Linear Algebra Appl. 16), who gave an $\mathbb F_2$-linear MDS tree code construction with alphabet size $2^{O(n^3)}$. As another contribution, we present such a construction with alphabet size $2^{O(n^2)}$.

Wednesday, October 21 2026, 05:09

Space Complexity of Reachability in Simple Path Graphs

Authors: Krishnamoorthy Dinesh, Chandana Sasidharan

One of the central questions in space complexity is whether nondeterministic logspace computations ($\textsf{NL}$) can be simulated in unambiguous logspace ($\textsf{UL}$). A stronger notion, \emph{reach unambiguity} ($\textsf{RUL} \subseteq \textsf{UL} \cap \textsf{co}\textsf{UL}$), requires every configuration reachable from the start to have exactly one computation path (Buntrock et.al. 91). While directed graph reachability is $\textsf{NL}$-complete, planar graph reachability is in $\textsf{UL}$ and undirected graph reachability is in deterministic logspace ($\textsf{L}$). In this work, we study the space complexity of reachability problem for restricted directed graph families and show the following. - For reach unambiguous graphs (graphs with at most one path from start vertex to every vertex), Lange (Lange 97) showed that reachability is in $\textsf{RUL}$. As our main result, we show that for simple path graphs (introduced in Kannan et.al. 08), which contains reach unambiguous graphs), where each vertex has at most one simple path from the start, we show that the reachability problem lies in $\textsf{UL} \cap \textsf{co}\textsf{UL}$. - Our first result can also be equivalently stated as: the recognition problem for simple path is in $\textsf{UL} \cap \textsf{co}\textsf{UL}$ if and only if the reachability problem restricted to simple path graphs is also in $\textsf{UL} \cap \textsf{co}\textsf{UL}$. Inspired by this, we investigate the complexity of graph recognition versus graph reachability for graph classes. Observe that for any graph class, solving reachability (for the class) also solves the recognition problem for that class. We show that for reach unambiguous graphs, solving recognition is as hard as solving reachability (making both of them $\textsf{RUL}$-complete). (Abstract shortened to meet arXiv limits)

Authors: Krishnamoorthy Dinesh, Chandana Sasidharan

One of the central questions in space complexity is whether nondeterministic logspace computations ($\textsf{NL}$) can be simulated in unambiguous logspace ($\textsf{UL}$). A stronger notion, \emph{reach unambiguity} ($\textsf{RUL} \subseteq \textsf{UL} \cap \textsf{co}\textsf{UL}$), requires every configuration reachable from the start to have exactly one computation path (Buntrock et.al. 91). While directed graph reachability is $\textsf{NL}$-complete, planar graph reachability is in $\textsf{UL}$ and undirected graph reachability is in deterministic logspace ($\textsf{L}$). In this work, we study the space complexity of reachability problem for restricted directed graph families and show the following. - For reach unambiguous graphs (graphs with at most one path from start vertex to every vertex), Lange (Lange 97) showed that reachability is in $\textsf{RUL}$. As our main result, we show that for simple path graphs (introduced in Kannan et.al. 08), which contains reach unambiguous graphs), where each vertex has at most one simple path from the start, we show that the reachability problem lies in $\textsf{UL} \cap \textsf{co}\textsf{UL}$. - Our first result can also be equivalently stated as: the recognition problem for simple path is in $\textsf{UL} \cap \textsf{co}\textsf{UL}$ if and only if the reachability problem restricted to simple path graphs is also in $\textsf{UL} \cap \textsf{co}\textsf{UL}$. Inspired by this, we investigate the complexity of graph recognition versus graph reachability for graph classes. Observe that for any graph class, solving reachability (for the class) also solves the recognition problem for that class. We show that for reach unambiguous graphs, solving recognition is as hard as solving reachability (making both of them $\textsf{RUL}$-complete). (Abstract shortened to meet arXiv limits)

Wednesday, October 21 2026, 00:00

Simple Strategy-Iteration with Dantzig's Rule is not Strongly Polynomial on Turn-Based Deterministic Games

Authors: Sanyou Mei

We study turn-based deterministic zero-sum games with discounted and long-run average costs. For discounted costs, we establish exponential and superpolynomial iteration lower bounds for the simple strategy-iteration method with Dantzig's rule under unrestricted costs and unit weights, respectively. To the best of our knowledge, this shows for the first time that the method is not strongly polynomial even when all action costs belong to $\{-1,0,1\}$. For long-run average costs, we establish an exponential iteration lower bound for termination of a Dantzig counterpart with unrestricted costs and prove that it admits a strongly polynomial implementation with unit weights.

Authors: Sanyou Mei

We study turn-based deterministic zero-sum games with discounted and long-run average costs. For discounted costs, we establish exponential and superpolynomial iteration lower bounds for the simple strategy-iteration method with Dantzig's rule under unrestricted costs and unit weights, respectively. To the best of our knowledge, this shows for the first time that the method is not strongly polynomial even when all action costs belong to $\{-1,0,1\}$. For long-run average costs, we establish an exponential iteration lower bound for termination of a Dantzig counterpart with unrestricted costs and prove that it admits a strongly polynomial implementation with unit weights.

Wednesday, October 21 2026, 00:00

On the Support Geometry and Complexity of LABS

Authors: William Cruz-Santos

LABS are a fundamental combinatorial optimization problem arising in sequence design and statistical physics, yet the formal complexity of the standard fixed-geometry problem remains unresolved. We study how zero-energy complexity changes when support geometry is included as part of the input and then progressively restricted. For unary standard LABS, we establish membership in $\NP$ and a sparsity/Mahaney consequence: Karp NP-hardness would imply $\Ptime=\NP$. For Pair-Set-LABS and Masked-LABS, zero-energy feasibility is polynomial-time decidable when every pair group or masked row has at most three terms and is NP-complete when four terms are allowed. NP-completeness persists when active supports are restricted to contiguous intervals.

Authors: William Cruz-Santos

LABS are a fundamental combinatorial optimization problem arising in sequence design and statistical physics, yet the formal complexity of the standard fixed-geometry problem remains unresolved. We study how zero-energy complexity changes when support geometry is included as part of the input and then progressively restricted. For unary standard LABS, we establish membership in $\NP$ and a sparsity/Mahaney consequence: Karp NP-hardness would imply $\Ptime=\NP$. For Pair-Set-LABS and Masked-LABS, zero-energy feasibility is polynomial-time decidable when every pair group or masked row has at most three terms and is NP-complete when four terms are allowed. NP-completeness persists when active supports are restricted to contiguous intervals.

Wednesday, October 21 2026, 00:00

Small sums of roots of unity: polylogarithmic exceptional sets and conditional separation

Authors: Qi Cheng

We prove a polylogarithmic exceptional-set estimate for symmetric five-term sums of roots of unity of arbitrary order. More precisely, at most $O((\log(2N))^{11})$ points of the $N$-grid satisfy $|1+2\cos(2πx)+2\cos(2πy)|<\exp(-C(\log(2N))^{13})$. This implies the corresponding bound for small conjugates at the reduced conductor: outside polylogarithmically many real embeddings, every such sum is at least quasipolynomially large. The proof is unconditional and combines a polynomial-vector-field multiplicity estimate, arithmetic jet determinants, analytic propagation, and interpolation determinants for nearby grid points. As a companion result, assuming a uniform number-field $abc$ conjecture, we prove that every sum of a fixed number of distinct prime-order roots of unity has modulus at least $\exp(-\varepsilon p)$ for every $\varepsilon>0$ and all sufficiently large primes $p$, uniformly in the exponents. That proof uses simultaneous compression of the exponents, discriminant estimates, and cyclic resultants.

Authors: Qi Cheng

We prove a polylogarithmic exceptional-set estimate for symmetric five-term sums of roots of unity of arbitrary order. More precisely, at most $O((\log(2N))^{11})$ points of the $N$-grid satisfy $|1+2\cos(2πx)+2\cos(2πy)|<\exp(-C(\log(2N))^{13})$. This implies the corresponding bound for small conjugates at the reduced conductor: outside polylogarithmically many real embeddings, every such sum is at least quasipolynomially large. The proof is unconditional and combines a polynomial-vector-field multiplicity estimate, arithmetic jet determinants, analytic propagation, and interpolation determinants for nearby grid points. As a companion result, assuming a uniform number-field $abc$ conjecture, we prove that every sum of a fixed number of distinct prime-order roots of unity has modulus at least $\exp(-\varepsilon p)$ for every $\varepsilon>0$ and all sufficiently large primes $p$, uniformly in the exponents. That proof uses simultaneous compression of the exponents, discriminant estimates, and cyclic resultants.

Wednesday, October 21 2026, 00:00

Short Point Lists for CNFs and Stronger Constant-Depth Circuit Hardness

Authors: Xin Li, Yan Zhong

We give a short-description decomposition of bounded-width CNFs. For every fixed $\varepsilon>0$, every width-$b$ CNF on $m$ variables is an exact disjoint union of at most $2^{\varepsilon m}$ width-$b$ CNFs, each determined by $2^{O_\varepsilon(b)}\log(m+1)$ satisfying assignments. For every fixed $d\ge3$, we prove a worst-case size lower bound of $2^{Ω_d((n\log n)^{1/(d-1)})}$ against depth-at-most-$d$ unbounded-fan-in AND/OR circuits with input negations for three polynomial-time Boolean families: inverse trace over binary fields, the Goldreich--Tal trilinear function, and OpenAI's polynomial evaluator with its original parameters. All parameter bits count as inputs. For inverse trace, every such circuit of size at most $S$, where $n\le S\le2^{c_dn^{1/(d-1)}}$, has uniform sign correlation at most $2^{-η_dn\log\log S/(\log S)^{d-1}}$. Here $c_d,η_d>0$ depend only on $d$. This improves on the classical parity correlation bound. The lower bounds combine the decomposition with restriction arguments; the correlation bound additionally uses common partial decision trees. We also construct exact nonuniform AND/OR circuits for inverse trace of size $2^{O(n^{2/3})}$ at depth eight and $2^{O(\sqrt n\log n)}$ at depth nine. For every fixed integer $h\ge2$, the construction gives depth-$(4h+1)$ circuits of size $2^{O_h(n^{1/h}\log n)}$. The upper bounds implement finite-field evaluation and interpolation using circuits that enumerate intermediate states.

Authors: Xin Li, Yan Zhong

We give a short-description decomposition of bounded-width CNFs. For every fixed $\varepsilon>0$, every width-$b$ CNF on $m$ variables is an exact disjoint union of at most $2^{\varepsilon m}$ width-$b$ CNFs, each determined by $2^{O_\varepsilon(b)}\log(m+1)$ satisfying assignments. For every fixed $d\ge3$, we prove a worst-case size lower bound of $2^{Ω_d((n\log n)^{1/(d-1)})}$ against depth-at-most-$d$ unbounded-fan-in AND/OR circuits with input negations for three polynomial-time Boolean families: inverse trace over binary fields, the Goldreich--Tal trilinear function, and OpenAI's polynomial evaluator with its original parameters. All parameter bits count as inputs. For inverse trace, every such circuit of size at most $S$, where $n\le S\le2^{c_dn^{1/(d-1)}}$, has uniform sign correlation at most $2^{-η_dn\log\log S/(\log S)^{d-1}}$. Here $c_d,η_d>0$ depend only on $d$. This improves on the classical parity correlation bound. The lower bounds combine the decomposition with restriction arguments; the correlation bound additionally uses common partial decision trees. We also construct exact nonuniform AND/OR circuits for inverse trace of size $2^{O(n^{2/3})}$ at depth eight and $2^{O(\sqrt n\log n)}$ at depth nine. For every fixed integer $h\ge2$, the construction gives depth-$(4h+1)$ circuits of size $2^{O_h(n^{1/h}\log n)}$. The upper bounds implement finite-field evaluation and interpolation using circuits that enumerate intermediate states.

Wednesday, October 21 2026, 00:00

Partitionability is NP-complete

Authors: Russ Woodroofe

We show that the problem of deciding whether a simplicial complex is partitionable is NP-complete in dimensions two and higher, answering a 1995 question of Kleinschmidt and Onn.

Authors: Russ Woodroofe

We show that the problem of deciding whether a simplicial complex is partitionable is NP-complete in dimensions two and higher, answering a 1995 question of Kleinschmidt and Onn.

Wednesday, October 21 2026, 00:00

Matrix Multiplication from Polynomial Packings: A Constructive and Elementary Proof of $ω\le9/4$

Authors: Rafael Pass

We give a self-contained constructive proof that the matrix multiplication exponent satisfies $ω\le9/4$. This bound was recently claimed by OpenAI~\cite{original} through non-constructive arguments in Strassen's asymptotic spectral framework, counting exact scalar arithmetic operations over the complex numbers. We explicitly construct a Strassen-style matrix multiplication identity and obtain the bound by ordinary block recursion. For every $γ>0$, the resulting algorithm multiplies two $n\times n$ integer matrices using $O(n^{9/4+γ})$ integer arithmetic operations.

Authors: Rafael Pass

We give a self-contained constructive proof that the matrix multiplication exponent satisfies $ω\le9/4$. This bound was recently claimed by OpenAI~\cite{original} through non-constructive arguments in Strassen's asymptotic spectral framework, counting exact scalar arithmetic operations over the complex numbers. We explicitly construct a Strassen-style matrix multiplication identity and obtain the bound by ordinary block recursion. For every $γ>0$, the resulting algorithm multiplies two $n\times n$ integer matrices using $O(n^{9/4+γ})$ integer arithmetic operations.

Wednesday, October 21 2026, 00:00

Exact Envy-Free Cake Cutting with Polynomial Expected Queries

Authors: Simon Mackenzie, Mashbat Suzuki

Envy-free cake cutting asks how to divide a resource so that no agent prefers another agent's share. Finding such a division with few queries about preferences has been a longstanding challenge. Aziz and Mackenzie gave the first query bound depending only on the number $n$ of agents: a tower of six $n$'s. Subsequent improvements culminated in Ye and Bai's single-exponential bound of $n^{O(1)}2^n$. A large gap remains between this deterministic upper bound and Procaccia's general lower bound of $Ω(n^2)$. Whether polynomially many queries suffice is a central open question in fair division. We show that a polynomial expected query bound is possible. Our randomised protocol uses only independent, uniformly sampled points from the cake as its source of randomness. For every profile of $n$ agents with nonnegative, additive, nonatomic valuations, the protocol has the following guarantees: (1) It terminates with probability one. (2) Every allocation it returns is complete and exactly envy-free. (3) Its expected number of Robertson-Webb queries is $\widetilde{O}(n^{30})$. The expectation is taken solely over the protocol's random choices, with no distributional assumptions on preferences.

Authors: Simon Mackenzie, Mashbat Suzuki

Envy-free cake cutting asks how to divide a resource so that no agent prefers another agent's share. Finding such a division with few queries about preferences has been a longstanding challenge. Aziz and Mackenzie gave the first query bound depending only on the number $n$ of agents: a tower of six $n$'s. Subsequent improvements culminated in Ye and Bai's single-exponential bound of $n^{O(1)}2^n$. A large gap remains between this deterministic upper bound and Procaccia's general lower bound of $Ω(n^2)$. Whether polynomially many queries suffice is a central open question in fair division. We show that a polynomial expected query bound is possible. Our randomised protocol uses only independent, uniformly sampled points from the cake as its source of randomness. For every profile of $n$ agents with nonnegative, additive, nonatomic valuations, the protocol has the following guarantees: (1) It terminates with probability one. (2) Every allocation it returns is complete and exactly envy-free. (3) Its expected number of Robertson-Webb queries is $\widetilde{O}(n^{30})$. The expectation is taken solely over the protocol's random choices, with no distributional assumptions on preferences.

Wednesday, October 21 2026, 00:00

Singular Linear Differential-Algebraic Equations with Constant Coefficients Necessarily Admit Non-Computable Solutions

Authors: Holger Boche, Volker Pohl, H. Vincent Poor, Frank H. P. Fitzek

If a regular linear differential-algebraic equation has a unique solution, this solution is known to be Turing computable. In contrast, this paper shows that singular linear differential-algebraic equations exhibit fundamentally different computability properties. More precisely, we show that for every linear differential-algebraic equation (LDAE) with constant computable coefficients, there exists a computable input function with strong regularity properties such that the LDAE admits a unique solution, yet this solution is not Turing computable. In fact, the solution is non-computable at certain computable times.

Authors: Holger Boche, Volker Pohl, H. Vincent Poor, Frank H. P. Fitzek

If a regular linear differential-algebraic equation has a unique solution, this solution is known to be Turing computable. In contrast, this paper shows that singular linear differential-algebraic equations exhibit fundamentally different computability properties. More precisely, we show that for every linear differential-algebraic equation (LDAE) with constant computable coefficients, there exists a computable input function with strong regularity properties such that the LDAE admits a unique solution, yet this solution is not Turing computable. In fact, the solution is non-computable at certain computable times.

Wednesday, October 21 2026, 00:00

Lower Bounds for Minimal-Transversal Enumeration of Bounded-Dimension Hypergraphs and the maximum Minimal Hitting Set Problem

Authors: Arnaud Mary

We present lower bounds for the maximum minimal hitting set problem and for the problem of enumeration of minimal transversals in bounded-dimension hypergraphs. Our starting point is the recent reduction of Kobayashi, Kurita, and Wasa (2026), developed to establish ETH-based hardness of hypergraph dualization. Adapting their construction, we show that, under ETH, deciding whether a hypergraph $\mathcal{G}$ with $n$ vertices and $m$ hyperedges has a minimal transversal of size at least $k$ cannot be done in time $n^{f(k)}m^{o(k)}$, for an arbitrary computable $f$. We transfer this bound to the following decision problem: given a dimension-at-most-$r$ hypergraph and a family of $s$ of its minimal transversals, decide whether another exists. Under ETH, this problem admits no uniform algorithm with running time $n^{f(r)}(s+1)^{o(r)}$. Under SETH, for every fixed $t \geq 2$, it admits no algorithm with running time $\poly(|\mathcal{G}|)(s+1)^c$ for dimension at most $2t$ and any $c

Authors: Arnaud Mary

We present lower bounds for the maximum minimal hitting set problem and for the problem of enumeration of minimal transversals in bounded-dimension hypergraphs. Our starting point is the recent reduction of Kobayashi, Kurita, and Wasa (2026), developed to establish ETH-based hardness of hypergraph dualization. Adapting their construction, we show that, under ETH, deciding whether a hypergraph $\mathcal{G}$ with $n$ vertices and $m$ hyperedges has a minimal transversal of size at least $k$ cannot be done in time $n^{f(k)}m^{o(k)}$, for an arbitrary computable $f$. We transfer this bound to the following decision problem: given a dimension-at-most-$r$ hypergraph and a family of $s$ of its minimal transversals, decide whether another exists. Under ETH, this problem admits no uniform algorithm with running time $n^{f(r)}(s+1)^{o(r)}$. Under SETH, for every fixed $t \geq 2$, it admits no algorithm with running time $\poly(|\mathcal{G}|)(s+1)^c$ for dimension at most $2t$ and any $c

Wednesday, October 21 2026, 00:00

CyberHull: Deterministic Malicious URL Isolation via Convex Hull

Authors: Avijit Gayen, Aniket Ghosal, Durba Chakraborty, Sayan Mondal, Md Abdul Aziz Al Aman, Angshuman Jana

The emergence of increasingly sophisticated and evasion-resistant phishing attack strategies represents a significant threat to modern cybersecurity, particularly in cyber-physical systems and internet-based networks. Traditional probabilistic methods and certain machine learning approaches often struggle to detect novel attacks and may lack interpretability or portability. To address these challenges, we introduce CyberHull, a resource-efficient and deterministic framework for identifying malicious URLs through mathematically defined convex hull boundaries across multiple orthogonal feature domains, including structural content entropy, hyperlink graph topology, and semantic token distribution. CyberHull constructs compact convex hulls, referred to as vaults, using the QuickHull algorithm, with a training complexity of O(n log n) under suitable assumptions. URL classification is performed through point-in-polyhedron tests that impose relatively low computational overhead on standard CPUs. Experimental results demonstrate that CyberHull achieves 92 percent detection accuracy, substantially outperforming a baseline linear approach based on Principal Component Analysis (PCA), which achieves 32 percent accuracy. Furthermore, CyberHull offers a computationally efficient alternative to resource-intensive deep learning approaches for malicious URL detection.

Authors: Avijit Gayen, Aniket Ghosal, Durba Chakraborty, Sayan Mondal, Md Abdul Aziz Al Aman, Angshuman Jana

The emergence of increasingly sophisticated and evasion-resistant phishing attack strategies represents a significant threat to modern cybersecurity, particularly in cyber-physical systems and internet-based networks. Traditional probabilistic methods and certain machine learning approaches often struggle to detect novel attacks and may lack interpretability or portability. To address these challenges, we introduce CyberHull, a resource-efficient and deterministic framework for identifying malicious URLs through mathematically defined convex hull boundaries across multiple orthogonal feature domains, including structural content entropy, hyperlink graph topology, and semantic token distribution. CyberHull constructs compact convex hulls, referred to as vaults, using the QuickHull algorithm, with a training complexity of O(n log n) under suitable assumptions. URL classification is performed through point-in-polyhedron tests that impose relatively low computational overhead on standard CPUs. Experimental results demonstrate that CyberHull achieves 92 percent detection accuracy, substantially outperforming a baseline linear approach based on Principal Component Analysis (PCA), which achieves 32 percent accuracy. Furthermore, CyberHull offers a computationally efficient alternative to resource-intensive deep learning approaches for malicious URL detection.

Wednesday, October 21 2026, 00:00

Two $\operatorname{ReLU}$ Layers is All You Need

Authors: Florestan Brunck, Christoph Hertrich, Kilian Ruess, Jack Stade, Amir Yehudayoff

We prove that every $\operatorname{ReLU}$ network can be exactly simulated by a $\operatorname{ReLU}$ network with two hidden layers. We present two proofs: one that is based on fillings in homological algebra and a direct combinatorial proof.

Authors: Florestan Brunck, Christoph Hertrich, Kilian Ruess, Jack Stade, Amir Yehudayoff

We prove that every $\operatorname{ReLU}$ network can be exactly simulated by a $\operatorname{ReLU}$ network with two hidden layers. We present two proofs: one that is based on fillings in homological algebra and a direct combinatorial proof.

Wednesday, October 21 2026, 00:00

A Bochner Weitzenböck Decomposition for Cellular Sheaf Laplacians, Curvature and Neural Sheaf Diffusion

Authors: Francesco Maria Guadagnuolo, Alessio Borgi, Dorina Thanou, Pietro Liò

We extend the Bochner-Weitzenböck decomposition to cellular sheaf Laplacians, splitting it into a positive semidefinite term, the Bochner sheaf Laplacian, and a block diagonal term, the Forman curvature. We show that the Bochner Laplacians form a class of cellular sheaves that extends both connection and matrix-weighted Laplacians, and generalizes signed graphs to $d$ dimensions. We give a holonomy characterization of their kernel, prove the related Cheeger inequalities, and attach to them a random walk that generalizes the Gremban expansion. For the Forman term, we prove a discrete Bochner theorem, which bounds the first cohomology of a cellular sheaf with nonnegative curvature, and we read the whole decomposition as an opinion-dynamics model. We then apply this machinery to Sheaf Neural Networks, whose learnt Laplacian is otherwise unobserved. The Bochner interpretation yields a node-level conviction score that acts as an operational importance measure under frozen-model interventions, while the Forman profile provides a local descriptor of the learnt operator.

Authors: Francesco Maria Guadagnuolo, Alessio Borgi, Dorina Thanou, Pietro Liò

We extend the Bochner-Weitzenböck decomposition to cellular sheaf Laplacians, splitting it into a positive semidefinite term, the Bochner sheaf Laplacian, and a block diagonal term, the Forman curvature. We show that the Bochner Laplacians form a class of cellular sheaves that extends both connection and matrix-weighted Laplacians, and generalizes signed graphs to $d$ dimensions. We give a holonomy characterization of their kernel, prove the related Cheeger inequalities, and attach to them a random walk that generalizes the Gremban expansion. For the Forman term, we prove a discrete Bochner theorem, which bounds the first cohomology of a cellular sheaf with nonnegative curvature, and we read the whole decomposition as an opinion-dynamics model. We then apply this machinery to Sheaf Neural Networks, whose learnt Laplacian is otherwise unobserved. The Bochner interpretation yields a node-level conviction score that acts as an operational importance measure under frozen-model interventions, while the Forman profile provides a local descriptor of the learnt operator.

Wednesday, October 21 2026, 00:00

Estimating the intrinsic error of 3D point clouds acquisition techniques: A comparative study on instruments of the violin family

Authors: Philémon Beghin, Jean-Philippe Échard, Anthony Peeters, Arnaud Schenkel, Anne-Emmanuelle Ceulemans, François Glineur

This study compares ten digital 3D acquisition techniques applied to violin family instrument plates, assessing their accuracy and relevance for scientific and cultural heritage applications. Evaluated methods include two photogrammetric workflows, medical and industrial computed tomography, terrestrial laser scanning, two structured-light configurations (blue light and infrared), and three consumer-grade iPad Pro approaches: TrueDepth scanning and LiDAR using two different applications. The methods were applied to five historical instruments from the "Musical Instruments Museum" (Brussels) and the "Musée de la Musique" (Paris). Since no geometric ground truth is available, accuracy is assessed through systematic pairwise point-to-plane comparisons of the resulting point clouds. These comparisons are jointly analysed to estimate the intrinsic error of each technique (i.e. the expected discrepancy between the model and the true but unknown geometry) without designating any technique as reference. Results are discussed with respect to intended uses, offering recommendations for techniques depending on the dedicated objectives.

Authors: Philémon Beghin, Jean-Philippe Échard, Anthony Peeters, Arnaud Schenkel, Anne-Emmanuelle Ceulemans, François Glineur

This study compares ten digital 3D acquisition techniques applied to violin family instrument plates, assessing their accuracy and relevance for scientific and cultural heritage applications. Evaluated methods include two photogrammetric workflows, medical and industrial computed tomography, terrestrial laser scanning, two structured-light configurations (blue light and infrared), and three consumer-grade iPad Pro approaches: TrueDepth scanning and LiDAR using two different applications. The methods were applied to five historical instruments from the "Musical Instruments Museum" (Brussels) and the "Musée de la Musique" (Paris). Since no geometric ground truth is available, accuracy is assessed through systematic pairwise point-to-plane comparisons of the resulting point clouds. These comparisons are jointly analysed to estimate the intrinsic error of each technique (i.e. the expected discrepancy between the model and the true but unknown geometry) without designating any technique as reference. Results are discussed with respect to intended uses, offering recommendations for techniques depending on the dedicated objectives.

Wednesday, October 21 2026, 00:00

A 55-Addition Rank-23 Scheme for $3\times3$ Matrix Multiplication via Exact Two-Sided Minimization

Authors: Greg Sidebottom

We give a scheme that multiplies two $3\times3$ matrices with 23 multiplications and 55 additions over any ring, one addition below the previous record of 56 (Sun, 2026) and the first below 56 for exact non-commutative $3\times3$ multiplication without a change of basis. The scheme forms 13 signed combinations of the entries of A and 14 of B, takes 23 products, and recombines them with 28 further additions; its correctness is machine-checked in Lean 4. The previous records, from 60 down to 56, were obtained by greedy common-subexpression elimination, which only bounds each side of a scheme from above. We minimize both input sides exactly by chain covering, and the output side exactly through the transposition principle: the 9-by-23 output map costs its transpose plus 14, and the transpose is a 9-input map that the input-side minimizer solves exactly. Applied to Perminov's cn122 scheme (class i19w225c4efh, published at 58 additions) this gives 55 = 13 + 14 + 28, where greedy elimination reaches only 29 on the output side. The same method shows that Sun's representative is output-optimal at 56, and an exact orbit-wide computation over the Heule-Kauers-Seidl database shows that the record class is the only database class attaining 55.

Authors: Greg Sidebottom

We give a scheme that multiplies two $3\times3$ matrices with 23 multiplications and 55 additions over any ring, one addition below the previous record of 56 (Sun, 2026) and the first below 56 for exact non-commutative $3\times3$ multiplication without a change of basis. The scheme forms 13 signed combinations of the entries of A and 14 of B, takes 23 products, and recombines them with 28 further additions; its correctness is machine-checked in Lean 4. The previous records, from 60 down to 56, were obtained by greedy common-subexpression elimination, which only bounds each side of a scheme from above. We minimize both input sides exactly by chain covering, and the output side exactly through the transposition principle: the 9-by-23 output map costs its transpose plus 14, and the transpose is a 9-input map that the input-side minimizer solves exactly. Applied to Perminov's cn122 scheme (class i19w225c4efh, published at 58 additions) this gives 55 = 13 + 14 + 28, where greedy elimination reaches only 29 on the output side. The same method shows that Sun's representative is output-optimal at 56, and an exact orbit-wide computation over the Heule-Kauers-Seidl database shows that the record class is the only database class attaining 55.

Wednesday, October 21 2026, 00:00

Deterministic Shift Equivalence Testing for Sparse Polynomials

Authors: Markus Bläser, Pranjal Dutta, Sagnik Dutta, Gorav Jindal

We study the shift equivalence testing problem for high-degree sparse multivariate polynomials. Given explicit spar se representations of two polynomials $f,g\in\mathbb{Q}[x_1,\ldots,x_n]$, with exponents encoded in binary, sparsities $s$ and $t$, and total degree at most $d$, the task is to decide whether there is a vector $\mathbf{a}\in\mathbb{Q}^n$ such that $f(\mathbf{x}+\mathbf{a})\equiv g(\mathbf{x})$. Furthermore, one needs to output such a vector if it exists. Dvir, Oliveira, and Shpilka (ICALP 2014) studied shift equivalence for low-degree arithmetic circuits. Their framew ork does not apply directly to sparse polynomials, which are not closed under shifts, and they left open whether shift equivalence of sparse polynomials admits an efficient deterministic algorithm. We answer this question positively over $\mathbb{Q}$. If the input coefficients have bit-size at most $τ$, we sh ow that a rational shift of polynomial bit-size exists whenever the polynomials are shift equivalent. Moreover, our alg orithm outputs such a shift and has a running time of $\operatorname{poly}(n,s,t,τ,\log d)$ in the bit model. The ar ithmetic and structural parts of our result also hold over any field of characteristic zero or characteristic larger th an $d$.

Authors: Markus Bläser, Pranjal Dutta, Sagnik Dutta, Gorav Jindal

We study the shift equivalence testing problem for high-degree sparse multivariate polynomials. Given explicit spar se representations of two polynomials $f,g\in\mathbb{Q}[x_1,\ldots,x_n]$, with exponents encoded in binary, sparsities $s$ and $t$, and total degree at most $d$, the task is to decide whether there is a vector $\mathbf{a}\in\mathbb{Q}^n$ such that $f(\mathbf{x}+\mathbf{a})\equiv g(\mathbf{x})$. Furthermore, one needs to output such a vector if it exists. Dvir, Oliveira, and Shpilka (ICALP 2014) studied shift equivalence for low-degree arithmetic circuits. Their framew ork does not apply directly to sparse polynomials, which are not closed under shifts, and they left open whether shift equivalence of sparse polynomials admits an efficient deterministic algorithm. We answer this question positively over $\mathbb{Q}$. If the input coefficients have bit-size at most $τ$, we sh ow that a rational shift of polynomial bit-size exists whenever the polynomials are shift equivalent. Moreover, our alg orithm outputs such a shift and has a running time of $\operatorname{poly}(n,s,t,τ,\log d)$ in the bit model. The ar ithmetic and structural parts of our result also hold over any field of characteristic zero or characteristic larger th an $d$.

Wednesday, October 21 2026, 00:00

A Short Note on Algorithms For The Noisy $k$-XOR Problem

Authors: Kiril Bangachev

This mostly expository note studies the sample-noise regimes in which the testing problem for noisy $k$-XOR in dimension $n$ can be efficiently solved. Concretely, we ask what pairs $(β, δ)$ admit algorithms running in time $n^{O(k)}$ where $m = n^β, β\in [0,k]$ is the number of samples and $\mathsf{Bern}(n^{-δ}),δ\in (0,+\infty)$ is the noise distribution. The current state-of-the-art algorithms are: I. A folklore algorithm when $β> 1, δ>1$ based on Gaussian elimination; II. A folklore algorithm when $β\ge k/2$ based on the birthday paradox; III. A recent algorithm in the regime $β> δ+ k(1-δ), δ\in (0,1)$ based on a reduction to the first algorithm [DJ24,CSZ24]. IV. Extending [AF09], we strictly improve the last regime to $β> δ+ (k-1)(1-δ), δ\in (0,1).$ These algorithms correspond to efficiently finding short cycles in uniform hypergraphs and can be equivalently phrased as algorithmic Moore bounds.

Authors: Kiril Bangachev

This mostly expository note studies the sample-noise regimes in which the testing problem for noisy $k$-XOR in dimension $n$ can be efficiently solved. Concretely, we ask what pairs $(β, δ)$ admit algorithms running in time $n^{O(k)}$ where $m = n^β, β\in [0,k]$ is the number of samples and $\mathsf{Bern}(n^{-δ}),δ\in (0,+\infty)$ is the noise distribution. The current state-of-the-art algorithms are: I. A folklore algorithm when $β> 1, δ>1$ based on Gaussian elimination; II. A folklore algorithm when $β\ge k/2$ based on the birthday paradox; III. A recent algorithm in the regime $β> δ+ k(1-δ), δ\in (0,1)$ based on a reduction to the first algorithm [DJ24,CSZ24]. IV. Extending [AF09], we strictly improve the last regime to $β> δ+ (k-1)(1-δ), δ\in (0,1).$ These algorithms correspond to efficiently finding short cycles in uniform hypergraphs and can be equivalently phrased as algorithmic Moore bounds.

Wednesday, October 21 2026, 00:00

Improved Approximation and Hardness Results for the Monitoring Edge-Geodetic Set Problem

Authors: Davide Bilò, Giordano Colli, Stefano Leucci

We study the \emph{Monitoring Edge-Geodetic Set} problem (MEG-Set), which asks for a minimum-cardinality set $M$ of vertices of an undirected graph $G$ of $n$ vertices such that every edge of $G$ belongs to all shortest paths between some pair of vertices in $M$. We present new approximation and hardness results for MEG-Set. On the positive side, we design a deterministic polynomial-time $O(n^{1/3}\log^{2/3}n)$-approximation algorithm, improving upon the previously best-known $O(\sqrt{n\log n})$ approximation ratio. On the negative side, for every constant $\varepsilon \in (0,1)$, we prove that the problem admits no polynomial-time $\big(2^{\log^{1-\varepsilon} n}\big)$-approximation algorithm, unless $\mathsf{NP}\subseteq \mathsf{DTIME}(n^{\operatorname{polylog} n})$. This substantially improves upon the previously known logarithmic inapproximability bound. We also prove that \megset is $\mathsf{NP}$-hard on planar $2$-degenerate graphs, whereas $\mathsf{NP}$-hardness was previously known for $1$-apex $2$-degenerate graphs. We conclude by observing a connection between monitoring edge-geodetic sets and subsetwise distance preservers, i.e., subgraphs that preserve distances between all pairs of vertices in $S\subseteq V(G)$. Specifically, we show that any upper bound on the size of the latter yields a lower bound on the size of the former.

Authors: Davide Bilò, Giordano Colli, Stefano Leucci

We study the \emph{Monitoring Edge-Geodetic Set} problem (MEG-Set), which asks for a minimum-cardinality set $M$ of vertices of an undirected graph $G$ of $n$ vertices such that every edge of $G$ belongs to all shortest paths between some pair of vertices in $M$. We present new approximation and hardness results for MEG-Set. On the positive side, we design a deterministic polynomial-time $O(n^{1/3}\log^{2/3}n)$-approximation algorithm, improving upon the previously best-known $O(\sqrt{n\log n})$ approximation ratio. On the negative side, for every constant $\varepsilon \in (0,1)$, we prove that the problem admits no polynomial-time $\big(2^{\log^{1-\varepsilon} n}\big)$-approximation algorithm, unless $\mathsf{NP}\subseteq \mathsf{DTIME}(n^{\operatorname{polylog} n})$. This substantially improves upon the previously known logarithmic inapproximability bound. We also prove that \megset is $\mathsf{NP}$-hard on planar $2$-degenerate graphs, whereas $\mathsf{NP}$-hardness was previously known for $1$-apex $2$-degenerate graphs. We conclude by observing a connection between monitoring edge-geodetic sets and subsetwise distance preservers, i.e., subgraphs that preserve distances between all pairs of vertices in $S\subseteq V(G)$. Specifically, we show that any upper bound on the size of the latter yields a lower bound on the size of the former.

Wednesday, October 21 2026, 00:00

An Exact Polynomial-Time Algorithm for the Minimum Shared-Power Edge Cut Problem

Authors: Quanlong Niu, Wei Liang, Riheng Jia, Zhao Zhang

The Minimum Shared-Power Edge Cut (MSPEC) problem seeks to disconnect two designated terminals with minimum total power by assigning powers to graph vertices and deleting every edge for which the sum of the powers at its endpoints reaches its edge weight. Previous work gave a fully polynomial-time approximation scheme for this problem, while its exact computational complexity remained open. We prove that general MSPEC with nonnegative edge weights can be solved exactly in polynomial time. Specifically, we first use linear programming duality for each fixed cut to reformulate MSPEC as minimizing the maximum terminal-relaxed matching weight over all $s$-$t$ cuts. Then, we construct a terminal-copy extended graph that transforms the maximum-weight matching model with unconstrained terminal capacities for a fixed cut into an equivalent ordinary maximum-weight matching model. Next, we extend the submodularity of the unweighted maximum-matching cut function to nonnegative edge weights and prove that the restriction obtained by fixing the terminal copies on prescribed sides remains submodular. Consequently, MSPEC reduces to exact submodular function minimization. Once an optimal cut is obtained, a corresponding optimal power assignment can be recovered. This result resolves the open question concerning the exact computational complexity of general MSPEC.

Authors: Quanlong Niu, Wei Liang, Riheng Jia, Zhao Zhang

The Minimum Shared-Power Edge Cut (MSPEC) problem seeks to disconnect two designated terminals with minimum total power by assigning powers to graph vertices and deleting every edge for which the sum of the powers at its endpoints reaches its edge weight. Previous work gave a fully polynomial-time approximation scheme for this problem, while its exact computational complexity remained open. We prove that general MSPEC with nonnegative edge weights can be solved exactly in polynomial time. Specifically, we first use linear programming duality for each fixed cut to reformulate MSPEC as minimizing the maximum terminal-relaxed matching weight over all $s$-$t$ cuts. Then, we construct a terminal-copy extended graph that transforms the maximum-weight matching model with unconstrained terminal capacities for a fixed cut into an equivalent ordinary maximum-weight matching model. Next, we extend the submodularity of the unweighted maximum-matching cut function to nonnegative edge weights and prove that the restriction obtained by fixing the terminal copies on prescribed sides remains submodular. Consequently, MSPEC reduces to exact submodular function minimization. Once an optimal cut is obtained, a corresponding optimal power assignment can be recovered. This result resolves the open question concerning the exact computational complexity of general MSPEC.

Wednesday, October 21 2026, 00:00

A 2/3-Approximation Algorithm for the Residual Maximum Matching Problem in General Graphs

Authors: Quanlong Niu, Riheng Jia

The residual maximum matching problem asks for a maximum matching whose deletion leaves a graph with the largest possible matching number. For unweighted graphs, previous work provides a $1/2$-approximation guarantee in general graphs and a $2/3$ guarantee in graphs with a perfect matching. We present a $2/3$-approximation algorithm running in $O(n^5)$ time, extending the latter guarantee to general graphs. The algorithm improves the residual matching number through single-edge exchanges involving free vertices. We prove that, for any maximum matching that admits no further improvement by such exchanges, the residual matching number is at least $2/3$ of the optimum, and we give an example showing that this bound is tight.

Authors: Quanlong Niu, Riheng Jia

The residual maximum matching problem asks for a maximum matching whose deletion leaves a graph with the largest possible matching number. For unweighted graphs, previous work provides a $1/2$-approximation guarantee in general graphs and a $2/3$ guarantee in graphs with a perfect matching. We present a $2/3$-approximation algorithm running in $O(n^5)$ time, extending the latter guarantee to general graphs. The algorithm improves the residual matching number through single-edge exchanges involving free vertices. We prove that, for any maximum matching that admits no further improvement by such exchanges, the residual matching number is at least $2/3$ of the optimum, and we give an example showing that this bound is tight.

Wednesday, October 21 2026, 00:00

Improved rapid phase ordering for Ising dynamics on random regular graphs

Authors: Zhangsong Li, Allan Sly

We study Glauber dynamics for the Ising model on random $d$-regular graphs with $n$ vertices at low temperature, in the regime $β\geq C/d$ where $C,d$ are sufficiently large constants. In this regime, the full mixing time is exponential in $n$, because of the bottleneck between the two dominant phases: configurations with a majority of plus spins and configurations with a majority of minus spins. We show that, for sufficiently large $d$, if the dynamics is initialized with an excess of at least $ε_{C,d} n$ plus spins over minus spins, then it quasi-equilibrates in time $O(\log n)$ to the Gibbs measure conditioned on positive magnetization. In addition, the required bias $ε_{C,d}$ can be chosen so that $ε_{C,d}\to 0$ as $d,C\to\infty$. Previous bound of \cite{GSS25+} in the Ising and large-$d$ setting required $β\gtrsim (\log d)/d$. A key difficulty is that, even from the all-plus initialization, one must control the propagation of negative information in spacetime in a low-temperature model with strong local correlations. We address this by developing a new bootstrap approach to proving subcriticality of disagreement clusters under the grand coupling.

Authors: Zhangsong Li, Allan Sly

We study Glauber dynamics for the Ising model on random $d$-regular graphs with $n$ vertices at low temperature, in the regime $β\geq C/d$ where $C,d$ are sufficiently large constants. In this regime, the full mixing time is exponential in $n$, because of the bottleneck between the two dominant phases: configurations with a majority of plus spins and configurations with a majority of minus spins. We show that, for sufficiently large $d$, if the dynamics is initialized with an excess of at least $ε_{C,d} n$ plus spins over minus spins, then it quasi-equilibrates in time $O(\log n)$ to the Gibbs measure conditioned on positive magnetization. In addition, the required bias $ε_{C,d}$ can be chosen so that $ε_{C,d}\to 0$ as $d,C\to\infty$. Previous bound of \cite{GSS25+} in the Ising and large-$d$ setting required $β\gtrsim (\log d)/d$. A key difficulty is that, even from the all-plus initialization, one must control the propagation of negative information in spacetime in a low-temperature model with strong local correlations. We address this by developing a new bootstrap approach to proving subcriticality of disagreement clusters under the grand coupling.

Wednesday, October 21 2026, 00:00

Approximating Directed Telephone Multicast

Authors: Shahin Kamali, Seyed-Mohammad Seyed-Javadi

In the telephone model a message starts at a source vertex, and in every round each informed vertex may call one neighbour. Telephone multicast asks for a schedule that informs a given set of $k$ terminals in the fewest rounds. On directed graphs, the best known ratio for this problem was $\tilde O(\sqrt k)$, due to Elkin and Kortsarz and to Hathcock, Kortsarz and Ravi. For every integer $\ell\ge2$, we give a deterministic combinatorial algorithm with running time $n^{O(\ell)}$ that computes a schedule of length $O(\ell^3\log k)\cdot(\mathrm{OPT}+k^{1/\ell})$, where $n$ is the number of vertices and $\mathrm{OPT}$ the optimum. Since $\mathrm{OPT}\ge\log_2(k+1)$, this gives ratio $O(k^ε)$ in time $n^{O(1/ε)}$ for every fixed $ε>0$, and ratio $O(\log^4k)$ in quasi-polynomial time. The method rests on jump trees with additive vertex loads, a height reduction that bounds the load of every vertex, and a recursive greedy algorithm with an exponential potential. We also show that directed multicast is a special case of the degree-bounded directed Steiner tree problem on a time-expanded digraph. With known algorithms for that problem this gives randomized ratios $O(\log^2n)$ in time $n^{O(\log n)}$ and $O(n^ε)$ in time $n^{O(1/ε)}$, which, unlike ours, grow with $n$. On the hardness side, directed multicast stays $(1-ε)\ln k$-hard even when $\mathrm{OPT}=O(\log k)$, the regime in which the previous algorithms were weakest.

Authors: Shahin Kamali, Seyed-Mohammad Seyed-Javadi

In the telephone model a message starts at a source vertex, and in every round each informed vertex may call one neighbour. Telephone multicast asks for a schedule that informs a given set of $k$ terminals in the fewest rounds. On directed graphs, the best known ratio for this problem was $\tilde O(\sqrt k)$, due to Elkin and Kortsarz and to Hathcock, Kortsarz and Ravi. For every integer $\ell\ge2$, we give a deterministic combinatorial algorithm with running time $n^{O(\ell)}$ that computes a schedule of length $O(\ell^3\log k)\cdot(\mathrm{OPT}+k^{1/\ell})$, where $n$ is the number of vertices and $\mathrm{OPT}$ the optimum. Since $\mathrm{OPT}\ge\log_2(k+1)$, this gives ratio $O(k^ε)$ in time $n^{O(1/ε)}$ for every fixed $ε>0$, and ratio $O(\log^4k)$ in quasi-polynomial time. The method rests on jump trees with additive vertex loads, a height reduction that bounds the load of every vertex, and a recursive greedy algorithm with an exponential potential. We also show that directed multicast is a special case of the degree-bounded directed Steiner tree problem on a time-expanded digraph. With known algorithms for that problem this gives randomized ratios $O(\log^2n)$ in time $n^{O(\log n)}$ and $O(n^ε)$ in time $n^{O(1/ε)}$, which, unlike ours, grow with $n$. On the hardness side, directed multicast stays $(1-ε)\ln k$-hard even when $\mathrm{OPT}=O(\log k)$, the regime in which the previous algorithms were weakest.

Wednesday, October 21 2026, 00:00

Communication Complexity of Universal Features

Authors: Lunjia Hu, Anish Jayant, Peter Li, Princewill Okoroafor, Abhishek Shetty

Motivated by the notion of features from machine learning, we study the complexity of representing data that allows for evaluation with a given family of functions. Concretely, we consider a deterministic encoder that observes $X\sim D$ and produces a finite encoding before a task $f\in\mathcal{F}\subseteq\{0,1\}^{\mathcal{X}}$ is specified. For each task, a decoder must predict $f(X)$ with error at most $\varepsilon$ under $D$. We construct an encoder that outputs a representation with $O(d^{*}\log(1/\varepsilon))$ bits, where $d^{*}$ is the dual VC dimension of $\mathcal{F}$. Our encoder greedily selects $O((d^{*}/\varepsilon)\log(1/\varepsilon))$ functions from the class and uses their joint label pattern to produce the encoding. The key idea in our upper bound is a novel potential function argument, where we compare the entropy gained from each greedy selection with the number of patterns allowed by the dual VC dimension. We present lower bounds showing that the representation length achieved by our encoder is worst-case optimal for every $d^* \ge 1$ and $\varepsilon < 1/4$ up to a universal constant factor, and instance-wise optimal for every family $\mathcal{F}$ up to an $O(\log(1/\varepsilon))$ factor. We give two ways to learn the representation from unlabeled samples, with different guarantees on the representation size and sample complexity. Experimentally, we verify the greedy construction's accuracy-size tradeoff and explore its connection to neural sparse autoencoders.

Authors: Lunjia Hu, Anish Jayant, Peter Li, Princewill Okoroafor, Abhishek Shetty

Motivated by the notion of features from machine learning, we study the complexity of representing data that allows for evaluation with a given family of functions. Concretely, we consider a deterministic encoder that observes $X\sim D$ and produces a finite encoding before a task $f\in\mathcal{F}\subseteq\{0,1\}^{\mathcal{X}}$ is specified. For each task, a decoder must predict $f(X)$ with error at most $\varepsilon$ under $D$. We construct an encoder that outputs a representation with $O(d^{*}\log(1/\varepsilon))$ bits, where $d^{*}$ is the dual VC dimension of $\mathcal{F}$. Our encoder greedily selects $O((d^{*}/\varepsilon)\log(1/\varepsilon))$ functions from the class and uses their joint label pattern to produce the encoding. The key idea in our upper bound is a novel potential function argument, where we compare the entropy gained from each greedy selection with the number of patterns allowed by the dual VC dimension. We present lower bounds showing that the representation length achieved by our encoder is worst-case optimal for every $d^* \ge 1$ and $\varepsilon < 1/4$ up to a universal constant factor, and instance-wise optimal for every family $\mathcal{F}$ up to an $O(\log(1/\varepsilon))$ factor. We give two ways to learn the representation from unlabeled samples, with different guarantees on the representation size and sample complexity. Experimentally, we verify the greedy construction's accuracy-size tradeoff and explore its connection to neural sparse autoencoders.

Wednesday, October 21 2026, 00:00

Parameterizing Cluster Editing by the Number of Deletions

Authors: Vincent Froese, Leon Kellerhals, Frank Sommer, Manuel Sorge, Ondřej Suchý

In Cluster Editing, we are given a graph $G$ and an integer $k$ and ask whether at most $k$ edge insertions and deletions turn $G$ into a disjoint union of cliques. Komusiewicz and Niedermeier asked in 2012 at MFCS whether Cluster Editing is fixed-parameter tractable with respect to the number $\ell$ of edge deletions, a parameter based on the solution rather than on the structure of the input graph. We answer this question negatively: Cluster Editing with at most $k$ edits, at most $\ell$ of which are deletions, is W[1]-hard with respect to $\ell$, even when combined with the pathwidth and the feedback edge set number of the input graph. The hardness extends to editing towards $H$-free graphs for every graph $H$ that is a clique minus one edge on at least four vertices. On the positive side, we show that the problem becomes fixed-parameter tractable when $\ell$ is combined with the excess $μ$ of $k$ over the lower bound given by a packing of modification-disjoint induced paths on three vertices, a lower bound that state-of-the-art solvers use. Each of the two parameters alone leads to intractability, but together they admit an $O(4^{μ+\ell}\cdot(n+m+μ))$-time algorithm and a problem kernel with $O((\ell+μ)^2)$ vertices. Both results extend to packings of stars and the algorithm extends to $H$-free editing.

Authors: Vincent Froese, Leon Kellerhals, Frank Sommer, Manuel Sorge, Ondřej Suchý

In Cluster Editing, we are given a graph $G$ and an integer $k$ and ask whether at most $k$ edge insertions and deletions turn $G$ into a disjoint union of cliques. Komusiewicz and Niedermeier asked in 2012 at MFCS whether Cluster Editing is fixed-parameter tractable with respect to the number $\ell$ of edge deletions, a parameter based on the solution rather than on the structure of the input graph. We answer this question negatively: Cluster Editing with at most $k$ edits, at most $\ell$ of which are deletions, is W[1]-hard with respect to $\ell$, even when combined with the pathwidth and the feedback edge set number of the input graph. The hardness extends to editing towards $H$-free graphs for every graph $H$ that is a clique minus one edge on at least four vertices. On the positive side, we show that the problem becomes fixed-parameter tractable when $\ell$ is combined with the excess $μ$ of $k$ over the lower bound given by a packing of modification-disjoint induced paths on three vertices, a lower bound that state-of-the-art solvers use. Each of the two parameters alone leads to intractability, but together they admit an $O(4^{μ+\ell}\cdot(n+m+μ))$-time algorithm and a problem kernel with $O((\ell+μ)^2)$ vertices. Both results extend to packings of stars and the algorithm extends to $H$-free editing.

Wednesday, October 21 2026, 00:00

Subjective Valuations Make It Hard to be Fair: The Complexity of Resource Allocation to Groups of Agents

Authors: Argyrios Deligkas, Eduard Eiben, Robert Ganian, Tiger-Lily Goldsmith, Marlene Gründel, Simon Wietheger

We study the parameterized complexity of finding an EF1 allocation of indivisible items in the group-sharing setting, which has received increasing attention in recent years. There, items are not allocated to individual agents but rather to one of two (or possibly more) groups, and agents within that group all share the assigned items. We consider both the "fixed" (EF1-Fix) and "variable" (EF1-Var) group cases, where in the former the assignments of agents to groups are prescribed. While both are NP-hard in the classical sense, we show that their algorithmic behavior differs significantly from the parameterized perspective. As our main results, we: (1) prove that both cases are NP-hard even when the number of agents is a small constant; (2) circumvent this hardness by establishing fixed-parameter tractability for EF1-Var w.r.t. the number of "subjective" items, that is, items which are viewed as chores or goods by different agents---but rule out an analogous result for EF1-Fix; and (3) establish fixed-parameter tractability for EF1-Fix w.r.t. the number of item types, but link the existence of an analogous fixed-parameter algorithm for EF1-Var to a fundamental open question in the setting of Integer Linear Programming.

Authors: Argyrios Deligkas, Eduard Eiben, Robert Ganian, Tiger-Lily Goldsmith, Marlene Gründel, Simon Wietheger

We study the parameterized complexity of finding an EF1 allocation of indivisible items in the group-sharing setting, which has received increasing attention in recent years. There, items are not allocated to individual agents but rather to one of two (or possibly more) groups, and agents within that group all share the assigned items. We consider both the "fixed" (EF1-Fix) and "variable" (EF1-Var) group cases, where in the former the assignments of agents to groups are prescribed. While both are NP-hard in the classical sense, we show that their algorithmic behavior differs significantly from the parameterized perspective. As our main results, we: (1) prove that both cases are NP-hard even when the number of agents is a small constant; (2) circumvent this hardness by establishing fixed-parameter tractability for EF1-Var w.r.t. the number of "subjective" items, that is, items which are viewed as chores or goods by different agents---but rule out an analogous result for EF1-Fix; and (3) establish fixed-parameter tractability for EF1-Fix w.r.t. the number of item types, but link the existence of an analogous fixed-parameter algorithm for EF1-Var to a fundamental open question in the setting of Integer Linear Programming.

Wednesday, October 21 2026, 00:00

Splitting Planar Necklaces with Few Straight Cuts

Authors: Rishi Advani, Abolfazl Asudeh

In the classical necklace splitting problem, beads of different colors lie on a line, and the goal is to divide them among $k$ agents using as few cuts as possible so that every agent receives the same number of beads of each color. We study the planar analog in which a cut is a full straight line and the objective is minimizing the number of lines: $m$ points colored red and blue must be separated by straight-line cuts into regions that can be allocated to $k$ agents so that each agent receives the same number of points of each color. Projection to a line gives $2(k-1)$ cuts, and $k-1$ are sometimes necessary; we give algorithms, static and dynamic, that provably close part of this gap. We develop several approaches that capitalize on the extra degree of freedom: a ``star'' search that produces solutions with as few as $\lceil \frac{k}{2} \rceil$ cuts and never more than $k$ whenever a fair contiguous circular partition exists, with further guarantees for evenly spaced input, and a general algorithm that produces at most $k + \log_2(k+1) - 2$ cuts in $Θ(m \log k)$ time, built on a one-dimensional necklace splitting subroutine that requires no presorting. We then adapt the general algorithm to a dynamic setting, maintaining exact fairness and the cut bound under arbitrary relocation of points, with expected update time that scales with the total distance moved.

Authors: Rishi Advani, Abolfazl Asudeh

In the classical necklace splitting problem, beads of different colors lie on a line, and the goal is to divide them among $k$ agents using as few cuts as possible so that every agent receives the same number of beads of each color. We study the planar analog in which a cut is a full straight line and the objective is minimizing the number of lines: $m$ points colored red and blue must be separated by straight-line cuts into regions that can be allocated to $k$ agents so that each agent receives the same number of points of each color. Projection to a line gives $2(k-1)$ cuts, and $k-1$ are sometimes necessary; we give algorithms, static and dynamic, that provably close part of this gap. We develop several approaches that capitalize on the extra degree of freedom: a ``star'' search that produces solutions with as few as $\lceil \frac{k}{2} \rceil$ cuts and never more than $k$ whenever a fair contiguous circular partition exists, with further guarantees for evenly spaced input, and a general algorithm that produces at most $k + \log_2(k+1) - 2$ cuts in $Θ(m \log k)$ time, built on a one-dimensional necklace splitting subroutine that requires no presorting. We then adapt the general algorithm to a dynamic setting, maintaining exact fairness and the cut bound under arbitrary relocation of points, with expected update time that scales with the total distance moved.

Wednesday, October 21 2026, 00:00

Birthday Estimators Are Uniformly Optimal for Renyi Entropy

Authors: Maciej Skórski

Collisions are a basic probe of unknown distributions, used for testing and for counting substructures in graphs, and they underlie Rényi entropy, a fundamental measure of uncertainty with applications in cryptography, machine learning, physics, and biology. Motivated by this, we study the natural birthday estimator. We prove Bernstein-type concentration for it and show that it is minimax optimal, uniformly and jointly in alphabet size, order, accuracy, and confidence, with no sample splitting, clipping, or median aggregation. This, in particular, settles the sample complexity of integer-order Rényi entropy estimation up to absolute constants in all regimes, closing the gap between the best known upper and lower bounds. Our concentration bound rests on a sensitivity analysis of collision count, and the matching lower bound on a sharp analysis of detecting a hidden spike in a plateau distribution.

Authors: Maciej Skórski

Collisions are a basic probe of unknown distributions, used for testing and for counting substructures in graphs, and they underlie Rényi entropy, a fundamental measure of uncertainty with applications in cryptography, machine learning, physics, and biology. Motivated by this, we study the natural birthday estimator. We prove Bernstein-type concentration for it and show that it is minimax optimal, uniformly and jointly in alphabet size, order, accuracy, and confidence, with no sample splitting, clipping, or median aggregation. This, in particular, settles the sample complexity of integer-order Rényi entropy estimation up to absolute constants in all regimes, closing the gap between the best known upper and lower bounds. Our concentration bound rests on a sensitivity analysis of collision count, and the matching lower bound on a sharp analysis of detecting a hidden spike in a plateau distribution.

Wednesday, October 21 2026, 00:00

Dynamic Distances Without Matrix Inverse

Authors: Jan van den Brand, Adam Karczmarz, Aryan Patel

We study the fully dynamic exact distance problem in unweighted directed graphs, where the graph undergoes edge insertions and deletions, and the distance between two query vertices must be reported. Under the combinatorial Boolean matrix multiplication conjecture, any subquadratic-time algorithm for this problem must use algebraic techniques. All prior work uses the polynomial matrix inverse as its algebraic tool, but within subquadratic time, this technique can only maintain distances up to a small-polynomial hop bound. So larger distances must be reassembled from short-range pieces by a combinatorial layer. This hybrid algebraic-combinatorial construction has led to a substantial slowdown for dynamic distances compared to other dynamic graph problems relying on algebraic techniques. We give the first subquadratic-time dynamic distance algorithm built on dynamically maintaining a different algebraic object than the matrix inverse. By maintaining the Frobenius form $A=KCK^{-1}$ of a dynamic generic (i.e., cyclic) matrix $A$, we can query all the powers $A^\ell = K C^\ell K^{-1}$ efficiently. For adjacency matrix~$A$, the smallest $\ell$ with $(A^\ell)_{s,t}\neq 0$ is the $st$-distance in the associated graph. So, unlike dynamic matrix inverse, we get distance information directly without hop truncation, and we no longer need to perform any combinatorial reassembly. This purely algebraic approach to dynamic distances leads to the fastest dynamic distance algorithm with $O(n^{1.58})$ update time. The earlier use of the Frobenius form maintained the dense change of basis $K$ explicitly and required $\tilde O (n^2)$ time per update [KS23]. Our key observation is that this change of basis is highly structured, which lets us maintain it implicitly. This gives the first subquadratic dynamic algorithm for the Frobenius normal form and characteristic polynomial for generic matrices.

Authors: Jan van den Brand, Adam Karczmarz, Aryan Patel

We study the fully dynamic exact distance problem in unweighted directed graphs, where the graph undergoes edge insertions and deletions, and the distance between two query vertices must be reported. Under the combinatorial Boolean matrix multiplication conjecture, any subquadratic-time algorithm for this problem must use algebraic techniques. All prior work uses the polynomial matrix inverse as its algebraic tool, but within subquadratic time, this technique can only maintain distances up to a small-polynomial hop bound. So larger distances must be reassembled from short-range pieces by a combinatorial layer. This hybrid algebraic-combinatorial construction has led to a substantial slowdown for dynamic distances compared to other dynamic graph problems relying on algebraic techniques. We give the first subquadratic-time dynamic distance algorithm built on dynamically maintaining a different algebraic object than the matrix inverse. By maintaining the Frobenius form $A=KCK^{-1}$ of a dynamic generic (i.e., cyclic) matrix $A$, we can query all the powers $A^\ell = K C^\ell K^{-1}$ efficiently. For adjacency matrix~$A$, the smallest $\ell$ with $(A^\ell)_{s,t}\neq 0$ is the $st$-distance in the associated graph. So, unlike dynamic matrix inverse, we get distance information directly without hop truncation, and we no longer need to perform any combinatorial reassembly. This purely algebraic approach to dynamic distances leads to the fastest dynamic distance algorithm with $O(n^{1.58})$ update time. The earlier use of the Frobenius form maintained the dense change of basis $K$ explicitly and required $\tilde O (n^2)$ time per update [KS23]. Our key observation is that this change of basis is highly structured, which lets us maintain it implicitly. This gives the first subquadratic dynamic algorithm for the Frobenius normal form and characteristic polynomial for generic matrices.

Wednesday, October 21 2026, 00:00

Diverse Schedules for Makespan Minimization on Unrelated Machines

Authors: Sebastian Bruchhold, Matthias Mnich, Karolina Tammemaa, Morten Weber, Michalis Xefteris, Bart Zondervan

We study makespan minimization on unrelated machines with the additional goal of constructing diverse schedules: Instead of outputting a single schedule, we seek a collection of schedules with provable makespan guarantees and substantially different job assignments. Committing to a single schedule in advance may be undesirable. Processing times may be uncertain, and constraints or domain knowledge may emerge later, so $k$ schedules of similar quality offer meaningful alternatives. We measure pairwise diversity by the weighted Hamming distance between job assignments and study the two standard objectives in the diverse-solutions literature: max-sum diversity, which maximizes the total pairwise distance between schedules, and max-min diversity, which maximizes the smallest pairwise distance. For the max-sum objective, we show that optimal diversity can be achieved in polynomial time without sacrificing the classic makespan approximation factor. For every feasible makespan target $T$, we can compute $k$ schedules of makespan at most $2T$ whose max-sum diversity is optimal among all $k$ schedules of makespan at most $T$. Therefore, we match the classic factor-$2$ makespan guarantee of Lenstra, Shmoys, and Tardos (Math. Prog., 1990) and preserve optimal diversity. For the max-min objective, we show that the diversity problem is inherently harder. Namely, we show that, even without makespan constraints, deciding whether three schedules of given pairwise diversity exist is NP-hard. We complete this with two complementary bicriteria approximation algorithms for every fixed $k$ and $\varepsilon \in (0,1)$. The first preserves almost all of the optimal max-min diversity with makespan at most $(3\lceil12/\varepsilon\rceil+1)T$. The second keeps the makespan arbitrarily close to the classic $2$ guarantee while achieving a $\frac{1}{2}(1-\varepsilon)$ fraction of the optimal max-min diversity.

Authors: Sebastian Bruchhold, Matthias Mnich, Karolina Tammemaa, Morten Weber, Michalis Xefteris, Bart Zondervan

We study makespan minimization on unrelated machines with the additional goal of constructing diverse schedules: Instead of outputting a single schedule, we seek a collection of schedules with provable makespan guarantees and substantially different job assignments. Committing to a single schedule in advance may be undesirable. Processing times may be uncertain, and constraints or domain knowledge may emerge later, so $k$ schedules of similar quality offer meaningful alternatives. We measure pairwise diversity by the weighted Hamming distance between job assignments and study the two standard objectives in the diverse-solutions literature: max-sum diversity, which maximizes the total pairwise distance between schedules, and max-min diversity, which maximizes the smallest pairwise distance. For the max-sum objective, we show that optimal diversity can be achieved in polynomial time without sacrificing the classic makespan approximation factor. For every feasible makespan target $T$, we can compute $k$ schedules of makespan at most $2T$ whose max-sum diversity is optimal among all $k$ schedules of makespan at most $T$. Therefore, we match the classic factor-$2$ makespan guarantee of Lenstra, Shmoys, and Tardos (Math. Prog., 1990) and preserve optimal diversity. For the max-min objective, we show that the diversity problem is inherently harder. Namely, we show that, even without makespan constraints, deciding whether three schedules of given pairwise diversity exist is NP-hard. We complete this with two complementary bicriteria approximation algorithms for every fixed $k$ and $\varepsilon \in (0,1)$. The first preserves almost all of the optimal max-min diversity with makespan at most $(3\lceil12/\varepsilon\rceil+1)T$. The second keeps the makespan arbitrarily close to the classic $2$ guarantee while achieving a $\frac{1}{2}(1-\varepsilon)$ fraction of the optimal max-min diversity.

Wednesday, October 21 2026, 00:00

Improved Approximation for Unsplittable Capacitated Vehicle Routing Using Quota Trees

Authors: Zhenyu Wang

In the Unsplittable Capacitated Vehicle Routing Problem (UCVRP), we are given a set $V$ of $n$ clients with normalized demands $d_v \in (0,1]$, a depot $r$, a unit vehicle capacity, and symmetric metric travel costs $c$ on $V \cup \{r\}$. We seek a collection of routes of minimum total cost that start and end at $r$, serve each client's entire demand on a single route, and respect the unit capacity constraint $\sum_{v \in V(R)} d_v \le 1$ on every route $R$, where $V(R)$ denotes the clients served by $R$. This models deliveries from a common depot in which each customer's order must be delivered in a single trip. UCVRP generalizes the metric traveling salesman problem (TSP) and is therefore NP-hard. Capacity constraints add a packing difficulty: when all clients are colocated away from the depot, minimizing the route cost is equivalent to minimizing the number of bins in bin packing. Consequently, UCVRP admits no polynomial-time approximation ratio below $3/2$ unless $\textbf{P=NP}$ (Grandoni, Mathieu, and Zhou, 2023). The classical $3.5$-approximation has been improved through several recent advances; in particular, Zhao and Xiao (2026) recently obtained a $(2+\ln 2+\varepsilon)$-approximation. In this paper, we give a deterministic $(5/2+\varepsilon)$-approximation algorithm running in $n^{O(1/\varepsilon)}$ time for every rational $0<\varepsilon\le1/9$, applicable to general capacity and arbitrary positive demands. Our algorithm uses local search to select routes through one client with large demand and clients with small demands. It constructs candidate routes using endpoint quota trees after rounding demands and creating vertex copies. We combine these routes with those obtained by matching and set packing, keeping their client sets disjoint. The remaining clients are served by partitioning a tour constructed using weighted graphic matroid parity.

Authors: Zhenyu Wang

In the Unsplittable Capacitated Vehicle Routing Problem (UCVRP), we are given a set $V$ of $n$ clients with normalized demands $d_v \in (0,1]$, a depot $r$, a unit vehicle capacity, and symmetric metric travel costs $c$ on $V \cup \{r\}$. We seek a collection of routes of minimum total cost that start and end at $r$, serve each client's entire demand on a single route, and respect the unit capacity constraint $\sum_{v \in V(R)} d_v \le 1$ on every route $R$, where $V(R)$ denotes the clients served by $R$. This models deliveries from a common depot in which each customer's order must be delivered in a single trip. UCVRP generalizes the metric traveling salesman problem (TSP) and is therefore NP-hard. Capacity constraints add a packing difficulty: when all clients are colocated away from the depot, minimizing the route cost is equivalent to minimizing the number of bins in bin packing. Consequently, UCVRP admits no polynomial-time approximation ratio below $3/2$ unless $\textbf{P=NP}$ (Grandoni, Mathieu, and Zhou, 2023). The classical $3.5$-approximation has been improved through several recent advances; in particular, Zhao and Xiao (2026) recently obtained a $(2+\ln 2+\varepsilon)$-approximation. In this paper, we give a deterministic $(5/2+\varepsilon)$-approximation algorithm running in $n^{O(1/\varepsilon)}$ time for every rational $0<\varepsilon\le1/9$, applicable to general capacity and arbitrary positive demands. Our algorithm uses local search to select routes through one client with large demand and clients with small demands. It constructs candidate routes using endpoint quota trees after rounding demands and creating vertex copies. We combine these routes with those obtained by matching and set packing, keeping their client sets disjoint. The remaining clients are served by partitioning a tour constructed using weighted graphic matroid parity.

Wednesday, October 21 2026, 00:00

ARRIVAL in cube-root subexponential time

Authors: Ebrahim Ghorbani, Raul Lopes, Matthias Mnich

In the ARRIVAL problem, a token travels through a switch digraph: at every vertex, it leaves along one of two out-arcs, and the two are used alternately. The question is which of two terminals the token reaches first. ARRIVAL lies in $\mathsf{NP} \cap \mathsf{coNP}$, but no polynomial-time algorithm is known.The fastest known algorithms turn some vertices into terminals and search for consistent guesses of the numbers of tokens that these vertices send out. The first, due to Gärtner et al. [ICALP 2021], searches all vertices at once with an algorithm for fixed points of monotone maps, and the second, due to Haslebacher [ICALP 2025], searches one vertex at a time by binary search. Both search for a fixed point of the same map, which returns how many tokens arrive at the guessed vertices. We guess the vertices in blocks of $k$, between these two extremes, which needs a search in $k$ dimensions with few evaluations of this map. To do so, we build on the connection between ARRIVAL and $\ell_1$-contractions established in the second of these works. We search with $\ell_1$-centerpoints of the remaining guesses, which are guaranteed to exist by Haslebacher et al. [FOCS 2025], and which we approximate deterministically. In order to prove our results, we show how to find the least fixed points of maps from $\{0, \ldots, N\}^k$ to itself that have unit increments. For ARRIVAL on $n$-vertex switch digraphs, this gives run time $2^{\mathcal{O}(n^{1/3} \cdot \log^{2/3} n)}$, improving the previous time bound of $n^{\mathcal{O}(\sqrt{n})}$. We work with the more general \garrival problem, with many tokens and several terminals, and solve it in the same time when there are at most $2^n$ tokens.

Authors: Ebrahim Ghorbani, Raul Lopes, Matthias Mnich

In the ARRIVAL problem, a token travels through a switch digraph: at every vertex, it leaves along one of two out-arcs, and the two are used alternately. The question is which of two terminals the token reaches first. ARRIVAL lies in $\mathsf{NP} \cap \mathsf{coNP}$, but no polynomial-time algorithm is known.The fastest known algorithms turn some vertices into terminals and search for consistent guesses of the numbers of tokens that these vertices send out. The first, due to Gärtner et al. [ICALP 2021], searches all vertices at once with an algorithm for fixed points of monotone maps, and the second, due to Haslebacher [ICALP 2025], searches one vertex at a time by binary search. Both search for a fixed point of the same map, which returns how many tokens arrive at the guessed vertices. We guess the vertices in blocks of $k$, between these two extremes, which needs a search in $k$ dimensions with few evaluations of this map. To do so, we build on the connection between ARRIVAL and $\ell_1$-contractions established in the second of these works. We search with $\ell_1$-centerpoints of the remaining guesses, which are guaranteed to exist by Haslebacher et al. [FOCS 2025], and which we approximate deterministically. In order to prove our results, we show how to find the least fixed points of maps from $\{0, \ldots, N\}^k$ to itself that have unit increments. For ARRIVAL on $n$-vertex switch digraphs, this gives run time $2^{\mathcal{O}(n^{1/3} \cdot \log^{2/3} n)}$, improving the previous time bound of $n^{\mathcal{O}(\sqrt{n})}$. We work with the more general \garrival problem, with many tokens and several terminals, and solve it in the same time when there are at most $2^n$ tokens.

Wednesday, October 21 2026, 00:00

TR26-265 | Near-Optimal Bounds for Testing Residual-String Equality and Parenthesis Languages | Hadar Strauss

from ECCC Papers

Residual-String Equality, denoted $\text{ResStringEq}$, is the property consisting of all pairs of strings over $\{0,1,*\}$ that are equal after deleting all `$*$' symbols from them. This property was first introduced by Fischer, Magniez, and Starikovskaya (SODA 2018), who used it to show a lower bound on testing the $\text{Dyck}$ languages, where $\text{Dyck}_m$ is the language consisting of balanced sequences of parentheses over $m$ parenthesis types. They showed that testing $\text{ResStringEq}$ on inputs of length $n$ requires $\Omega(n^{1/5})$ queries, and presented a reduction from testing $\text{ResStringEq}$ to testing $\text{Dyck}_m$ for any $m \geq 2$. Furthermore, they showed that $\text{Dyck}_m$ can be tested with $O(n^{2/5+\delta})$ queries for every constant proximity parameter, where $\delta>0$ is an arbitrarily small constant. In this work, we nearly close the gap, by showing that testing $\text{ResStringEq}$, and hence $\text{Dyck}_m$ (for any $m\geq 2$), requires $\Omega(n^{2/5})$ queries. We also show a stronger lower bound of $\Omega(\sqrt{n})$ for testers that make non-adaptive queries. We establish that the $\Omega(\sqrt{n})$ bound is nearly tight, by presenting a non-adaptive tester for $\text{ResStringEq}$ that uses $O(n^{1/2+\delta})$ queries for an arbitrarily small constant $\delta>0$. Furthermore, we extend this non-adaptive tester to the $\text{Dyck}$ languages, with the same query complexity. Finally, we improve the dependence on the proximity parameter $\epsilon$ in the tester of Fischer, Magniez, and Starikovskaya, reducing it from $O(1/\epsilon)^{\mathrm{poly}(1/\delta)}$ to $O(1/\epsilon)^{O(\log(1/\delta))}$.

Tuesday, October 20 2026, 14:25

TR26-264 | On Testing Finite Groups | Nader Bshouty

from ECCC Papers

Let $G=[n]$ and let an unknown binary operation $*:G\times G\to G$ be given by oracle access to its multiplication table. The tester is given $n$ explicitly as part of its input. A query chooses $x,y\in G$ and receives $x*y$. We study randomized adaptive two-sided property testers for deciding whether $(G,*)$ is a group. An input is considered far from the property if one must change at least an $\epsilon$-fraction of the $n^2$ table entries in order to obtain any group operation on the same labeled set. We prove three results. First, there is a tester using $$O\left(n+\frac1\epsilon\right)$$ queries and $\tilde O\left(n+1/\epsilon\right)$ time. In fact, this tester has one-sided error. This improve the Goldreich-Tauber tester~\cite{GoldreichTauber25}, that uses $\tilde O(n/\epsilon)$ queries. Second, if computational efficiency is ignored, a dictionary-and-locator construction combined with an action-consistency test on an expanding Cayley graph gives a tester using $$\tilde O\left(\sqrt{\frac n\epsilon}+\frac1\epsilon\right)$$ queries. This is the first query complexity bound for this problem that is sublinear in $n$. Third, there are infinitely many values of $n$ for which every adaptive randomized two-sided tester needs $$\Omega \left(n^{1/5}+\frac1\epsilon\right)$$ queries. This improves on the $\Omega(\log n)$ lower bound of Goldreich and Tauber. The lower bound uses two randomly relabeled abelian groups of almost equal orders, embeds them into multiplication tables on the same $n$-element set, and couples arbitrary adaptive query transcripts.

Tuesday, October 20 2026, 08:18

TR26-263 | A short proof of a quadratic lower bound on the border determinantal complexity of the power sum polynomial over C: A simple human exposition | Karthik Sheshadri

from ECCC Papers

I give a short proof that the border determinantal complexity of F_n = x_1^n + ... + x_n^n over C is at least (n-1)^2/(4e), and at least (n-1)^2/(2e) in the symmetric model. The same argument shows that the border determinantal complexity of x_1^d + ... + x_N^d is Theta(Nd) for all N >= 3 and d >= 2. The earlier article arXiv:2606.13628, by the same author, introduced the first superlinear lower bounds and includes verification by Lean formalization. However, the AI written exposition was hard to follow. Kumar and Volk (arXiv:2609.34462) give a short proof of the exact ordinary case, but do not address the border or symmetric cases. In this article, I provide a greatly simplified exposition of the border and symmetric cases, using the implicit function theorem and an explicit section of simple solutions in place of the conormal specialization arguments of arXiv:2606.13628. I choose an explicit polynomial system with n(n-1)^(n-2) simple solutions for F_n. I then use the implicit function theorem to ensure that each point persists under small perturbations. Finally, kernel equations and the multihomogeneous Bézout theorem bound the number of these points for a small determinant. The exposition is due to the human author. The mathematical simplification was obtained in discussion with ChatGPT Astra and refined in conversation with Claude Opus 5.5.

Tuesday, October 20 2026, 04:47

Random Clocks on Computation Paths]{Random Clocks on Computation Paths: How Far Can They Reach, and When Does Stepping Back Help?

Authors: Farzad Didehvar, Saman Farhat

We watch a computation only at moments chosen by a random clock that can leap ahead, pause, or step back, and we count looks rather than steps. How far can such a clock reliably see with polynomially many looks, and does stepping back help? Rare long leaps reach exponential and doubly exponential time, with infinitely many levels between polynomial and exponential time. A clock that tends to fall back sees only the start of the input, and below polynomial time we find infinitely many incomparable levels. Stepping back can help decisively. For clocks whose long leaps occur only at rare positions, no forward-only clock goes beyond polynomial time, while even single steps back raise the reach to exponential time. Stepping back cannot help, however, when the clock's leaps ignore its position.

Authors: Farzad Didehvar, Saman Farhat

We watch a computation only at moments chosen by a random clock that can leap ahead, pause, or step back, and we count looks rather than steps. How far can such a clock reliably see with polynomially many looks, and does stepping back help? Rare long leaps reach exponential and doubly exponential time, with infinitely many levels between polynomial and exponential time. A clock that tends to fall back sees only the start of the input, and below polynomial time we find infinitely many incomparable levels. Stepping back can help decisively. For clocks whose long leaps occur only at rare positions, no forward-only clock goes beyond polynomial time, while even single steps back raise the reach to exponential time. Stepping back cannot help, however, when the clock's leaps ignore its position.

Tuesday, October 20 2026, 00:00

Hardness Amplification for Approximate Nash Equilibrium with Constantly Many Players

Authors: Xiaotie Deng, Ningyuan Li, Zihe Wang, Jie Zhang

For every fixed $\varepsilon\in(0,1)$ and $η\in[0,1)$, we prove that computing an $(\varepsilon,η)$-weak approximate Nash equilibrium requires quasipolynomial time assuming deterministic PPAD-ETH, even in symmetric binary-payoff games with a constant number of players. The games are given by complete payoff tables, and the player count depends only on the tolerances. The weak approximate Nash equilibrium allows at most an $η$ fraction of players to gain more than $\varepsilon$ by deviating unilaterally. The main technical result is an unconditional error-amplification reduction from bimatrix games. For every fixed $δ\in(0,1)$, it transforms a rational bimatrix game with payoffs in $[0,1]$ into a symmetric binary-payoff game with a polynomial-size complete table and a player count depending only on $δ,\varepsilon,η$. Every $(\varepsilon,η)$-weak approximate equilibrium of the constructed game yields a $δ$-approximate Nash equilibrium of the bimatrix game. Construction and recovery take polynomial time in their explicit inputs. Combining this reduction with the bimatrix hardness result of Rubinstein [FOCS 16] gives a deterministic worst-case running-time lower bound of $N^{(\log N)^{1-o(1)}}$, where $N$ is the constructed table's binary encoding length.

Authors: Xiaotie Deng, Ningyuan Li, Zihe Wang, Jie Zhang

For every fixed $\varepsilon\in(0,1)$ and $η\in[0,1)$, we prove that computing an $(\varepsilon,η)$-weak approximate Nash equilibrium requires quasipolynomial time assuming deterministic PPAD-ETH, even in symmetric binary-payoff games with a constant number of players. The games are given by complete payoff tables, and the player count depends only on the tolerances. The weak approximate Nash equilibrium allows at most an $η$ fraction of players to gain more than $\varepsilon$ by deviating unilaterally. The main technical result is an unconditional error-amplification reduction from bimatrix games. For every fixed $δ\in(0,1)$, it transforms a rational bimatrix game with payoffs in $[0,1]$ into a symmetric binary-payoff game with a polynomial-size complete table and a player count depending only on $δ,\varepsilon,η$. Every $(\varepsilon,η)$-weak approximate equilibrium of the constructed game yields a $δ$-approximate Nash equilibrium of the bimatrix game. Construction and recovery take polynomial time in their explicit inputs. Combining this reduction with the bimatrix hardness result of Rubinstein [FOCS 16] gives a deterministic worst-case running-time lower bound of $N^{(\log N)^{1-o(1)}}$, where $N$ is the constructed table's binary encoding length.

Tuesday, October 20 2026, 00:00

Formally Verified Autoresearch for Analyzing the Expressivity of Multi-Head Attention

Authors: Karthik Viswanathan, Plamen Dimitrov, Stefano Rocca, Sarayu Sirikonda

Multi-head attention is a central component of the transformer architecture, yet how its expressivity depends on the number of heads remains poorly understood. We study a one-layer, attention-only transformer with additive positional embeddings and define the head complexity $H^\ast(f)$ of a Boolean function $f$ as the minimum number of attention heads required to represent it. We derive an exact linear-fractional normal form for head complexity, prove a general threshold-degree lower bound, and give an explicit ten-bit function for which this bound is strict. For symmetric Boolean functions, we independently show that head complexity equals the number of times the function changes value between consecutive Hamming-weight levels, even when positional embeddings are allowed. This agrees with the concurrent characterization of Hsu and Xu (arXiv:2608.04243) in a model without positional embeddings. The symmetric lower bound combines our general threshold-degree bound with the classical result of Aspnes et al. (1994). These results were discovered and formalized by a frontier model through conjecture generation, theorem proving, and machine verification, while human researchers asked the high-level questions and reviewed the generated theorems. We make the Lean formalization and research traces publicly available to support agent-assisted theorem proving and formal verification in mechanistic interpretability. This work provides a proof of concept for using the capabilities of frontier models, grounded by formal verification, to develop an understanding of transformer architectures.

Authors: Karthik Viswanathan, Plamen Dimitrov, Stefano Rocca, Sarayu Sirikonda

Multi-head attention is a central component of the transformer architecture, yet how its expressivity depends on the number of heads remains poorly understood. We study a one-layer, attention-only transformer with additive positional embeddings and define the head complexity $H^\ast(f)$ of a Boolean function $f$ as the minimum number of attention heads required to represent it. We derive an exact linear-fractional normal form for head complexity, prove a general threshold-degree lower bound, and give an explicit ten-bit function for which this bound is strict. For symmetric Boolean functions, we independently show that head complexity equals the number of times the function changes value between consecutive Hamming-weight levels, even when positional embeddings are allowed. This agrees with the concurrent characterization of Hsu and Xu (arXiv:2608.04243) in a model without positional embeddings. The symmetric lower bound combines our general threshold-degree bound with the classical result of Aspnes et al. (1994). These results were discovered and formalized by a frontier model through conjecture generation, theorem proving, and machine verification, while human researchers asked the high-level questions and reviewed the generated theorems. We make the Lean formalization and research traces publicly available to support agent-assisted theorem proving and formal verification in mechanistic interpretability. This work provides a proof of concept for using the capabilities of frontier models, grounded by formal verification, to develop an understanding of transformer architectures.

Tuesday, October 20 2026, 00:00

When Are Monomial Symmetric Polynomials Hard?

Authors: Markus Bläser, Radu Curticapean, Sagnik Dutta, Gorav Jindal

For a partition $\boldsymbolλ = (λ_1,\ldots,λ_r)$ and $n\ge r$, the monomial symmetric polynomial is defined as $$m_{\boldsymbolλ}(x_1,\ldots,x_n) := \sum x_{i_1}^{λ_1} x_{i_2}^{λ_2} \cdots x_{i_r}^{λ_r},$$ where the sum ranges over all distinct monomials obtained by assigning the parts of $\boldsymbolλ$ to pairwise distinct variables. We establish an almost-complete dichotomy for the complexity of the monomial symmetric polynomials $m_{\boldsymbolλ}$: If a family of partitions contains polynomially many distinct parts, then the corresponding monomial symmetric polynomials (on sufficiently many variables) are VNP-complete. If the number of distinct parts is constant, the family admits polynomial-size circuits. Thus the only remaining gap concerns the intermediate regime where the number of distinct parts grows subpolynomially. As part of our proof, we use combinatorial properties of matching polynomials to establish VNP-hardness of the perfect matching polynomial for blow-up graphs; these are graphs with non-generic edge-weights that are obtained by "blowing up" a smaller graph. We reduce these matching polynomials to monomial-symmetric polynomials by combining classical techniques from algebraic complexity theory with structural properties of Sidon sets.

Authors: Markus Bläser, Radu Curticapean, Sagnik Dutta, Gorav Jindal

For a partition $\boldsymbolλ = (λ_1,\ldots,λ_r)$ and $n\ge r$, the monomial symmetric polynomial is defined as $$m_{\boldsymbolλ}(x_1,\ldots,x_n) := \sum x_{i_1}^{λ_1} x_{i_2}^{λ_2} \cdots x_{i_r}^{λ_r},$$ where the sum ranges over all distinct monomials obtained by assigning the parts of $\boldsymbolλ$ to pairwise distinct variables. We establish an almost-complete dichotomy for the complexity of the monomial symmetric polynomials $m_{\boldsymbolλ}$: If a family of partitions contains polynomially many distinct parts, then the corresponding monomial symmetric polynomials (on sufficiently many variables) are VNP-complete. If the number of distinct parts is constant, the family admits polynomial-size circuits. Thus the only remaining gap concerns the intermediate regime where the number of distinct parts grows subpolynomially. As part of our proof, we use combinatorial properties of matching polynomials to establish VNP-hardness of the perfect matching polynomial for blow-up graphs; these are graphs with non-generic edge-weights that are obtained by "blowing up" a smaller graph. We reduce these matching polynomials to monomial-symmetric polynomials by combining classical techniques from algebraic complexity theory with structural properties of Sidon sets.

Tuesday, October 20 2026, 00:00

BQP^cc is not contained in MA^cc

Authors: Dmytro Gavinsky

We exhibit a bipartite language with a poly-logarithmic quantum communication protocol and polynomial Merlin-Arthur communication complexity.

Authors: Dmytro Gavinsky

We exhibit a bipartite language with a poly-logarithmic quantum communication protocol and polynomial Merlin-Arthur communication complexity.

Tuesday, October 20 2026, 00:00

Exact Quantum Query Complexity of the Five-Bit Symmetric Boolean Function $\Exact^5_{3,4}$

Authors: Guoliang Xu, Haoran Zhang, Mengfan Wu, Songyao Xue, Mingke Liu

Let $f = \text{EXACT}^5_{3,4}$ be the Boolean function that equals 1 exactly on inputs of Hamming weight 3 or 4. Earlier numerical studies reported success probabilities close to one using three queries, but the existence of an exact three-query algorithm had remained unresolved. This paper settles this problem by proving that the exact quantum query complexity of $f$ is $4$. For the lower bound, we express every three-query algorithm through layer-by-layer Gram matrices of low-degree Fourier coefficients. We then construct a fixed rational dual certificate whose slack matrices are all positive definite. This certificate separates the necessary Gram-matrix region from the exact-output condition and therefore rules out every exact algorithm using at most three queries in the stated model. The positivity verification reduces to five small rational matrices and Sylvester's criterion. For the upper bound, we invoke the previously known four-query algorithm for the seven-bit function $\text{EXACT}^7_{3,4}$ and apply the standard padding reduction. To quantify the near-exact behavior, we use the same certificate to derive a valid, though not claimed tight, lower bound $\frac{25600}{43779488192449}>0$ on the worst-case error of every algorithm using at most three queries. This positive error gap is compatible with the near-unit success probabilities reported in earlier numerical studies, which do not establish exact computation.

Authors: Guoliang Xu, Haoran Zhang, Mengfan Wu, Songyao Xue, Mingke Liu

Let $f = \text{EXACT}^5_{3,4}$ be the Boolean function that equals 1 exactly on inputs of Hamming weight 3 or 4. Earlier numerical studies reported success probabilities close to one using three queries, but the existence of an exact three-query algorithm had remained unresolved. This paper settles this problem by proving that the exact quantum query complexity of $f$ is $4$. For the lower bound, we express every three-query algorithm through layer-by-layer Gram matrices of low-degree Fourier coefficients. We then construct a fixed rational dual certificate whose slack matrices are all positive definite. This certificate separates the necessary Gram-matrix region from the exact-output condition and therefore rules out every exact algorithm using at most three queries in the stated model. The positivity verification reduces to five small rational matrices and Sylvester's criterion. For the upper bound, we invoke the previously known four-query algorithm for the seven-bit function $\text{EXACT}^7_{3,4}$ and apply the standard padding reduction. To quantify the near-exact behavior, we use the same certificate to derive a valid, though not claimed tight, lower bound $\frac{25600}{43779488192449}>0$ on the worst-case error of every algorithm using at most three queries. This positive error gap is compatible with the near-unit success probabilities reported in earlier numerical studies, which do not establish exact computation.

Tuesday, October 20 2026, 00:00

Energy-optimal scheduling for clocked reversible computing

Authors: Michael C. Thumann, David Soloveichik

Computational dissipation may arise from both information erasure and finite-time operation, although both contributions can in principle be avoided in the absence of space and time constraints. Logically reversible computation can replace erasure with ancilla cleanup, and slow adiabatic protocols can eliminate any excess finite-time dissipation. Under limited memory and in finite time, however, choosing reversible cleanup over erasure requires additional dissipative operations, creating a semi-reversible energy--memory--time tradeoff. We formulate this tradeoff at a fixed operating point of an externally clocked thermally coupled computer, where reversible checkpoint moves and local irreversible erasures have specified effective prices $ε_R$ and $ε_I$. Their ratio $λ=ε_I/ε_R$ selects an energy-optimal semi-reversible schedule under a checkpoint-memory bound by trading reversible moves against erasures. For a sequential computation whose dependency graph is a line, we derive an exact separator recurrence and prove that an asymptotically optimal schedule repeats a strictly reversible block followed by one local erasure. Coupling this scheduling theorem to a stochastic-thermodynamic constitutive model shows how temperature, primitive duration, memory, and device-dependent operation costs determine whether the optimal schedule uses reversible cleanup, elective erasures, or erasure at every disposal.

Authors: Michael C. Thumann, David Soloveichik

Computational dissipation may arise from both information erasure and finite-time operation, although both contributions can in principle be avoided in the absence of space and time constraints. Logically reversible computation can replace erasure with ancilla cleanup, and slow adiabatic protocols can eliminate any excess finite-time dissipation. Under limited memory and in finite time, however, choosing reversible cleanup over erasure requires additional dissipative operations, creating a semi-reversible energy--memory--time tradeoff. We formulate this tradeoff at a fixed operating point of an externally clocked thermally coupled computer, where reversible checkpoint moves and local irreversible erasures have specified effective prices $ε_R$ and $ε_I$. Their ratio $λ=ε_I/ε_R$ selects an energy-optimal semi-reversible schedule under a checkpoint-memory bound by trading reversible moves against erasures. For a sequential computation whose dependency graph is a line, we derive an exact separator recurrence and prove that an asymptotically optimal schedule repeats a strictly reversible block followed by one local erasure. Coupling this scheduling theorem to a stochastic-thermodynamic constitutive model shows how temperature, primitive duration, memory, and device-dependent operation costs determine whether the optimal schedule uses reversible cleanup, elective erasures, or erasure at every disposal.

Tuesday, October 20 2026, 00:00

Computational Complexity and Exact Algorithms for Pressure-Driven Hydrogen Charging

Authors: Nanase Sato, Wei Wu, Mutsunori Yagiura

We study the problem of deciding the feasibility of pressure-driven hydrogen charging from supply cylinders to demand cylinders without replenishment, asking whether an order of transfers allows every demand cylinder to reach its target pressure. Hydrogen can be transferred from a cylinder to another only when the supply cylinder has higher pressure than the demand cylinder. The charging to each demand cylinder must be completed before starting another, and each transfer continues until the connected cylinders reach equal pressures or the demand cylinder reaches its target. We consider equal-capacity supply cylinders and arbitrary positive rational demand cylinder capacities. Let $n$ be the number of demand cylinders and $L$ the binary input length. With one supply cylinder, feasibility is decidable in polynomial time; with two, it is NP-complete even with cylinder capacities equal to $1$ and nonnegative integer pressures. We prove that feasibility is preserved even if the supply cylinders are always used in non-decreasing order of their current pressures when filling each demand cylinder. We also show that majorization of residual supply cylinder pressure states justifies discarding majorized states in dynamic programming over sets of completed demand cylinders without losing any feasible remaining demand cylinder order. With two supply cylinders, one state per completed demand cylinder set suffices, yielding $2^n\operatorname{poly}(L)$ time and space. With three, the exponential time hypothesis (ETH) excludes deterministic $2^{o(n\log n)}\operatorname{poly}(L)$-time algorithms. This lower bound is tight in the exponent because the rule for order of supply cylinders allows feasibility to be decided in $n!\operatorname{poly}(L)$ time by enumerating only demand cylinder orders.

Authors: Nanase Sato, Wei Wu, Mutsunori Yagiura

We study the problem of deciding the feasibility of pressure-driven hydrogen charging from supply cylinders to demand cylinders without replenishment, asking whether an order of transfers allows every demand cylinder to reach its target pressure. Hydrogen can be transferred from a cylinder to another only when the supply cylinder has higher pressure than the demand cylinder. The charging to each demand cylinder must be completed before starting another, and each transfer continues until the connected cylinders reach equal pressures or the demand cylinder reaches its target. We consider equal-capacity supply cylinders and arbitrary positive rational demand cylinder capacities. Let $n$ be the number of demand cylinders and $L$ the binary input length. With one supply cylinder, feasibility is decidable in polynomial time; with two, it is NP-complete even with cylinder capacities equal to $1$ and nonnegative integer pressures. We prove that feasibility is preserved even if the supply cylinders are always used in non-decreasing order of their current pressures when filling each demand cylinder. We also show that majorization of residual supply cylinder pressure states justifies discarding majorized states in dynamic programming over sets of completed demand cylinders without losing any feasible remaining demand cylinder order. With two supply cylinders, one state per completed demand cylinder set suffices, yielding $2^n\operatorname{poly}(L)$ time and space. With three, the exponential time hypothesis (ETH) excludes deterministic $2^{o(n\log n)}\operatorname{poly}(L)$-time algorithms. This lower bound is tight in the exponent because the rule for order of supply cylinders allows feasibility to be decided in $n!\operatorname{poly}(L)$ time by enumerating only demand cylinder orders.

Tuesday, October 20 2026, 00:00

Controllability of polynomial systems is undecidable and not recursively enumerable

Authors: Jun Liu, Ivan O. Shevchenko

Sontag conjectured in 1988 that global controllability of polynomial control systems with rational coefficients is undecidable, but that the controllable systems form a recursively enumerable set. We prove the first part of the conjecture and disprove the second. For every homogeneous polynomial vector field $F$ of odd degree with rational coefficients, we construct an explicit polynomial control system $Σ_F$, with one more state than $F$, that is globally controllable if and only if the origin is \emph{not} globally asymptotically stable for $\dot x=F(x)$. By a recent result, the homogeneous polynomial vector fields with a globally asymptotically stable origin form a set that is recursively enumerable but not decidable. Consequently, global controllability of polynomial systems is undecidable, and the controllable polynomial systems are not recursively enumerable. The same conclusions hold for systems of the form $\dotξ=f(ξ)+Bu$ with a polynomial drift and a constant input matrix.

Authors: Jun Liu, Ivan O. Shevchenko

Sontag conjectured in 1988 that global controllability of polynomial control systems with rational coefficients is undecidable, but that the controllable systems form a recursively enumerable set. We prove the first part of the conjecture and disprove the second. For every homogeneous polynomial vector field $F$ of odd degree with rational coefficients, we construct an explicit polynomial control system $Σ_F$, with one more state than $F$, that is globally controllable if and only if the origin is \emph{not} globally asymptotically stable for $\dot x=F(x)$. By a recent result, the homogeneous polynomial vector fields with a globally asymptotically stable origin form a set that is recursively enumerable but not decidable. Consequently, global controllability of polynomial systems is undecidable, and the controllable polynomial systems are not recursively enumerable. The same conclusions hold for systems of the form $\dotξ=f(ξ)+Bu$ with a polynomial drift and a constant input matrix.

Tuesday, October 20 2026, 00:00

Tight Inapproximability for Generalized Circuits

Authors: Panagiotis Kanellopoulos, Themistoklis Melissourgos

Generalized circuits are a fundamental tool for establishing PPAD-hardness and membership of approximate equilibrium problems. Despite their importance, the complexity of finding approximate solutions has remained unresolved for a wide range of approximation parameters. We settle this question by establishing a tight threshold at $\varepsilon=1/6$. Specifically, we prove that $\varepsilon$-GCircuit is PPAD-complete for every constant $0<\varepsilon<1/6$, even when restricted to four gate types, and polynomial-time solvable for every constant $\varepsilon\ge1/6$. This closes the gap between the previously known hardness bound of $1/10$ and the polynomial-time solvability bound of $1/2$. We further investigate the relaxation in which a fraction $δ$ of the gates may be violated. We establish polynomial-time solvability of $(\varepsilon,δ)$-GCircuit for every constant $\varepsilon>0$ and $δ>1/5$, and of the fan-out-one formulations of $δ$-Pure-Circuit for every constant $δ>1/8$. These results follow from a decomposition theorem for directed graphs of maximum in-degree two and establish that the PCP-for-PPAD conjecture cannot be true for the aforementioned values of $\varepsilon$ and $δ$, unless PPAD = P. To showcase the contribution of our positive results, we apply them to a variety of problems in algorithmic game theory, including public goods games, financial networks, Bayesian, polymatrix, and graphical games, and obtain improved approximation guarantees.

Authors: Panagiotis Kanellopoulos, Themistoklis Melissourgos

Generalized circuits are a fundamental tool for establishing PPAD-hardness and membership of approximate equilibrium problems. Despite their importance, the complexity of finding approximate solutions has remained unresolved for a wide range of approximation parameters. We settle this question by establishing a tight threshold at $\varepsilon=1/6$. Specifically, we prove that $\varepsilon$-GCircuit is PPAD-complete for every constant $0<\varepsilon<1/6$, even when restricted to four gate types, and polynomial-time solvable for every constant $\varepsilon\ge1/6$. This closes the gap between the previously known hardness bound of $1/10$ and the polynomial-time solvability bound of $1/2$. We further investigate the relaxation in which a fraction $δ$ of the gates may be violated. We establish polynomial-time solvability of $(\varepsilon,δ)$-GCircuit for every constant $\varepsilon>0$ and $δ>1/5$, and of the fan-out-one formulations of $δ$-Pure-Circuit for every constant $δ>1/8$. These results follow from a decomposition theorem for directed graphs of maximum in-degree two and establish that the PCP-for-PPAD conjecture cannot be true for the aforementioned values of $\varepsilon$ and $δ$, unless PPAD = P. To showcase the contribution of our positive results, we apply them to a variety of problems in algorithmic game theory, including public goods games, financial networks, Bayesian, polymatrix, and graphical games, and obtain improved approximation guarantees.

Tuesday, October 20 2026, 00:00

Bidirectionality is Necessary in Cellular Machines for Exact-Arrival Multi-Agent Path Finding

Authors: Masashi Aono

On ranked directed acyclic graphs coupled by vertex conflicts we study exact-arrival multi-agent path finding (departure and arrival pinned in place and time) posed as a distributed output task: every cell must emit its own bit of a valid joint path-support mask. The machines are cellular: one automaton per cell, state factored over cells, communication only along a fixed local fabric, synchronous rounds, a query-independent output round, no central decoder, and a per-topology transition code. "Necessary" here means: on an explicit hard topology, over all its feasible queries, no universally correct local-only architecture can renounce either temporal orientation; with global flags, impossibility becomes a bandwidth-round trade-off. The class is not vacuous: a flooding machine solves every instance in as many rounds as the diameter of the local fabric. The bound survives two concessions: we supply every agent's exact individual cavity, which alone solves the single-agent problem in zero rounds and makes the single-agent direction theorem vacuous; and we allow $k$ one-bit global aggregate flags. On a twelve-cell, two-agent, depth-three topology no forward-only machine with $k=0$ is correct on two feasible queries, for any number of rounds; the time-reversed topology does the same to backward-only machines. Placing $p$ copies side by side gives, for forward-only machines, $J_R+kR\ge p$ at constant depth, where $J_R$ measures how much of the query reaches the targets' cones and is $0$ here. A backward-only machine solves that family in constant rounds and a flag-streaming one in $\lceil p/k\rceil+O(1)$, so the bound is tight in order; on the composite family neither orientation can be renounced. The finite lemmas of the gadget and the pair-invariance contradictions are checked in Lean 4; the semantic bridge, the cone lemma and the counting are paper proofs. We report no benchmarks.

Authors: Masashi Aono

On ranked directed acyclic graphs coupled by vertex conflicts we study exact-arrival multi-agent path finding (departure and arrival pinned in place and time) posed as a distributed output task: every cell must emit its own bit of a valid joint path-support mask. The machines are cellular: one automaton per cell, state factored over cells, communication only along a fixed local fabric, synchronous rounds, a query-independent output round, no central decoder, and a per-topology transition code. "Necessary" here means: on an explicit hard topology, over all its feasible queries, no universally correct local-only architecture can renounce either temporal orientation; with global flags, impossibility becomes a bandwidth-round trade-off. The class is not vacuous: a flooding machine solves every instance in as many rounds as the diameter of the local fabric. The bound survives two concessions: we supply every agent's exact individual cavity, which alone solves the single-agent problem in zero rounds and makes the single-agent direction theorem vacuous; and we allow $k$ one-bit global aggregate flags. On a twelve-cell, two-agent, depth-three topology no forward-only machine with $k=0$ is correct on two feasible queries, for any number of rounds; the time-reversed topology does the same to backward-only machines. Placing $p$ copies side by side gives, for forward-only machines, $J_R+kR\ge p$ at constant depth, where $J_R$ measures how much of the query reaches the targets' cones and is $0$ here. A backward-only machine solves that family in constant rounds and a flag-streaming one in $\lceil p/k\rceil+O(1)$, so the bound is tight in order; on the composite family neither orientation can be renounced. The finite lemmas of the gadget and the pair-invariance contradictions are checked in Lean 4; the semantic bridge, the cone lemma and the counting are paper proofs. We report no benchmarks.

Tuesday, October 20 2026, 00:00

PSPACE-Completeness of the Reachability Relation of Robust Dynamical Systems

Authors: Manon Blanc

Dynamical systems are a widely used model of computation and an intuitive representation of many natural phenomena in many applied fields. The last decades have seen an impressive use of computers in studying and analysing them, with several visible theoretical breakthroughs. The question of reachability for dynamical systems is central: given two points, is there a trajectory between them in the dynamical system? Reachability, in particular over the reals, is undecidable in the general case: it is only computably enumerable, even under reasonable hypotheses, e.g. for a computable dynamics in general. But it is known to become decidable, and even lies in PSPACE, under suitably quantified robustness assumptions. In this paper, we focus on PSPACE-completeness results over the reals, in the sense of computable analysis, regarding discrete-time and continuous-time robust dynamical systems. We prove that, under some additional and rather reasonable hypotheses, the reachability relation becomes even PSPACE-complete for both classical and second-order complexity second-order complexity, for an adapted notion of reduction. As a side-effect, we also prove an improvement of an algebraic Ordinary Differential Equations-based characterisation of PSPACE, removing one of the base functions of the algebra. By doing so, we link results from dynamical systems and complexity over the reals, including the models of computable analysis and second-order complexity.

Authors: Manon Blanc

Dynamical systems are a widely used model of computation and an intuitive representation of many natural phenomena in many applied fields. The last decades have seen an impressive use of computers in studying and analysing them, with several visible theoretical breakthroughs. The question of reachability for dynamical systems is central: given two points, is there a trajectory between them in the dynamical system? Reachability, in particular over the reals, is undecidable in the general case: it is only computably enumerable, even under reasonable hypotheses, e.g. for a computable dynamics in general. But it is known to become decidable, and even lies in PSPACE, under suitably quantified robustness assumptions. In this paper, we focus on PSPACE-completeness results over the reals, in the sense of computable analysis, regarding discrete-time and continuous-time robust dynamical systems. We prove that, under some additional and rather reasonable hypotheses, the reachability relation becomes even PSPACE-complete for both classical and second-order complexity second-order complexity, for an adapted notion of reduction. As a side-effect, we also prove an improvement of an algebraic Ordinary Differential Equations-based characterisation of PSPACE, removing one of the base functions of the algebra. By doing so, we link results from dynamical systems and complexity over the reals, including the models of computable analysis and second-order complexity.

Tuesday, October 20 2026, 00:00

Sustainable and Envy-free Multi-Period Allocation

Authors: Robert Bredereck, Eva Deltl, Till Fluschnik

Allocating renewable resources fairly requires accounting for how present decisions affect future availability. We introduce Sustainable and Envy-Free Multi-Period Allocation, in which agents are assigned over multiple periods to renewable resources whose quantities evolve over time according to renewal functions. An allocation must respect viability and capacity constraints while being envy-free over the whole time horizon. We study the computational and parameterized complexity of finding such allocations, with a focus on the three dimensions of the problem: the numbers of agents, resources, and periods. We show that finding such an allocation is NP-hard already for unary encoding and any single one of them being fixed to a constant. Whether two small dimensions suffice for tractability depends on the pair, the class of renewal functions, and the numerical encoding. For few resources and periods, binary-encoded instances remain hard in general, whereas unary encoding yields XP-time algorithms. For few resources and agents, binary-encoded instances also remain hard in general but become XP-time solvable when all renewal functions are translations. Few agents and periods yield fixed-parameter tractability, but no polynomial kernel under standard complexity assumptions.

Authors: Robert Bredereck, Eva Deltl, Till Fluschnik

Allocating renewable resources fairly requires accounting for how present decisions affect future availability. We introduce Sustainable and Envy-Free Multi-Period Allocation, in which agents are assigned over multiple periods to renewable resources whose quantities evolve over time according to renewal functions. An allocation must respect viability and capacity constraints while being envy-free over the whole time horizon. We study the computational and parameterized complexity of finding such allocations, with a focus on the three dimensions of the problem: the numbers of agents, resources, and periods. We show that finding such an allocation is NP-hard already for unary encoding and any single one of them being fixed to a constant. Whether two small dimensions suffice for tractability depends on the pair, the class of renewal functions, and the numerical encoding. For few resources and periods, binary-encoded instances remain hard in general, whereas unary encoding yields XP-time algorithms. For few resources and agents, binary-encoded instances also remain hard in general but become XP-time solvable when all renewal functions are translations. Few agents and periods yield fixed-parameter tractability, but no polynomial kernel under standard complexity assumptions.

Tuesday, October 20 2026, 00:00

Avoiding Distances

Authors: Adrian Dumitrescu, Zsolt Lángi

Given a finite planar point set $X=\{x_1,\ldots,x_n\}$, let $a_10$ such that for any set $X$ of $n$ points in the plane, and set $D$ of size $k$, there exists a subset $X' \subseteq X$ of size $|X'| \geq c_k |X|$ in which no pair of points is at some distance in $D$ (we say that $X'$ avoids distances in $D$). Such a set can be found efficiently. (B) (i) There is a subset of $X$ of size $n/2$ that avoids the maximum distance; this bound cannot be improved. (ii) There is a subset of $X$ of size $8n/47$ that avoids both the minimum and maximum distance; on the other hand, there exists $X$ such that at most $5n/16$ points can be retained with this property. (iii) There is a subset of $X$ of size $n/7$ whose diameter is at most half the original diameter; on the other hand, there exists $X$ such that at most $n/6$ points can be retained with this property. (C) (i) For any $\varepsilon>0$, a $(1-\varepsilon)$-approximation for \textsc{MIS} in the minimum distance graph of $n$ points in the plane can be found in $2^{O(1/\varepsilon)} n^{O(1)}$ time. (ii) Given a set $X$ of $n$ points in the plane, a maximum independent set in the graph of diameters can be computed in $O(n^2)$ time. The techniques used to handle the planar case can be extended to $\mathbf{R}^d$ for any fixed dimension $d$.

Authors: Adrian Dumitrescu, Zsolt Lángi

Given a finite planar point set $X=\{x_1,\ldots,x_n\}$, let $a_10$ such that for any set $X$ of $n$ points in the plane, and set $D$ of size $k$, there exists a subset $X' \subseteq X$ of size $|X'| \geq c_k |X|$ in which no pair of points is at some distance in $D$ (we say that $X'$ avoids distances in $D$). Such a set can be found efficiently. (B) (i) There is a subset of $X$ of size $n/2$ that avoids the maximum distance; this bound cannot be improved. (ii) There is a subset of $X$ of size $8n/47$ that avoids both the minimum and maximum distance; on the other hand, there exists $X$ such that at most $5n/16$ points can be retained with this property. (iii) There is a subset of $X$ of size $n/7$ whose diameter is at most half the original diameter; on the other hand, there exists $X$ such that at most $n/6$ points can be retained with this property. (C) (i) For any $\varepsilon>0$, a $(1-\varepsilon)$-approximation for \textsc{MIS} in the minimum distance graph of $n$ points in the plane can be found in $2^{O(1/\varepsilon)} n^{O(1)}$ time. (ii) Given a set $X$ of $n$ points in the plane, a maximum independent set in the graph of diameters can be computed in $O(n^2)$ time. The techniques used to handle the planar case can be extended to $\mathbf{R}^d$ for any fixed dimension $d$.

Tuesday, October 20 2026, 00:00

Fast $\ell_\infty$-Reduction of Rank-2 Lattices in $\mathbb{R}^n$ via a New Reduced-Basis Notion

Authors: Bo Pang, Shaojing Zhang, Chengliang Tian

The shortest vector problem (SVP) under the infinity norm ($\ell_\infty$-norm) is an important lattice problem with applications in lattice-based cryptography. In particular, the security analysis of the post-quantum signature standard ML-DSA highlights the importance of finding short solutions satisfying infinity-norm constraints, rather than only Euclidean norm bounds. However, most existing lattice reduction algorithms are developed for the Euclidean norm, while dedicated studies under the infinity norm remain limited. In this work, we focus on rank-two lattices in $\mathbb{R}^n$ and introduce a new notion of reduced basis under the infinity norm. Based on this definition, we propose an efficient lattice basis reduction algorithm that performs a multi-dimensional analogue of Euclidean division using a dominant coordinate of the basis vectors. Each non-terminal iteration guarantees a factor-two decrease of the maximum infinity norm of the basis vectors. We prove that the algorithm terminates and achieves a bit complexity of $O(nT^2)$, matching the asymptotic complexity order of the classical Lagrange--Gauss reduction. Moreover, the proposed algorithm saves at least $2n$ multiplications per iteration compared with the classical approach. Experiments demonstrate significant runtime improvements, especially for high-dimensional lattices. This work provides a foundation for developing lattice reduction techniques under the infinity norm.

Authors: Bo Pang, Shaojing Zhang, Chengliang Tian

The shortest vector problem (SVP) under the infinity norm ($\ell_\infty$-norm) is an important lattice problem with applications in lattice-based cryptography. In particular, the security analysis of the post-quantum signature standard ML-DSA highlights the importance of finding short solutions satisfying infinity-norm constraints, rather than only Euclidean norm bounds. However, most existing lattice reduction algorithms are developed for the Euclidean norm, while dedicated studies under the infinity norm remain limited. In this work, we focus on rank-two lattices in $\mathbb{R}^n$ and introduce a new notion of reduced basis under the infinity norm. Based on this definition, we propose an efficient lattice basis reduction algorithm that performs a multi-dimensional analogue of Euclidean division using a dominant coordinate of the basis vectors. Each non-terminal iteration guarantees a factor-two decrease of the maximum infinity norm of the basis vectors. We prove that the algorithm terminates and achieves a bit complexity of $O(nT^2)$, matching the asymptotic complexity order of the classical Lagrange--Gauss reduction. Moreover, the proposed algorithm saves at least $2n$ multiplications per iteration compared with the classical approach. Experiments demonstrate significant runtime improvements, especially for high-dimensional lattices. This work provides a foundation for developing lattice reduction techniques under the infinity norm.

Tuesday, October 20 2026, 00:00

Dimension Thresholds for Relative-Error Representations of Finite Metrics in Pseudo-Euclidean Spaces

Authors: Nikita Muravya, Aleksandr Bespalov, Anna Vozianova

A finite metric space with $N$ points admits an exact representation in a pseudo-Euclidean space of dimension at most $N-1$. We study the minimum dimension required for relative-error approximation of squared distances. Our main result gives an upper bound for arbitrary metrics in terms of local distance ratios: for $4/5<\varepsilon<1$, dimension $O((N/k)\log N+kρ_k^4\log N/(\varepsilon-4/5)^2)$ suffices, where $ρ_k$ is the largest ratio, over all points, between the distance to the $k$th closest point (counting the point itself) and the nearest-neighbour distance. The proof combines a low-rank landmark approximation with a sparse correction controlled by its factorization norm. For metrics with distances in $[1,Φ]$, where $Φ\ge5$ is fixed, the worst-case dimension is $Θ(N)$ for $0<\varepsilon<4/5$, lies between $Ω(\sqrt N)$ and $O(\sqrt N\log N)$ for $4/5<\varepsilon<12/13$, and is $Θ(\log N)$ for $\varepsilon>(Φ^2-1)/(Φ^2+1)$. For $Φ>5$, an intermediate range remains without matching bounds. Sign-pattern counting yields the $Ω(\sqrt N)$ lower bound for $4/5<\varepsilon<12/13$, while Hadamard matrices give explicit linear lower bounds for $\varepsilon<4/5$ via a known approximate-rank estimate. We also construct configurations with null squared intervals whose minimum representation dimension remains $N-1$ for every $\varepsilon<1$. Finally, for every fixed $0<\varepsilon<3/5$, we show that the quadratic dependence on the parameter $C$ in the dimension bound derived from Deng et al.'s pseudo-Euclidean Johnson-Lindenstrauss lemma is necessary up to a logarithmic factor.

Authors: Nikita Muravya, Aleksandr Bespalov, Anna Vozianova

A finite metric space with $N$ points admits an exact representation in a pseudo-Euclidean space of dimension at most $N-1$. We study the minimum dimension required for relative-error approximation of squared distances. Our main result gives an upper bound for arbitrary metrics in terms of local distance ratios: for $4/5<\varepsilon<1$, dimension $O((N/k)\log N+kρ_k^4\log N/(\varepsilon-4/5)^2)$ suffices, where $ρ_k$ is the largest ratio, over all points, between the distance to the $k$th closest point (counting the point itself) and the nearest-neighbour distance. The proof combines a low-rank landmark approximation with a sparse correction controlled by its factorization norm. For metrics with distances in $[1,Φ]$, where $Φ\ge5$ is fixed, the worst-case dimension is $Θ(N)$ for $0<\varepsilon<4/5$, lies between $Ω(\sqrt N)$ and $O(\sqrt N\log N)$ for $4/5<\varepsilon<12/13$, and is $Θ(\log N)$ for $\varepsilon>(Φ^2-1)/(Φ^2+1)$. For $Φ>5$, an intermediate range remains without matching bounds. Sign-pattern counting yields the $Ω(\sqrt N)$ lower bound for $4/5<\varepsilon<12/13$, while Hadamard matrices give explicit linear lower bounds for $\varepsilon<4/5$ via a known approximate-rank estimate. We also construct configurations with null squared intervals whose minimum representation dimension remains $N-1$ for every $\varepsilon<1$. Finally, for every fixed $0<\varepsilon<3/5$, we show that the quadratic dependence on the parameter $C$ in the dimension bound derived from Deng et al.'s pseudo-Euclidean Johnson-Lindenstrauss lemma is necessary up to a logarithmic factor.

Tuesday, October 20 2026, 00:00

Subexponential Algorithms for Total Search Problems in the Dense Pigeonhole Regime

Authors: Jadwiga Czyżewska, Karolina Drabik, Marek Sokołowski, Karol Węgrzycki

The class $\mathsf{PPP}$ captures fundamental total search problems, for which a solution is guaranteed to exist by the pigeonhole principle and the main challenge is to find it. We ask whether problems in this class admit significantly faster algorithms in the \emph{dense regime}. More concretly, we study \emph{binary collision Short Integer Solution} (SIS): given a matrix $A\in\mathbb{Z}_q^{n\times m}$ with $m>n\log q$, the goal is to find distinct $\underline{\mathbf{x}},\underline{\mathbf{y}}\in\{0,1\}^m$ with $A\underline{\mathbf{x}}=A\underline{\mathbf{y}}\pmod q$. Brute-force enumeration can be used to find a collision in $q^{\mathcal{O}(n)} \operatorname{poly}(|I|)$ time, and no significantly faster algorithm for that problem is known. We present an algorithm running in time $q^{o(n)}\cdot\operatorname{poly}(|I|)$ whenever the density parameter $δ:= m/(n\log q)$ is $ω(1)$.\footnote{All logarithms are in base $2$, and $|I|$ is the binary input length.} Building on reductions of Sotiraki et al.~(FOCS~2018), we obtain corresponding algorithms for dense variants of weak constrained SIS, Equal Vector Sums, Minkowski, and Blichfeldt. Our algorithm adapts techniques of Bhati et al.~(FOCS~2026), who gave a subexponential algorithm for Equal Sums in the dense regime and proved a tight conditional lower bound. Their conditional lower bound easily transfers to SIS and shows that the running time of our algorithms is essentially optimal.

Authors: Jadwiga Czyżewska, Karolina Drabik, Marek Sokołowski, Karol Węgrzycki

The class $\mathsf{PPP}$ captures fundamental total search problems, for which a solution is guaranteed to exist by the pigeonhole principle and the main challenge is to find it. We ask whether problems in this class admit significantly faster algorithms in the \emph{dense regime}. More concretly, we study \emph{binary collision Short Integer Solution} (SIS): given a matrix $A\in\mathbb{Z}_q^{n\times m}$ with $m>n\log q$, the goal is to find distinct $\underline{\mathbf{x}},\underline{\mathbf{y}}\in\{0,1\}^m$ with $A\underline{\mathbf{x}}=A\underline{\mathbf{y}}\pmod q$. Brute-force enumeration can be used to find a collision in $q^{\mathcal{O}(n)} \operatorname{poly}(|I|)$ time, and no significantly faster algorithm for that problem is known. We present an algorithm running in time $q^{o(n)}\cdot\operatorname{poly}(|I|)$ whenever the density parameter $δ:= m/(n\log q)$ is $ω(1)$.\footnote{All logarithms are in base $2$, and $|I|$ is the binary input length.} Building on reductions of Sotiraki et al.~(FOCS~2018), we obtain corresponding algorithms for dense variants of weak constrained SIS, Equal Vector Sums, Minkowski, and Blichfeldt. Our algorithm adapts techniques of Bhati et al.~(FOCS~2026), who gave a subexponential algorithm for Equal Sums in the dense regime and proved a tight conditional lower bound. Their conditional lower bound easily transfers to SIS and shows that the running time of our algorithms is essentially optimal.

Tuesday, October 20 2026, 00:00

Approximating Independent Sets Using Additive Combinatorics

Authors: Shachar Lovett

We give a deterministic quasi-polynomial time algorithm for approximating the largest independent set in a graph. We show that if an $N$-vertex graph contains an independent set of size $2^{-t} N$, then we can find an independent set of size $2^t$ in quasi-polynomial time, for all $t$ up to a constant factor of $(\log N)^{1/3}$. This gives an approximation factor of $N / \exp((\log N)^{1/3})$, which has the same shape as known hardness results for quasi-polynomial time algorithms, up to a different exponent of the logarithm. The algorithm builds on a structural principle: a graph containing a large independent set must also contain a large sparse structured set, and such a set can be found efficiently. A greedy algorithm then extracts an independent set from it. Our proof draws on tools in additive combinatorics, in particular spreadness and sifting, to obtain the combinatorial structural results. We then convert these to efficient algorithms using pseudo-marginals obtained by semidefinite programming.

Authors: Shachar Lovett

We give a deterministic quasi-polynomial time algorithm for approximating the largest independent set in a graph. We show that if an $N$-vertex graph contains an independent set of size $2^{-t} N$, then we can find an independent set of size $2^t$ in quasi-polynomial time, for all $t$ up to a constant factor of $(\log N)^{1/3}$. This gives an approximation factor of $N / \exp((\log N)^{1/3})$, which has the same shape as known hardness results for quasi-polynomial time algorithms, up to a different exponent of the logarithm. The algorithm builds on a structural principle: a graph containing a large independent set must also contain a large sparse structured set, and such a set can be found efficiently. A greedy algorithm then extracts an independent set from it. Our proof draws on tools in additive combinatorics, in particular spreadness and sifting, to obtain the combinatorial structural results. We then convert these to efficient algorithms using pseudo-marginals obtained by semidefinite programming.

Tuesday, October 20 2026, 00:00

Improved Space Bounds for Promise Graph Coloring in Adversarial Streams

Authors: Sergio Thoumi

We study promise graph coloring in one pass insertion-only adversarial streams. We give a randomized algorithm that distinguishes 3-colorable graphs from graphs that are not 6-colorable using $O(n^{3/2}\log(n/\varepsilon)\log n)$ bits of space. This provides a truly subquadratic space algorithm for a constant coloring gap, answering an open problem posed by Assadi, Sundaresan, and Yazdanyar [SODA 2026] for $q=3$. Combining this algorithm with the vertex-sampling lemma of Assadi et al.\ yields, for any $144\lceil\log_2 n\rceil\le Q\le n$, a one-pass decision algorithm distinguishing $3$-colorable graphs from graphs that are not $Q$-colorable using $O((n/Q)^{3/2}\log^5 n)$ bits of space. This improves upon the $\widetilde{O}((n/Q)^2)$ bound achievable via dynamic streaming techniques. Setting $Q=\lceil n^{1/3}\rceil$ yields a semi-streaming decision algorithm, answering the decision version of another open problem posed by Assadi et al. On the negative side, we prove that distinguishing $χ(G)\le q$ from $χ(G)\ge(q-1)^2$ requires $Ω(n^2/q^5)$ bits of space, improving upon the previously established $q^2/4$ threshold using the same space complexity.

Authors: Sergio Thoumi

We study promise graph coloring in one pass insertion-only adversarial streams. We give a randomized algorithm that distinguishes 3-colorable graphs from graphs that are not 6-colorable using $O(n^{3/2}\log(n/\varepsilon)\log n)$ bits of space. This provides a truly subquadratic space algorithm for a constant coloring gap, answering an open problem posed by Assadi, Sundaresan, and Yazdanyar [SODA 2026] for $q=3$. Combining this algorithm with the vertex-sampling lemma of Assadi et al.\ yields, for any $144\lceil\log_2 n\rceil\le Q\le n$, a one-pass decision algorithm distinguishing $3$-colorable graphs from graphs that are not $Q$-colorable using $O((n/Q)^{3/2}\log^5 n)$ bits of space. This improves upon the $\widetilde{O}((n/Q)^2)$ bound achievable via dynamic streaming techniques. Setting $Q=\lceil n^{1/3}\rceil$ yields a semi-streaming decision algorithm, answering the decision version of another open problem posed by Assadi et al. On the negative side, we prove that distinguishing $χ(G)\le q$ from $χ(G)\ge(q-1)^2$ requires $Ω(n^2/q^5)$ bits of space, improving upon the previously established $q^2/4$ threshold using the same space complexity.

Tuesday, October 20 2026, 00:00

Computing faster with a full memory: Catalytic algorithms break time-space lower bounds

Authors: Adelmo Morrison Orozco, Nathan Sheffield, Ryan Williams

We show that adding "catalytic space" (which starts full and must have its original contents restored at the end of computation) provably speeds up time-and-space-bounded computation. In a natural output model, with $O(\log(n))$ free space and poly($n$) catalytic space, we give algorithms for sorting and the discrete Fourier transform running in time $n^{1+o(1)}$, and an algorithm for matrix multiplication running in time $n^{ω+ o(1)}$. In the same output model, without additional catalytic space, sorting and DFT are known to require time-space product $Ω(n^2)$, and matrix multiplication is known to require time-space product $Ω(n^3)$ [Borodin and Cook, 1982] [Beame, 1991] [Yesha, 1984] [Abrahamson, 1991]. This is the first unconditional demonstration that (uniform, non-relativized) catalytic logspace algorithms can outperform their (non-catalytic) logspace counterparts. We give several further results relevant to fast catalytic algorithm design. We observe that many applications of sorting, FFT, and fast matrix multiplication (e.g., kSUM, integer multiplication, and clique counting) can be performed catalytically, giving catalytic logspace algorithms matching (up to subpolynomial factors) the best known unbounded-space runtimes. Furthermore, we give a fast and simple catalytic algorithm for evaluating low-depth threshold circuits, improving the previously known runtime bound from $\widetilde O(|C|4^df)$ to $\widetilde O(|C|2^d)$, where $|C|$ is the total size (i.e. number of wires) of the circuit, $d$ is the depth, and $f$ is the maximum fan-in.

Authors: Adelmo Morrison Orozco, Nathan Sheffield, Ryan Williams

We show that adding "catalytic space" (which starts full and must have its original contents restored at the end of computation) provably speeds up time-and-space-bounded computation. In a natural output model, with $O(\log(n))$ free space and poly($n$) catalytic space, we give algorithms for sorting and the discrete Fourier transform running in time $n^{1+o(1)}$, and an algorithm for matrix multiplication running in time $n^{ω+ o(1)}$. In the same output model, without additional catalytic space, sorting and DFT are known to require time-space product $Ω(n^2)$, and matrix multiplication is known to require time-space product $Ω(n^3)$ [Borodin and Cook, 1982] [Beame, 1991] [Yesha, 1984] [Abrahamson, 1991]. This is the first unconditional demonstration that (uniform, non-relativized) catalytic logspace algorithms can outperform their (non-catalytic) logspace counterparts. We give several further results relevant to fast catalytic algorithm design. We observe that many applications of sorting, FFT, and fast matrix multiplication (e.g., kSUM, integer multiplication, and clique counting) can be performed catalytically, giving catalytic logspace algorithms matching (up to subpolynomial factors) the best known unbounded-space runtimes. Furthermore, we give a fast and simple catalytic algorithm for evaluating low-depth threshold circuits, improving the previously known runtime bound from $\widetilde O(|C|4^df)$ to $\widetilde O(|C|2^d)$, where $|C|$ is the total size (i.e. number of wires) of the circuit, $d$ is the depth, and $f$ is the maximum fan-in.

Tuesday, October 20 2026, 00:00

Navigable Graphs for Low-Dimensional Hyperbolic Spaces

Authors: Chengyuan Deng, Jie Gao, Kuijun Liu, Kevin Lu, Feng Luo, Puheng Weng, Cheng Xin

A directed graph on a point set $P$ in a metric space $(X,d)$ is navigable if for every ordered pair of distinct points $s,t \in P$, $s$ has an out-neighbor $v$ with $d(v,t) < d(s,t)$, so greedy routing always reaches the destination. Existing work on sparse navigable graphs mostly assumes bounded doubling dimensions. In this paper, we show that constant-dimensional hyperbolic spaces that do not have bounded doubling dimension also admit sparse navigable graphs. Specifically, for an $n$-point set in $\mathbb H^k$ with a constant $k$, we construct a navigable graph of size $O_k(n)$ with Steiner points, where each node has constant out-degree. We also show that Steiner points can be removed: every $n$-point set in $\mathbb H^k$ admits a navigable graph on the input points alone with $O_k(n)$ edges, though a single vertex may have out-degree $Ω(n)$. Furthermore, with a refined construction with $O_k(n\log n)$ edges and an accompanying greedy routing algorithm, we can obtain routing paths of expected $O(\log ^2 n)$ in both settings with or without Steiner points. With Steiner points, the maximum out-degree is bounded by $O_k(\log n)$. We complement these upper bounds with matching lower bound results. In the hyperbolic plane, there are point sets for which every navigable graph requires maximum out-degree $Ω(n)$, so the maximum linear out-degree above is unavoidable and constant out-degree is only possible with Steiner points. Next, we show that for every constant $α>1$, an $α$-navigable graph may require $Ω(n^2)$ edges, which rules out the standard route of using $α$-navigability to obtain greedy paths of bounded hops. Last, once the dimension $k$ reaches $Ω(\log n)$, there are point sets for which every navigable graph may require $n^{3/2-o(1)}$ edges, matching the upper bounds for general metrics.

Authors: Chengyuan Deng, Jie Gao, Kuijun Liu, Kevin Lu, Feng Luo, Puheng Weng, Cheng Xin

A directed graph on a point set $P$ in a metric space $(X,d)$ is navigable if for every ordered pair of distinct points $s,t \in P$, $s$ has an out-neighbor $v$ with $d(v,t) < d(s,t)$, so greedy routing always reaches the destination. Existing work on sparse navigable graphs mostly assumes bounded doubling dimensions. In this paper, we show that constant-dimensional hyperbolic spaces that do not have bounded doubling dimension also admit sparse navigable graphs. Specifically, for an $n$-point set in $\mathbb H^k$ with a constant $k$, we construct a navigable graph of size $O_k(n)$ with Steiner points, where each node has constant out-degree. We also show that Steiner points can be removed: every $n$-point set in $\mathbb H^k$ admits a navigable graph on the input points alone with $O_k(n)$ edges, though a single vertex may have out-degree $Ω(n)$. Furthermore, with a refined construction with $O_k(n\log n)$ edges and an accompanying greedy routing algorithm, we can obtain routing paths of expected $O(\log ^2 n)$ in both settings with or without Steiner points. With Steiner points, the maximum out-degree is bounded by $O_k(\log n)$. We complement these upper bounds with matching lower bound results. In the hyperbolic plane, there are point sets for which every navigable graph requires maximum out-degree $Ω(n)$, so the maximum linear out-degree above is unavoidable and constant out-degree is only possible with Steiner points. Next, we show that for every constant $α>1$, an $α$-navigable graph may require $Ω(n^2)$ edges, which rules out the standard route of using $α$-navigability to obtain greedy paths of bounded hops. Last, once the dimension $k$ reaches $Ω(\log n)$, there are point sets for which every navigable graph may require $n^{3/2-o(1)}$ edges, matching the upper bounds for general metrics.

Tuesday, October 20 2026, 00:00

Near-Linear Time Maximum Clique in Circular Arc Graphs

Authors: Dario Moschetti, Adam Polak, Jonas Schmidt

We present a near-linear time algorithm to find a maximum clique in circular arc graphs, the intersection graphs of arcs on the circumference of a circle, answering a 30-year-old open question posed by Bhattacharya and Kaller [J. Algorithms 1997] and Tiskin [CPM 2006]. Our algorithm runs in time $O(n\log^2 n)$, given $n$ circular arcs, where the graph is implicit. Previous approaches take at least quadratic time (unless the implicitly given graph is sparse). To overcome the quadratic barrier, we solve (structured and related) instances of bipartite matching by interpreting them as a single, offline 2D dominance problem, which in turn we model as a shortest paths problem in a planar grid graph. This allows for the final step, which builds on the theory of Monge matrices to obtain sparse representation and efficient distance computations in the grid graph. Additionally, we provide an observation about the structure of circular arc cliques that leads to an algorithm for the weighted version of the problem with a new parameter, the minimum load $d$, which we define as the minimum, over all points on the circle, of the number of arcs containing that point. The algorithm runs in time $O(dn\log\log n + n\log n)$. This is always at least as good as the previous best maximum weight clique algorithm, which runs in time $O(m\log\log n + n\log n)$, where $m$ denotes the number of edges in the implicit intersection graph, because the minimum load satisfies $d \le 2m/n$. [Abstract shortened to meet arXiv's requirements.]

Authors: Dario Moschetti, Adam Polak, Jonas Schmidt

We present a near-linear time algorithm to find a maximum clique in circular arc graphs, the intersection graphs of arcs on the circumference of a circle, answering a 30-year-old open question posed by Bhattacharya and Kaller [J. Algorithms 1997] and Tiskin [CPM 2006]. Our algorithm runs in time $O(n\log^2 n)$, given $n$ circular arcs, where the graph is implicit. Previous approaches take at least quadratic time (unless the implicitly given graph is sparse). To overcome the quadratic barrier, we solve (structured and related) instances of bipartite matching by interpreting them as a single, offline 2D dominance problem, which in turn we model as a shortest paths problem in a planar grid graph. This allows for the final step, which builds on the theory of Monge matrices to obtain sparse representation and efficient distance computations in the grid graph. Additionally, we provide an observation about the structure of circular arc cliques that leads to an algorithm for the weighted version of the problem with a new parameter, the minimum load $d$, which we define as the minimum, over all points on the circle, of the number of arcs containing that point. The algorithm runs in time $O(dn\log\log n + n\log n)$. This is always at least as good as the previous best maximum weight clique algorithm, which runs in time $O(m\log\log n + n\log n)$, where $m$ denotes the number of edges in the implicit intersection graph, because the minimum load satisfies $d \le 2m/n$. [Abstract shortened to meet arXiv's requirements.]

Tuesday, October 20 2026, 00:00

Integer Programing: An Algorithm with Exponent Linear in the Dimension

Authors: Lin Chen, Yuchen Mao, Guochuan Zhang

We study integer programs in standard form $\min\{\mathbf{c}^{\mathsf{T}}\mathbf{x}:A\mathbf{x}=\mathbf{b},\ \mathbf{l}\leq\mathbf{x}\leq\mathbf{u},\ \mathbf{x}\in\mathbb{Z}^n\}$, where $A\in\mathbb{Z}^{d\times n}$ and all entries of $\mathbf{b},\mathbf{c},\mathbf{l},\mathbf{u}$ are integers. Let $N$ be an upper bound on the absolute values of the entries of $A$. We give a deterministic algorithm running in time \[ \operatorname{poly}(L_{\rm in})+ f(d)\,N^{O(d)}\bigl(1+\log(c_{\max}+1)\bigr)^{O(1)}, \] where $c_{\max}$ bounds the absolute values of the costs and $L_{\rm in}$ is the input length. Prior to our work, the best known running time was $N^{O(d^2)}$ [Eisenbrand \& Weismantel'20], and it has been a fundamental open problem whether the exponent $O(d^2)$ can be improved to one linear in $d$. We answer this question affirmatively.

Authors: Lin Chen, Yuchen Mao, Guochuan Zhang

We study integer programs in standard form $\min\{\mathbf{c}^{\mathsf{T}}\mathbf{x}:A\mathbf{x}=\mathbf{b},\ \mathbf{l}\leq\mathbf{x}\leq\mathbf{u},\ \mathbf{x}\in\mathbb{Z}^n\}$, where $A\in\mathbb{Z}^{d\times n}$ and all entries of $\mathbf{b},\mathbf{c},\mathbf{l},\mathbf{u}$ are integers. Let $N$ be an upper bound on the absolute values of the entries of $A$. We give a deterministic algorithm running in time \[ \operatorname{poly}(L_{\rm in})+ f(d)\,N^{O(d)}\bigl(1+\log(c_{\max}+1)\bigr)^{O(1)}, \] where $c_{\max}$ bounds the absolute values of the costs and $L_{\rm in}$ is the input length. Prior to our work, the best known running time was $N^{O(d^2)}$ [Eisenbrand \& Weismantel'20], and it has been a fundamental open problem whether the exponent $O(d^2)$ can be improved to one linear in $d$. We answer this question affirmatively.

Tuesday, October 20 2026, 00:00

Exact minimum Birkhoff decompositions of doubly stochastic matrices with finite precision

Authors: András Czégel

The minimum Birkhoff decomposition problem asks for a representation of a doubly stochastic matrix as a convex combination of as few permutation matrices as possible. This NP-hard problem arises in the scheduling of switches in data centers and satellite systems, in random assignments in economics and in the statistics of rankings. We consider doubly stochastic matrices whose entries are given with a fixed number of decimal digits and look for exact decompositions whose weights have the same precision. We propose a parallel method with three parts. For matrices built from few permutation matrices, the first part reads the weights from the frequencies of the entries and places them on the matrix positions by a rule that, given the correct weights, never fixes a position wrongly. The second part computes lower bounds from pairs of rows or columns, which remain valid for real weights, and from certificates of a satisfiability solver. For matrices built from many permutation matrices, the third part runs a beam search over steps that each make at least one entry zero. On 375 test instances with up to 100 rows, the method proves optimality for 208 instances, and 197 of these proofs also hold for real weights. Of the 190 instances built from few permutation matrices, 187 are solved to proven optimality, 180 of them within one second. Compared with the best exact decompositions known before, the new decompositions are shorter for 278 instances and never longer.

Authors: András Czégel

The minimum Birkhoff decomposition problem asks for a representation of a doubly stochastic matrix as a convex combination of as few permutation matrices as possible. This NP-hard problem arises in the scheduling of switches in data centers and satellite systems, in random assignments in economics and in the statistics of rankings. We consider doubly stochastic matrices whose entries are given with a fixed number of decimal digits and look for exact decompositions whose weights have the same precision. We propose a parallel method with three parts. For matrices built from few permutation matrices, the first part reads the weights from the frequencies of the entries and places them on the matrix positions by a rule that, given the correct weights, never fixes a position wrongly. The second part computes lower bounds from pairs of rows or columns, which remain valid for real weights, and from certificates of a satisfiability solver. For matrices built from many permutation matrices, the third part runs a beam search over steps that each make at least one entry zero. On 375 test instances with up to 100 rows, the method proves optimality for 208 instances, and 197 of these proofs also hold for real weights. Of the 190 instances built from few permutation matrices, 187 are solved to proven optimality, 180 of them within one second. Compared with the best exact decompositions known before, the new decompositions are shorter for 278 instances and never longer.

Tuesday, October 20 2026, 00:00

Hadamard Transforms for Dimension Reduction

Authors: Mingxuan Sun, Zhiqiang Xu

Using the Hadamard matrix for dimension reduction can accelerate the computation due to the fast Hadamard transform. However, the previous target dimension bounds in terms of the Gaussian width depend on the ambient dimension. In this paper, we obtain the following ambient dimension free bound using three Hadamard-diagonal blocks. Let $H\in\mathbb R^{d\times d}$ be the normalized Walsh-Hadamard matrix, and let $D_1,D_2,D_3\in\mathbb R^{d\times d}$ be independent Rademacher diagonal matrices. We prove that for any symmetric set $T\subset \mathbb{S}^{d-1}$, \[ \mathbb P\left\{\sup_{\boldsymbol t\in T}\big|\frac dm\|P_ΩHD_3HD_2HD_1\boldsymbol t\|_2^2-1\big|\le\varepsilon\right\} \ge1-δ\] whenever \[ m\gtrsim\varepsilon^{-2}w(T)^2\log^2\frac eδ\,\log^4\!\left(e+\frac{w(T)}\varepsilon\log\frac eδ\right). \] Here $w(T)$ is the Gaussian width of $T$, and $Ω$ is a set of $m$ distinct coordinates chosen uniformly. This is the first ambient dimension free bound on the target dimension using Hadamard transforms, for an arbitrary symmetric set in terms of its Gaussian width. We also prove that it is impossible to obtain an ambient dimension free bound for an arbitrary set in terms of its Gaussian width using two Hadamard-diagonal blocks.

Authors: Mingxuan Sun, Zhiqiang Xu

Using the Hadamard matrix for dimension reduction can accelerate the computation due to the fast Hadamard transform. However, the previous target dimension bounds in terms of the Gaussian width depend on the ambient dimension. In this paper, we obtain the following ambient dimension free bound using three Hadamard-diagonal blocks. Let $H\in\mathbb R^{d\times d}$ be the normalized Walsh-Hadamard matrix, and let $D_1,D_2,D_3\in\mathbb R^{d\times d}$ be independent Rademacher diagonal matrices. We prove that for any symmetric set $T\subset \mathbb{S}^{d-1}$, \[ \mathbb P\left\{\sup_{\boldsymbol t\in T}\big|\frac dm\|P_ΩHD_3HD_2HD_1\boldsymbol t\|_2^2-1\big|\le\varepsilon\right\} \ge1-δ\] whenever \[ m\gtrsim\varepsilon^{-2}w(T)^2\log^2\frac eδ\,\log^4\!\left(e+\frac{w(T)}\varepsilon\log\frac eδ\right). \] Here $w(T)$ is the Gaussian width of $T$, and $Ω$ is a set of $m$ distinct coordinates chosen uniformly. This is the first ambient dimension free bound on the target dimension using Hadamard transforms, for an arbitrary symmetric set in terms of its Gaussian width. We also prove that it is impossible to obtain an ambient dimension free bound for an arbitrary set in terms of its Gaussian width using two Hadamard-diagonal blocks.

Tuesday, October 20 2026, 00:00

Searching subgraphs

Authors: Dariusz Dereniowski, Boting Yang

We consider graph search models, in which an invisible, omniscient and fast intruder can hide anywhere in the graph, and the goal is to design a \emph{search strategy} composed of a sequence of movements of \emph{searchers} that guarantees the capture of the intruder regardless of its actions. Our point of departure is the connected search model in which the cleared subgraph is always connected during the search process. In this paper, we initiate the study of the subgraph searching problems which arise from the following question: what happens if the number of searchers available is not sufficient to clear a given graph $G$? We propose an approach in which one wants to clear in a connected way as large subgraph as possible with the given $k$ searchers. In this context we study two problems: one problem, called the \emph{subgraph search}, is to find the maximum-sized subgraph whose search number is at most $k$, and the other one, called the \emph{protected subgraph search}, is to perform a partial search on $G$ leading to as many cleared edges as possible. Informally speaking, the difference lies in the fact that in the latter a recontamination may come from an edge never to be cleared and hence the partial search strategy needs to avoid such recontaminations. Having proved that both problems are computationally hard in general, we give efficient algorithms for $n$-vertex trees: an $\bigo(\min\{kn, n \log n\})$ time algorithm for the subgraph search and an $\bigo(\min\{2^{6k}kn, n^{8.571} \log n\})$ time algorithm for the protected subgraph search.

Authors: Dariusz Dereniowski, Boting Yang

We consider graph search models, in which an invisible, omniscient and fast intruder can hide anywhere in the graph, and the goal is to design a \emph{search strategy} composed of a sequence of movements of \emph{searchers} that guarantees the capture of the intruder regardless of its actions. Our point of departure is the connected search model in which the cleared subgraph is always connected during the search process. In this paper, we initiate the study of the subgraph searching problems which arise from the following question: what happens if the number of searchers available is not sufficient to clear a given graph $G$? We propose an approach in which one wants to clear in a connected way as large subgraph as possible with the given $k$ searchers. In this context we study two problems: one problem, called the \emph{subgraph search}, is to find the maximum-sized subgraph whose search number is at most $k$, and the other one, called the \emph{protected subgraph search}, is to perform a partial search on $G$ leading to as many cleared edges as possible. Informally speaking, the difference lies in the fact that in the latter a recontamination may come from an edge never to be cleared and hence the partial search strategy needs to avoid such recontaminations. Having proved that both problems are computationally hard in general, we give efficient algorithms for $n$-vertex trees: an $\bigo(\min\{kn, n \log n\})$ time algorithm for the subgraph search and an $\bigo(\min\{2^{6k}kn, n^{8.571} \log n\})$ time algorithm for the protected subgraph search.

Tuesday, October 20 2026, 00:00

Degree Stability of Parallel Greedy Matching in Random Graphs

Authors: Vishvajeet N, Shrinidhi Teganahally Sridhara

We study a natural synchronous greedy matching process in Erdős-Rényi random graphs $\mathbb{G}(n,p)$ and give a rigorous analysis of this parallel stochastic dynamics. The process evolves as follows: in each round, every unmatched vertex proposes to a uniformly random neighbour, and mutually proposing pairs are matched and removed from the graph, after which the process repeats on the residual graph. We consider the density regime $p=Θ(\log^{1+ε} n/n)$ for any constant $ε>0$, which lies just above the threshold for the existence of a perfect matching. We show that, with high probability, for $Θ(\log^{1+ε} n)$ rounds, every unmatched vertex keeps a constant fraction of its initial degree in the residual graph, simultaneously for all vertices and all rounds. By then, the process has matched a constant fraction of the vertices. Our analysis tracks fine-grained invariants that control the evolution of individual vertex degrees, rather than directly tracking the global degree distribution. At the local level, we analyze the per-round degree loss of a vertex via a neighbourhood-exposure martingale. We show that structural sparsity of $\mathbb{G}(n,p)$ yields $O(1)$ variance and thus the per-round degree loss is strongly concentrated around its conditional expectation. At the global level, these local concentration bounds control the increments of a martingale tracking cumulative degree loss over many rounds, allowing us to show that vertex degrees remain stable for $Ω(\log^{1+ε} n)$ rounds.

Authors: Vishvajeet N, Shrinidhi Teganahally Sridhara

We study a natural synchronous greedy matching process in Erdős-Rényi random graphs $\mathbb{G}(n,p)$ and give a rigorous analysis of this parallel stochastic dynamics. The process evolves as follows: in each round, every unmatched vertex proposes to a uniformly random neighbour, and mutually proposing pairs are matched and removed from the graph, after which the process repeats on the residual graph. We consider the density regime $p=Θ(\log^{1+ε} n/n)$ for any constant $ε>0$, which lies just above the threshold for the existence of a perfect matching. We show that, with high probability, for $Θ(\log^{1+ε} n)$ rounds, every unmatched vertex keeps a constant fraction of its initial degree in the residual graph, simultaneously for all vertices and all rounds. By then, the process has matched a constant fraction of the vertices. Our analysis tracks fine-grained invariants that control the evolution of individual vertex degrees, rather than directly tracking the global degree distribution. At the local level, we analyze the per-round degree loss of a vertex via a neighbourhood-exposure martingale. We show that structural sparsity of $\mathbb{G}(n,p)$ yields $O(1)$ variance and thus the per-round degree loss is strongly concentrated around its conditional expectation. At the global level, these local concentration bounds control the increments of a martingale tracking cumulative degree loss over many rounds, allowing us to show that vertex degrees remain stable for $Ω(\log^{1+ε} n)$ rounds.

Tuesday, October 20 2026, 00:00

Range Queries for Permutation Pattern Matching: Separations, Equivalences, and Applications

Authors: Omri Ben-Eliezer, Tomer Even

The problem of Permutation Pattern Matching (PPM) asks, given a permutation $π:[n]\to[n]$, viewed as the point set $P=\{(i,π(i)):i\in[n]\}$, and a pattern $σ$ of small length $k$, whether $P$ contains an order-isomorphic copy of $σ$. The PPM problem and its (exact and approximate) counting variants have been studied extensively in the literature. We consider a preprocessing-query version: after preprocessing $P$, one must determine whether a query $P'\subseteq P$ contains $σ$, where $P'$ is obtained by intersecting $P$ with a geometric shape (e.g., an axis-aligned rectangle or $k$ such rectangles). This naturally generalizes the classical range query problem in computational geometry, which corresponds to the case $|σ|=1$. We extend the study of this problem from patterns of length $2$ to patterns of length $3$ (and in some cases beyond), and prove new fine-grained equivalences, separations, and applications: (1) Single rectangle: For all patterns of length $3$, detection can be done with $\tilde{O}(n)$ preprocessing and $\tilde{O}(1)$ query time. The proof goes through a new tool of independent interest: reductions from rectangle queries to a simpler family of slab queries. (2) Multiple rectangles: For $σ=132$, detection is equivalent to the online set disjointness problem; we also show connections to online $k$-set disjointness. To our knowledge, this is the first equivalence between a PPM-type problem and online set disjointness, a problem playing a fundamental role in fine-grained complexity. (3) Counting: As applications, we obtain an $O(n^{1.725})$ time algorithm for exact counting of $5$-patterns based on the rectangle-to-slab reduction, improving upon [Beniamini and Lavee, ICALP 2025], and an $\tilde{O}(n^{7/4})$ approximate counting algorithm for $6$-patterns, the first to break the $O(n^2)$ barrier for $6$-patterns.

Authors: Omri Ben-Eliezer, Tomer Even

The problem of Permutation Pattern Matching (PPM) asks, given a permutation $π:[n]\to[n]$, viewed as the point set $P=\{(i,π(i)):i\in[n]\}$, and a pattern $σ$ of small length $k$, whether $P$ contains an order-isomorphic copy of $σ$. The PPM problem and its (exact and approximate) counting variants have been studied extensively in the literature. We consider a preprocessing-query version: after preprocessing $P$, one must determine whether a query $P'\subseteq P$ contains $σ$, where $P'$ is obtained by intersecting $P$ with a geometric shape (e.g., an axis-aligned rectangle or $k$ such rectangles). This naturally generalizes the classical range query problem in computational geometry, which corresponds to the case $|σ|=1$. We extend the study of this problem from patterns of length $2$ to patterns of length $3$ (and in some cases beyond), and prove new fine-grained equivalences, separations, and applications: (1) Single rectangle: For all patterns of length $3$, detection can be done with $\tilde{O}(n)$ preprocessing and $\tilde{O}(1)$ query time. The proof goes through a new tool of independent interest: reductions from rectangle queries to a simpler family of slab queries. (2) Multiple rectangles: For $σ=132$, detection is equivalent to the online set disjointness problem; we also show connections to online $k$-set disjointness. To our knowledge, this is the first equivalence between a PPM-type problem and online set disjointness, a problem playing a fundamental role in fine-grained complexity. (3) Counting: As applications, we obtain an $O(n^{1.725})$ time algorithm for exact counting of $5$-patterns based on the rectangle-to-slab reduction, improving upon [Beniamini and Lavee, ICALP 2025], and an $\tilde{O}(n^{7/4})$ approximate counting algorithm for $6$-patterns, the first to break the $O(n^2)$ barrier for $6$-patterns.

Tuesday, October 20 2026, 00:00

A Faster Strongly Polynomial Time Algorithm for Submodular Function Minimization

Authors: Alina Ene, Huy L. Nguyen

We give a strongly polynomial time algorithm for submodular function minimization with overall running time $\widetilde{O}(n^{2}\mathsf{EO}+n^{3})$ time, where $\mathsf{EO}$ is the running time of a single evaluation of the function. Our algorithm improves upon the previously fastest strongly polynomial algorithms of Lee et al. (FOCS 2015), Dadush et al. (SODA 2018), and Jiang et al. (SODA 2024) that run in time $\widetilde{O}(n^{3}\mathsf{EO}+n^{4})$. Similarly to prior works, our work combines a cutting plane algorithm with the combinatorial arc-finding framework of Fleischer et al. (JACM 2001). We achieve our faster running time by developing an algorithm that runs the cutting plane method end to end, without restarting after discovering arcs and contracting strongly connected components.

Authors: Alina Ene, Huy L. Nguyen

We give a strongly polynomial time algorithm for submodular function minimization with overall running time $\widetilde{O}(n^{2}\mathsf{EO}+n^{3})$ time, where $\mathsf{EO}$ is the running time of a single evaluation of the function. Our algorithm improves upon the previously fastest strongly polynomial algorithms of Lee et al. (FOCS 2015), Dadush et al. (SODA 2018), and Jiang et al. (SODA 2024) that run in time $\widetilde{O}(n^{3}\mathsf{EO}+n^{4})$. Similarly to prior works, our work combines a cutting plane algorithm with the combinatorial arc-finding framework of Fleischer et al. (JACM 2001). We achieve our faster running time by developing an algorithm that runs the cutting plane method end to end, without restarting after discovering arcs and contracting strongly connected components.

Tuesday, October 20 2026, 00:00

Rapid Mixing for Sampling Colorings of Random Graphs up to Tree Uniqueness Threshold

Authors: Zhidan Li, Kuan Yang

We study the mixing time of the single-site Glauber dynamics for sampling proper $q$-colorings on sparse Erdős-Rényi random graphs $\mathcal{G}(n, d/n)$. We prove that, whenever $q \ge (1 + o_d(1))d$, Glauber dynamics mixes in polynomial time with high probability over $\mathcal{G}(n, d/n)$ for all sufficiently large integer $n$. This improves the previous bound $q = (α^* + o_d(1))d$ where $α^* = 1.7632...$ is the unique solution of $x = \exp(1/x)$ on $[1, \infty)$ by Efthymiou, Hayes, Štefankovič, and Vigoda (SODA, 2018) and asymptotically matches the uniqueness threshold on infinite regular trees. Our proof has three main ingredients. First we establish logarithmic bounds on the spectral and coupling independence constants of the Gibbs distribution by extending the tree analysis of Chen, Liu, Mani, and Moitra (J. ACM, 2026). Second, we extend the entropy-factorization framework for two-spin systems on random graphs, developed by Bezáková, Galanis, Goldberg, and Štefankovič (TALG, 2024), to proper colorings by introducing a buffer around high-degree vertices. Finally, we compare the resulting heat-bath block dynamics with the single-site Glauber dynamics.

Authors: Zhidan Li, Kuan Yang

We study the mixing time of the single-site Glauber dynamics for sampling proper $q$-colorings on sparse Erdős-Rényi random graphs $\mathcal{G}(n, d/n)$. We prove that, whenever $q \ge (1 + o_d(1))d$, Glauber dynamics mixes in polynomial time with high probability over $\mathcal{G}(n, d/n)$ for all sufficiently large integer $n$. This improves the previous bound $q = (α^* + o_d(1))d$ where $α^* = 1.7632...$ is the unique solution of $x = \exp(1/x)$ on $[1, \infty)$ by Efthymiou, Hayes, Štefankovič, and Vigoda (SODA, 2018) and asymptotically matches the uniqueness threshold on infinite regular trees. Our proof has three main ingredients. First we establish logarithmic bounds on the spectral and coupling independence constants of the Gibbs distribution by extending the tree analysis of Chen, Liu, Mani, and Moitra (J. ACM, 2026). Second, we extend the entropy-factorization framework for two-spin systems on random graphs, developed by Bezáková, Galanis, Goldberg, and Štefankovič (TALG, 2024), to proper colorings by introducing a buffer around high-degree vertices. Finally, we compare the resulting heat-bath block dynamics with the single-site Glauber dynamics.

Tuesday, October 20 2026, 00:00

Strategy recovery for Mean-Payoff Games is as hard as solving them from scratch

Authors: Dani Dorfman, Uri Zwick

Mean-Payoff Games (MPGs) form an interesting family of deterministic, infinite-duration, zero-sum, turn-based games played by two players on a finite weighted directed graph. The goal of the players is to minimize, respectively maximize, the $\textit{limiting average}$ of the costs of the edges on an infinite path constructed by the two players. The complexity of solving MPGs is a long-standing open question. The decision problem associated with these games is known to be in $\text{NP}\cap \text{co-NP}$, and even $\text{UP}\cap \text{co-UP}$, yet the problem is not known to be in $\text{P}$. This is one of the simplest combinatorial problems with such a status. A full solution of an MPG gives the $\textit{value}$ of each vertex of the game, along with a pair of $\textit{optimal strategies}$ for the two players. (Each player has a succinct $\textit{positional}$ optimal strategy.) The problem of finding optimal strategies for the players given the values of all vertices is known as the $\textit{strategy recovery}$ problem. We describe a simple reduction from the problem of solving MPGs to the strategy recovery problem for MPGs. This shows that the strategy recovery problem for MPGs is essentially as hard as solving MPGs from scratch, i.e., without knowing the values. The reduction uses simple $\textit{game transformations}$ and simple $\textit{self-reducibility}$ and $\textit{peeling}$ arguments. This answers a question of Andersson and Miltersen. Mamino obtained a similar result for $\textit{stochastic}$ games with a limiting average objective, but his technique does not extend to deterministic games such as MPGs. We go one step further and show that finding an optimal strategy for one of the players of an MPG remains hard even if an optimal strategy of the second player, and hence all the values, are known.

Authors: Dani Dorfman, Uri Zwick

Mean-Payoff Games (MPGs) form an interesting family of deterministic, infinite-duration, zero-sum, turn-based games played by two players on a finite weighted directed graph. The goal of the players is to minimize, respectively maximize, the $\textit{limiting average}$ of the costs of the edges on an infinite path constructed by the two players. The complexity of solving MPGs is a long-standing open question. The decision problem associated with these games is known to be in $\text{NP}\cap \text{co-NP}$, and even $\text{UP}\cap \text{co-UP}$, yet the problem is not known to be in $\text{P}$. This is one of the simplest combinatorial problems with such a status. A full solution of an MPG gives the $\textit{value}$ of each vertex of the game, along with a pair of $\textit{optimal strategies}$ for the two players. (Each player has a succinct $\textit{positional}$ optimal strategy.) The problem of finding optimal strategies for the players given the values of all vertices is known as the $\textit{strategy recovery}$ problem. We describe a simple reduction from the problem of solving MPGs to the strategy recovery problem for MPGs. This shows that the strategy recovery problem for MPGs is essentially as hard as solving MPGs from scratch, i.e., without knowing the values. The reduction uses simple $\textit{game transformations}$ and simple $\textit{self-reducibility}$ and $\textit{peeling}$ arguments. This answers a question of Andersson and Miltersen. Mamino obtained a similar result for $\textit{stochastic}$ games with a limiting average objective, but his technique does not extend to deterministic games such as MPGs. We go one step further and show that finding an optimal strategy for one of the players of an MPG remains hard even if an optimal strategy of the second player, and hence all the values, are known.

Tuesday, October 20 2026, 00:00

No Escape from the Quadratic Barrier: Adaptive Attacks on Linear $\ell_2$ Sketches

Authors: Edith Cohen, Uri Stemmer

Linear sketches estimate properties of high-dimensional inputs from a fixed low-dimensional projection. At constant accuracy, randomized Euclidean-norm sketches, notably the Johnson-Lindenstrauss transform, support exponentially many nonadaptive queries in sketch dimension $k$. For adaptive black-box queries, known privacy-based defenses guarantee $\widetildeΩ(k^2)$ and it remained open whether stronger guarantees were possible. Prior attacks used more queries, restricted the responder, or provided weaker failure guarantees. We show that the quadratic guarantee is optimal up to logarithmic factors, even with a computationally unbounded responder that knows the matrix, attack algorithm, history, and query distributions and may change its randomized rule after every query. For every fixed hidden $A\in\mathbb{R}^{k\times n}$ with $n>40k$ and target accuracy $α\in (0,1]$, our black-box attack uses $O(k+α^2k^2\log(2+α^2k))$ queries in $\widetilde{O}(1+α^2k)$ adaptive rounds to force, with constant probability, a round in which a constant fraction of answers have $Ω(α)$ relative error. Our results clarify the limits of defending a fixed compressive linear representation by adapting the prediction rule.

Authors: Edith Cohen, Uri Stemmer

Linear sketches estimate properties of high-dimensional inputs from a fixed low-dimensional projection. At constant accuracy, randomized Euclidean-norm sketches, notably the Johnson-Lindenstrauss transform, support exponentially many nonadaptive queries in sketch dimension $k$. For adaptive black-box queries, known privacy-based defenses guarantee $\widetildeΩ(k^2)$ and it remained open whether stronger guarantees were possible. Prior attacks used more queries, restricted the responder, or provided weaker failure guarantees. We show that the quadratic guarantee is optimal up to logarithmic factors, even with a computationally unbounded responder that knows the matrix, attack algorithm, history, and query distributions and may change its randomized rule after every query. For every fixed hidden $A\in\mathbb{R}^{k\times n}$ with $n>40k$ and target accuracy $α\in (0,1]$, our black-box attack uses $O(k+α^2k^2\log(2+α^2k))$ queries in $\widetilde{O}(1+α^2k)$ adaptive rounds to force, with constant probability, a round in which a constant fraction of answers have $Ω(α)$ relative error. Our results clarify the limits of defending a fixed compressive linear representation by adapting the prediction rule.

Tuesday, October 20 2026, 00:00

Query-Dependent Reading for Quantized Inner-Product Estimation: A Minimax Separation

Authors: Krishnakumar Balasubramanian, Siddharth Bhandari, Shiva Prasad Kasiviswanathan

We study quantization for inner-product estimation when storage and reading have separate budgets. In the static bit-probe model [Yao, 1981], an encoder stores $w$ bits about $x$ before seeing a query $y$, and a reader probes at most $r

Authors: Krishnakumar Balasubramanian, Siddharth Bhandari, Shiva Prasad Kasiviswanathan

We study quantization for inner-product estimation when storage and reading have separate budgets. In the static bit-probe model [Yao, 1981], an encoder stores $w$ bits about $x$ before seeing a query $y$, and a reader probes at most $r

Tuesday, October 20 2026, 00:00

Algorithms for Connected Multicuts of Weighted Trees

Authors: Sunny Atalig, Marek Chrobak, Petr Kolman, Claire Mathieu, Hans Raj Tiwary

In the \emph{connected multicut problem for weighted trees}, the instance is an edge-weighted tree $T = (V,E,ω)$, a set of terminals $Γ\subseteq V$, and a set of pairwise ``conflicts'' between these terminals represented by edges of a conflict graph $\mathcal{C} = (Γ,\mathcal{F})$. A \emph{connected multicut} for this instance is a partition $\mathcal{M}$ of the vertex set $V$ into subsets called the \emph{components of $\mathcal{M}$}, where each component induces a subtree of $T$, contains at least one terminal, but does not contain any conflicting terminal pair. Two cost functions for multicuts are considered: in the min-sum variant, we minimize the total weight of the edges between different components of $\mathcal{M}$, and in the min-max variant, we minimize the maximum, over all components, of the total weight of edges leaving the component. In the first part of the paper, we focus on algorithms for the min-max variant, for which we give a $2$-approximation algorithm for the unweighted case, a $(2+ε)$-approximation algorithm for the general case, and a mildly exponential exact algorithm for the unweighted case. In the second part of the paper, we study algorithms that take advantage of the structure of the conflict graph. We first give a polynomial-time exact algorithm for the min-max variant when $\mathcal{C}$ is a clique (the variant referred to in the literature as the \emph{multiway cut}). Next, we generalize this result by providing polynomial-time exact algorithms, for both variants, for instances whose conflict graph has constant \emph{split complexity} --- a new parameter that refines the concept of neighborhood diversity previously studied in the context of parameterized complexity. This unifies and generalizes previous results for the min-sum variant when conflict graphs are complete multipartite graphs or unions of cliques.

Authors: Sunny Atalig, Marek Chrobak, Petr Kolman, Claire Mathieu, Hans Raj Tiwary

In the \emph{connected multicut problem for weighted trees}, the instance is an edge-weighted tree $T = (V,E,ω)$, a set of terminals $Γ\subseteq V$, and a set of pairwise ``conflicts'' between these terminals represented by edges of a conflict graph $\mathcal{C} = (Γ,\mathcal{F})$. A \emph{connected multicut} for this instance is a partition $\mathcal{M}$ of the vertex set $V$ into subsets called the \emph{components of $\mathcal{M}$}, where each component induces a subtree of $T$, contains at least one terminal, but does not contain any conflicting terminal pair. Two cost functions for multicuts are considered: in the min-sum variant, we minimize the total weight of the edges between different components of $\mathcal{M}$, and in the min-max variant, we minimize the maximum, over all components, of the total weight of edges leaving the component. In the first part of the paper, we focus on algorithms for the min-max variant, for which we give a $2$-approximation algorithm for the unweighted case, a $(2+ε)$-approximation algorithm for the general case, and a mildly exponential exact algorithm for the unweighted case. In the second part of the paper, we study algorithms that take advantage of the structure of the conflict graph. We first give a polynomial-time exact algorithm for the min-max variant when $\mathcal{C}$ is a clique (the variant referred to in the literature as the \emph{multiway cut}). Next, we generalize this result by providing polynomial-time exact algorithms, for both variants, for instances whose conflict graph has constant \emph{split complexity} --- a new parameter that refines the concept of neighborhood diversity previously studied in the context of parameterized complexity. This unifies and generalizes previous results for the min-sum variant when conflict graphs are complete multipartite graphs or unions of cliques.

Tuesday, October 20 2026, 00:00

Enumerating Small Potential Maximal Cliques with Fixed-Parameter Delay

Authors: Batya Kenig

A potential maximal clique (PMC) of a graph $G$ is a nonempty vertex set that forms a maximal clique in some minimal triangulation of $G$. Listing the PMCs of a graph is a key step in exact algorithms for computing treewidth, minimum fill-in, and related graph parameters. We present a deterministic algorithm that enumerates all PMCs of cardinality at most $k$ in an $n$-vertex graph $G$, without repetition, with delay $2^{O(k^3)}n^4\log n$. This bound also covers the preprocessing time before the first output, the time from the last output to termination, and the total running time when no such PMC exists. At the core of our enumeration algorithm is a procedure that solves the following constrained search problem within the same time bound: given sets of required and excluded vertices $I,O\subseteq V(G)$, find a PMC $Ω$ of size at most $k$ satisfying $I\subseteqΩ$ and $Ω\cap O=\emptyset$, or determine that none exists. Our enumeration algorithm directly supports these inclusion and exclusion constraints as well. Our approach builds on the \emph{recursive understanding} technique of Chitnis et al.~\cite{chitnis2016} and the reduction to unbreakable graphs of Lokshtanov et al.~\cite{lokshtanov2018}. A graph is $(q,k)$-unbreakable if no removal of at most $k$ vertices leaves two disjoint unions of connected components that each contain more than $q$ vertices. We first solve constrained PMC search on $(q,k)$-unbreakable graphs, and then apply this procedure to replace separated subgraphs with graphs of size $2^{O(k^2)}$ that preserve the existence of a constrained solution for every graph attached along the shared boundary.

Authors: Batya Kenig

A potential maximal clique (PMC) of a graph $G$ is a nonempty vertex set that forms a maximal clique in some minimal triangulation of $G$. Listing the PMCs of a graph is a key step in exact algorithms for computing treewidth, minimum fill-in, and related graph parameters. We present a deterministic algorithm that enumerates all PMCs of cardinality at most $k$ in an $n$-vertex graph $G$, without repetition, with delay $2^{O(k^3)}n^4\log n$. This bound also covers the preprocessing time before the first output, the time from the last output to termination, and the total running time when no such PMC exists. At the core of our enumeration algorithm is a procedure that solves the following constrained search problem within the same time bound: given sets of required and excluded vertices $I,O\subseteq V(G)$, find a PMC $Ω$ of size at most $k$ satisfying $I\subseteqΩ$ and $Ω\cap O=\emptyset$, or determine that none exists. Our enumeration algorithm directly supports these inclusion and exclusion constraints as well. Our approach builds on the \emph{recursive understanding} technique of Chitnis et al.~\cite{chitnis2016} and the reduction to unbreakable graphs of Lokshtanov et al.~\cite{lokshtanov2018}. A graph is $(q,k)$-unbreakable if no removal of at most $k$ vertices leaves two disjoint unions of connected components that each contain more than $q$ vertices. We first solve constrained PMC search on $(q,k)$-unbreakable graphs, and then apply this procedure to replace separated subgraphs with graphs of size $2^{O(k^2)}$ that preserve the existence of a constrained solution for every graph attached along the shared boundary.

Tuesday, October 20 2026, 00:00

Simplified and Faster Algorithms for the Directed Single/Dual-Failure Replacement Paths via Modulo-Layer Hitting Sets

Authors: Kaito Harada, Tatsuya Terao

We study the replacement paths problem in unweighted directed graphs with $n$ vertices and $m$ edges under one or two edge failures. We give simpler and faster algorithms for both settings. Both algorithms are based on a new technique, which we call \emph{modulo-layer hitting sets}. For the single-failure setting, we obtain a simple deterministic combinatorial algorithm running in $O(m\sqrt{n})$ time, which is nearly optimal under the combinatorial Boolean Matrix Multiplication (BMM) conjecture. In addition to removing the logarithmic overhead of the deterministic $\tilde{O}(m\sqrt{n})$-time algorithm of Alon, Chechik, and Cohen~[ICALP'19], our algorithm admits a much simpler implementation and analysis. For the dual-failure setting, we obtain a randomized combinatorial algorithm running in $\tilde{O}(n^{3-1/4})$ time. This improves upon the previous $\tilde{O}(n^{3-1/18})$-time combinatorial algorithm of Chechik and Zhang~[ICALP'24].

Authors: Kaito Harada, Tatsuya Terao

We study the replacement paths problem in unweighted directed graphs with $n$ vertices and $m$ edges under one or two edge failures. We give simpler and faster algorithms for both settings. Both algorithms are based on a new technique, which we call \emph{modulo-layer hitting sets}. For the single-failure setting, we obtain a simple deterministic combinatorial algorithm running in $O(m\sqrt{n})$ time, which is nearly optimal under the combinatorial Boolean Matrix Multiplication (BMM) conjecture. In addition to removing the logarithmic overhead of the deterministic $\tilde{O}(m\sqrt{n})$-time algorithm of Alon, Chechik, and Cohen~[ICALP'19], our algorithm admits a much simpler implementation and analysis. For the dual-failure setting, we obtain a randomized combinatorial algorithm running in $\tilde{O}(n^{3-1/4})$ time. This improves upon the previous $\tilde{O}(n^{3-1/18})$-time combinatorial algorithm of Chechik and Zhang~[ICALP'24].

Tuesday, October 20 2026, 00:00

Mean-only Prophet Inequalities

Authors: Yilong Feng, Yaonan Jin, Xiaowei Wu, Xinyue Xiang

We study mean-based algorithms for single-choice prophet inequalities: the algorithm knows the number of variables and the mean of their maximum, but not their distributions. For arbitrary independent variables in a fixed order, we can already achieve the optimal $1/2$ competitive ratio using only this mean. For i.i.d. variables and prophet secretary, however, we previously knew only a $1-1/e$ guarantee, which is far away from the ratios with full distribution information. We improve the guarantees in both settings using a simple and natural algorithm: we fix a continuous decreasing threshold function that depends only on the mean and accept the first variable exceeding its threshold. For i.i.d. variables, we prove a $0.7419$ competitive ratio. For the prophet secretary, we prove a $0.6902$ competitive ratio.

Authors: Yilong Feng, Yaonan Jin, Xiaowei Wu, Xinyue Xiang

We study mean-based algorithms for single-choice prophet inequalities: the algorithm knows the number of variables and the mean of their maximum, but not their distributions. For arbitrary independent variables in a fixed order, we can already achieve the optimal $1/2$ competitive ratio using only this mean. For i.i.d. variables and prophet secretary, however, we previously knew only a $1-1/e$ guarantee, which is far away from the ratios with full distribution information. We improve the guarantees in both settings using a simple and natural algorithm: we fix a continuous decreasing threshold function that depends only on the mean and accept the first variable exceeding its threshold. For i.i.d. variables, we prove a $0.7419$ competitive ratio. For the prophet secretary, we prove a $0.6902$ competitive ratio.

Tuesday, October 20 2026, 00:00

Tight weighted paging with delay via mirror descent

Authors: Julian Born, Yann Disser, Linda Thelen

We give an O(log k)-competitive randomized algorithm for weighted paging with delay. This improves upon the O(log k log n)-competitive algorithm of Gupta, Kumar, and Panigrahi (STOC 2020, SICOMP 2022) by removing the dependence on the number n of pages. Without delay, the optimal competitive ratio of randomized algorithms is Theta(log k), and since the lower bound carries over, our bound is tight. Our algorithm is fractional and combines mirror descent, used by Bubeck et al. (STOC 2018) for weighted paging without delay, with preemptive service, introduced by Azar et al. (STOC 2017) for online service with delay: when a request is served, an increase in the mirror descent potential is offset by preemptive service to other pending requests, with a budget derived from the mirror descent path. To obtain a randomized algorithm, we use the online rounding of Bansal, Buchbinder, and Naor (FOCS 2007) from classical paging.

Authors: Julian Born, Yann Disser, Linda Thelen

We give an O(log k)-competitive randomized algorithm for weighted paging with delay. This improves upon the O(log k log n)-competitive algorithm of Gupta, Kumar, and Panigrahi (STOC 2020, SICOMP 2022) by removing the dependence on the number n of pages. Without delay, the optimal competitive ratio of randomized algorithms is Theta(log k), and since the lower bound carries over, our bound is tight. Our algorithm is fractional and combines mirror descent, used by Bubeck et al. (STOC 2018) for weighted paging without delay, with preemptive service, introduced by Azar et al. (STOC 2017) for online service with delay: when a request is served, an increase in the mirror descent potential is offset by preemptive service to other pending requests, with a budget derived from the mirror descent path. To obtain a randomized algorithm, we use the online rounding of Bansal, Buchbinder, and Naor (FOCS 2007) from classical paging.

Tuesday, October 20 2026, 00:00

A Combinatorial $(1/2-\varepsilon)$-Approximation for $k$-Submodular Maximization under Multiple Knapsacks

Authors: Siyuan Chen, Suixiang Gao, Zheyu Jiang, Wenguo Yang

We give a randomized combinatorial $(1/2 - \varepsilon)$-approximation for nonnegative non-monotone $k$-submodular maximization under a fixed number $d$ of knapsack constraints, for $k \ge 2 $. The algorithm selects whole elements and follows the proportional top-2 rule of Chen et al. \cite{chen2026}: it samples from the two labels with the largest marginal gains, with probabilities proportional to the positive parts of these gains. Extending their single-knapsack Bellman analysis, we construct a common resource potential and associated resource weights, with potential losses charged to greedy gains. Since these weights depend on the unknown optimum, we discretize their defining coefficients and enumerate monotone guesses over phases determined by resource consumption. This yields an algorithm using at most $\mathcal{A}(d,\varepsilon)(nk+1)^{H+2}$ value queries, where $n$ is the number of elements, $\mathcal{A}(d,\varepsilon)$ depends only on $d$ and $\varepsilon$, and $H=O(d \log(2d) / \varepsilon^2)$. The approximation ratio can be made arbitrarily close to the optimal oracle threshold for $ k=2 $ and is asymptotically tight as $k \to \infty$.

Authors: Siyuan Chen, Suixiang Gao, Zheyu Jiang, Wenguo Yang

We give a randomized combinatorial $(1/2 - \varepsilon)$-approximation for nonnegative non-monotone $k$-submodular maximization under a fixed number $d$ of knapsack constraints, for $k \ge 2 $. The algorithm selects whole elements and follows the proportional top-2 rule of Chen et al. \cite{chen2026}: it samples from the two labels with the largest marginal gains, with probabilities proportional to the positive parts of these gains. Extending their single-knapsack Bellman analysis, we construct a common resource potential and associated resource weights, with potential losses charged to greedy gains. Since these weights depend on the unknown optimum, we discretize their defining coefficients and enumerate monotone guesses over phases determined by resource consumption. This yields an algorithm using at most $\mathcal{A}(d,\varepsilon)(nk+1)^{H+2}$ value queries, where $n$ is the number of elements, $\mathcal{A}(d,\varepsilon)$ depends only on $d$ and $\varepsilon$, and $H=O(d \log(2d) / \varepsilon^2)$. The approximation ratio can be made arbitrarily close to the optimal oracle threshold for $ k=2 $ and is asymptotically tight as $k \to \infty$.

Tuesday, October 20 2026, 00:00

Private Evaluation of High-Dimensional Functions

Authors: Mohammad Afzali, Hassan Ashtiani, Adam Smith

We study differentially private black-box evaluation of arbitrary high-dimensional functions. Given a dataset $S$ and query access to a function $f$---whose sensitivity may be unknown or unbounded---the goal is to privately output an approximation to $f(S)$. The black-box evaluator can only query the value of $f$ over a down neighborhood of $S$ (i.e., those subsets of $S$ that are obtained by removing a bounded number of elements from $S$). We design generic black-box evaluators for both pure and approximate differential privacy through a reduction to high-dimensional private quasi-concave optimization (QCO). Our black-box evaluator enjoys a geometric notion of utility. Consider the vectors obtained by applying $f$ on sets in a down neighborhood of $S$. With high probability, the evaluator's output is guaranteed to be in the convex hull of these vectors. Our work generalizes the result of Linder et al. [LRSS25] for real-valued function evaluation to high dimensions. It also recovers the private center-point guarantees of Beimel et al. [BMNS19], with an explicit additive approximation to maximum Tukey depth. We also apply our evaluators to user-level quasi-concave and convex optimization, showing how they can improve upon the sample-and-aggregate baseline of Nissim et al. [NRS07] by replacing the multiplicative data overhead with an additive overhead. Finally, we show that our formulation of high dimensional black-box evaluation and high dimensional private QCO are equivalent up to a factor of the dimension: the hardest private evaluation instances already arise from the cases that $f$ is a (non-private) quasi-concave optimizer.

Authors: Mohammad Afzali, Hassan Ashtiani, Adam Smith

We study differentially private black-box evaluation of arbitrary high-dimensional functions. Given a dataset $S$ and query access to a function $f$---whose sensitivity may be unknown or unbounded---the goal is to privately output an approximation to $f(S)$. The black-box evaluator can only query the value of $f$ over a down neighborhood of $S$ (i.e., those subsets of $S$ that are obtained by removing a bounded number of elements from $S$). We design generic black-box evaluators for both pure and approximate differential privacy through a reduction to high-dimensional private quasi-concave optimization (QCO). Our black-box evaluator enjoys a geometric notion of utility. Consider the vectors obtained by applying $f$ on sets in a down neighborhood of $S$. With high probability, the evaluator's output is guaranteed to be in the convex hull of these vectors. Our work generalizes the result of Linder et al. [LRSS25] for real-valued function evaluation to high dimensions. It also recovers the private center-point guarantees of Beimel et al. [BMNS19], with an explicit additive approximation to maximum Tukey depth. We also apply our evaluators to user-level quasi-concave and convex optimization, showing how they can improve upon the sample-and-aggregate baseline of Nissim et al. [NRS07] by replacing the multiplicative data overhead with an additive overhead. Finally, we show that our formulation of high dimensional black-box evaluation and high dimensional private QCO are equivalent up to a factor of the dimension: the hardest private evaluation instances already arise from the cases that $f$ is a (non-private) quasi-concave optimizer.

Tuesday, October 20 2026, 00:00

Tree Plurality Veto: Voting in Few Rounds with Efficient Communication and Low Metric Distortion

Authors: Gabriel Chen, Yu Cheng, Alice Wang

We consider the metric distortion framework for voting, where $n$ voters and $m$ candidates are embedded in an unknown metric space. A voting rule selects a candidate using only voters' ordinal preferences, and its distortion is the worst-case ratio between the social cost of the selected candidate and the minimum social cost. We study how round complexity trades off against total communication in deterministic voting protocols with low distortion. Deterministic rules can achieve the optimal distortion of $3$ in one round by eliciting complete rankings using $Θ(nm\log m)$ bits, while a direct sequential implementation of PluralityVeto achieves the same distortion using only $O(n\log m)$ bits but requires $Θ(n)$ rounds. Our main result is TreePluralityVeto, a deterministic voting protocol that, for every $r\ge 2$, achieves distortion at most $2r-1$ using at most $r$ rounds and $O(n\log m+n s^{1/(r-1)}\log s)$ bits of total communication, where $s = \min\{n, m\}$. The protocol runs PluralityVeto on a hierarchical partition of the voters, collecting restricted rankings in parallel at each level. The branching factor controls the tradeoff between rounds and communication, and a matching-based analysis shows that each level increases the distortion bound by at most $2$.

Authors: Gabriel Chen, Yu Cheng, Alice Wang

We consider the metric distortion framework for voting, where $n$ voters and $m$ candidates are embedded in an unknown metric space. A voting rule selects a candidate using only voters' ordinal preferences, and its distortion is the worst-case ratio between the social cost of the selected candidate and the minimum social cost. We study how round complexity trades off against total communication in deterministic voting protocols with low distortion. Deterministic rules can achieve the optimal distortion of $3$ in one round by eliciting complete rankings using $Θ(nm\log m)$ bits, while a direct sequential implementation of PluralityVeto achieves the same distortion using only $O(n\log m)$ bits but requires $Θ(n)$ rounds. Our main result is TreePluralityVeto, a deterministic voting protocol that, for every $r\ge 2$, achieves distortion at most $2r-1$ using at most $r$ rounds and $O(n\log m+n s^{1/(r-1)}\log s)$ bits of total communication, where $s = \min\{n, m\}$. The protocol runs PluralityVeto on a hierarchical partition of the voters, collecting restricted rankings in parallel at each level. The branching factor controls the tradeoff between rounds and communication, and a matching-based analysis shows that each level increases the distortion bound by at most $2$.

Tuesday, October 20 2026, 00:00

Vertex Ordering for Exact Triangle Listing: Concave Geometry and Certified Rounding

Authors: Kourosh Mirsohi, Melika Gorgi, Erfan Hajihashemi

Exact forward triangle listers orient each edge of a graph by a vertex order. The order does not change the output, but it changes the work. For the adaptive lister, which scans the smaller of the two forward neighborhoods, the number of candidate tests is a known sum of minima of forward degrees, but how to optimize it had not been characterized. We show that this work is a concave function of the forward degrees, so choosing an order is concave minimization over the orientation polytope, whose vertices are the forward-degree vectors of orders. A single sort therefore rounds any point of the polytope, including the out-degree vector of any orientation, to an order with no more work, with a computable lower bound on the improvement. Minimizing the work is nevertheless NP-hard and APX-hard on triangle-free graphs of maximum degree three, and under the Unique Games Conjecture it has no polynomial-time constant-factor approximation. We also analyze logistic score relaxations and the large-graph limit of degree-based orders; on random cubic graphs, the expected work of every degree-based order is asymptotically at least $2.43$ times the expected optimum. Tangent refinement followed by iterated local search reduces the work by \HeldTIKMean\% on average on nine held-out networks fixed by a pre-registered protocol, and by \NSFrozenTILSMean\% in a supplementary rescoring, specified in advance, against a stronger reference that adds the published Neigh local search. The gains are in candidate tests; we observe no reproducible wall-clock speedup.

Authors: Kourosh Mirsohi, Melika Gorgi, Erfan Hajihashemi

Exact forward triangle listers orient each edge of a graph by a vertex order. The order does not change the output, but it changes the work. For the adaptive lister, which scans the smaller of the two forward neighborhoods, the number of candidate tests is a known sum of minima of forward degrees, but how to optimize it had not been characterized. We show that this work is a concave function of the forward degrees, so choosing an order is concave minimization over the orientation polytope, whose vertices are the forward-degree vectors of orders. A single sort therefore rounds any point of the polytope, including the out-degree vector of any orientation, to an order with no more work, with a computable lower bound on the improvement. Minimizing the work is nevertheless NP-hard and APX-hard on triangle-free graphs of maximum degree three, and under the Unique Games Conjecture it has no polynomial-time constant-factor approximation. We also analyze logistic score relaxations and the large-graph limit of degree-based orders; on random cubic graphs, the expected work of every degree-based order is asymptotically at least $2.43$ times the expected optimum. Tangent refinement followed by iterated local search reduces the work by \HeldTIKMean\% on average on nine held-out networks fixed by a pre-registered protocol, and by \NSFrozenTILSMean\% in a supplementary rescoring, specified in advance, against a stronger reference that adds the published Neigh local search. The gains are in candidate tests; we observe no reproducible wall-clock speedup.

Tuesday, October 20 2026, 00:00

Batch range mode in O(n+Q)^1.395

Authors: Filippo di Gravina

We give a deterministic worst-case algorithm for exact Batched Range Mode on an arbitrary array of length n and a batch of Q intervals. The algorithm returns the mode frequency and the smallest mode identifier for each query in time (n+Q)^(tau+o(1)), where tau = 5 - sqrt(13) = 1.394448724536... . The algorithm combines virtual occurrence windows and block-boundary snapping with a query-restricted min-plus product whose first operand is column-monotone and whose second operand is row-monotone. A deterministic modular verifier uses geometric and query potentials to bound the same active regions; false modular matches are corrected by offline orthogonal range updates. The final analysis uses the sharper rectangular exponent curve of Uznanski (2026), together with exact rational parameter balancing and a transfer to prime fields. The analysis covers every frequency scale and arbitrary batch sizes. Exact frequencies and the smallest mode identifiers are recovered without increasing the exponent.

Authors: Filippo di Gravina

We give a deterministic worst-case algorithm for exact Batched Range Mode on an arbitrary array of length n and a batch of Q intervals. The algorithm returns the mode frequency and the smallest mode identifier for each query in time (n+Q)^(tau+o(1)), where tau = 5 - sqrt(13) = 1.394448724536... . The algorithm combines virtual occurrence windows and block-boundary snapping with a query-restricted min-plus product whose first operand is column-monotone and whose second operand is row-monotone. A deterministic modular verifier uses geometric and query potentials to bound the same active regions; false modular matches are corrected by offline orthogonal range updates. The final analysis uses the sharper rectangular exponent curve of Uznanski (2026), together with exact rational parameter balancing and a transfer to prime fields. The analysis covers every frequency scale and arbitrary batch sizes. Exact frequencies and the smallest mode identifiers are recovered without increasing the exponent.

Tuesday, October 20 2026, 00:00

Implicit Hitting Set Enumeration for Power Dominating Sets

Authors: Thomas Bläsius, Max Göttlicher, Martin Schirneck

The Transversal Hypergraph problem asks to enumerate (list) all inclusion-minimal hitting sets of a hypergraph. It usually assumes that the input is completely known and does not change over the course of the enumeration. In many applications, the underlying hypergraph is too large or expensive to compute. This motivated the implicit hitting set framework [Chandrasekaran, Karp, Moreno-Centeno, and Vempala, SODA 2011] for the corresponding optimization problem of finding a smallest hitting set. Access to the input is given by an oracle that either confirms that a query set $S$ is a hitting set, or reveals a new hyperedge disjoint from $S$. We adapt this framework to enumeration. We show for a general class of algorithms that they are able to find all hitting sets when given access to such an oracle, even if the hypergraph is a priori unknown. We also prove that the current fastest Transversal Hypergraph algorithm, Minimal-to-Maximal Conversion Search by Murakami and Uno [DAM 2014], belongs to this class. We then engineer an implicit hitting set algorithm for the enumeration of minimal power dominating sets in graphs. A power dominating set is a selection of vertices that "observe" all vertices by exhaustively applying two rules: if a vertex is dominated by the selection, it becomes observed; and if an observed vertex has a unique unobserved neighbor, this neighbor becomes observed as well. An experimental evaluation on a collection of power grid instances from the literature shows that our approach achieves very high throughput rates.

Authors: Thomas Bläsius, Max Göttlicher, Martin Schirneck

The Transversal Hypergraph problem asks to enumerate (list) all inclusion-minimal hitting sets of a hypergraph. It usually assumes that the input is completely known and does not change over the course of the enumeration. In many applications, the underlying hypergraph is too large or expensive to compute. This motivated the implicit hitting set framework [Chandrasekaran, Karp, Moreno-Centeno, and Vempala, SODA 2011] for the corresponding optimization problem of finding a smallest hitting set. Access to the input is given by an oracle that either confirms that a query set $S$ is a hitting set, or reveals a new hyperedge disjoint from $S$. We adapt this framework to enumeration. We show for a general class of algorithms that they are able to find all hitting sets when given access to such an oracle, even if the hypergraph is a priori unknown. We also prove that the current fastest Transversal Hypergraph algorithm, Minimal-to-Maximal Conversion Search by Murakami and Uno [DAM 2014], belongs to this class. We then engineer an implicit hitting set algorithm for the enumeration of minimal power dominating sets in graphs. A power dominating set is a selection of vertices that "observe" all vertices by exhaustively applying two rules: if a vertex is dominated by the selection, it becomes observed; and if an observed vertex has a unique unobserved neighbor, this neighbor becomes observed as well. An experimental evaluation on a collection of power grid instances from the literature shows that our approach achieves very high throughput rates.

Tuesday, October 20 2026, 00:00

Budgeted Bayesian Bandits for Future Utilization

Authors: Sudipto Guha

The multi-armed bandit problem models the trade-off between exploration and exploitation. In this paper, we study the variant where exploration has a hard budget and precedes exploitation. Prior guarantees include a 1/3 approximation by Guha and Munagala using Lagrangian duality, and a 4/27 approximation by Ma against a primal linear programming relaxation for a more general model. We show that the analyses of both algorithms are tight, even when their relaxations are asymptotically exact. We provide a different efficient algorithm that achieves a 0.43 approximation. We then provide an efficient algorithm whose guarantee approaches 1-e^{-1} approx 0.63 for bounded exchangeable reward observations in a non-vanishing regime, which is asymptotically tight against natural linear programming relaxations. The technique also gives certificates for stopping sequential model evaluation.

Authors: Sudipto Guha

The multi-armed bandit problem models the trade-off between exploration and exploitation. In this paper, we study the variant where exploration has a hard budget and precedes exploitation. Prior guarantees include a 1/3 approximation by Guha and Munagala using Lagrangian duality, and a 4/27 approximation by Ma against a primal linear programming relaxation for a more general model. We show that the analyses of both algorithms are tight, even when their relaxations are asymptotically exact. We provide a different efficient algorithm that achieves a 0.43 approximation. We then provide an efficient algorithm whose guarantee approaches 1-e^{-1} approx 0.63 for bounded exchangeable reward observations in a non-vanishing regime, which is asymptotically tight against natural linear programming relaxations. The technique also gives certificates for stopping sequential model evaluation.

Tuesday, October 20 2026, 00:00

Constant-Factor Local Approximation for Bipartite Densest Subgraph

Authors: Michael Kapralov, Jakub Łącki, Silvio Lattanzi, Guy Weissenberg

Given a vertex $v$ in a large bipartite graph $G$, can one quickly find a small densely connected region near $v$? This is the algorithmic core of many fraud detection, community detection, and recommender systems. One would like a local algorithm, i.e., an algorithm that probes $G$ in only a small number of locations to find such a region. Our main contribution is the first constant-factor local approximation, independent of the maximum degree of the graph, for the classical notion of bipartite density: if the sides of a bipartite subgraph are $S$ and $T$, its density is $d(S,T):=e(S,T)/\sqrt{|S||T|}$, where $e(S,T)$ is the number of edges between $S$ and $T$. We consider cohesive dense subgraphs, since every dense subgraph contains a cohesive core of at least the same density. For such a cohesive dense subgraph $S\mathbin{\dot\cup}T$ with at most $k$ vertices per side, our algorithm, starting from any vertex in $S\mathbin{\dot\cup}T$, uses $O_ε(k^{4+ε})$ neighbor queries to find a subgraph $X\mathbin{\dot\cup}Y$ of density $Ω_ε(d(S,T))$ on $O_ε(k^{2+ε})$ vertices, for every fixed $ε>0$. Our result improves upon the result of Andersen (2010), whose approximation guarantee depends logarithmically on the maximum degree. We complement our positive result with information-theoretic and computational limitations showing that the quadratic dependence on $k$ in the output size is essentially unavoidable for constant-factor approximation. Our main technical innovation is an adaptation of the Lovász-Simonovits curve to the bipartite density problem, based on weak-$\ell_p$ norm bounds.

Authors: Michael Kapralov, Jakub Łącki, Silvio Lattanzi, Guy Weissenberg

Given a vertex $v$ in a large bipartite graph $G$, can one quickly find a small densely connected region near $v$? This is the algorithmic core of many fraud detection, community detection, and recommender systems. One would like a local algorithm, i.e., an algorithm that probes $G$ in only a small number of locations to find such a region. Our main contribution is the first constant-factor local approximation, independent of the maximum degree of the graph, for the classical notion of bipartite density: if the sides of a bipartite subgraph are $S$ and $T$, its density is $d(S,T):=e(S,T)/\sqrt{|S||T|}$, where $e(S,T)$ is the number of edges between $S$ and $T$. We consider cohesive dense subgraphs, since every dense subgraph contains a cohesive core of at least the same density. For such a cohesive dense subgraph $S\mathbin{\dot\cup}T$ with at most $k$ vertices per side, our algorithm, starting from any vertex in $S\mathbin{\dot\cup}T$, uses $O_ε(k^{4+ε})$ neighbor queries to find a subgraph $X\mathbin{\dot\cup}Y$ of density $Ω_ε(d(S,T))$ on $O_ε(k^{2+ε})$ vertices, for every fixed $ε>0$. Our result improves upon the result of Andersen (2010), whose approximation guarantee depends logarithmically on the maximum degree. We complement our positive result with information-theoretic and computational limitations showing that the quadratic dependence on $k$ in the output size is essentially unavoidable for constant-factor approximation. Our main technical innovation is an adaptation of the Lovász-Simonovits curve to the bipartite density problem, based on weak-$\ell_p$ norm bounds.

Tuesday, October 20 2026, 00:00

Orienting mixed graphs for reachability pairs: When the all pairs setting is easier than the general one

Authors: Florian Hörsch, Marta Piecyk, Krisztina Szilágyi

Given a mixed graph $G$ and an ordered pair $(u,v)$ of vertices in $V(G)$, we say that an orientation $\vec{G}$ of $G$ satisfies $(u,v)$ if $v$ is reachable from $u$ in $\vec{G}$. We consider problems in which we seek orientations that satisfy a maximum number of pairs. We distinguish between two different problems. In the most general problem called Fixed Pairs Maximum Mixed Reachability Orientation (FPRO), a multiset $P$ of ordered pairs of vertices in $V(G)$ comes with the input. In the more restricted problem All Pairs Maximum Mixed Reachability Orientation (APRO), $P$ contains exactly one copy of every ordered pair of distinct vertices in $V(G)$. We compare the computational complexity of FPRO and APRO in two ways: First, we show that both FPRO and APRO behave similarly when it comes to approximation. Namely, they both admit an asymptotic approximation, but are unlikely to admit a constant factor approximation. Then, we consider the parameterization with respect to the treewidth of the underlying graph of the input mixed graph. We show that here the complexities of FPRO and APRO differ significantly. While it is well-known that FPRO is NP-hard even when this parameter is 1, we show that APRO is XP with respect to this parameter. On the other hand, we give a $W[1]$-hardness result for APRO.

Authors: Florian Hörsch, Marta Piecyk, Krisztina Szilágyi

Given a mixed graph $G$ and an ordered pair $(u,v)$ of vertices in $V(G)$, we say that an orientation $\vec{G}$ of $G$ satisfies $(u,v)$ if $v$ is reachable from $u$ in $\vec{G}$. We consider problems in which we seek orientations that satisfy a maximum number of pairs. We distinguish between two different problems. In the most general problem called Fixed Pairs Maximum Mixed Reachability Orientation (FPRO), a multiset $P$ of ordered pairs of vertices in $V(G)$ comes with the input. In the more restricted problem All Pairs Maximum Mixed Reachability Orientation (APRO), $P$ contains exactly one copy of every ordered pair of distinct vertices in $V(G)$. We compare the computational complexity of FPRO and APRO in two ways: First, we show that both FPRO and APRO behave similarly when it comes to approximation. Namely, they both admit an asymptotic approximation, but are unlikely to admit a constant factor approximation. Then, we consider the parameterization with respect to the treewidth of the underlying graph of the input mixed graph. We show that here the complexities of FPRO and APRO differ significantly. While it is well-known that FPRO is NP-hard even when this parameter is 1, we show that APRO is XP with respect to this parameter. On the other hand, we give a $W[1]$-hardness result for APRO.

Tuesday, October 20 2026, 00:00

Internalizing Chain-of-thought into Looped Transformers

Authors: Kehang Zhou, Pinyan Lu

Chain-of-thought (CoT) enables constant-bit-size transformers to perform general-purpose computation through generated tokens (Li and Wang, 2025a), whereas looped transformers carry out the same computation by recurrence in hidden states (latent thought). We construct a family of constant-bit-size looped transformers that interpolates between CoT and latent thought. For a prescribed loop count $L=L(n)$ and a fixed integer $k\ge1$ satisfying $s(n)^{1/k}=Ω(L)$, our transformer simulates a time-$t(n)$, space-$s(n)$ Turing machine using a context window of $O(s(n)/L)$ and $O(t(n)s(n)^{1/k}/L)$ generated tokens, reducing both resources by a factor of $L$ relative to the corresponding unlooped queue-machine simulation. The construction also holds with softmax attention at constant bit-size, under the finite-precision kernel specified in this paper.

Authors: Kehang Zhou, Pinyan Lu

Chain-of-thought (CoT) enables constant-bit-size transformers to perform general-purpose computation through generated tokens (Li and Wang, 2025a), whereas looped transformers carry out the same computation by recurrence in hidden states (latent thought). We construct a family of constant-bit-size looped transformers that interpolates between CoT and latent thought. For a prescribed loop count $L=L(n)$ and a fixed integer $k\ge1$ satisfying $s(n)^{1/k}=Ω(L)$, our transformer simulates a time-$t(n)$, space-$s(n)$ Turing machine using a context window of $O(s(n)/L)$ and $O(t(n)s(n)^{1/k}/L)$ generated tokens, reducing both resources by a factor of $L$ relative to the corresponding unlooped queue-machine simulation. The construction also holds with softmax attention at constant bit-size, under the finite-precision kernel specified in this paper.

Tuesday, October 20 2026, 00:00

A simplified proof of the FPRAS for counting perfect matchings

Authors: Chenghua Liu, Boning Meng

We give a simplified, self-contained proof of OpenAI's FPRAS for counting perfect matchings in general graphs. As in the original proof, we use a restricted Poincaré inequality for two matchings to sample weighted perfect matchings and estimate their total weight. We simplify the proof of this inequality by isolating parts of alternating cycles directly on the original vertex set and controlling the resulting error terms. This avoids the auxiliary vertices and tree constructions used in the original proof. The argument preserves the required parameter bounds and yields the same FPRAS guarantee.

Authors: Chenghua Liu, Boning Meng

We give a simplified, self-contained proof of OpenAI's FPRAS for counting perfect matchings in general graphs. As in the original proof, we use a restricted Poincaré inequality for two matchings to sample weighted perfect matchings and estimate their total weight. We simplify the proof of this inequality by isolating parts of alternating cycles directly on the original vertex set and controlling the resulting error terms. This avoids the auxiliary vertices and tree constructions used in the original proof. The argument preserves the required parameter bounds and yields the same FPRAS guarantee.

Tuesday, October 20 2026, 00:00

A Tight Oracle Threshold for $k$-Submodular Maximization

Authors: Siyuan Chen

We prove that, for every $\varepsilon>0$, a $(\frac{k}{2k-1}+\varepsilon)$-approximation algorithm for maximizing monotone $k$-submodular functions requires exponentially many value-oracle queries. This improves the $\frac{k+1}{2k}$ oracle bound of Iwata, Tanigawa, and Yoshida. Their $\frac{k}{2k-1}$-approximation algorithm therefore gives the exact threshold in the monotone setting. For $k\ge5$, our bound also matches, up to an arbitrarily small loss, Aggarwal's recent approximation guarantee for non-monotone $k$-submodular maximization.

Authors: Siyuan Chen

We prove that, for every $\varepsilon>0$, a $(\frac{k}{2k-1}+\varepsilon)$-approximation algorithm for maximizing monotone $k$-submodular functions requires exponentially many value-oracle queries. This improves the $\frac{k+1}{2k}$ oracle bound of Iwata, Tanigawa, and Yoshida. Their $\frac{k}{2k-1}$-approximation algorithm therefore gives the exact threshold in the monotone setting. For $k\ge5$, our bound also matches, up to an arbitrarily small loss, Aggarwal's recent approximation guarantee for non-monotone $k$-submodular maximization.

Tuesday, October 20 2026, 00:00

Capacitated Line Aggregation with Maximum Delay

Authors: Runtian Ren, Shengcai Liu

We study capacitated line aggregation with per-batch maximum delay. Requests arrive over time at locations on a rooted half-line and are served in instantaneous batches of at most $k$ requests. Each batch pays the distance to its farthest request plus the waiting time of its oldest request. The objective is to minimize the total cost. We give a deterministic online algorithm with competitive ratio $36+12\sqrt3$. The algorithm uses a Next Fit idea along paths of nested time intervals: it assigns a new group to an existing batch when a path-load test permits, and opens a new batch otherwise. The path load controls both capacity and the cost of opening new batches. Randomizing the common scale improves the expected competitive ratio to $(18+6\sqrt3)/\ln2$ against an oblivious adversary. Both guarantees extend to arbitrary indivisible request sizes. We also study capacitated LAD in the learning-augmented model. Advice revealed at its service times allows $(1+ε)$-consistency against every complete feasible advice schedule and $O(ε^{-2})$-robustness. The analysis charges repeated switches to successive decreases in the remaining advice cost.

Authors: Runtian Ren, Shengcai Liu

We study capacitated line aggregation with per-batch maximum delay. Requests arrive over time at locations on a rooted half-line and are served in instantaneous batches of at most $k$ requests. Each batch pays the distance to its farthest request plus the waiting time of its oldest request. The objective is to minimize the total cost. We give a deterministic online algorithm with competitive ratio $36+12\sqrt3$. The algorithm uses a Next Fit idea along paths of nested time intervals: it assigns a new group to an existing batch when a path-load test permits, and opens a new batch otherwise. The path load controls both capacity and the cost of opening new batches. Randomizing the common scale improves the expected competitive ratio to $(18+6\sqrt3)/\ln2$ against an oblivious adversary. Both guarantees extend to arbitrary indivisible request sizes. We also study capacitated LAD in the learning-augmented model. Advice revealed at its service times allows $(1+ε)$-consistency against every complete feasible advice schedule and $O(ε^{-2})$-robustness. The analysis charges repeated switches to successive decreases in the remaining advice cost.

Tuesday, October 20 2026, 00:00

Constructive Arithmetic Regularity for Abelian Groups

Authors: Swarnalipa Datta, Arijit Ghosh, Chandrima Kayal, Manmatha Roy

The arithmetic regularity lemma of Green is a fundamental tool in additive combinatorics, providing a decomposition of arbitrary subsets of finite Abelian groups into pseudorandom pieces with respect to Fourier analysis. Over the years, it has found numerous applications in combinatorics, property testing, and theoretical computer science. However, Green's proof is existential, and many algorithmic applications require an efficient procedure for constructing the underlying regular decomposition. De, Nadimpalli, and Servedio (SODA 2022) developed a query-efficient constructive regularity framework over $\mathbb{F}_2^n$ and explicitly raised the problem of extending their dimension-independent sumset-estimation algorithm to other finite Abelian groups. In this work, we resolve this question for finite Abelian groups of constant torsion. We develop the first constructive version of Green's {\em Arithmetic Regularity Lemma} in this general setting. Given oracle access to a subset of the group, our algorithm computes an implicit description of a regular decomposition together with an oracle representation of a structured subset satisfying the guarantees of Green's lemma. The algorithm runs in time and query complexity polynomial in the regularity parameters and the tower bound, while remaining independent of the size of the ambient group. As applications, we obtain efficient algorithms for removing linear configurations and approximately counting linear images, including weighted sumsets and suitable matrix systems of Cauchy--Schwarz complexity one, over finite Abelian groups of constant torsion. Our results provide a unified algorithmic framework extending dimension-independent constructive arithmetic regularity and its applications beyond $\mathbb{F}_2^n$.

Authors: Swarnalipa Datta, Arijit Ghosh, Chandrima Kayal, Manmatha Roy

The arithmetic regularity lemma of Green is a fundamental tool in additive combinatorics, providing a decomposition of arbitrary subsets of finite Abelian groups into pseudorandom pieces with respect to Fourier analysis. Over the years, it has found numerous applications in combinatorics, property testing, and theoretical computer science. However, Green's proof is existential, and many algorithmic applications require an efficient procedure for constructing the underlying regular decomposition. De, Nadimpalli, and Servedio (SODA 2022) developed a query-efficient constructive regularity framework over $\mathbb{F}_2^n$ and explicitly raised the problem of extending their dimension-independent sumset-estimation algorithm to other finite Abelian groups. In this work, we resolve this question for finite Abelian groups of constant torsion. We develop the first constructive version of Green's {\em Arithmetic Regularity Lemma} in this general setting. Given oracle access to a subset of the group, our algorithm computes an implicit description of a regular decomposition together with an oracle representation of a structured subset satisfying the guarantees of Green's lemma. The algorithm runs in time and query complexity polynomial in the regularity parameters and the tower bound, while remaining independent of the size of the ambient group. As applications, we obtain efficient algorithms for removing linear configurations and approximately counting linear images, including weighted sumsets and suitable matrix systems of Cauchy--Schwarz complexity one, over finite Abelian groups of constant torsion. Our results provide a unified algorithmic framework extending dimension-independent constructive arithmetic regularity and its applications beyond $\mathbb{F}_2^n$.

Tuesday, October 20 2026, 00:00

Ski Rental with Uniform Stochastic Signals

Authors: Tudor Cardas, Lucas Perotin, Bertrand Simon

Ski rental is one of the most fundamental online problems, where an agent repeatedly decides whether it should continue renting for a service, or buy it at a one-time fixed cost. In classic online analysis, an adversary may freely select any arbitrary time horizon $t$ after which the instance terminates, hence leading to strong competitive ratio lower bounds of 2 (deterministic) and $e/(e-1)$ (randomized). We consider a novel but natural model aiming at limiting the adversary's power without degrading its flexibility. A stochastic signal, containing no information apart from its arrival time, is transmitted to the algorithm at a time drawn from a known distribution scaled to $[0,t]$. This framework allows us to account for visible effects of the adversary's choice to the algorithm. Focusing as a first step on uniform distributions, we show that the best possible competitive ratios are approximately $1.478$ (deterministic) and $1.438$ (randomized). Surprisingly, simplistic deterministic strategies already achieve a performance of $1.489$.

Authors: Tudor Cardas, Lucas Perotin, Bertrand Simon

Ski rental is one of the most fundamental online problems, where an agent repeatedly decides whether it should continue renting for a service, or buy it at a one-time fixed cost. In classic online analysis, an adversary may freely select any arbitrary time horizon $t$ after which the instance terminates, hence leading to strong competitive ratio lower bounds of 2 (deterministic) and $e/(e-1)$ (randomized). We consider a novel but natural model aiming at limiting the adversary's power without degrading its flexibility. A stochastic signal, containing no information apart from its arrival time, is transmitted to the algorithm at a time drawn from a known distribution scaled to $[0,t]$. This framework allows us to account for visible effects of the adversary's choice to the algorithm. Focusing as a first step on uniform distributions, we show that the best possible competitive ratios are approximately $1.478$ (deterministic) and $1.438$ (randomized). Surprisingly, simplistic deterministic strategies already achieve a performance of $1.489$.

Tuesday, October 20 2026, 00:00

Dynamic $(Δ+1)$-Coloring Against an Adaptive Adversary: Faster, Simpler, Worst-Case, and Bounded Recourse

Authors: Yuval Gil, Magnús M. Halldórsson

We study fully dynamic $(Δ+1)$-coloring against an adaptive adversary. Behnezhad, Rajaraman, and Wasim (SODA 2025) gave the first algorithm with $\tilde O(n^{8/9})$ amortized update time, later improved to $\tilde O(n^{2/3})$ by Flin and Halldórsson (ICALP 2025). We give a fully dynamic $(Δ+1)$-coloring algorithm with $\tilde O(\sqrt n)$ \textbf{worst-case} update time. Unlike previous algorithms, it avoids sparse-dense decompositions and relies only on elementary data structures, resulting in a short self-contained algorithm and analysis. Moreover, it avoids global recoloring, resulting in a worst-case recourse of $3$.

Authors: Yuval Gil, Magnús M. Halldórsson

We study fully dynamic $(Δ+1)$-coloring against an adaptive adversary. Behnezhad, Rajaraman, and Wasim (SODA 2025) gave the first algorithm with $\tilde O(n^{8/9})$ amortized update time, later improved to $\tilde O(n^{2/3})$ by Flin and Halldórsson (ICALP 2025). We give a fully dynamic $(Δ+1)$-coloring algorithm with $\tilde O(\sqrt n)$ \textbf{worst-case} update time. Unlike previous algorithms, it avoids sparse-dense decompositions and relies only on elementary data structures, resulting in a short self-contained algorithm and analysis. Moreover, it avoids global recoloring, resulting in a worst-case recourse of $3$.

Tuesday, October 20 2026, 00:00

Solving Classes of Linear Programs with Strongly Polynomial Straight Line Complexity in Strongly Polynomial Time

Authors: Daniel Dadush, Zhuan Khye Koh, Bento Natura, Neil Olver, László A. Végh

Recently, Allamigeon, Dadush, Loho, Natura, and Végh (ADLNV, SICOMP 2025) introduced an interior point method for linear programs whose number of iterations is bounded by the so-called straight line complexity (SLC) of the instance. This yields a strongly polynomial bound on the number of iterations of the corresponding interior point algorithm for broad classes of linear programs. In particular, in the companion paper we give a strongly polynomial straight line complexity bound for two-variable-per-inequality linear programs. However, in order to obtain a strongly polynomial algorithm for these classes, one also needs to address two important technical issues: initialization and bit-complexity bounds. Standard IPM initialization techniques either require numerical estimates that cannot be obtained in the strongly polynomial model, or involve modifying the instance in ways that do not preserve the geometry of the original LP, potentially affecting the SLC. In this work, we present an initialization framework for interior point methods for linear programming, along with a rounding procedure that ensures the continued feasibility of the IPM. We develop a multistage scheme in which each stage can be initialized in strongly polynomial time given the output of the previous stage. Additionally, we address the challenge of controlling the bit complexity of each iterate throughout the algorithm. To this end, we show that it is possible to represent iterates as low-complexity convex combinations of vertices and extreme rays. Our combinatorial rounding step is independent of the algorithm in ADLNV 2025, and can be applied more broadly in the context of path-following methods.

Authors: Daniel Dadush, Zhuan Khye Koh, Bento Natura, Neil Olver, László A. Végh

Recently, Allamigeon, Dadush, Loho, Natura, and Végh (ADLNV, SICOMP 2025) introduced an interior point method for linear programs whose number of iterations is bounded by the so-called straight line complexity (SLC) of the instance. This yields a strongly polynomial bound on the number of iterations of the corresponding interior point algorithm for broad classes of linear programs. In particular, in the companion paper we give a strongly polynomial straight line complexity bound for two-variable-per-inequality linear programs. However, in order to obtain a strongly polynomial algorithm for these classes, one also needs to address two important technical issues: initialization and bit-complexity bounds. Standard IPM initialization techniques either require numerical estimates that cannot be obtained in the strongly polynomial model, or involve modifying the instance in ways that do not preserve the geometry of the original LP, potentially affecting the SLC. In this work, we present an initialization framework for interior point methods for linear programming, along with a rounding procedure that ensures the continued feasibility of the IPM. We develop a multistage scheme in which each stage can be initialized in strongly polynomial time given the output of the previous stage. Additionally, we address the challenge of controlling the bit complexity of each iterate throughout the algorithm. To this end, we show that it is possible to represent iterates as low-complexity convex combinations of vertices and extreme rays. Our combinatorial rounding step is independent of the algorithm in ADLNV 2025, and can be applied more broadly in the context of path-following methods.

Tuesday, October 20 2026, 00:00

TR26-262 | Explicit Reed-Solomon Subspace Designs: Optimal List and Line Decoding | Omar Alrabiah, Rohan Goyal, Venkatesan Guruswami

from ECCC Papers

For any desired rate $R \in (0,1)$, and gap to list-decoding capacity $\varepsilon > 0$, we give an explicit $n^{O_{\varepsilon}(1)}$ time construction of Reed-Solomon codes over extension fields of size polynomial in the block length $n$ that can be list-decoded from a fraction $1-R-\varepsilon$ of errors with the optimal list-size of $O(\frac{1-R}{\varepsilon})$. We also give a simpler, strongly explicit construction of evaluation points for which the associated Reed-Solomon code can be list-decoded from $1-R-\varepsilon$ errors with list size $(1/\varepsilon)^{O(1/\varepsilon)}$. We provide a deterministic list-decoding algorithm for both constructions running in time $O_{\varepsilon}(1)poly(n)$. In fact, our Reed-Solomon codes are near-optimal subspace-design codes over a subfield. Via known results, this directly implies the combinatorial list-decoding guarantee, as well as near-optimal list-recovery bounds. We also present a new reduction showing that the subspace-design guarantee also implies line decoding over the extension field itself, which then yields proximity gaps and mutual correlated agreement up to proximity parameter approaching the optimal $1-R$ radius. Compared to the recent algorithm of Brakensiek, Chen, Putterman, Zhang, and Zheng (2026), which list decodes every Reed–Solomon code over prime fields up to capacity, our approach achieves constant (in fact, near-optimal) list size rather than a polynomially growing one, at the cost of carefully choosing the code's evaluation points. In a companion paper, we show that these respective restrictions are unavoidable.

Monday, October 19 2026, 23:58

AI Alignment Theory Course: Readings and Rapporteur Reports!

from Scott Aaronson

As I announced on this blog a couple weeks ago, I’m teaching a new course this semester at UT Austin, entitled AI Alignment Theory. To call such a course “timely” seems like an understatement; this is the first course I’ve ever taught for which multiple gargantuan developments relevant to the course have happened while I […]

As I announced on this blog a couple weeks ago, I’m teaching a new course this semester at UT Austin, entitled AI Alignment Theory. To call such a course “timely” seems like an understatement; this is the first course I’ve ever taught for which multiple gargantuan developments relevant to the course have happened while I was teaching it.

Since AI alignment is still a field with no standard textbook (although that might be changing), no accepted body of mathematical theory, etc. etc., the way we’ve been running the course is like a humanities discussion seminar, albeit one that happens to be in a CS department and to include technical results from time to time. Basically, in each class session, a student “rapporteur” gives a talk on an AI alignment reading—which include “ancient” readings (from way back in 2016), “modern” readings (from, say, last week), and everything in between—and then we freely discuss and debate whatever was presented, with my own role mostly limited to that of gadfly (occasionally I’ll do a mini-lecture on some technical concept).

Anyway, two weeks ago, I promised a list of the papers and other writings that we’ve been discussing, as well as student “rapporteur reports” on those papers, which cover not only the papers themselves, but the students’ thoughts about the papers and (anonymized) summaries of points raised during our class discussion. People have been bugging me for that ever since.

Since I am to please, here you are, without further ado! I’ll continue to update the list as the semester progresses, so that this post can serve as a central public repository for the course.

AGI Ruin: A List of Lethalities, by Eliezer Yudkowsky (2022). Rapporteur report by Tennyson Bardwell (this is the one that we posted previously).
Concrete Problems in AI Safety, by Amodei, Olah, Steinhardt, Christiano, Schulman, and Mané (2016). Rapporteur report by Daniela Wiepert.
The Alignment Problem from a Deep Learning Perspective, by Ngo, Chan, and Mindermann (many versions but latest is 2025), and Research Priorities for Robust and Beneficial Artificial Intelligence by Russell, Dewey, and Tegmark (2016). Rapporteur report by Oleg Pittman and Jack Holt.
What Happened: OpenAI and HuggingFace, by Zvi Mowshowitz; The Rise and Fall of Agent Civilizations, by Dwarkesh Patel, and the METR report by on the HuggingFace incident, by Greenblatt, Cotra, and Wijk (all 2026). Rapporteur report by Shourjo Aditya Chaudhuri and John Robertson.
We Must Pace the Frontier, by Dario Amodei (2026). Rapporteur report by Dhilan Shah.
The Basic AI Drives, by Stephen Omohundro (2008), and Optimal Policies Tend to Seek Power, by Turner, Smith, Shah, Critch, and Tadepalli (2023). Rapporteur report by Bill Zheng.
Corrigibility, by Soares, Fallenstein, Yudkowsky, and Armstrong (2015). Rapporteur report by Sukrut Chikodikar.
The Off-Switch Game, by Hadfield-Menell, Dragan, Abbeel, and Russell (2017). Rapporteur report by Praneel Seth.
Planting Undetectable Backdoors in Machine Learning Models, by Goldwasser, Kim, Vaikuntanathan, and Zamir (latest version 2024), and Oblivious Defense in ML Models: Backdoor Removal without Detection, by Goldwasser, Shafer, Vafa, and Vaikuntanathan (2025). Rapporteur report by Agrim Jain and Indira Dutta.
Backdoor Defense, Learnability, and Obfuscation by Christiano, Hilton, Lecomte, and Zhu (2024), and Unelicitable Backdoors in Language Models via Cryptographic Transformer Circuits, by Draguns et al. (2024). Rapporteur report by John Dunbar (coming).
Functional Decision Theory: A New Theory of Instrumental Rationality, by Eliezer Yudkowsky and Nate Soares (2018). Rapporteur report by Isaac Noel (coming).
Robust Cooperation In the Prisoner’s Dilemma: Program Equilibrium via Provability Logic, by Barasz, Christiano, Fallenstein, Herreshoff, LaVictoire, and Yudkowsky (latest version 2021). Rapporteur report by Shunan Zheng (coming).
Sleeper Agents: Training Deceptive LLMs that Persist Through Safety Training, by Hubinger et al. (long list of authors) (2024). Rapporteur report by Anthony Wang (coming).
Social Choice Should Guide AI Alignment in Dealing with Diverse Human Feedback, by Conitzer et al. (long list of authors) (2024) and Toward a Theory of Value in AI Alignment, by Ahmed, Birhane, Smart, Kay, Shrishak, and Tobin (2026). Rapporteur report by Priyanka Sadagopan (coming).
Claude’s Constitution, by Amanda Askell, Joe Carlsmith, Chris Olah, Jared Kaplan, Holden Karnofsky, et al. (2026). Rapporteur report by Alan Li (coming).
AI Safety via Debate, by Geoffrey Irving, Paul Christiano, and Dario Amodei (2018). Rapporteur report by Sampoorna Poria (coming).
Scalable AI Safety via Doubly-Efficient Debate, by Jonah Brown-Cohen, Geoffrey Irving, and Georgios Piliouras (2023). Rapporteur report by Aarushi Lakhi (coming).
AI as Normal Technology, by Arvind Narayanan and Sayash Kapoor (2025). Rapporteur report by Weixi Chen (coming).
On the Dangers of Stochastic Parrots, by Emily Bender, Timnit Gebru, Angelina McMillan-Major and Shmargaret Shmitchell (2021). Rapporteur report by George Tsoukalas (coming).

(More readings TBD, until the semester ends!)

Thanks to my TA, Lin Lin Lee, for her help in getting all of this together.

Update: I welcome elevated discussion of these papers and rapporteur reports in the comment section; some of the students might chime in too! Because of the connection to an academic class, though, in this post I’ll be especially ruthless in keeping out nonconstructive or off-topic comments.

By Scott

Monday, October 19 2026, 21:07

TR26-261 | Short Point Lists for CNFs and Stronger Constant-Depth Circuit Hardness | Xin Li, Yan Zhong

from ECCC Papers

We give a short-description decomposition of bounded-width CNFs. For every fixed $\varepsilon>0$, every width-$b$ CNF on $m$ variables is an exact disjoint union of at most $2^{\varepsilon m}$ width-$b$ CNFs, each determined by $2^{O_\varepsilon(b)}\log(m+1)$ satisfying assignments. For every fixed $d\ge3$, we prove a worst-case size lower bound of $2^{\Omega_d((n\log n)^{1/(d-1)})}$ against depth-at-most-$d$ unbounded-fan-in AND/OR circuits with input negations for three polynomial-time Boolean families: inverse trace over binary fields, the Goldreich--Tal trilinear function, and OpenAI's polynomial evaluator with its original parameters. All parameter bits count as inputs. For inverse trace, every such circuit of size at most $S$, where $n\le S\le2^{c_dn^{1/(d-1)}}$, has uniform sign correlation at most $2^{-\eta_dn\log\log S/(\log S)^{d-1}}$. Here $c_d,\eta_d>0$ depend only on $d$. This improves on the classical parity correlation bound. The lower bounds combine the decomposition with restriction arguments; the correlation bound additionally uses common partial decision trees. We also construct exact nonuniform AND/OR circuits for inverse trace of size $2^{O(n^{2/3})}$ at depth eight and $2^{O(\sqrt n\log n)}$ at depth nine. For every fixed integer $h\ge2$, the construction gives depth-$(4h+1)$ circuits of size $2^{O_h(n^{1/h}\log n)}$. The upper bounds implement finite-field evaluation and interpolation using circuits that enumerate intermediate states.

Monday, October 19 2026, 17:42

A Lower Bound for Approximate Agreement with Send Omissions

In approximate agreement, parties start with numerical inputs in $[0,1]$. Every nonfaulty party must terminate with an output in the input range, and their outputs must differ by less than a given $\epsilon>0$. Define the output span of an execution as the difference between the largest and smallest nonfaulty outputs. Approximate agreement requires this span to be less than $\epsilon$. We present a modern version of Fekete’s lower bound for...

By Ittai Abraham, Gilad Stern

In approximate agreement, parties start with numerical inputs in $[0,1]$. Every nonfaulty party must terminate with an output in the input range, and their outputs must differ by less than a given $\epsilon>0$. Define the output span of an execution as the difference between the largest and smallest nonfaulty outputs. Approximate agreement requires this span to be less than $\epsilon$. We present a modern version of Fekete’s lower bound for...

By Ittai Abraham, Gilad Stern

Monday, October 19 2026, 06:00

Electrostatic Limits on Quantum Spatial Search

Authors: Weikang Li

We prove that a quantum walker cannot search a two-dimensional lattice in Grover's $O(\sqrt N)$ time, resolving the long-standing open question posed by Aaronson and Ambainis in 2003. A walker that hops between neighbouring sites of an $L\times L$ lattice, $N=L^2$, needs $Ω(\sqrt{N\log N})$ local steps at least to find a marked vertex, even with unlimited memory and free queries. Hence, Tulsi's algorithm is asymptotically optimal. Our proof rests on a surprising correspondence with classical electrostatics. We treat the marked vertex as a point charge and weight the overlap between the walker's states with and without the mark by the potential drop, which vanishes where queries act. Only local steps change this weighted overlap, at a rate limited by the field energy, so the lower bound is set by the self-potential of the charge. In the plane this self-potential grows logarithmically with system size, like the Coulomb potential, leading to the extra root-logarithmic factor. Several marked vertices turn the charge into a conductor, and the lower bound depends on their arrangement through its capacitance.

Authors: Weikang Li

We prove that a quantum walker cannot search a two-dimensional lattice in Grover's $O(\sqrt N)$ time, resolving the long-standing open question posed by Aaronson and Ambainis in 2003. A walker that hops between neighbouring sites of an $L\times L$ lattice, $N=L^2$, needs $Ω(\sqrt{N\log N})$ local steps at least to find a marked vertex, even with unlimited memory and free queries. Hence, Tulsi's algorithm is asymptotically optimal. Our proof rests on a surprising correspondence with classical electrostatics. We treat the marked vertex as a point charge and weight the overlap between the walker's states with and without the mark by the potential drop, which vanishes where queries act. Only local steps change this weighted overlap, at a rate limited by the field energy, so the lower bound is set by the self-potential of the charge. In the plane this self-potential grows logarithmically with system size, like the Coulomb potential, leading to the extra root-logarithmic factor. Several marked vertices turn the charge into a conductor, and the lower bound depends on their arrangement through its capacitance.

Monday, October 19 2026, 00:00

Complexity of liveness in ring Petri nets and of halting in chip-firing on simple digraphs

Authors: Eike Best, Raymond Devillers, Petr Jančar, Matěj Ošťádal

A ring Petri net (weighted circuit, cyclic weighted T-system) consists of a single directed circuit with arbitrary positive arc weights. We show that deciding liveness of ring Petri nets is coNP-complete, and that coNP-hardness holds in the strong sense already for token-conserving rings, in which every transition consumes and produces the same number of tokens. The proof is a short reduction from the covering problem for systems of residue classes (the complement of Simultaneous Incongruences). Together with a known reduction to circuits, it follows that liveness of weighted T-systems (weighted marked graphs, synchronous dataflow graphs) is coNP-complete, and coNP-hard in the strong sense. As a further consequence, the halting problem for chip-firing on simple directed graphs is NP-complete, which answers a question of Farrell and Levine. On 7 October 2026, the problem of liveness was posed to the AI model Claude Opus 5.5 (Anthropic), which found the reduction, also suggesting the application to the chip-firing problem, and wrote a first version of this paper; the human authors checked it and, together with the model, revised it iteratively into the present form.

Authors: Eike Best, Raymond Devillers, Petr Jančar, Matěj Ošťádal

A ring Petri net (weighted circuit, cyclic weighted T-system) consists of a single directed circuit with arbitrary positive arc weights. We show that deciding liveness of ring Petri nets is coNP-complete, and that coNP-hardness holds in the strong sense already for token-conserving rings, in which every transition consumes and produces the same number of tokens. The proof is a short reduction from the covering problem for systems of residue classes (the complement of Simultaneous Incongruences). Together with a known reduction to circuits, it follows that liveness of weighted T-systems (weighted marked graphs, synchronous dataflow graphs) is coNP-complete, and coNP-hard in the strong sense. As a further consequence, the halting problem for chip-firing on simple directed graphs is NP-complete, which answers a question of Farrell and Levine. On 7 October 2026, the problem of liveness was posed to the AI model Claude Opus 5.5 (Anthropic), which found the reduction, also suggesting the application to the chip-firing problem, and wrote a first version of this paper; the human authors checked it and, together with the model, revised it iteratively into the present form.

Monday, October 19 2026, 00:00

The Strong Total Cover Problem

Authors: Manuel Aprile, Luca Ferrarini

The Strong Total Cover Problem (STCP) is a novel covering problem defined on a graph $G = (V, E)$, where the objective is to find a minimum-cardinality subset $T \subseteq V \cup E$ such that every element of $V \cup E$ is covered. In this setting, a vertex covers itself and all its incident edges, while an edge covers itself together with its two endpoints. The STCP resembles classical covering problems such as Vertex Cover and Edge Cover problems, and naturally arises as the dual of the total matching problem. In this paper, we investigate the STCP from algorithmic, complexity, and polyhedral perspectives. We first establish close connections between STCP, the Dominating Set Problem, and the Maximum Induced Matching Problem. These relationships provide structural insights, imply the NP-hardness of STCP, and identify graph classes for which the problem is polynomial-time solvable. We then investigate the weighted version of STCP, showing that it remains NP-hard even on complete graphs with binary weights. On the other hand, we present a 2-approximation algorithm, and a polynomial-time algorithm for complete bipartite graphs. On the polyhedral side, we introduce the Strong Total Cover Polytope and derive several families of valid inequalities, some of which are shown to define facets. Finally, we provide a complete linear description of the associated polytope for triangular cactus graphs, revealing an interesting contrast with the considerably more intricate facial structure of the dominating set polytope on cactus graphs.

Authors: Manuel Aprile, Luca Ferrarini

The Strong Total Cover Problem (STCP) is a novel covering problem defined on a graph $G = (V, E)$, where the objective is to find a minimum-cardinality subset $T \subseteq V \cup E$ such that every element of $V \cup E$ is covered. In this setting, a vertex covers itself and all its incident edges, while an edge covers itself together with its two endpoints. The STCP resembles classical covering problems such as Vertex Cover and Edge Cover problems, and naturally arises as the dual of the total matching problem. In this paper, we investigate the STCP from algorithmic, complexity, and polyhedral perspectives. We first establish close connections between STCP, the Dominating Set Problem, and the Maximum Induced Matching Problem. These relationships provide structural insights, imply the NP-hardness of STCP, and identify graph classes for which the problem is polynomial-time solvable. We then investigate the weighted version of STCP, showing that it remains NP-hard even on complete graphs with binary weights. On the other hand, we present a 2-approximation algorithm, and a polynomial-time algorithm for complete bipartite graphs. On the polyhedral side, we introduce the Strong Total Cover Polytope and derive several families of valid inequalities, some of which are shown to define facets. Finally, we provide a complete linear description of the associated polytope for triangular cactus graphs, revealing an interesting contrast with the considerably more intricate facial structure of the dominating set polytope on cactus graphs.

Monday, October 19 2026, 00:00

Unconditional Quantum PAC Learning Advantage in the Large Error Regime

Authors: Igor C. Oliveira

We establish an unconditional super-polynomial separation between quantum and classical PAC learning of Boolean functions under the uniform distribution in the large error regime. For every advantage $λ(n) = n^{-ω(1)}$, we construct a concept class that a polynomial-time quantum learner learns to agreement $1/2+λ(n)$ with success probability at least $1-1/n^k$. The learner uses only quantum random examples and outputs a polynomial-size deterministic classical circuit. In contrast, no polynomial-time classical learner achieves agreement $1/2 + λ(n)/n^k$ with success probability greater than $1/n^k$, even with membership queries. To achieve this, we develop a nearly-optimal quantum learner that uses quantum random examples to produce a hypothesis achieving a prescribed correlation with an arbitrary Boolean function. The learner generalizes Fourier sampling from parity hypotheses to quadratic hypotheses. While standard Fourier sampling is insensitive to the sign of the correlation, we use interference to bias sampling toward positively correlated hypotheses. This is combined with a careful analysis of the resulting distribution to boost both the learner's success probability and its agreement with the target function. We believe that the resulting quantum learning algorithm might be of independent interest. Finally, although a robust quantum PAC learning advantage holds unconditionally in the large error regime, we note that an analogous separation between quantum and classical learning in the small error regime would imply that $\mathsf{NP} \nsubseteq \mathsf{BPP}$.

Authors: Igor C. Oliveira

We establish an unconditional super-polynomial separation between quantum and classical PAC learning of Boolean functions under the uniform distribution in the large error regime. For every advantage $λ(n) = n^{-ω(1)}$, we construct a concept class that a polynomial-time quantum learner learns to agreement $1/2+λ(n)$ with success probability at least $1-1/n^k$. The learner uses only quantum random examples and outputs a polynomial-size deterministic classical circuit. In contrast, no polynomial-time classical learner achieves agreement $1/2 + λ(n)/n^k$ with success probability greater than $1/n^k$, even with membership queries. To achieve this, we develop a nearly-optimal quantum learner that uses quantum random examples to produce a hypothesis achieving a prescribed correlation with an arbitrary Boolean function. The learner generalizes Fourier sampling from parity hypotheses to quadratic hypotheses. While standard Fourier sampling is insensitive to the sign of the correlation, we use interference to bias sampling toward positively correlated hypotheses. This is combined with a careful analysis of the resulting distribution to boost both the learner's success probability and its agreement with the target function. We believe that the resulting quantum learning algorithm might be of independent interest. Finally, although a robust quantum PAC learning advantage holds unconditionally in the large error regime, we note that an analogous separation between quantum and classical learning in the small error regime would imply that $\mathsf{NP} \nsubseteq \mathsf{BPP}$.

Monday, October 19 2026, 00:00

Concrete Functions in Private Simultaneous Quantum Messages: Quantum Advantages and Structural Limitations

Authors: Harumichi Nishimura

Private simultaneous quantum messages (PSQM) provide a minimal model of noninteractive secure multiparty quantum computation, yet their communication complexity for concrete functions remains poorly understood. We show that familiar total functions already exhibit both genuine quantum advantages and strong structural limitations. For three-party equality on $n$-bit inputs, which determines whether the players' $n$-bit strings are identical, we construct an entanglement-assisted protocol with asymptotic communication $(1.633\ldots)n$ qubits, whereas every perfectly correct protocol without prior entanglement requires at least $3n$ qubits. For three-bit majority, one shared GHZ state and one transmitted qubit per player suffice for perfect correctness and perfect privacy, reducing the communication from the optimal classical cost of six bits to three qubits. Three-bit AND behaves differently. No perfectly correct and perfectly private protocol exists when the players share an arbitrary three-qubit state, apply arbitrary local unitary encodings, and transmit one qubit each. However, increasing the local dimension overcomes this obstruction: one shared three-qutrit GHZ state and one transmitted qutrit per player yield a one-shot protocol with total communication $3\log_2 3$. Together with the six-bit classical lower bound, this gives a strict quantum communication advantage. More generally, for every $k\geq 3$, we construct a perfectly correct and perfectly private one-shot protocol for $k$-bit AND using one qudit of dimension at most $k$ per player, and hence at most $k\log_2 k$ qubits in total.

Authors: Harumichi Nishimura

Private simultaneous quantum messages (PSQM) provide a minimal model of noninteractive secure multiparty quantum computation, yet their communication complexity for concrete functions remains poorly understood. We show that familiar total functions already exhibit both genuine quantum advantages and strong structural limitations. For three-party equality on $n$-bit inputs, which determines whether the players' $n$-bit strings are identical, we construct an entanglement-assisted protocol with asymptotic communication $(1.633\ldots)n$ qubits, whereas every perfectly correct protocol without prior entanglement requires at least $3n$ qubits. For three-bit majority, one shared GHZ state and one transmitted qubit per player suffice for perfect correctness and perfect privacy, reducing the communication from the optimal classical cost of six bits to three qubits. Three-bit AND behaves differently. No perfectly correct and perfectly private protocol exists when the players share an arbitrary three-qubit state, apply arbitrary local unitary encodings, and transmit one qubit each. However, increasing the local dimension overcomes this obstruction: one shared three-qutrit GHZ state and one transmitted qutrit per player yield a one-shot protocol with total communication $3\log_2 3$. Together with the six-bit classical lower bound, this gives a strict quantum communication advantage. More generally, for every $k\geq 3$, we construct a perfectly correct and perfectly private one-shot protocol for $k$-bit AND using one qudit of dimension at most $k$ per player, and hence at most $k\log_2 k$ qubits in total.

Monday, October 19 2026, 00:00

Puzznic is PSPACE-Complete

Authors: Jake Anderson, Lars Magnus Hvattum, András Z. Salamon

We prove that deciding solvability of Puzznic, a falling-block puzzle game originally developed by Taito, is PSPACE-complete. To show hardness we construct a self-closing door gadget using Puzznic's game mechanics. For membership, we show that the configuration space is exponentially bounded and apply Savitch's theorem. We also improve an existing NP-completeness proof for a simpler version of the game known as Cubic, showing that this game is NP-complete even when restricted to only two kinds of blocks.

Authors: Jake Anderson, Lars Magnus Hvattum, András Z. Salamon

We prove that deciding solvability of Puzznic, a falling-block puzzle game originally developed by Taito, is PSPACE-complete. To show hardness we construct a self-closing door gadget using Puzznic's game mechanics. For membership, we show that the configuration space is exponentially bounded and apply Savitch's theorem. We also improve an existing NP-completeness proof for a simpler version of the game known as Cubic, showing that this game is NP-complete even when restricted to only two kinds of blocks.

Monday, October 19 2026, 00:00

Revisiting separators in string graphs, region intersection graphs, and induced-minor-free graphs

Authors: James Davies, Paweł Rzążewski, Jack Spalding-Jamieson, Bartosz Walczak

String graphs are intersection graphs of continuous curves in the plane. In 2010, Fox and Pach proved that string graphs with $m$ edges admit balanced vertex separators of size $\mathcal{O}(m^{3/4}\sqrt{\log m})$ and conjectured that this bound can be improved to $\mathcal{O}(\sqrt{m})$, which would be optimal. After partial progress, Lee claimed in 2017 to prove this conjecture, and more generally to prove analogous separator theorems for region intersection graphs over minor-closed graph families. A key intermediate step in Lee's approach was a padded decomposition scheme for region intersection graphs. In 2024, Korhonen and Lokshtanov extended Lee's approach to the broader setting of graph classes excluding a fixed graph as an induced minor. These results have since found applications in a wide range of works. Later in 2024, a flaw was discovered in the construction of Lee's padded decomposition scheme, invalidating Lee's as well as Korhonen and Lokshtanov's separator results, and many works relying on them. In this work, we prove that string graphs with $m$ edges admit balanced separators of size $\mathcal{O}(\sqrt{m})$, and more generally obtain analogous $\mathcal{O}(\sqrt{m})$ bounds for region intersection graphs over fixed minor-closed graph families and for graphs excluding a fixed graph as an induced minor, thereby repairing the vast majority of the affected works. Furthermore, our balanced separators can be found in polynomial time. Our proof uses a different approach from Lee's and does not rely on padded decompositions. Since padded decompositions have also found applications independent of the separator theorems, particularly for string graphs, we also prove a padded decomposition result for region intersection graphs that is optimal for string graphs. We have formalized both the balanced separator and the padded decomposition results in Lean 4 with mathlib.

Authors: James Davies, Paweł Rzążewski, Jack Spalding-Jamieson, Bartosz Walczak

String graphs are intersection graphs of continuous curves in the plane. In 2010, Fox and Pach proved that string graphs with $m$ edges admit balanced vertex separators of size $\mathcal{O}(m^{3/4}\sqrt{\log m})$ and conjectured that this bound can be improved to $\mathcal{O}(\sqrt{m})$, which would be optimal. After partial progress, Lee claimed in 2017 to prove this conjecture, and more generally to prove analogous separator theorems for region intersection graphs over minor-closed graph families. A key intermediate step in Lee's approach was a padded decomposition scheme for region intersection graphs. In 2024, Korhonen and Lokshtanov extended Lee's approach to the broader setting of graph classes excluding a fixed graph as an induced minor. These results have since found applications in a wide range of works. Later in 2024, a flaw was discovered in the construction of Lee's padded decomposition scheme, invalidating Lee's as well as Korhonen and Lokshtanov's separator results, and many works relying on them. In this work, we prove that string graphs with $m$ edges admit balanced separators of size $\mathcal{O}(\sqrt{m})$, and more generally obtain analogous $\mathcal{O}(\sqrt{m})$ bounds for region intersection graphs over fixed minor-closed graph families and for graphs excluding a fixed graph as an induced minor, thereby repairing the vast majority of the affected works. Furthermore, our balanced separators can be found in polynomial time. Our proof uses a different approach from Lee's and does not rely on padded decompositions. Since padded decompositions have also found applications independent of the separator theorems, particularly for string graphs, we also prove a padded decomposition result for region intersection graphs that is optimal for string graphs. We have formalized both the balanced separator and the padded decomposition results in Lean 4 with mathlib.

Monday, October 19 2026, 00:00

Triangle Covers of Polygons: Approximation Algorithms and Complexity

Authors: Linda Kleist, Lena Scherzer

We study the geometric set cover problems of covering and partitioning a polygon into a minimum number of triangles. While the decision version of the covering problem is known to be APX-hard and $\exists\mathbb R$-complete (even for polygons without holes and vertices in general position), the computational complexity of partitioning a simple polygon into a minimum number of triangles is open. Our main result refutes a 40 year old conjecture by Asano, Asano, and Pinter stating that the triangle vertices of a minimum partition lie on intersection points of special lines, which are iteratively generated by the polygon vertices and the intersection points. In particular, we show that there exist polygons where all minimum triangle partitions need Steiner points with irrational coordinates. This indicates that the problem might be more complex than previously expected. Complementarily, we provide a simple constant factor approximation to compute a minimum triangle partition of a given polygon (possibly with holes). In the context of coverings, we devise the first constant factor approximation for computing a minimum triangle cover of a simple polygon. For general polygons, an $O(\log n)$-approximation follows by close inspection of previous work.

Authors: Linda Kleist, Lena Scherzer

We study the geometric set cover problems of covering and partitioning a polygon into a minimum number of triangles. While the decision version of the covering problem is known to be APX-hard and $\exists\mathbb R$-complete (even for polygons without holes and vertices in general position), the computational complexity of partitioning a simple polygon into a minimum number of triangles is open. Our main result refutes a 40 year old conjecture by Asano, Asano, and Pinter stating that the triangle vertices of a minimum partition lie on intersection points of special lines, which are iteratively generated by the polygon vertices and the intersection points. In particular, we show that there exist polygons where all minimum triangle partitions need Steiner points with irrational coordinates. This indicates that the problem might be more complex than previously expected. Complementarily, we provide a simple constant factor approximation to compute a minimum triangle partition of a given polygon (possibly with holes). In the context of coverings, we devise the first constant factor approximation for computing a minimum triangle cover of a simple polygon. For general polygons, an $O(\log n)$-approximation follows by close inspection of previous work.

Monday, October 19 2026, 00:00

Boundary Detection for High-Dimensional Point Clouds

Authors: Abigail Hickok, Valerio Galanti, Osama Al Dalahmah, Andrew J. Blumberg

We introduce two new methods for boundary detection in high-dimensional point cloud data, intended to work in situations with non-uniform density, high ambient dimension, and substantial noise. Our first method fits a separating hyperplane on local neighborhoods after doing local dimension reduction---this method works best when one can reliably estimate the intrinsic dimension of the data. Our second method measures the directional uniformity of local neighborhoods, and has the best overall performance on synthetic data. In addition to pointwise numerical boundary scores, our algorithms yield an estimated normal vector at each boundary point. We validate our methodology on synthetic data as well as two real examples: we analyze spatial transcriptomics data, where we show that we can detect the boundary of a tumor, and we also study LLM activation geometry.

Authors: Abigail Hickok, Valerio Galanti, Osama Al Dalahmah, Andrew J. Blumberg

We introduce two new methods for boundary detection in high-dimensional point cloud data, intended to work in situations with non-uniform density, high ambient dimension, and substantial noise. Our first method fits a separating hyperplane on local neighborhoods after doing local dimension reduction---this method works best when one can reliably estimate the intrinsic dimension of the data. Our second method measures the directional uniformity of local neighborhoods, and has the best overall performance on synthetic data. In addition to pointwise numerical boundary scores, our algorithms yield an estimated normal vector at each boundary point. We validate our methodology on synthetic data as well as two real examples: we analyze spatial transcriptomics data, where we show that we can detect the boundary of a tumor, and we also study LLM activation geometry.

Monday, October 19 2026, 00:00

Visibility Sets, Empty Pentagons, and Sufficient Conditions for Hexagons

Authors: Carlos M. Nicolas

Given a set $S$ of $n$ points in general position in the plane, we define the $C$-set $C(p,q)$ of an oriented edge $(p,q)$ as the set of extreme points of the visibility set $V(p,q)$ facing $(p,q)$. Since every point of $V(p,q)$ that is not in $C(p,q)$ gives rise to an empty convex pentagon having $(p,q)$ as a boundary edge, it is natural to study the properties of $C$-sets in order to bound the number of empty convex pentagons of $S$. We prove tight bounds on the intersection size and union complexity of $C$-sets sharing an endpoint. We also consider the problem of bounding the number of empty pentagons and hexagons in terms of the number of interior and boundary points of $S$. While the hexagon bound is weak, it offers a potential step toward a superlinear lower bound. On the other hand, the two-parameter bound for pentagons, combined with the structural results on $C$-sets, yields a simple proof of an $Ω(n^{3/2})$ bound for the number of pentagons. While this is a significant improvement over previously published bounds, a recent preprint \cite{Astudillo2026} attains a better bound using completely different methods. Thus, the primary contribution of this paper lies in the structural results about $C$-sets and the two-parameter bounds for empty pentagons and hexagons.

Authors: Carlos M. Nicolas

Given a set $S$ of $n$ points in general position in the plane, we define the $C$-set $C(p,q)$ of an oriented edge $(p,q)$ as the set of extreme points of the visibility set $V(p,q)$ facing $(p,q)$. Since every point of $V(p,q)$ that is not in $C(p,q)$ gives rise to an empty convex pentagon having $(p,q)$ as a boundary edge, it is natural to study the properties of $C$-sets in order to bound the number of empty convex pentagons of $S$. We prove tight bounds on the intersection size and union complexity of $C$-sets sharing an endpoint. We also consider the problem of bounding the number of empty pentagons and hexagons in terms of the number of interior and boundary points of $S$. While the hexagon bound is weak, it offers a potential step toward a superlinear lower bound. On the other hand, the two-parameter bound for pentagons, combined with the structural results on $C$-sets, yields a simple proof of an $Ω(n^{3/2})$ bound for the number of pentagons. While this is a significant improvement over previously published bounds, a recent preprint \cite{Astudillo2026} attains a better bound using completely different methods. Thus, the primary contribution of this paper lies in the structural results about $C$-sets and the two-parameter bounds for empty pentagons and hexagons.

Monday, October 19 2026, 00:00

Online geometric matching and segments block points

Authors: Yaqiao Li, Junyi Lin

Given a sequence of online points in general position in the plane, the geometric matching problem asks to match as many points as possible, subject to segment crossing constraints. We initiate the study of online geometric matching with limited crosses. In the $k$-crossing model each matched segment is allowed to have at most $k$ crosses, where $k=0$ corresponds to the online noncrossing matching model for which Bose et al. proved that Greedy is an optimal deterministic algorithm achieving a competitive ratio of $2/3$. In the triangle-free-crossing model no three matched segments are allowed to pairwise cross each other. Interestingly, we show in both cases the performance of Greedy does not improve by allowing crosses, and in fact, becomes worse in the $k$-crossing setting for $k\ge 1$. In the triangle-free-crossing model, we propose a simple two-layer-Greedy deterministic algorithm achieving a competitive ratio $4/5$. More interestingly, we propose and study the underlying segments blocking points extremal problem, and discuss its connection to vertex cover numbers and Ramsey numbers, with interesting open problems that might be of independent interest. We revisit the noncrossing model. We give a randomized algorithm which is an asymmetric version of Kamali et al., improving the competitive ratio from $0.66952$ to $0.67034$. We also show, via a conceptually simple construction, that no randomized algorithm can match more than $6/7$ fraction of points, improving the previous $16/17$ by Boyar et al.

Authors: Yaqiao Li, Junyi Lin

Given a sequence of online points in general position in the plane, the geometric matching problem asks to match as many points as possible, subject to segment crossing constraints. We initiate the study of online geometric matching with limited crosses. In the $k$-crossing model each matched segment is allowed to have at most $k$ crosses, where $k=0$ corresponds to the online noncrossing matching model for which Bose et al. proved that Greedy is an optimal deterministic algorithm achieving a competitive ratio of $2/3$. In the triangle-free-crossing model no three matched segments are allowed to pairwise cross each other. Interestingly, we show in both cases the performance of Greedy does not improve by allowing crosses, and in fact, becomes worse in the $k$-crossing setting for $k\ge 1$. In the triangle-free-crossing model, we propose a simple two-layer-Greedy deterministic algorithm achieving a competitive ratio $4/5$. More interestingly, we propose and study the underlying segments blocking points extremal problem, and discuss its connection to vertex cover numbers and Ramsey numbers, with interesting open problems that might be of independent interest. We revisit the noncrossing model. We give a randomized algorithm which is an asymmetric version of Kamali et al., improving the competitive ratio from $0.66952$ to $0.67034$. We also show, via a conceptually simple construction, that no randomized algorithm can match more than $6/7$ fraction of points, improving the previous $16/17$ by Boyar et al.

Monday, October 19 2026, 00:00

Online Graph Coloring with Random Arrivals

Authors: Hirotaka Yoneda, Masataka Yoneda

We study online graph coloring in the random-arrival model, where the vertices are presented in a uniformly random order. Assuming $n$ and $k$ are known in advance, we present a randomized exponential-time algorithm that colors any $k$-colorable graph on $n$ vertices with $O(k^3 \log^2 k \log^4 n)$ colors in expectation. This is the first online coloring algorithm that uses a polylogarithmic number of colors for all fixed $k \geq 3$, and is better than a known lower bound of $Ω(\log^{k-1} n)$ colors under adversarial arrivals for all fixed $k \geq 6$. In addition, assuming $n$ is known in advance, we obtain a competitive ratio of $\widetilde{O}(n^{2/3})$. For comparison, it is known to be NP-hard to approximate (offline) graph coloring within a factor of $n^{1-\varepsilon}$ for all fixed $\varepsilon > 0$. Therefore, our exponential-time online algorithm achieves a performance guarantee beyond the NP-hardness threshold for polynomial-time approximation algorithms.

Authors: Hirotaka Yoneda, Masataka Yoneda

We study online graph coloring in the random-arrival model, where the vertices are presented in a uniformly random order. Assuming $n$ and $k$ are known in advance, we present a randomized exponential-time algorithm that colors any $k$-colorable graph on $n$ vertices with $O(k^3 \log^2 k \log^4 n)$ colors in expectation. This is the first online coloring algorithm that uses a polylogarithmic number of colors for all fixed $k \geq 3$, and is better than a known lower bound of $Ω(\log^{k-1} n)$ colors under adversarial arrivals for all fixed $k \geq 6$. In addition, assuming $n$ is known in advance, we obtain a competitive ratio of $\widetilde{O}(n^{2/3})$. For comparison, it is known to be NP-hard to approximate (offline) graph coloring within a factor of $n^{1-\varepsilon}$ for all fixed $\varepsilon > 0$. Therefore, our exponential-time online algorithm achieves a performance guarantee beyond the NP-hardness threshold for polynomial-time approximation algorithms.

Monday, October 19 2026, 00:00

Rapid mixing within a phase for Ising models

Authors: Vasyl Paliy, Youngtak Sohn

We study Glauber dynamics for Ising measures conditioned to have a sufficiently large majority of $+1$ spins. Under a sparse spectral width condition on the interaction matrix, we derive a Poincaré inequality for the conditioned measures from a magnetization drift condition, and a modified logarithmic Sobolev inequality from a stronger, entropy weighted condition. As applications, we obtain approximate posterior sampling in total variation distance for $\mathbb{Z}_2$ synchronization at high enough signal-to-noise ratio using $O(n\log n)$ Glauber updates from a spectral initialization. For ferromagnetic Ising models on random $d$-regular graphs, we prove rapid phase ordering down to inverse temperatures of order $1/d$, extending the temperature range of Gheissari, Sly, and Sohn (2025). Finally, we extend these inequalities to unconditioned Ising measures under an inward drift condition outside the conditioned region. This yields $O(n\log n)$ mixing of Glauber dynamics for the Sherrington-Kirkpatrick model at every fixed inverse temperature when the external field is sufficiently large.

Authors: Vasyl Paliy, Youngtak Sohn

We study Glauber dynamics for Ising measures conditioned to have a sufficiently large majority of $+1$ spins. Under a sparse spectral width condition on the interaction matrix, we derive a Poincaré inequality for the conditioned measures from a magnetization drift condition, and a modified logarithmic Sobolev inequality from a stronger, entropy weighted condition. As applications, we obtain approximate posterior sampling in total variation distance for $\mathbb{Z}_2$ synchronization at high enough signal-to-noise ratio using $O(n\log n)$ Glauber updates from a spectral initialization. For ferromagnetic Ising models on random $d$-regular graphs, we prove rapid phase ordering down to inverse temperatures of order $1/d$, extending the temperature range of Gheissari, Sly, and Sohn (2025). Finally, we extend these inequalities to unconditioned Ising measures under an inward drift condition outside the conditioned region. This yields $O(n\log n)$ mixing of Glauber dynamics for the Sherrington-Kirkpatrick model at every fixed inverse temperature when the external field is sufficiently large.

Monday, October 19 2026, 00:00

Polytope Sampling at the Speed of Isoperimetry

Authors: Anming Gu, Bobby Shi, Kevin Tian, Hubert Yang

We give faster algorithms for sampling from the uniform distribution over a polytope. Our main result is an algorithm that, when applied to a polytope with $m$ constraints in $n$ dimensions, uses $m \cdot \mathrm{poly}\log(\frac m δ)$ iterations, each running in time $O(mn^{ω- 1})$, to return a sample within total variation distance $δ$ to the uniform distribution. When $m =O(n)$ and $δ= \mathrm{poly}(\frac 1 n)$, our runtime improves upon all prior works by an $Ω(n^{2/3})$ factor. Our sampler is based on the recent \emph{functional stochastic localization} framework of [GST26], and achieves an iteration count nearly matching the Poincaré constant of the uniform distribution with respect to the logarithmic barrier.

Authors: Anming Gu, Bobby Shi, Kevin Tian, Hubert Yang

We give faster algorithms for sampling from the uniform distribution over a polytope. Our main result is an algorithm that, when applied to a polytope with $m$ constraints in $n$ dimensions, uses $m \cdot \mathrm{poly}\log(\frac m δ)$ iterations, each running in time $O(mn^{ω- 1})$, to return a sample within total variation distance $δ$ to the uniform distribution. When $m =O(n)$ and $δ= \mathrm{poly}(\frac 1 n)$, our runtime improves upon all prior works by an $Ω(n^{2/3})$ factor. Our sampler is based on the recent \emph{functional stochastic localization} framework of [GST26], and achieves an iteration count nearly matching the Poincaré constant of the uniform distribution with respect to the logarithmic barrier.

Monday, October 19 2026, 00:00

Dynamic Load Balancing under Restricting Updates

Authors: Aaron Bernstein, Sayan Bhattacharya, Peter Kiss, Thatchaphol Saranurak

We study the problem of load balancing in the dynamic setting. The input is a bipartite graph $G = (J \cup M, E)$ of jobs $J$ and machines $M$. Every job has a positive weight $w(j)$. The goal is to assign every job in $J$ to an adjacent machine in $M$ so as to minimize the maximum machine load, where the load of a machine is the sum of the weights of the jobs assigned to it. Although load balancing has been studied extensively in many models of computation, the only previous result in the dynamic model addresses the \emph{incremental} setting, where updates take the form of edge insertions and job deletions [BKS23b]. The authors show a $(1+ε)$-approximation for incremental \emph{fractional} load balancing with $\text{poly}(\log(n),1/ε)$ update time; they point out that their techniques do not extend to the decremental setting. Main Result: We obtain an algorithm which maintains a $(1+ε)$-approximate solution to the fractional load balancing problem under edge deletions and job insertions in $\tilde{O}(\log (n), 1/ε)$ update time. Our techniques are very different from those of the incremental algorithm of [BKS23b]. Instead, our algorithm is inspired by a load-balancing algorithm from the {\sc congest} model of computation [ALPZ21]. We develop a novel analytic framework for this algorithm, which allows us to show that it performs well in the dynamic setting. Rounding Scheme: We also present a black-box rounding scheme for dynamic load balancing. Plugging in our fractional algorithm, we obtain a decremental algorithm for $(2+ε)$-approximate \emph{integral} load balancing with $\text{poly}(\log(n),1/ε)$ update time. We also obtain the same bounds for incremental load balancing by plugging in the fractional algorithm of [BKS23b].

Authors: Aaron Bernstein, Sayan Bhattacharya, Peter Kiss, Thatchaphol Saranurak

We study the problem of load balancing in the dynamic setting. The input is a bipartite graph $G = (J \cup M, E)$ of jobs $J$ and machines $M$. Every job has a positive weight $w(j)$. The goal is to assign every job in $J$ to an adjacent machine in $M$ so as to minimize the maximum machine load, where the load of a machine is the sum of the weights of the jobs assigned to it. Although load balancing has been studied extensively in many models of computation, the only previous result in the dynamic model addresses the \emph{incremental} setting, where updates take the form of edge insertions and job deletions [BKS23b]. The authors show a $(1+ε)$-approximation for incremental \emph{fractional} load balancing with $\text{poly}(\log(n),1/ε)$ update time; they point out that their techniques do not extend to the decremental setting. Main Result: We obtain an algorithm which maintains a $(1+ε)$-approximate solution to the fractional load balancing problem under edge deletions and job insertions in $\tilde{O}(\log (n), 1/ε)$ update time. Our techniques are very different from those of the incremental algorithm of [BKS23b]. Instead, our algorithm is inspired by a load-balancing algorithm from the {\sc congest} model of computation [ALPZ21]. We develop a novel analytic framework for this algorithm, which allows us to show that it performs well in the dynamic setting. Rounding Scheme: We also present a black-box rounding scheme for dynamic load balancing. Plugging in our fractional algorithm, we obtain a decremental algorithm for $(2+ε)$-approximate \emph{integral} load balancing with $\text{poly}(\log(n),1/ε)$ update time. We also obtain the same bounds for incremental load balancing by plugging in the fractional algorithm of [BKS23b].

Monday, October 19 2026, 00:00

Approximating the Girth of an Undirected, Weighted Graph for Larger Approximation Factors

Authors: Eliyahu Yablon

The girth of a weighted undirected graph is defined as the length of a shortest cycle in the graph. In this paper, we give a randomized $O\left(m^{1+2/(k-1)} n^{1/(k-1)}\right)$ algorithm to approximate the girth of a graph with $n$ vertices and $m$ edges to within a factor of $k$ for any real $k$. We assume that all edge weights are non-negative. For sufficiently high approximation factors, our algorithm outperforms the state of the art by polylogarithmic factors. Specifically, for approximation factors $k = c\frac{\log n}{\log \log n}$ where $c>5$, our algorithm gives a runtime of $O\left(m (\log n)^{5/c}\right)$, while instantiating the previous best $k$-approximation algorithms with $k = c\frac{\log n}{\log \log n}$ yields a running time of $O\left( \frac{cn (\log n)^{2 + 4/(3c)} }{\log \log n} + m\log n\right)$ (Kadria, Roditty, and Vassilevska Williams, arXiv:2607.00938). Furthermore, the algorithm presented here is conceptually simple, has relatively small constants, eschews single-source shortest path and sparse spanner algorithms, and employs a new technique, which we call ``random filtering.'' That being said, the basic algorithm returns only a numerical estimate for the girth, rather than a witness cycle.

Authors: Eliyahu Yablon

The girth of a weighted undirected graph is defined as the length of a shortest cycle in the graph. In this paper, we give a randomized $O\left(m^{1+2/(k-1)} n^{1/(k-1)}\right)$ algorithm to approximate the girth of a graph with $n$ vertices and $m$ edges to within a factor of $k$ for any real $k$. We assume that all edge weights are non-negative. For sufficiently high approximation factors, our algorithm outperforms the state of the art by polylogarithmic factors. Specifically, for approximation factors $k = c\frac{\log n}{\log \log n}$ where $c>5$, our algorithm gives a runtime of $O\left(m (\log n)^{5/c}\right)$, while instantiating the previous best $k$-approximation algorithms with $k = c\frac{\log n}{\log \log n}$ yields a running time of $O\left( \frac{cn (\log n)^{2 + 4/(3c)} }{\log \log n} + m\log n\right)$ (Kadria, Roditty, and Vassilevska Williams, arXiv:2607.00938). Furthermore, the algorithm presented here is conceptually simple, has relatively small constants, eschews single-source shortest path and sparse spanner algorithms, and employs a new technique, which we call ``random filtering.'' That being said, the basic algorithm returns only a numerical estimate for the girth, rather than a witness cycle.

Monday, October 19 2026, 00:00

Deterministic Global Minimum Cut Using $\tilde{O}(n^{3/2})$ Cut Queries

Authors: Yotam Kenneth-Mordoch

Finding a global minimum cut in an unweighted graph is a fundamental task in the cut-query model. While there exists a randomized algorithm for this task using $\tilde O(n)$ queries, known deterministic algorithms use $\tilde{O}(n^{5/3})$ queries. We improve upon this result and give a simple deterministic algorithm that finds a global minimum cut using $\tilde O(\min\left\{ nδ,n^2/δ\right\})$ cut queries, which equals $\tilde{O}(n^{3/2})$ in the worst case, where $δ$ is the minimum degree of the graph. The key ingredient in our approach is an efficient maximum $s,t$-flow algorithm, for the case when the minimum $s,t$-cut has value at most $δ$.

Authors: Yotam Kenneth-Mordoch

Finding a global minimum cut in an unweighted graph is a fundamental task in the cut-query model. While there exists a randomized algorithm for this task using $\tilde O(n)$ queries, known deterministic algorithms use $\tilde{O}(n^{5/3})$ queries. We improve upon this result and give a simple deterministic algorithm that finds a global minimum cut using $\tilde O(\min\left\{ nδ,n^2/δ\right\})$ cut queries, which equals $\tilde{O}(n^{3/2})$ in the worst case, where $δ$ is the minimum degree of the graph. The key ingredient in our approach is an efficient maximum $s,t$-flow algorithm, for the case when the minimum $s,t$-cut has value at most $δ$.

Monday, October 19 2026, 00:00

Power of Conditional Sampling on Hypergraphs

Authors: Debarshi Chanda, Buddha Dev Das, Arijit Ghosh, Gopinath Mishra

Let $G=(V,E)$ be a $d$-uniform hypergraph with $|V|=n$ and $|E|=m$. Estimating $m$ from uniformly random hyperedge samples requires $Θ(\sqrt{m})$ samples by a birthday-paradox argument. We investigate the power of conditional sampling through a hierarchy of oracles: for an integer $1\le s\le d$, given pairwise disjoint subsets $X_1,\ldots,X_s\subseteq V$, the $s$-colorful oracle returns a hyperedge chosen uniformly at random from all hyperedges contained in $X_1\cup\cdots\cup X_s$ that intersect every $X_i$, provided one exists. For $s=1$, this samples a uniformly random hyperedge induced by $X_1$. For every $1\le s\le d$, we give a randomized algorithm that outputs $\widehat{m}\in[(1-\varepsilon)m,(1+\varepsilon)m]$ with probability at least $2/3$ using $O_{s,d}(\operatorname{poly}(1/\varepsilon,\log n))$ conditional samples, where the exponent of $\log n$ is an absolute constant independent of both $s$ and $d$. Conditional sampling thus yields an exponential separation over uniform hyperedge sampling. We also study the decision version, in which the oracle only reports whether a qualifying hyperedge exists. For every $1\le s

Authors: Debarshi Chanda, Buddha Dev Das, Arijit Ghosh, Gopinath Mishra

Let $G=(V,E)$ be a $d$-uniform hypergraph with $|V|=n$ and $|E|=m$. Estimating $m$ from uniformly random hyperedge samples requires $Θ(\sqrt{m})$ samples by a birthday-paradox argument. We investigate the power of conditional sampling through a hierarchy of oracles: for an integer $1\le s\le d$, given pairwise disjoint subsets $X_1,\ldots,X_s\subseteq V$, the $s$-colorful oracle returns a hyperedge chosen uniformly at random from all hyperedges contained in $X_1\cup\cdots\cup X_s$ that intersect every $X_i$, provided one exists. For $s=1$, this samples a uniformly random hyperedge induced by $X_1$. For every $1\le s\le d$, we give a randomized algorithm that outputs $\widehat{m}\in[(1-\varepsilon)m,(1+\varepsilon)m]$ with probability at least $2/3$ using $O_{s,d}(\operatorname{poly}(1/\varepsilon,\log n))$ conditional samples, where the exponent of $\log n$ is an absolute constant independent of both $s$ and $d$. Conditional sampling thus yields an exponential separation over uniform hyperedge sampling. We also study the decision version, in which the oracle only reports whether a qualifying hyperedge exists. For every $1\le s

Monday, October 19 2026, 00:00

Simpler Algorithms for Capacitated $k$-Median with $(1 + ε)$-Violations Using New Inequalities

Authors: Han Dai, Shi Li

We revisit the capacitated $k$-median problem, focusing on constant-factor approximation algorithms with either $(1+ε)$-cardinality or capacity violations. Previous results [DemirciL16, Li16} achieve an $O_ε(1)$-approximation with $(1+ε)$-violations via complex extended configuration linear programming formulations with the round-or-cut framework. We propose a simpler, unified round-or-cut framework that handles both cardinality and capacity violation settings. Our main technical contribution is a mechanism that directly utilizes the costs of local instances to generate valid inequalities. Specifically, we partition the metric space into local pieces of size $O(1/ε)$ as in previous work, and construct instances of capacitated clustering with penalties, which allow client demands to be unserved at a penalty cost. Solving these local instances yields lower bounds on the original LP cost, yielding valid LP constraints. In contrast, previous approaches rely on complex extended configuration LPs over connection variables $x_{ij}$'s and opening variables $y_i$'s. As a secondary contribution, our approach achieves an improved running time of $\text{poly}(n, 1/ε)$, bypassing the exponential dependence on $1/ε$ required to solve the previous extended configuration LPs. Instead of solving the local instances optimally in time exponential in $1/ε$, we obtain $O(1/ε)$-approximate solutions in $\text{poly}(n, 1/ε)$ time. Finally, for the cardinality-violation setting, our algorithm opens a set of at most $(1+ε)k$ $\textit{distinct}$ facilities, and thus gives a bicriteria approximation in the $\textit{hard-capacitated}$ setting. In contrast, the algorithm of [Li16] may open the same facility multiple times.

Authors: Han Dai, Shi Li

We revisit the capacitated $k$-median problem, focusing on constant-factor approximation algorithms with either $(1+ε)$-cardinality or capacity violations. Previous results [DemirciL16, Li16} achieve an $O_ε(1)$-approximation with $(1+ε)$-violations via complex extended configuration linear programming formulations with the round-or-cut framework. We propose a simpler, unified round-or-cut framework that handles both cardinality and capacity violation settings. Our main technical contribution is a mechanism that directly utilizes the costs of local instances to generate valid inequalities. Specifically, we partition the metric space into local pieces of size $O(1/ε)$ as in previous work, and construct instances of capacitated clustering with penalties, which allow client demands to be unserved at a penalty cost. Solving these local instances yields lower bounds on the original LP cost, yielding valid LP constraints. In contrast, previous approaches rely on complex extended configuration LPs over connection variables $x_{ij}$'s and opening variables $y_i$'s. As a secondary contribution, our approach achieves an improved running time of $\text{poly}(n, 1/ε)$, bypassing the exponential dependence on $1/ε$ required to solve the previous extended configuration LPs. Instead of solving the local instances optimally in time exponential in $1/ε$, we obtain $O(1/ε)$-approximate solutions in $\text{poly}(n, 1/ε)$ time. Finally, for the cardinality-violation setting, our algorithm opens a set of at most $(1+ε)k$ $\textit{distinct}$ facilities, and thus gives a bicriteria approximation in the $\textit{hard-capacitated}$ setting. In contrast, the algorithm of [Li16] may open the same facility multiple times.

Monday, October 19 2026, 00:00

Peak-Memory Schedules You Can Trust: Exact Realization, Certified Optimality, and the Limits of Recomputation for Inference

Authors: Ivan Fomin, Ivan Koryabkin, Boris Sheludko

Real-time inference on small devices needs low activation memory without extra latency, which makes operator order the most valuable memory lever: it is free in time. We show that the usual way of deploying a better order, handing it back to the compiler and regenerating code, is unreliable. In PyTorch Inductor the regenerated program misses its predicted peak in 22 of 54 CPU configurations. It is worse than the stock program in 9 of them and in 19 of 50 on a GPU, and on the GPU it also changes numerical results. We instead profile the generated program, model its memory exactly from its own statements and their read/write effects, and permute those statements. We prove that this realizes the modeled peak whenever allocation does not depend on history. It does so to the byte, with bitwise-identical results, in all our CPU runs. On the GPU we characterize why the caching allocator breaks the condition. To know when to stop, we give forward and reverse "trap" lower bounds, each computable with $O(n^2)$ minimum cuts. They certify the found order optimal for 94% of held-out wrapper graphs and all 16 microcontroller-class models we study, in under a second. So most inference graphs are already scheduled optimally. Branching networks are the exception, where reordering is free and pays, e.g. 10.0% on DeepLabV3. In compiled training we save up to 7.6%. Beyond the certified optimum we study selective recomputation with per-operator caps. It is strongly NP-hard for every fixed cap even at treewidth two, encodes knapsack exactly on series-parallel graphs, and is solvable exactly on bounded treewidth. It is useless on public tiny models whose peak is a single layer, but on architectures that hold a cheap value for a late reuse it pays: on the public ReDimNet speaker networks, whose order is already optimal, it lowers the peak by 5.2-6.1% at under 0.4% extra MACs, with bitwise-identical outputs.

Authors: Ivan Fomin, Ivan Koryabkin, Boris Sheludko

Real-time inference on small devices needs low activation memory without extra latency, which makes operator order the most valuable memory lever: it is free in time. We show that the usual way of deploying a better order, handing it back to the compiler and regenerating code, is unreliable. In PyTorch Inductor the regenerated program misses its predicted peak in 22 of 54 CPU configurations. It is worse than the stock program in 9 of them and in 19 of 50 on a GPU, and on the GPU it also changes numerical results. We instead profile the generated program, model its memory exactly from its own statements and their read/write effects, and permute those statements. We prove that this realizes the modeled peak whenever allocation does not depend on history. It does so to the byte, with bitwise-identical results, in all our CPU runs. On the GPU we characterize why the caching allocator breaks the condition. To know when to stop, we give forward and reverse "trap" lower bounds, each computable with $O(n^2)$ minimum cuts. They certify the found order optimal for 94% of held-out wrapper graphs and all 16 microcontroller-class models we study, in under a second. So most inference graphs are already scheduled optimally. Branching networks are the exception, where reordering is free and pays, e.g. 10.0% on DeepLabV3. In compiled training we save up to 7.6%. Beyond the certified optimum we study selective recomputation with per-operator caps. It is strongly NP-hard for every fixed cap even at treewidth two, encodes knapsack exactly on series-parallel graphs, and is solvable exactly on bounded treewidth. It is useless on public tiny models whose peak is a single layer, but on architectures that hold a cheap value for a late reuse it pays: on the public ReDimNet speaker networks, whose order is already optimal, it lowers the peak by 5.2-6.1% at under 0.4% extra MACs, with bitwise-identical outputs.

Monday, October 19 2026, 00:00

Critical-state algorithms for lot sizing with all-units discounts and variable inventory bounds

Authors: Kleitos Papadopoulos

We study deterministic single-item lot sizing with all-units quantity discounts, linear holding costs, and time-varying end-of-period inventory bounds. Unit prices may vary arbitrarily over time. For one common positive discount threshold, we give an exact algorithm requiring $O(n^3)$ arithmetic operations and $O(n^2)$ working space, including recovery of an optimal purchase plan. The method combines a critical-state theorem in cumulative-purchase coordinates with two prefix-minimum scans per dynamic-programming layer. The structural argument accommodates downward price discontinuities and distinguishes prescribed from free terminal inventory. With a fixed global set of $m$ positive threshold values, the bounds become $O_m(n^{m+2})$ time and $O_m(n^{m+1})$ space. Period-specific thresholds admit the same exact construction, but its state set can be exponential. For commensurate flow data, an inventory-lattice implementation takes $O(PW)$ time, where $P$ is the total number of price tiers and $W$ is the largest inventory-lattice width. We also derive a conditional optimality certificate from a monotone one-threshold relaxation; this certificate does not imply a near-linear worst-case algorithm for arbitrary prices. Exact-arithmetic implementations are checked against exhaustive inventory dynamic programs and tier-enumeration linear programs. An illustrative timing study identifies settings in which the lattice implementation is preferable.

Authors: Kleitos Papadopoulos

We study deterministic single-item lot sizing with all-units quantity discounts, linear holding costs, and time-varying end-of-period inventory bounds. Unit prices may vary arbitrarily over time. For one common positive discount threshold, we give an exact algorithm requiring $O(n^3)$ arithmetic operations and $O(n^2)$ working space, including recovery of an optimal purchase plan. The method combines a critical-state theorem in cumulative-purchase coordinates with two prefix-minimum scans per dynamic-programming layer. The structural argument accommodates downward price discontinuities and distinguishes prescribed from free terminal inventory. With a fixed global set of $m$ positive threshold values, the bounds become $O_m(n^{m+2})$ time and $O_m(n^{m+1})$ space. Period-specific thresholds admit the same exact construction, but its state set can be exponential. For commensurate flow data, an inventory-lattice implementation takes $O(PW)$ time, where $P$ is the total number of price tiers and $W$ is the largest inventory-lattice width. We also derive a conditional optimality certificate from a monotone one-threshold relaxation; this certificate does not imply a near-linear worst-case algorithm for arbitrary prices. Exact-arithmetic implementations are checked against exhaustive inventory dynamic programs and tier-enumeration linear programs. An illustrative timing study identifies settings in which the lattice implementation is preferable.

Monday, October 19 2026, 00:00

On the Metric Distortion of the Minimum Spanning Tree Problem

Authors: Kian Ghassemi, Masoud Seddighin, Saeed Seddighin

We study the metric distortion of the minimum spanning tree (MST) problem when numerical edge weights are unavailable and each vertex reports only a ranking of the other vertices induced by these weights. We first show, through a simple example, that without assumptions on the weights, no ordinal algorithm guarantees a finite approximation ratio. We therefore focus on general metrics and present a Borůvka-inspired algorithm using only ordinal comparisons that achieves distortion $O(\log n)$. We complement this result by showing that, for every $\varepsilon>0$, no deterministic ordinal algorithm guarantees distortion at most $3/2-\varepsilon$ on all finite metric instances. We then investigate more informative settings in pursuit of constant distortion, first considering two well-studied metric classes. For tree metrics realized on the given vertex set, a more careful variant of our initial algorithm achieves distortion~$1$, recovering an optimal MST from ordinal information alone. For the broad class of doubling metrics, a different algorithm based on \emph{endpoint cut stability} achieves distortion $2^{O(D)}$, where $D$ is the doubling dimension; this is constant for fixed $D$, independently of $n$. Finally, we study a query-based extension allowing comparisons between two edge lengths without revealing their numerical values. For general metrics with $n\geq2$, fewer than $n$ edge-comparison queries suffice to achieve distortion at most $2\log_2^* n-1$, which is near-constant even for very large inputs.

Authors: Kian Ghassemi, Masoud Seddighin, Saeed Seddighin

We study the metric distortion of the minimum spanning tree (MST) problem when numerical edge weights are unavailable and each vertex reports only a ranking of the other vertices induced by these weights. We first show, through a simple example, that without assumptions on the weights, no ordinal algorithm guarantees a finite approximation ratio. We therefore focus on general metrics and present a Borůvka-inspired algorithm using only ordinal comparisons that achieves distortion $O(\log n)$. We complement this result by showing that, for every $\varepsilon>0$, no deterministic ordinal algorithm guarantees distortion at most $3/2-\varepsilon$ on all finite metric instances. We then investigate more informative settings in pursuit of constant distortion, first considering two well-studied metric classes. For tree metrics realized on the given vertex set, a more careful variant of our initial algorithm achieves distortion~$1$, recovering an optimal MST from ordinal information alone. For the broad class of doubling metrics, a different algorithm based on \emph{endpoint cut stability} achieves distortion $2^{O(D)}$, where $D$ is the doubling dimension; this is constant for fixed $D$, independently of $n$. Finally, we study a query-based extension allowing comparisons between two edge lengths without revealing their numerical values. For general metrics with $n\geq2$, fewer than $n$ edge-comparison queries suffice to achieve distortion at most $2\log_2^* n-1$, which is near-constant even for very large inputs.

Monday, October 19 2026, 00:00

Competitive Online Clustering with Movement Cost

Authors: Christian Coester, Yichen Huang, Michael Mitzenmacher

We study the problem of online clustering with movement cost, which generalizes the fundamental $k$-server problem. At each time step, the algorithm is given a set of points in a metric space and must choose $k$ cluster centers. The cost incurred is the sum of the clustering cost at each time step and the total distance that the centers move over time. Prior work established competitive algorithms for the case $k\in\{1,2\}$ on the line metric with the $k$-median clustering objective; under the $k$-median objective, this problem is also known as facility reallocation. We substantially generalize these results to arbitrary $k$, general metric spaces, and a broad class of clustering objectives. Specifically, we consider clustering costs defined as a norm of the distance vector from points to their nearest center, which subsumes the $k$-median, $k$-center, and (square root of) $k$-means objectives, and provide an asymptotically optimal $O(k)$-competitive randomized algorithm against adaptive online adversaries. The algorithm is based on a reduction to the $k$-server problem, establishing a tight connection between the problems. In this reduction, $k$-server requests are generated by Poisson processes, whose arrival rates evolve in continuous time and are driven by a dual representation of the clustering costs. Our method of using Poissonization in this context may also be of independent interest. We demonstrate another use of the idea by deriving similar reductions for batched set chasing problems. We also consider a different family of clustering objectives defined as a norm of the vector of cluster radii, which subsumes the sum-$k$-radii and the $k$-center objectives, and give a tight $O(k)$-competitive deterministic algorithm on the line.

Authors: Christian Coester, Yichen Huang, Michael Mitzenmacher

We study the problem of online clustering with movement cost, which generalizes the fundamental $k$-server problem. At each time step, the algorithm is given a set of points in a metric space and must choose $k$ cluster centers. The cost incurred is the sum of the clustering cost at each time step and the total distance that the centers move over time. Prior work established competitive algorithms for the case $k\in\{1,2\}$ on the line metric with the $k$-median clustering objective; under the $k$-median objective, this problem is also known as facility reallocation. We substantially generalize these results to arbitrary $k$, general metric spaces, and a broad class of clustering objectives. Specifically, we consider clustering costs defined as a norm of the distance vector from points to their nearest center, which subsumes the $k$-median, $k$-center, and (square root of) $k$-means objectives, and provide an asymptotically optimal $O(k)$-competitive randomized algorithm against adaptive online adversaries. The algorithm is based on a reduction to the $k$-server problem, establishing a tight connection between the problems. In this reduction, $k$-server requests are generated by Poisson processes, whose arrival rates evolve in continuous time and are driven by a dual representation of the clustering costs. Our method of using Poissonization in this context may also be of independent interest. We demonstrate another use of the idea by deriving similar reductions for batched set chasing problems. We also consider a different family of clustering objectives defined as a norm of the vector of cluster radii, which subsumes the sum-$k$-radii and the $k$-center objectives, and give a tight $O(k)$-competitive deterministic algorithm on the line.

Monday, October 19 2026, 00:00

Improved Pass Complexity for Semi-Streaming Matching in General Graphs via Budgeted Price Approach

Authors: Tatsuya Terao

We present a simple deterministic semi-streaming algorithm that computes a $(1-\varepsilon)$-approximate maximum matching in general graphs in $O(1/\varepsilon^{2})$ passes. This matches the pass complexity of the auction algorithm of Assadi, Liu, and Tarjan~[SOSA'21] for bipartite graphs, and answers Open Question~2 of Assadi~[SOSA'24 \& TheoretiCS'25]. Our approach, which we call the \emph{budgeted price approach}, is very different from the previous $\mathrm{poly}(1/\varepsilon)$-pass semi-streaming algorithms for $(1-\varepsilon)$-approximation of matching in general graphs and improves their pass complexity. All previous approaches are augmenting-path-based and use $O(1/\varepsilon^{19})$ passes by Fischer, Mitrović, and Uitto~[STOC'22], $O(1/\varepsilon^{6})$ passes by Mitrović, Mukherjee, Sankowski, and Sheu~[ICALP'25], and $O(1/\varepsilon^{4})$ passes by Izumi, Kitamura, and Yamaguchi~['25].

Authors: Tatsuya Terao

We present a simple deterministic semi-streaming algorithm that computes a $(1-\varepsilon)$-approximate maximum matching in general graphs in $O(1/\varepsilon^{2})$ passes. This matches the pass complexity of the auction algorithm of Assadi, Liu, and Tarjan~[SOSA'21] for bipartite graphs, and answers Open Question~2 of Assadi~[SOSA'24 \& TheoretiCS'25]. Our approach, which we call the \emph{budgeted price approach}, is very different from the previous $\mathrm{poly}(1/\varepsilon)$-pass semi-streaming algorithms for $(1-\varepsilon)$-approximation of matching in general graphs and improves their pass complexity. All previous approaches are augmenting-path-based and use $O(1/\varepsilon^{19})$ passes by Fischer, Mitrović, and Uitto~[STOC'22], $O(1/\varepsilon^{6})$ passes by Mitrović, Mukherjee, Sankowski, and Sheu~[ICALP'25], and $O(1/\varepsilon^{4})$ passes by Izumi, Kitamura, and Yamaguchi~['25].

Monday, October 19 2026, 00:00

Fast Distributed $(Δ+ 1)$-Edge Coloring in Bipartite Graphs

Authors: Yann Bourreau, Sebastian Brandt, Ananth Narayanan

We show that, on bipartite $n$-vertex graphs in the LOCAL model of distributed computation, $(Δ+ 1)$-edge coloring can be solved deterministically in $O(f(Δ) \log n)$ rounds for some function $f$. In particular this implies a deterministic $O(\log n)$-round upper bound for $(Δ+ 1)$-edge coloring on bipartite constant-degree graphs. Our results improve on the previous state-of-the-art bounds (which hold already on general graphs) whose $n$-dependencies are $\widetilde{O}(\log^5 n)$ rounds deterministically and $\widetilde{O}(\log^2 n)$ rounds randomized [Bernshteyn and Dhawan, J.\ Comb.\ Theory 2025]. In fact, we obtain the aforementioned results already for a more restrictive version of $(Δ+ 1)$-edge coloring that corresponds to a \emph{local-palette} strengthening of Vizing's theorem shown recently to hold [Christiansen, STOC 2023]. In this version, every edge $\{u, v\}$ has to be colored with a color from $\{1, \dots, \max(\operatorname{deg}(u), \operatorname{deg}(v))+ 1\}$. For all of our results, the vertices do not need to know on which side of the bipartition they lie---the structural promise of bipartiteness suffices.

Authors: Yann Bourreau, Sebastian Brandt, Ananth Narayanan

We show that, on bipartite $n$-vertex graphs in the LOCAL model of distributed computation, $(Δ+ 1)$-edge coloring can be solved deterministically in $O(f(Δ) \log n)$ rounds for some function $f$. In particular this implies a deterministic $O(\log n)$-round upper bound for $(Δ+ 1)$-edge coloring on bipartite constant-degree graphs. Our results improve on the previous state-of-the-art bounds (which hold already on general graphs) whose $n$-dependencies are $\widetilde{O}(\log^5 n)$ rounds deterministically and $\widetilde{O}(\log^2 n)$ rounds randomized [Bernshteyn and Dhawan, J.\ Comb.\ Theory 2025]. In fact, we obtain the aforementioned results already for a more restrictive version of $(Δ+ 1)$-edge coloring that corresponds to a \emph{local-palette} strengthening of Vizing's theorem shown recently to hold [Christiansen, STOC 2023]. In this version, every edge $\{u, v\}$ has to be colored with a color from $\{1, \dots, \max(\operatorname{deg}(u), \operatorname{deg}(v))+ 1\}$. For all of our results, the vertices do not need to know on which side of the bipartition they lie---the structural promise of bipartiteness suffices.

Monday, October 19 2026, 00:00

Hard Instances on Demand

Authors: Jamie Fravel, Martin Koutecký, Pavlo Tsitsei

The conclusions of an experimental study of algorithms are only as good as the instances they are run on. Benchmark libraries for well-studied problems took decades to curate, while evaluations of new problems often fall back on random instances, which are known to be misleading: they may say more about the random generator than about the algorithmic question at hand. We treat instance generation as an optimization problem: parameterize the instance space, take the solver's running time as the objective, and let a black-box optimizer search for hard instances. We develop a widely applicable workflow built on the Nevergrad optimization platform and demonstrate it on four NP-hard problems: satisfiability, traveling salesperson, Hamiltonian cycle, and non-permutation flow-shop scheduling. The search needs only the solver, an instance encoder, and a compute budget. Our evolved instances beat the hardest instance of a budget-matched random draw in all four case studies, by an order of magnitude or more in three. They are often competitive with long-curated benchmark sets: our SAT champion is harder (for a three-solver portfolio) than 78% of the 498 SAT Competition formulas in its size class; our 20-city TSP champions take several times longer than the hardest measured classical TSPLIB instance (229 cities); and our flow-shop champion takes 238.6 seconds of CP Optimizer time to solve to proven optimality (versus 4.5 seconds for the hardest of 100,000 random draws) while denying CP-SAT an optimality proof. The optimizer even recovers known structure from running time alone: it locates a SAT clause/variable ratio near the phase transition and finds structurally different champions for the two scheduling engines.

Authors: Jamie Fravel, Martin Koutecký, Pavlo Tsitsei

The conclusions of an experimental study of algorithms are only as good as the instances they are run on. Benchmark libraries for well-studied problems took decades to curate, while evaluations of new problems often fall back on random instances, which are known to be misleading: they may say more about the random generator than about the algorithmic question at hand. We treat instance generation as an optimization problem: parameterize the instance space, take the solver's running time as the objective, and let a black-box optimizer search for hard instances. We develop a widely applicable workflow built on the Nevergrad optimization platform and demonstrate it on four NP-hard problems: satisfiability, traveling salesperson, Hamiltonian cycle, and non-permutation flow-shop scheduling. The search needs only the solver, an instance encoder, and a compute budget. Our evolved instances beat the hardest instance of a budget-matched random draw in all four case studies, by an order of magnitude or more in three. They are often competitive with long-curated benchmark sets: our SAT champion is harder (for a three-solver portfolio) than 78% of the 498 SAT Competition formulas in its size class; our 20-city TSP champions take several times longer than the hardest measured classical TSPLIB instance (229 cities); and our flow-shop champion takes 238.6 seconds of CP Optimizer time to solve to proven optimality (versus 4.5 seconds for the hardest of 100,000 random draws) while denying CP-SAT an optimality proof. The optimizer even recovers known structure from running time alone: it locates a SAT clause/variable ratio near the phase transition and finds structurally different champions for the two scheduling engines.

Monday, October 19 2026, 00:00

An improved randomized algorithm for finding sinks of Acyclic Unique Sink Orientations of the binary hypercube

Authors: Thomas Dueholm Hansen, Uri Zwick

Acyclic Unique Sink Orientations (AUSOs) of the binary hypercube form an elegant abstraction of various optimization problems, ranging from linear programs whose feasibility region is a combinatorial hypercube, to 2-player turn-based stochastic games (2TBSGs) in which one of the players has two actions from each one of its states. The currently fastest known randomized algorithm for finding the sink of such AUSOs is the Random-Facet algorithm of Kalai (STOC 1992), and of Matoušek, Sharir and Welzl (SoCG 1992), adapted to the binary hypercube by Gärtner (RSA 2002). The expected number of vertex queries made by the algorithm is at most $e^{2\sqrt{n}}$, where $n$ is the dimension of the cube. We design an improved randomized sink-finding algorithm that performs an expected number of only $e^{\sqrt{(2+o(1))n}}$ queries. This is the first improved bound for the problem in over two decades. The improved algorithm is obtained by adapting improved versions of the Random-Facet algorithm for solving general linear programs, and LP-type problems, developed by Kalai (STOC 1992), Gärtner (FOCS 1992), and by Hansen and Zwick (STOC 2015). The improved bound is not implied by these much more general algorithms. A key feature of the improved algorithm and its analysis is its simplicity. The structure of binary AUSOs enables a simpler description and a much simpler analysis of the adapted algorithm. In particular, the recurrence relations bounding the complexity of the algorithm depend on only one variable, and not two, and they can be solved using fairly straightforward techniques.

Authors: Thomas Dueholm Hansen, Uri Zwick

Acyclic Unique Sink Orientations (AUSOs) of the binary hypercube form an elegant abstraction of various optimization problems, ranging from linear programs whose feasibility region is a combinatorial hypercube, to 2-player turn-based stochastic games (2TBSGs) in which one of the players has two actions from each one of its states. The currently fastest known randomized algorithm for finding the sink of such AUSOs is the Random-Facet algorithm of Kalai (STOC 1992), and of Matoušek, Sharir and Welzl (SoCG 1992), adapted to the binary hypercube by Gärtner (RSA 2002). The expected number of vertex queries made by the algorithm is at most $e^{2\sqrt{n}}$, where $n$ is the dimension of the cube. We design an improved randomized sink-finding algorithm that performs an expected number of only $e^{\sqrt{(2+o(1))n}}$ queries. This is the first improved bound for the problem in over two decades. The improved algorithm is obtained by adapting improved versions of the Random-Facet algorithm for solving general linear programs, and LP-type problems, developed by Kalai (STOC 1992), Gärtner (FOCS 1992), and by Hansen and Zwick (STOC 2015). The improved bound is not implied by these much more general algorithms. A key feature of the improved algorithm and its analysis is its simplicity. The structure of binary AUSOs enables a simpler description and a much simpler analysis of the adapted algorithm. In particular, the recurrence relations bounding the complexity of the algorithm depend on only one variable, and not two, and they can be solved using fairly straightforward techniques.

Monday, October 19 2026, 00:00

TR26-260 | An Explicit 3.5n-o(n) Size Lower Bound against General Boolean Circuits | Om Swostik Mishra, Rahul Santhanam

from ECCC Papers

We give a $3.5n-o(n)$ lower bound on the size of Boolean circuits over the $B_2$ basis computing an explicit Boolean function F in P. This improves the best previous lower bound of $3.1n-o(n)$ [Li-Yang22]. The proof of the lower bound uses the gate elimination technique, and builds heavily on ideas in previous works [Find-Golovnev-Hirsch-Kulikov23, Li-Yang22]. The main conceptual innovation is to consider substitutions on an underlying space of {\it independent parameters} specifying values of input variables, rather than on the input variables themselves. This enables us to handle certain bottleneck situations by {\it reparameterisation} rather than substitution. As a consequence, we are also able to obtain a simpler lower bound proof than in [Find-Golovnev-Hirsch-Kulikov23, Li-Yang22].

Sunday, October 18 2026, 22:40

AI, Math, the document-drop. Non-Tech Thoughts

from Computational Complexity

So what to make of OpenAI and the future of Math? Here are some points I've either:

thought of myself or heard from a human or read from an AI.

Throughout this post I use the term AI to mean an AI system that produces mathematical results. I decline to say OpenAI or Anthropic as generic terms since about 20 years ago I used Intrade as a generic term for Betting Markets---then Intrade went out of business. I wish I had bet on that happening. Oh well.

1) Some of the proofs were Lean-formalized and some were not. If a proof is Lean-verified do we know the proof is valid? The issue is not bugs in Lean. The issue is that coding a theorem/proof into Lean may be done incorrectly. So Lean might be verifying a proof of a theorem different than what was intended.

Peter Woit, is a string-theory skeptic and a Lean-skeptic. See here
Alexander Bastounis, Fabian Circelli, Anders Hansen argue that the Lean formalization does not correspond to the natural-language proof. See here
My impression/predictions are:
(1) Lean has a good track record BUT we are in uncharted territory here.
(2) In the end humans will read, understand, and fix the proofs if necessary. This will take time.
(3) Humans will produce readable writeups that are enlightening. This will take time.
(4) Some bugs in Lean will be discovered and fixed. This will take time.
(5) Humans will learn how to better code theorems and proofs into the Lean language. This will take time.
2) Most (all?) of the papers were hard to read, even by experts. Lance asked Claude for a better written version of UGC and he got one: here. Why didn't OpenAI ask Claude for better writeups?
3) A History of my thought on the Unique Game Conjecture:
In 2006 I thought the Unique Game Conjecture would be proved by 2011. I was wrong.
In 2016 I thought the Unique Game Conjecture would be proved by 2026. I was right.
In 2026 I thought the Unique Game Conjecture would be proved by 2046. I was right literally but wrong really since in January 2026 I was thinking 10-20 years, not 7 months.
4) Right now AI is merely combining known ideas and writing up the proofs badly as opposed to most mathematicians who come up with new ideas and they write them up well. I am, of course, kidding.
5) There have been barrier results along the lines of  Technique X will not suffice to prove Y' Some papers say this informally, e.g.,  our methods cannot be extended and some papers say this formally, e.g.,  since there are oracles that force P=NP and oracles that force $P\ne NP$, relativizing techniques do not suffice to resolve P versus NP  (My PhD is on oracles, yet I replaced  recursion-theoretic techniques with  relativizing techniques because ChatGPT is the boss of me.)
What we really want to prove is that known techniques won't solve a problem, hence we need to look for new techniques.
If problem X has not been solved within 10 years by AI, then is it safe to assume that known techniques will not suffice?
Probably not:
a) AI will not make all connections between all the parts of math within 10 years, maybe not ever.
b) AI companies might stop having their machines work on math problems. I'm surprised they are doing that now since mathematicians who want to solve open problems are not a big market. Then again, they could advertise as follows: Buy Our Theorem Prover and you Might Solve a $1,000,000 Math Problem!!! or a Salmon (see here)!!!
6) The notion that AI is combining known ideas is true but is not a problem. However, might the following happen: What if within 10 years all math that can be done with known techniques will have been done. Then either
a) Humans will step up to the plate and come up with new ideas. Let's hope they never stopped.
b) Humans will have lost the ability to come up with new ideas because they will have been spoiled by AI. Like if Lance and I had to become hunter-gatherer. Lance's initials would then stand for Lion Food, and Bill's initials would stand for Bear Grub. (I came up with Lion Food, but I asked Gemini for Bear Grub. I doubt you care. AI-disclosure can be stupid.)
c) AI will be able to come up with new ideas. The current LLM models probably can't do that but they may help design something that can.
d) As noted in comments 5, AI companies might give up on this line of work.
7) When Deep Blue beat Kasparov an ordinary citizen could not purchase a computer that would play grandmaster-level chess. Now an ordinary citizen can download for free a chess playing program that can beat the world chess champion.
Will this happen with AI for Math? Will an ordinary citizen be able to download for free, or pay a reasonable price for, an AI program that can prove hard theorems?
8) AI-assisted vs AI-generated may be a big distinction. Or not. Or it may be hard to tell the difference.
I can imagine working on a project where I do some, an AI does some, and I don't really want to figure out and report on who did what part. Similar to human co-authors today. This comes up when one of my HS students enters the Regeneron Science Talent Search and the forms ask in 16 different ways What was their contribution  and What was your contribution? In the future will they ask  What was the AI contribution?
9) Hypothetical:
I ask AI to prove $P\ne NP$ and it gives me a proof that I rewrite to be readable. I submit it to STOC, honestly acknowledging what my contribution was, which is mostly exposition. Assume I meet the ACM authorship criteria.
a) Is the fact that I used AI held against me?
b) Should the paper get in?
c) Do I get the Millennium Prize and hence $1,000,000?
d) Do I win a Turing Award and hence another $1,000,000?
10) How is OpenAI making money on this? Three sources that I know of, New Scientist, Science Magazine, and Crypto Briefing (I am having trouble getting the links to work) put the cost at around 15 million dollars. After OpenAI spent that much money solving a Millennium problem, they stated that they would not try to collect the $1,000,000 (it's not clear they would have qualified for it). That seems odd. What is their business model? To generate buzz? If so then note the following:
I have asked my non-math friends (Lance is surprised I have non-math friends) if they have heard about the OpenAI Document Drop. No. Some had vaguely heard that AI solved an important problem that was worth some money, I assume that's Navier-Stokes, but that's it. No buzz.
The Atlantic Monthly has published an article about this titled OpenAI Just Carpet-Bombed Mathematics (see here) This will give OpenAI more publicity. Is it good or bad publicity? There is a famous quote there is no such thing as bad publicity. Is it true? See here.
As I finish this post (Translation: As I argue with Chatty about this post) OpenAI has announced that it will give $5 million to the Simons Foundation initiative to help mathematicians examine, understand, and build on results produced by AI. That may help explain its community engagement, but the existence of a business model is still an open question.
As I finish this post (Translation: As I argue with my AI-skeptical proofreader) my proofreader announced that he knows OpenAI's business model:
Delusion and IPO or Delusion plus PR to get more funding. The IPO is looking less likely.
Is he right? Is that really a business model?
Here is a link about the business model: here.

I wrote most of this blog post on Tuesday Oct 13, 2026. I posted it on Oct 18, 2026. Between Oct 13 and Oct 18 the post aged: at a funeral I went to today (Oct 16, 2026-Boss's day!) non-math people asked me  Now that OpenAI can solve open math problems, how do you stop your students from cheating on homework? So non-math people have heard the news, though they don't quite understand it.
11) I told my Mom that AI had solved some problems that I cared about and that I was happy about that. She asked Can AI fix my answering machine and then have Lean verify that it works?
12) On Scott's blog (see here), comment number 12 by Tristan, perhaps unintentionally, raised an interesting question. Here are some quotes from Tristan's comment:
But perhaps the occasion calls for a little reflection. If a pattern-interpolating autocomplete can produce your theorem quite so readily, one is entitled to wonder how intellectually demanding the enterprise was to begin with. Perhaps what you took for creativity and insight was, on closer inspection, neither.
Algebraic geometry [Tristan's field] is, mercifully, a field in which genuine creativity remains indispensable: one must actually conceive and construct new mathematical objects, rather than rearrange familiar patterns and dignify the exercise with the word `discovery'. It is precisely this sort of work that lies beyond the capacities of a glorified autocomplete.
a) Such elegant arrogance! Such elegant nonsense! Such arrogant nonsense!
b) This is the kind of quote that will age badly once OpenAI begins solving problems in Algebraic Geometry.
c) I disagree with him: there are easy and hard problems in all fields of math. Algebraic Geometry is an older field, so perhaps there is less low-hanging fruit. But this is a minor point and not the fundamental difference he makes it out to be. And I hardly call the Unique Game Conjecture or L=RL low hanging fruit.
d) Still, to turn his thoughts into an intelligent question: What types of math problems are more prone to have AI solve them?
e) Scott later left the comment:
LOL! That was a delightful parody (at least, I assume it's a parody) of what I've now heard dozens of times in earnest.
Bill here: I FELL FOR IT.
f) Anon later left a comment that flagged Tristan's post as AI-generated by running it through an AI program to detect AI-generated writings: here.
Bill here: I NEVER SUSPECTED IT WAS AI. FROM NOW ON I WILL SUSPECT EVERYTHING IS AI.
13) A 1985 article in Kvant, a Soviet Mathematics Magazine, by Uspenskii and Semenov, titled Solvable and Unsolvable Algorithmic Problems, contained the following quote:
Tarski's result [that elementary geometry is decidable] appears to be, and actually is, extremely powerful and even paradoxical. There is a very extensive area of classical mathematics (namely elementary geometry) which is traditionally thought to require a subtle intellect and which can by no means be reduced to carrying out routine computations, and yet, at the same time, there is an algorithm that can verify the truth of theorems in the area (and provide the proofs). We can console ourselves only in the fact that Tarski's algorithm is not realistic: it requires an inconceivably great amount of time for its implementation.
I leave it to the reader to adapt this quote to the current situation. Or not.
14) So what now for mathematicians? For Math grad students?
a) OpenAI says its model attempted roughly 4000 problems and reported results for 372 families, some full and some partial. So there is still plenty that OpenAI can't do. But who knows what the future will bring?
b) There are plenty more problems that OpenAI was not given.
c) There is a lot more to research than research. (Both ChatGPT and my proofreader think the last sentence was a typo. It's not.) There are surveys, blogs, raising questions, and rewriting proofs so they are readable. Will Tenure committees, the NSF, and others, see it that way?
e) I wonder if in the future the quality of exposition may be more important since the journals and conferences will just assume that the brilliant ideas were done by AI and give the human less credit. If Math dissertations end up being more readable, I call that a win.

By gasarch

So what to make of OpenAI and the future of Math? Here are some points I've either:

thought of myself or heard from a human or read from an AI.

Throughout this post I use the term AI to mean an AI system that produces mathematical results. I decline to say OpenAI or Anthropic as generic terms since about 20 years ago I used Intrade as a generic term for Betting Markets---then Intrade went out of business. I wish I had bet on that happening. Oh well.

1) Some of the proofs were Lean-formalized and some were not. If a proof is Lean-verified do we know the proof is valid? The issue is not bugs in Lean. The issue is that coding a theorem/proof into Lean may be done incorrectly. So Lean might be verifying a proof of a theorem different than what was intended.

Peter Woit, is a string-theory skeptic and a Lean-skeptic. See here

Alexander Bastounis, Fabian Circelli, Anders Hansen argue that the Lean formalization does not correspond to the natural-language proof. See here

My impression/predictions are:

(1) Lean has a good track record BUT we are in uncharted territory here.

(2) In the end humans will read, understand, and fix the proofs if necessary. This will take time.

(3) Humans will produce readable writeups that are enlightening. This will take time.

(4) Some bugs in Lean will be discovered and fixed. This will take time.

(5) Humans will learn how to better code theorems and proofs into the Lean language. This will take time.

2) Most (all?) of the papers were hard to read, even by experts. Lance asked Claude for a better written version of UGC and he got one: here. Why didn't OpenAI ask Claude for better writeups?

3) A History of my thought on the Unique Game Conjecture:

In 2006 I thought the Unique Game Conjecture would be proved by 2011. I was wrong.

In 2016 I thought the Unique Game Conjecture would be proved by 2026. I was right.

In 2026 I thought the Unique Game Conjecture would be proved by 2046. I was right literally but wrong really since in January 2026 I was thinking 10-20 years, not 7 months.

4) Right now AI is merely combining known ideas and writing up the proofs badly as opposed to most mathematicians who come up with new ideas and they write them up well. I am, of course, kidding.

5) There have been barrier results along the lines of Technique X will not suffice to prove Y' Some papers say this informally, e.g., our methods cannot be extended and some papers say this formally, e.g., since there are oracles that force P=NP and oracles that force $P\ne NP$, relativizing techniques do not suffice to resolve P versus NP (My PhD is on oracles, yet I replaced recursion-theoretic techniques with relativizing techniques because ChatGPT is the boss of me.)

What we really want to prove is that known techniques won't solve a problem, hence we need to look for new techniques.

If problem X has not been solved within 10 years by AI, then is it safe to assume that known techniques will not suffice?

Probably not:

a) AI will not make all connections between all the parts of math within 10 years, maybe not ever.

b) AI companies might stop having their machines work on math problems. I'm surprised they are doing that now since mathematicians who want to solve open problems are not a big market. Then again, they could advertise as follows: Buy Our Theorem Prover and you Might Solve a $1,000,000 Math Problem!!! or a Salmon (see here)!!!

6) The notion that AI is combining known ideas is true but is not a problem. However, might the following happen: What if within 10 years all math that can be done with known techniques will have been done. Then either

a) Humans will step up to the plate and come up with new ideas. Let's hope they never stopped.

b) Humans will have lost the ability to come up with new ideas because they will have been spoiled by AI. Like if Lance and I had to become hunter-gatherer. Lance's initials would then stand for Lion Food, and Bill's initials would stand for Bear Grub. (I came up with Lion Food, but I asked Gemini for Bear Grub. I doubt you care. AI-disclosure can be stupid.)

c) AI will be able to come up with new ideas. The current LLM models probably can't do that but they may help design something that can.

d) As noted in comments 5, AI companies might give up on this line of work.

7) When Deep Blue beat Kasparov an ordinary citizen could not purchase a computer that would play grandmaster-level chess. Now an ordinary citizen can download for free a chess playing program that can beat the world chess champion.

Will this happen with AI for Math? Will an ordinary citizen be able to download for free, or pay a reasonable price for, an AI program that can prove hard theorems?

8) AI-assisted vs AI-generated may be a big distinction. Or not. Or it may be hard to tell the difference.

I can imagine working on a project where I do some, an AI does some, and I don't really want to figure out and report on who did what part. Similar to human co-authors today. This comes up when one of my HS students enters the Regeneron Science Talent Search and the forms ask in 16 different ways What was their contribution and What was your contribution? In the future will they ask What was the AI contribution?

9) Hypothetical:

I ask AI to prove $P\ne NP$ and it gives me a proof that I rewrite to be readable. I submit it to STOC, honestly acknowledging what my contribution was, which is mostly exposition. Assume I meet the ACM authorship criteria.

a) Is the fact that I used AI held against me?

b) Should the paper get in?

c) Do I get the Millennium Prize and hence $1,000,000?

d) Do I win a Turing Award and hence another $1,000,000?

10) How is OpenAI making money on this? Three sources that I know of, New Scientist, Science Magazine, and Crypto Briefing (I am having trouble getting the links to work) put the cost at around 15 million dollars. After OpenAI spent that much money solving a Millennium problem, they stated that they would not try to collect the $1,000,000 (it's not clear they would have qualified for it). That seems odd. What is their business model? To generate buzz? If so then note the following:

I have asked my non-math friends (Lance is surprised I have non-math friends) if they have heard about the OpenAI Document Drop. No. Some had vaguely heard that AI solved an important problem that was worth some money, I assume that's Navier-Stokes, but that's it. No buzz.

The Atlantic Monthly has published an article about this titled OpenAI Just Carpet-Bombed Mathematics (see here) This will give OpenAI more publicity. Is it good or bad publicity? There is a famous quote there is no such thing as bad publicity. Is it true? See here.

As I finish this post (Translation: As I argue with Chatty about this post) OpenAI has announced that it will give $5 million to the Simons Foundation initiative to help mathematicians examine, understand, and build on results produced by AI. That may help explain its community engagement, but the existence of a business model is still an open question.

As I finish this post (Translation: As I argue with my AI-skeptical proofreader) my proofreader announced that he knows OpenAI's business model:

Delusion and IPO or Delusion plus PR to get more funding. The IPO is looking less likely.

Is he right? Is that really a business model?

Here is a link about the business model: here.

I wrote most of this blog post on Tuesday Oct 13, 2026. I posted it on Oct 18, 2026. Between Oct 13 and Oct 18 the post aged: at a funeral I went to today (Oct 16, 2026-Boss's day!) non-math people asked me Now that OpenAI can solve open math problems, how do you stop your students from cheating on homework? So non-math people have heard the news, though they don't quite understand it.

11) I told my Mom that AI had solved some problems that I cared about and that I was happy about that. She asked Can AI fix my answering machine and then have Lean verify that it works?

12) On Scott's blog (see here), comment number 12 by Tristan, perhaps unintentionally, raised an interesting question. Here are some quotes from Tristan's comment:

But perhaps the occasion calls for a little reflection. If a pattern-interpolating autocomplete can produce your theorem quite so readily, one is entitled to wonder how intellectually demanding the enterprise was to begin with. Perhaps what you took for creativity and insight was, on closer inspection, neither.

Algebraic geometry [Tristan's field] is, mercifully, a field in which genuine creativity remains indispensable: one must actually conceive and construct new mathematical objects, rather than rearrange familiar patterns and dignify the exercise with the word `discovery'. It is precisely this sort of work that lies beyond the capacities of a glorified autocomplete.

a) Such elegant arrogance! Such elegant nonsense! Such arrogant nonsense!

b) This is the kind of quote that will age badly once OpenAI begins solving problems in Algebraic Geometry.

c) I disagree with him: there are easy and hard problems in all fields of math. Algebraic Geometry is an older field, so perhaps there is less low-hanging fruit. But this is a minor point and not the fundamental difference he makes it out to be. And I hardly call the Unique Game Conjecture or L=RL low hanging fruit.

d) Still, to turn his thoughts into an intelligent question: What types of math problems are more prone to have AI solve them?

e) Scott later left the comment:

LOL! That was a delightful parody (at least, I assume it's a parody) of what I've now heard dozens of times in earnest.

Bill here: I FELL FOR IT.

f) Anon later left a comment that flagged Tristan's post as AI-generated by running it through an AI program to detect AI-generated writings: here.

Bill here: I NEVER SUSPECTED IT WAS AI. FROM NOW ON I WILL SUSPECT EVERYTHING IS AI.

13) A 1985 article in Kvant, a Soviet Mathematics Magazine, by Uspenskii and Semenov, titled Solvable and Unsolvable Algorithmic Problems, contained the following quote:

Tarski's result [that elementary geometry is decidable] appears to be, and actually is, extremely powerful and even paradoxical. There is a very extensive area of classical mathematics (namely elementary geometry) which is traditionally thought to require a subtle intellect and which can by no means be reduced to carrying out routine computations, and yet, at the same time, there is an algorithm that can verify the truth of theorems in the area (and provide the proofs). We can console ourselves only in the fact that Tarski's algorithm is not realistic: it requires an inconceivably great amount of time for its implementation.

I leave it to the reader to adapt this quote to the current situation. Or not.

14) So what now for mathematicians? For Math grad students?

a) OpenAI says its model attempted roughly 4000 problems and reported results for 372 families, some full and some partial. So there is still plenty that OpenAI can't do. But who knows what the future will bring?

b) There are plenty more problems that OpenAI was not given.

c) There is a lot more to research than research. (Both ChatGPT and my proofreader think the last sentence was a typo. It's not.) There are surveys, blogs, raising questions, and rewriting proofs so they are readable. Will Tenure committees, the NSF, and others, see it that way?

e) I wonder if in the future the quality of exposition may be more important since the journals and conferences will just assume that the brilliant ideas were done by AI and give the human less credit. If Math dissertations end up being more readable, I call that a win.

By gasarch

Sunday, October 18 2026, 20:50

TR26-259 | Michael Rabin's fingerprints across the theory of computation | Avi Wigderson

from ECCC Papers

Michael O. Rabin was a major founder and leader of theoretical computer science. He died on April 14, 2026, at the age of 94. This paper aims to survey the wide scope and lasting impact of his research.

Sunday, October 18 2026, 18:50

TR26-258 | A simplified proof of PARITY $\notin$ QAC$^0$ | Chenghua Liu, Minbo Gao, Zhengfeng Ji

from ECCC Papers

We give a simplified, self-contained proof of OpenAI's parity lower bound for constant-depth quantum circuits with arbitrary one-qubit gates, unbounded-arity Toffoli gates, and polynomially many ancillas. The proof establishes product-projection localization and uses it to bound the parity Fourier coefficient of the acceptance probability. We remove one circuit layer directly, avoiding intermediate low-count propagation. This yields a leakage recurrence that closes by induction over depth and threshold scales.

Sunday, October 18 2026, 13:25

Byzantine Approximate Agreement: Grade, Detect, Average

The previous post gave a complete approximate agreement protocol: send the current value, remove the $f$ largest and $f$ smallest values, and take the midpoint. Each round halves the span of the honest values. Starting in $[0,1]$, reaching span less than $1/n$ takes $O(\log n)$ rounds. Ben-Or, Dolev, and Hoch improve this bound to $O(\log n / \log\log n)$. The core idea is to prevent the same Byzantine party from...

By Ittai Abraham, Gilad Stern

The previous post gave a complete approximate agreement protocol: send the current value, remove the $f$ largest and $f$ smallest values, and take the midpoint. Each round halves the span of the honest values. Starting in $[0,1]$, reaching span less than $1/n$ takes $O(\log n)$ rounds. Ben-Or, Dolev, and Hoch improve this bound to $O(\log n / \log\log n)$. The core idea is to prevent the same Byzantine party from...

By Ittai Abraham, Gilad Stern

Sunday, October 18 2026, 09:00

Approximate Agreement with Omissions: From Midpoints to Averages

The Byzantine approximate agreement posts start with a protocol that halves the span of honest values and repeat it to obtain a complete protocol. The Grade, Detect, Average post improves its convergence by identifying parties that cause disagreement. With omission failures, both arguments become simpler, and $n>2f$ parties suffice. We first give a Midpoint protocol that halves the span in each round. We then add receipt reports: a party averages...

By Ittai Abraham

The Byzantine approximate agreement posts start with a protocol that halves the span of honest values and repeat it to obtain a complete protocol. The Grade, Detect, Average post improves its convergence by identifying parties that cause disagreement. With omission failures, both arguments become simpler, and $n>2f$ parties suffice. We first give a Midpoint protocol that halves the span in each round. We then add receipt reports: a party averages...

By Ittai Abraham

Sunday, October 18 2026, 06:00

TR26-257 | Approximating Independent Sets Using Additive Combinatorics | Shachar Lovett

from ECCC Papers

We give a deterministic quasi-polynomial time algorithm for approximating the largest independent set in a graph. We show that if an $N$-vertex graph contains an independent set of size $2^{-t} N$, then we can find an independent set of size $2^t$ in quasi-polynomial time, for all $t$ up to a constant factor of $(\log N)^{1/3}$. This gives an approximation factor of $N / \exp((\log N)^{1/3})$, which has the same shape as known hardness results for quasi-polynomial time algorithms, up to a different exponent of the logarithm. The algorithm builds on a structural principle: a graph containing a large independent set must also contain a large sparse structured set, and such a set can be found efficiently. A greedy algorithm then extracts an independent set from it. Our proof draws on tools in additive combinatorics, in particular spreadness and sifting, to obtain the combinatorial structural results. We then convert these to efficient algorithms using pseudo-marginals obtained by semidefinite programming.

Sunday, October 18 2026, 04:41

Byzantine Approximate Agreement: From One Round to a Complete Protocol

The previous post showed that one round of the Robust Midpoint protocol keeps every honest value inside the old honest range and cuts the span of those values in half. Repeating this round gives approximate agreement. We do this formally in this post by specifying how many rounds to run and when parties decide. The update is the same as in the previous post: send the current value, discard the...

By Ittai Abraham, Gilad Stern

The previous post showed that one round of the Robust Midpoint protocol keeps every honest value inside the old honest range and cuts the span of those values in half. Repeating this round gives approximate agreement. We do this formally in this post by specifying how many rounds to run and when parties decide. The update is the same as in the previous post: send the current value, discard the...

By Ittai Abraham, Gilad Stern

Saturday, October 17 2026, 06:00

Predictive Models Are Never Clean

from Ben Recht

Revisiting Breiman’s Two Cultures paper and what we want from our forecasting models.

Hi there, argmin readers! Today’s post is a live blog of Class 12 of my graduate seminar “Forecasting: A Critical Retrospective.” The syllabus and list of past posts are here. It might also be a subtweet of yesterday’s AI discourse?

Twenty-five years ago, Leo Breiman wrote a prophetic warning to his statistical brethren:

“There are two cultures in the use of statistical modeling to reach conclusions from data. One assumes that the data are generated by a given stochastic data model. The other uses algorithmic models and treats the data mechanism as unknown. The statistical community has been committed to the almost exclusive use of data models. This commitment has led to irrelevant theory, questionable conclusions, and has kept statisticians from working on a large range of interesting current problems. Algorithmic modeling, both in theory and practice, has developed rapidly in fields outside statistics. It can be used both on large complex data sets and as a more accurate and informative alternative to data modeling on smaller data sets. If our goal as a field is to use data to solve problems, then we need to move away from exclusive dependence on data models and adopt a more diverse set of tools.”

Breiman saw that prediction was at the heart of most of his consulting projects. Rather than being asked to determine causation, he was asked to make forecasts. His list of examples is instructive:

Predicting next-day ozone levels.
Using mass spectra to identify halogen-containing compounds.
Predicting the class of a ship from high altitude radar returns.
Using sonar returns to predict the class of a submarine.
Identity of hand-sent Morse Code.
Toxicity of chemicals.
Online prediction of the cause of a freeway traffic breakdown.
Speech recognition.
The sources of delay in criminal trials in state court systems.

If you asked anyone today how they’d solve these tasks, they’d say “collect data and fit a neural net.” You had to be there at the time, but this was quite controversial in 2001. Indeed, even using a decision tree was controversial. Many people thought models built with expert knowledge, with meaningful parameters fit to data, would be far superior for prediction. Moreover, you’d be able to interpret your predictions because you had a mechanistic understanding of reality encoded your predictive stochastic data model.

Given what’s happened since, I don’t think anyone needs convincing that neural nets will work better. Indeed, the reaction in class yesterday confirmed that the zeitgeist has shifted 180 degrees. Of course you’d rather use a neural network than a complicated model. For all of those tasks, everyone would say “use a transformer or do in-context learning and forget about it.” Autoregression has won out by brute force.

Now, given my long history as a machine learning researcher, I don’t think you’ll be surprised to find that I agree with Breiman and struggle to justify stochastic models. However, I think I can capture the motivation of modelers: people want more from their models than predictions.

People like mathematical models because we think that understanding how something works from top to bottom lets us better predict how it will behave in the future. A mechanistic understanding not only lets us play out likely futures, but lets us imagine what might happen under a variety of different adversarial scenarios. These models assure us that we understand the present well, because we can point at all of the subcomponents and build a bottom-up description of macroscale behavior.

It’s so weird how our forecasting culture turns this around: IF we can make good predictions, THEN we understand. You present your Brier Score first. Only if it tops the prediction-market leaderboard are people impressed enough to go read your 25,000-word description of how you prognosticate. Accepting this logical inversion—that accurate predictions indicate understanding—is why our rational brethren venerate superforecasters. But it’s clear that even the most committed forecast bros don’t like this, because they also obsess about mechanistic interpretability.

But when we seek explanations, all we have is the data from which our predictions are made. Data-driven modeling is implicit, leaning on the tacit knowledge of what makes good data and what makes bad data. Almost everything you want to interpret lies in the data and your optimization objective. The compressed storage that are the parameters of your nonparametric model hold this information too, but reading the tea leaves of the weights is like trying to understand a book by looking at the bits in its zip file.

In a wholly data-driven world, better understanding can only come from getting new data. We can either wait for the future to roll in, or we can act to get that data now. That is, to rapidly understand the world you forecast, you have to be able to do things. You need to intervene and act to rule out explanations. This is experimentation.

Forecasts alone are not experimentation. Indeed, a recurring theme in this class is how passive forecasting is. Focusing so hard on prediction makes us forget we can take actions to change the future.

Some think that predictions can shape the world. By warning people of doom, perhaps someone out there will take action. And yet, my impression is that the most dedicated forecasters think their best available action is to place bets. Or write open letters. Abandoning their agency makes their prophecies self-fulfilling.

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By Ben Recht

Friday, October 16 2026, 14:26

TCS for All FOCS 2026 Travel Scholarship Application

from CS Theory Events

October 15-22, 2026 Online sigact.org/tcsforall/focs-2026-events/travel-scholarship-for-focs-2026/ Submission deadline: October 22, 2026 TCS4All travel scholarship application (short deadline)

By shacharlovett

October 15-22, 2026 Online https://sigact.org/tcsforall/focs-2026-events/travel-scholarship-for-focs-2026/ Submission deadline: October 22, 2026 TCS4All travel scholarship application (short deadline)

By shacharlovett

Friday, October 16 2026, 11:13

TR26-256 | Polynomial Block Lengths Are Necessary and Sufficient to Beat Insertion Sort | Nikolai Chukhin, Alexander Kulikov, Maksim Levitskii, Ivan Mihajlin

from ECCC Papers

Insertion sort is a basic algorithm for sorting permutations: it repeatedly cuts out one element and inserts it at its place among the elements sorted so far. It sorts every permutation of length $n$ with at most $n-1$ such moves, and some permutations cannot be sorted with fewer moves (Heath and Vergara, 1998). A move that cuts out a block of any length is called a transposition, and the number of transpositions that suffices to sort every permutation lies between $n/2$ and $2n/3$ for $n\geq 9$ (Bafna and Pevzner, 1998; Eriksson, Eriksson, Karlander, Svensson, and Wästlund, 2001). We ask how long the cut blocks must be to beat insertion sort by a constant factor. We show that cut blocks of polynomial length are necessary and sufficient. If the cut blocks have length $n^{o(1)}$, then some permutations need $n-o(n)$ moves, whereas for any $\alpha > 0$, $(1 - \varepsilon_{\alpha}) n$ moves with cut blocks of length $n^{\alpha}$ suffice for all large enough $n$. The lower bound follows from a new upper bound on the number of~permutations at a given distance from the identity. The upper bound follows from a recursive reduction of the exponent, starting from the known bound for unrestricted transpositions.

Friday, October 16 2026, 09:47

TR26-255 | Unconditional Quantum PAC Learning Advantage in the Large Error Regime | Igor Carboni Oliveira

from ECCC Papers

We establish an unconditional super-polynomial separation between quantum and classical PAC learning of Boolean functions under the uniform distribution in the large error regime. For every advantage $\lambda(n) = n^{-\omega(1)}$, we construct a concept class that a polynomial-time quantum learner learns to agreement $1/2+\lambda(n)$ with success probability at least $1-1/n^k$. The learner uses only quantum random examples and outputs a polynomial-size deterministic classical circuit. In contrast, no polynomial-time classical learner achieves agreement $1/2 + \lambda(n)/n^k$ with success probability greater than $1/n^k$, even with membership queries. To achieve this, we develop a nearly-optimal quantum learner that uses quantum random examples to produce a hypothesis achieving a prescribed correlation with an arbitrary Boolean function. The learner generalizes Fourier sampling from parity hypotheses to quadratic hypotheses. While standard Fourier sampling is insensitive to the sign of the correlation, we use interference to bias sampling toward positively correlated hypotheses. This is combined with a careful analysis of the resulting distribution to boost both the learner's success probability and its agreement with the target function. We believe that the resulting quantum learning algorithm might be of independent interest. Finally, although a robust quantum PAC learning advantage holds unconditionally in the large error regime, we note that an analogous separation between quantum and classical learning in the small error regime would imply that NP is not contained in BPP.

Friday, October 16 2026, 09:44

Parallel Repetition for Entangled Games via Conditional Relative Entropy

Authors: Rahul Jain

We give a proof of the cubic parallel-repetition bound for finite two-player entangled games using quantum conditional relative entropy. For a game with entangled value $1-\varepsilon<1$ and answer alphabets $\mathcal A,\mathcal B$, its $n$-fold repeated value is at most \[ \exp[-Ω(\varepsilon^3n/L)],\qquad L:=\max\{1,\log(|\mathcal A||\mathcal B|)\}, \] for every $n\ge1$. This recovers Song's cubic rate. We also prove a threshold bound: the probability of winning a fraction at least $1-\varepsilon+δ$ is at most $\exp[-Ω(δ^5n/(\varepsilon^2L))]$ for $0<δ\le\varepsilon$. Our information charge is the decrease in relative entropy when a question reference is discarded. Our comparison states preserve the original conditional question law. A chain rule bounds the coordinate charges using the cost of conditioning on checked wins and retaining checked answers. Our main lemma converts small charges into nearby pure-state descriptions and local corrections, each depending only on one player's question. Together with Song's sampler, these enable approximate local preparation of the conditioned workspace.

Authors: Rahul Jain

We give a proof of the cubic parallel-repetition bound for finite two-player entangled games using quantum conditional relative entropy. For a game with entangled value $1-\varepsilon<1$ and answer alphabets $\mathcal A,\mathcal B$, its $n$-fold repeated value is at most \[ \exp[-Ω(\varepsilon^3n/L)],\qquad L:=\max\{1,\log(|\mathcal A||\mathcal B|)\}, \] for every $n\ge1$. This recovers Song's cubic rate. We also prove a threshold bound: the probability of winning a fraction at least $1-\varepsilon+δ$ is at most $\exp[-Ω(δ^5n/(\varepsilon^2L))]$ for $0<δ\le\varepsilon$. Our information charge is the decrease in relative entropy when a question reference is discarded. Our comparison states preserve the original conditional question law. A chain rule bounds the coordinate charges using the cost of conditioning on checked wins and retaining checked answers. Our main lemma converts small charges into nearby pure-state descriptions and local corrections, each depending only on one player's question. Together with Song's sampler, these enable approximate local preparation of the conditioned workspace.

Friday, October 16 2026, 00:00

On Knowledge Compilation Languages for QBFs

Authors: Sravanthi Chede, Vaibhav Krishan, Anil Shukla

In this work, we design knowledge compilation languages for quantified Boolean formulas (QBFs), with a particular focus on model counting. We introduce various languages in increasing order of their power of representation, starting from a simple tree-based structure, and extending it to DAGs for a more efficient representation. We study the power and limitations of each language. We also show that QBF queries such as model counting and MaxQBF are easy to handle in all these languages. These languages naturally lead to various static proof systems for the #QBF problem, the model-counting version of the QBF problem. We compare these systems with one another and with a recently introduced line-based #QBF-system called Q-MICE (Chede, Chew, Krishan and Shukla, SAT `26). We show that a minor extension of the Q-MICE system efficiently simulates all these static proof systems, and is in fact exponentially stronger than each of them. We also initiate the implementation of a solver based on these languages. The solver compiles a representation of an input QBF in the proposed tree-like language, which is subsequently used for model counting. This is the first knowledge compilation based solver for #QBF which can handle QBFs with doubly exponential model counts as well. Experimentally, we compare its performance with the state-of-the-art #QBF-solver d4-QBF which works well for QBFs with small model counts.

Authors: Sravanthi Chede, Vaibhav Krishan, Anil Shukla

In this work, we design knowledge compilation languages for quantified Boolean formulas (QBFs), with a particular focus on model counting. We introduce various languages in increasing order of their power of representation, starting from a simple tree-based structure, and extending it to DAGs for a more efficient representation. We study the power and limitations of each language. We also show that QBF queries such as model counting and MaxQBF are easy to handle in all these languages. These languages naturally lead to various static proof systems for the #QBF problem, the model-counting version of the QBF problem. We compare these systems with one another and with a recently introduced line-based #QBF-system called Q-MICE (Chede, Chew, Krishan and Shukla, SAT `26). We show that a minor extension of the Q-MICE system efficiently simulates all these static proof systems, and is in fact exponentially stronger than each of them. We also initiate the implementation of a solver based on these languages. The solver compiles a representation of an input QBF in the proposed tree-like language, which is subsequently used for model counting. This is the first knowledge compilation based solver for #QBF which can handle QBFs with doubly exponential model counts as well. Experimentally, we compare its performance with the state-of-the-art #QBF-solver d4-QBF which works well for QBFs with small model counts.

Friday, October 16 2026, 00:00

Smoothed analysis of policy iteration and value iteration for deterministic discounted and mean-payoff games played on any graph

Authors: Bruno Loff, Mateusz Skomra

Our understanding of turn-based stochastic games is reminiscent of our understanding of linear programming in the 1970s. Instead of the simplex method, we have two families of algorithms - policy iteration and value iteration - which work well in practice but are known to run in exponential time on some input instances, and we still lack an algorithm that runs in polynomial time on all instances. A recent result by Loff and Skomra showed that, for deterministic discounted and mean-payoff games played on an ergodic graph, a variant of policy iteration runs in smoothed polynomial time. This offered an explanation of why policy iteration performs well in practice, analogous to Spielman and Teng's explanation for the simplex method. In this paper, we drop the ergodicity assumption: we show that their policy iteration algorithms run in smoothed polynomial time for any game graph. We do this by defining a condition number that naturally generalizes theirs, showing that sufficiently-perturbed games are well-conditioned with high probability, and showing that their algorithms are efficient on well-conditioned instances. Although the outline is similar, our proof requires a substantially new approach, based on log-Lipschitz distributions which recently appeared in work on the smoothed analysis of the simplex method. For our second contribution, we propose three new value iteration algorithms for solving deterministic mean-payoff games (also on any graph). All three are based on iterative methods for finding fixed points of non-expansive operators, which we show can be applied to the Shapley operator. The first two are simple applications of Krasnoselskii-Mann iteration and Halpern iteration. The third is quadratically faster but more complicated: it runs Zwick-Paterson and Halpern iterations in parallel. We prove that all three algorithms are correct and run in smoothed polynomial time.

Authors: Bruno Loff, Mateusz Skomra

Our understanding of turn-based stochastic games is reminiscent of our understanding of linear programming in the 1970s. Instead of the simplex method, we have two families of algorithms - policy iteration and value iteration - which work well in practice but are known to run in exponential time on some input instances, and we still lack an algorithm that runs in polynomial time on all instances. A recent result by Loff and Skomra showed that, for deterministic discounted and mean-payoff games played on an ergodic graph, a variant of policy iteration runs in smoothed polynomial time. This offered an explanation of why policy iteration performs well in practice, analogous to Spielman and Teng's explanation for the simplex method. In this paper, we drop the ergodicity assumption: we show that their policy iteration algorithms run in smoothed polynomial time for any game graph. We do this by defining a condition number that naturally generalizes theirs, showing that sufficiently-perturbed games are well-conditioned with high probability, and showing that their algorithms are efficient on well-conditioned instances. Although the outline is similar, our proof requires a substantially new approach, based on log-Lipschitz distributions which recently appeared in work on the smoothed analysis of the simplex method. For our second contribution, we propose three new value iteration algorithms for solving deterministic mean-payoff games (also on any graph). All three are based on iterative methods for finding fixed points of non-expansive operators, which we show can be applied to the Shapley operator. The first two are simple applications of Krasnoselskii-Mann iteration and Halpern iteration. The third is quadratically faster but more complicated: it runs Zwick-Paterson and Halpern iterations in parallel. We prove that all three algorithms are correct and run in smoothed polynomial time.

Friday, October 16 2026, 00:00

Discrete Temporal CSPs et al

Authors: Lukas Pieper

We revisit the complexity classification of constraint satisfaction problems (CSPs) for first-order reducts of $(\mathbb{Z},<)$, established by Bodirsky, Martin, and Mottet in 2018. Following their approach, we give a self-contained proof of this classification, correcting several errors in the argument. We further show that, with the exception of cases arising from finite-domain CSPs, all tractable cases are solved by a well-known uniform algorithm, eliminating the need for the collection of ad-hoc algorithms used in the original paper. A central component of the proof allows the analysis to be restricted to first-order reducts of $(\mathbb{Z},<)$ that contain the successor relation. We substantially simplify this reduction and generalize the underlying construction. This generalization allows us to apply the same technique to first-order reducts of the triangular lattice graph and of infinite regular trees, yielding a complete complexity classification for these classes of structures, in particular a $\mathsf{P}$ versus $\mathsf{NP}$-complete dichotomy.

Authors: Lukas Pieper

We revisit the complexity classification of constraint satisfaction problems (CSPs) for first-order reducts of $(\mathbb{Z},<)$, established by Bodirsky, Martin, and Mottet in 2018. Following their approach, we give a self-contained proof of this classification, correcting several errors in the argument. We further show that, with the exception of cases arising from finite-domain CSPs, all tractable cases are solved by a well-known uniform algorithm, eliminating the need for the collection of ad-hoc algorithms used in the original paper. A central component of the proof allows the analysis to be restricted to first-order reducts of $(\mathbb{Z},<)$ that contain the successor relation. We substantially simplify this reduction and generalize the underlying construction. This generalization allows us to apply the same technique to first-order reducts of the triangular lattice graph and of infinite regular trees, yielding a complete complexity classification for these classes of structures, in particular a $\mathsf{P}$ versus $\mathsf{NP}$-complete dichotomy.

Friday, October 16 2026, 00:00

Strong NP-Hardness of Rank-2 Nonnegative Matrix Factorization

Authors: Arnaud Vandaele

Nonnegative matrix factorization (NMF) approximates a nonnegative matrix by the product of two nonnegative matrices with a prescribed inner dimension~$r$. The existence of an exact NMF can be decided in polynomial time for every fixed~$r$, and a best rank-$1$ NMF in the Frobenius norm can be obtained from a truncated singular value decomposition. We prove that computing a best rank-$2$ NMF in the Frobenius norm is strongly NP-hard. Our proof uses a polynomial-time reduction from \textsc{Clique} that produces symmetric positive-definite, completely positive matrices with polynomially bounded integer entries. The same reduction also establishes strong NP-hardness of rank-$2$ symmetric NMF.

Authors: Arnaud Vandaele

Nonnegative matrix factorization (NMF) approximates a nonnegative matrix by the product of two nonnegative matrices with a prescribed inner dimension~$r$. The existence of an exact NMF can be decided in polynomial time for every fixed~$r$, and a best rank-$1$ NMF in the Frobenius norm can be obtained from a truncated singular value decomposition. We prove that computing a best rank-$2$ NMF in the Frobenius norm is strongly NP-hard. Our proof uses a polynomial-time reduction from \textsc{Clique} that produces symmetric positive-definite, completely positive matrices with polynomially bounded integer entries. The same reduction also establishes strong NP-hardness of rank-$2$ symmetric NMF.

Friday, October 16 2026, 00:00

The Six-Dimensional Tarski Problem is $Ω(\log^3 n)$-Hard

Authors: Kristóf Zólomy

We study the deterministic query complexity of finding a fixed point of a monotone function $f:[n]^d\to[n]^d$, where querying $x$ returns $f(x)$. For fixed $d\ge2$, earlier work established a lower bound of $Ω((\log n)^2)$ and an upper bound of $O_d((\log n)^{\lceil(d+2)/3\rceil})$ for the query complexity. Very recently, several papers obtained improved lower bounds using AI-assisted proofs. In this paper, we further improve these lower bounds to $\text{Tarski}(n,d)=Ω_d((\log n)^{2+\lfloor\log_3(d/2)\rfloor})$. In particular, we obtain the optimal $Θ((\log n)^3)$ deterministic query complexity in six dimensions.

Authors: Kristóf Zólomy

We study the deterministic query complexity of finding a fixed point of a monotone function $f:[n]^d\to[n]^d$, where querying $x$ returns $f(x)$. For fixed $d\ge2$, earlier work established a lower bound of $Ω((\log n)^2)$ and an upper bound of $O_d((\log n)^{\lceil(d+2)/3\rceil})$ for the query complexity. Very recently, several papers obtained improved lower bounds using AI-assisted proofs. In this paper, we further improve these lower bounds to $\text{Tarski}(n,d)=Ω_d((\log n)^{2+\lfloor\log_3(d/2)\rfloor})$. In particular, we obtain the optimal $Θ((\log n)^3)$ deterministic query complexity in six dimensions.

Friday, October 16 2026, 00:00

On the Complexity of Symmetric Boolean Functions in Multiparty Private Simultaneous Messages

Authors: Marshall Ball, Peter Crawford-Kahrl, Vladimir Podolskii, Morgan Prior

Multiparty Private Simultaneous Messages (PSM), also known as Decomposable Randomized Encoding (DRE) or information-theoretic garbling, is a model for non-interactive secure computation. Each party encodes its input using shared randomness and sends a message to an evaluator who does not know that randomness. The evaluator must recover the function output without learning anything else about the inputs. Perfect privacy requires identical transcript distributions on inputs with the same output. We also study the weaker notion of support privacy, which requires only that these distributions have the same support. We study the communication complexity of symmetric Boolean functions when each of the $n$ parties holds one input bit. Lower bounds. We prove a superlinear lower bound for support-private PSM protocols computing $OR_n$. Our technique gives $Ω(n\log n)$ lower bounds for $MAJ_n$ and $EMAJ_n$ (with even $n$), and an $Ω(n\log q)$ lower bound for $MOD_q$ when $q\leq(1-c)n$ for a fixed constant $c>0$. Upper bounds. We construct perfectly private PSM protocols of total communication $\widetilde{O}(n^{3/2})$ for every symmetric Boolean function, improving on the known quadratic bound. For $MAJ_n$, known branching-program constructions yield an upper bound of $O(n\log^3 n\log\log n)$. For $EMAJ_n$ and $MOD_q$ with prime $q$, the lower bounds are tight up to constant factors in the stated regimes. Under support privacy, we obtain $\widetilde{O}(n)$ communication for every symmetric Boolean function. Earlier lower-bound techniques of Ball et al. (ITCS 2020) yield only trivial linear bounds for symmetric Boolean functions. Concurrent and independent work by Holmgren and Wu proves a $ω(n)$ lower bound for $OR_n$ using the same combinatorial core. Both works used AI assistance.

Authors: Marshall Ball, Peter Crawford-Kahrl, Vladimir Podolskii, Morgan Prior

Multiparty Private Simultaneous Messages (PSM), also known as Decomposable Randomized Encoding (DRE) or information-theoretic garbling, is a model for non-interactive secure computation. Each party encodes its input using shared randomness and sends a message to an evaluator who does not know that randomness. The evaluator must recover the function output without learning anything else about the inputs. Perfect privacy requires identical transcript distributions on inputs with the same output. We also study the weaker notion of support privacy, which requires only that these distributions have the same support. We study the communication complexity of symmetric Boolean functions when each of the $n$ parties holds one input bit. Lower bounds. We prove a superlinear lower bound for support-private PSM protocols computing $OR_n$. Our technique gives $Ω(n\log n)$ lower bounds for $MAJ_n$ and $EMAJ_n$ (with even $n$), and an $Ω(n\log q)$ lower bound for $MOD_q$ when $q\leq(1-c)n$ for a fixed constant $c>0$. Upper bounds. We construct perfectly private PSM protocols of total communication $\widetilde{O}(n^{3/2})$ for every symmetric Boolean function, improving on the known quadratic bound. For $MAJ_n$, known branching-program constructions yield an upper bound of $O(n\log^3 n\log\log n)$. For $EMAJ_n$ and $MOD_q$ with prime $q$, the lower bounds are tight up to constant factors in the stated regimes. Under support privacy, we obtain $\widetilde{O}(n)$ communication for every symmetric Boolean function. Earlier lower-bound techniques of Ball et al. (ITCS 2020) yield only trivial linear bounds for symmetric Boolean functions. Concurrent and independent work by Holmgren and Wu proves a $ω(n)$ lower bound for $OR_n$ using the same combinatorial core. Both works used AI assistance.

Friday, October 16 2026, 00:00

Spherical Convex Hull Membership: Complexity and Performance of Geometric and Accelerated Methods

Authors: Bahman Kalantari

We study the problem of testing membership of the origin in the convex hull of $n$ unit vectors in $\mathbb{R}^m$, seeking a convex combination of norm at most $\varepsilon$ or a strict separating hyperplane. The Spherical Triangle Algorithm (STA) uses nearest-point updates on pivot segments. We first establish a conditional $O(1/\varepsilon)$ iteration bound from accumulated geometric progress, allowing deeper pivots to compensate for shallow ones. A three-point example shows that ordinary STA can require $Θ(\varepsilon^{-2})$ iterations. We show that the same conditional bound holds for STA with Wolfe minimum-norm correction (STA--WMC), provided the averaged geometric progress condition holds for the STA steps taken within this corrected method. We then combine STA, WMC, and the Nemirovski weighted-pivot method (NWP) in a hybrid with unconditional bounds of $O(\sqrt{\log n}/\varepsilon)$ matrix--vector products with the input matrix or its transpose and $O(mn\sqrt{\log n}/\varepsilon)$ arithmetic operations, including corrections. We also give a self-contained derivation of the $O(\sqrt{\log n}/\varepsilon)$ membership iteration bound for entropic Nesterov acceleration. Computationally, we compare five methods---ordinary STA, STA--WMC, the hybrid, standalone NWP, and entropic Nesterov acceleration---on convex-hull queries derived from 14 public benchmark datasets and on 204 controlled synthetic inputs. STA--WMC completes all cases in both comparisons, and the hybrid completes all public-data cases. STA performs well on favorable interior and separation instances; Nesterov acceleration is faster than the STA-based methods on the highest-dimensional random membership tests. The experiments show complementary strengths and distinguish practical performance from worst-case guarantees.

Authors: Bahman Kalantari

We study the problem of testing membership of the origin in the convex hull of $n$ unit vectors in $\mathbb{R}^m$, seeking a convex combination of norm at most $\varepsilon$ or a strict separating hyperplane. The Spherical Triangle Algorithm (STA) uses nearest-point updates on pivot segments. We first establish a conditional $O(1/\varepsilon)$ iteration bound from accumulated geometric progress, allowing deeper pivots to compensate for shallow ones. A three-point example shows that ordinary STA can require $Θ(\varepsilon^{-2})$ iterations. We show that the same conditional bound holds for STA with Wolfe minimum-norm correction (STA--WMC), provided the averaged geometric progress condition holds for the STA steps taken within this corrected method. We then combine STA, WMC, and the Nemirovski weighted-pivot method (NWP) in a hybrid with unconditional bounds of $O(\sqrt{\log n}/\varepsilon)$ matrix--vector products with the input matrix or its transpose and $O(mn\sqrt{\log n}/\varepsilon)$ arithmetic operations, including corrections. We also give a self-contained derivation of the $O(\sqrt{\log n}/\varepsilon)$ membership iteration bound for entropic Nesterov acceleration. Computationally, we compare five methods---ordinary STA, STA--WMC, the hybrid, standalone NWP, and entropic Nesterov acceleration---on convex-hull queries derived from 14 public benchmark datasets and on 204 controlled synthetic inputs. STA--WMC completes all cases in both comparisons, and the hybrid completes all public-data cases. STA performs well on favorable interior and separation instances; Nesterov acceleration is faster than the STA-based methods on the highest-dimensional random membership tests. The experiments show complementary strengths and distinguish practical performance from worst-case guarantees.

Friday, October 16 2026, 00:00

VoroDuce: Massively Parallel 3D Voronoi Simplification with Volume-Aware Edge Collapse

Authors: Felix Windisch, Lukas Radl, Thomas Köhler, Shrisudhan Govindarajan, Marcel Pur, Andrea Tagliasacchi, Markus Steinberger

3D Voronoi diagrams provide a powerful mathematical framework for representing volumetric functions and geometry with applications to Materials Science, Biology, Simulation and Astrophysics. However, accurately resolving fine structures often requires millions of cells, imposing severe computational and memory constraints. Traditional mesh decimation or point cloud simplification techniques fail to account for the effects re-meshing has on neighbouring cells. In this work, we formalize the Voronoi reduction problem and propose a greedy edge-collapsing algorithm on the dual Delaunay tetrahedralisation that accounts for changes in the local geometry. Further, we demonstrate a novel volumetric error approximation technique that models convex cell intersections as truncated prismatoids, circumventing computationally prohibitive exact volume calculations and enabling massive GPU parallelization. Evaluations across Synthetic, Medicine and Material Science data demonstrate that VoroDuce decimates models with up to a million primitives, successfully compressing the representation while preserving the underlying data better than naive decimation approaches.

Authors: Felix Windisch, Lukas Radl, Thomas Köhler, Shrisudhan Govindarajan, Marcel Pur, Andrea Tagliasacchi, Markus Steinberger

3D Voronoi diagrams provide a powerful mathematical framework for representing volumetric functions and geometry with applications to Materials Science, Biology, Simulation and Astrophysics. However, accurately resolving fine structures often requires millions of cells, imposing severe computational and memory constraints. Traditional mesh decimation or point cloud simplification techniques fail to account for the effects re-meshing has on neighbouring cells. In this work, we formalize the Voronoi reduction problem and propose a greedy edge-collapsing algorithm on the dual Delaunay tetrahedralisation that accounts for changes in the local geometry. Further, we demonstrate a novel volumetric error approximation technique that models convex cell intersections as truncated prismatoids, circumventing computationally prohibitive exact volume calculations and enabling massive GPU parallelization. Evaluations across Synthetic, Medicine and Material Science data demonstrate that VoroDuce decimates models with up to a million primitives, successfully compressing the representation while preserving the underlying data better than naive decimation approaches.

Friday, October 16 2026, 00:00

Geometric Hashing in MPC with Applications to Clustering and Stochastic Embeddings

Authors: Sujoy Bhore, Arnold Filter, Eunjin Oh, Hyeonjun Shin, Himanshi Singh

In this paper we study consistent hashing (a.k.a. sparse partitions) for doubling metrics in the Massively Parallel Computation (MPC) model. A $(Γ,Λ)$-hash with diameter bound $Δ$ partitions a metric space into clusters of diameter at most $Δ$ such that every ball of radius $Δ/Γ$ intersects at most $Λ$ clusters in expectation. Consistent hashing has emerged as a central tool in geometric MPC algorithms. However, so far it has been solely used in Euclidean spaces, where it can be pre-computed. On the other hand, in cases where the metric space is received as input and unknown in advance, no previous parallel construction was known. We present the first fully scalable MPC algorithm over machines with local space $n^σ$, that given an $n$-point metric space with doubling dimension $d\leq O(σ\log n)$, samples a randomized $(Γ,2^{O(d/Γ)})$-hash in $O(d/σ^3)$ rounds. There is a dichotomy: if the doubling dimension is $d=Ω(σ\cdot\log n)$, a polynomial number of rounds is required to compute such a hash. We conclude by showing that this MPC primitive yields $O(d/σ^3)$-round fully scalable MPC algorithms for a broad class of fundamental geometric problems in doubling metrics, including stochastic tree embeddings with $O(\log n)$ expected distortion, constant factor approximation for facility location, bicriteria $(O(ε^{-2}),1+ε)$-approximation for $k$-median and $k$-means.

Authors: Sujoy Bhore, Arnold Filter, Eunjin Oh, Hyeonjun Shin, Himanshi Singh

In this paper we study consistent hashing (a.k.a. sparse partitions) for doubling metrics in the Massively Parallel Computation (MPC) model. A $(Γ,Λ)$-hash with diameter bound $Δ$ partitions a metric space into clusters of diameter at most $Δ$ such that every ball of radius $Δ/Γ$ intersects at most $Λ$ clusters in expectation. Consistent hashing has emerged as a central tool in geometric MPC algorithms. However, so far it has been solely used in Euclidean spaces, where it can be pre-computed. On the other hand, in cases where the metric space is received as input and unknown in advance, no previous parallel construction was known. We present the first fully scalable MPC algorithm over machines with local space $n^σ$, that given an $n$-point metric space with doubling dimension $d\leq O(σ\log n)$, samples a randomized $(Γ,2^{O(d/Γ)})$-hash in $O(d/σ^3)$ rounds. There is a dichotomy: if the doubling dimension is $d=Ω(σ\cdot\log n)$, a polynomial number of rounds is required to compute such a hash. We conclude by showing that this MPC primitive yields $O(d/σ^3)$-round fully scalable MPC algorithms for a broad class of fundamental geometric problems in doubling metrics, including stochastic tree embeddings with $O(\log n)$ expected distortion, constant factor approximation for facility location, bicriteria $(O(ε^{-2}),1+ε)$-approximation for $k$-median and $k$-means.

Friday, October 16 2026, 00:00

Decoding Failure Biases IBLT Count Measurements: A Gaussian-Selection Law at the Peeling Threshold