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DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.SoCG.2026.1

Covering and Partitioning Complex Objects with Small Pieces

Authors: Anders Aamand, Mikkel Abrahamsen, Reilly Browne, Mayank Goswami, Prahlad Narasimhan Kasthurirangan, Linda Kleist, Joseph S. B. Mitchell, Valentin Polishchuk, and Jack Stade

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 367, 42nd International Symposium on Computational Geometry (SoCG 2026)

Abstract

We study the problems of covering or partitioning a polygon P (possibly with holes) using a minimum number of small pieces, where a small piece is a connected sub-polygon contained in an axis-aligned unit square. For covering, we seek to write P as a union of small pieces, and in partitioning, we furthermore require the pieces to be pairwise interior-disjoint. We show that these problems are in fact equivalent: Optimum covers and partitions have the same number of pieces. For covering, a natural local search algorithm repeatedly attempts to replace k pieces from a candidate cover with k-1 pieces. In two dimensions and for sufficiently large k, we show that when no such swap is possible, the cover is a 1+ O(1/√k) approximation, hence obtaining the first PTAS for the problem. Prior to our work, the only known algorithm was a 13-approximation that only works for polygons without holes [Abrahamsen and Rasmussen, SODA 2025]. In contrast, in the three dimensional version of the problem, for a polyhedron P of complexity n, we show that it is NP-hard to approximate an optimal cover or partition to within a factor that is logarithmic in n, even if P is simple, i.e., has genus 0 and no holes.

Cite as

Anders Aamand, Mikkel Abrahamsen, Reilly Browne, Mayank Goswami, Prahlad Narasimhan Kasthurirangan, Linda Kleist, Joseph S. B. Mitchell, Valentin Polishchuk, and Jack Stade. Covering and Partitioning Complex Objects with Small Pieces. In 42nd International Symposium on Computational Geometry (SoCG 2026). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 367, pp. 1:1-1:16, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)

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@InProceedings{aamand_et_al:LIPIcs.SoCG.2026.1,
  author =	{Aamand, Anders and Abrahamsen, Mikkel and Browne, Reilly and Goswami, Mayank and Kasthurirangan, Prahlad Narasimhan and Kleist, Linda and Mitchell, Joseph S. B. and Polishchuk, Valentin and Stade, Jack},
  title =	{{Covering and Partitioning Complex Objects with Small Pieces}},
  booktitle =	{42nd International Symposium on Computational Geometry (SoCG 2026)},
  pages =	{1:1--1:16},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-418-5},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2026},
  volume =	{367},
  editor =	{Ahn, Hee-Kap and Hoffmann, Michael and Nayyeri, Amir},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.SoCG.2026.1},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-258077},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.SoCG.2026.1},
  annote =	{Keywords: Covering, partitioning, polygon, small piece, PTAS}
}

@InProceedings{aamand_et_al:LIPIcs.SoCG.2026.1,
  author =	{Aamand, Anders and Abrahamsen, Mikkel and Browne, Reilly and Goswami, Mayank and Kasthurirangan, Prahlad Narasimhan and Kleist, Linda and Mitchell, Joseph S. B. and Polishchuk, Valentin and Stade, Jack},
  title =	{{Covering and Partitioning Complex Objects with Small Pieces}},
  booktitle =	{42nd International Symposium on Computational Geometry (SoCG 2026)},
  pages =	{1:1--1:16},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-418-5},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2026},
  volume =	{367},
  editor =	{Ahn, Hee-Kap and Hoffmann, Michael and Nayyeri, Amir},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.SoCG.2026.1},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-258077},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.SoCG.2026.1},
  annote =	{Keywords: Covering, partitioning, polygon, small piece, PTAS}
}

Document

DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.STACS.2026.58

A Polylogarithmic Competitive Algorithm for Stochastic Online Sorting and TSP

Authors: Andreas Kalavas, Charalampos Platanos, and Thanos Tolias

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 364, 43rd International Symposium on Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science (STACS 2026)

Abstract

In Online Sorting, an array of n initially empty cells is given. At each time step t, an element x_t ∈ [0,1] arrives and must be irrevocably placed in an empty cell without knowledge of future arrivals. We aim to minimize the sum of absolute differences between pairs of elements placed in consecutive array cells, seeking an online placement strategy that results in a final array close to a sorted one. An interesting multidimensional generalization, referred to as the Online Traveling Salesperson Problem, arises when the request sequence consists of points in the d-dimensional unit cube and the objective is to minimize the sum of Euclidean distances between points in consecutive cells. Motivated by the recent work of (Abrahamsen, Bercea, Beretta, Klausen and Kozma; ESA 2024), we consider the stochastic version of Online Sorting (resp. Online TSP), where each element (resp. point) x_t is an i.i.d. sample from the uniform distribution on [0, 1] (resp. [0,1]^d). By carefully decomposing the request sequence into a hierarchy of balls-into-bins instances, where the balls to bins ratio is large enough so that bin occupancy is sharply concentrated around its mean and small enough so that we can efficiently deal with the elements placed in the same bin, we obtain an online algorithm that approximates the optimal cost within a factor of O(log² n) with high probability. Our result comprises an exponential improvement over the previously best known competitive ratio of Õ(n^{1/4}) for Stochastic Online Sorting due to (Abrahamsen et al.; ESA 2024) and O(√n) for (adversarial) Online TSP due to (Bertram, ESA 2025).

Cite as

Andreas Kalavas, Charalampos Platanos, and Thanos Tolias. A Polylogarithmic Competitive Algorithm for Stochastic Online Sorting and TSP. In 43rd International Symposium on Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science (STACS 2026). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 364, pp. 58:1-58:17, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)

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@InProceedings{kalavas_et_al:LIPIcs.STACS.2026.58,
  author =	{Kalavas, Andreas and Platanos, Charalampos and Tolias, Thanos},
  title =	{{A Polylogarithmic Competitive Algorithm for Stochastic Online Sorting and TSP}},
  booktitle =	{43rd International Symposium on Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science (STACS 2026)},
  pages =	{58:1--58:17},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-412-3},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2026},
  volume =	{364},
  editor =	{Mahajan, Meena and Manea, Florin and McIver, Annabelle and Thắng, Nguy\~{ê}n Kim},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.STACS.2026.58},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-255473},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.STACS.2026.58},
  annote =	{Keywords: sorting, online algorithm, balls-into-bins, TSP}
}

Document

DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.30

New Bounds for Circular Trace Reconstruction

Authors: Arnav Burudgunte, Paul Valiant, and Hongao Wang

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 362, 17th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2026)

Abstract

The "trace reconstruction" problem asks, given an unknown binary string x and a channel that repeatedly returns "traces" of x with each bit randomly deleted with some probability p, how many traces are needed to recover x? There is an exponential gap between the best known upper and lower bounds for this problem. Many variants of the model have been introduced in hopes of motivating or revealing new approaches to narrow this gap. We study the variant of circular trace reconstruction introduced by Narayanan and Ren (ITCS 2021), in which traces undergo a random cyclic shift in addition to random deletions. We show an improved lower bound of Ω̃(n⁵) for circular trace reconstruction. This contrasts with the (previously) best known lower bounds of Ω̃(n³) in the circular case and Ω̃(n^{3/2}) in the linear case. Our bound shows the indistinguishability of traces from two sparse strings x,y that each have a constant number of nonzeros. Can this technique be extended significantly? How hard is it to reconstruct a sparse string x under a cyclic deletion channel? We resolve these questions by showing, using Fourier techniques, that Õ(n⁶) traces suffice for reconstructing any constant-sparse string in a circular deletion channel, in contrast to the best known upper bound of exp(Õ(n^{1/3})) for general strings in the circular deletion channel. This shows that new algorithms or new lower bounds must focus on non-constant-sparse strings.

Cite as

Arnav Burudgunte, Paul Valiant, and Hongao Wang. New Bounds for Circular Trace Reconstruction. In 17th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2026). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 362, pp. 30:1-30:23, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)

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@InProceedings{burudgunte_et_al:LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.30,
  author =	{Burudgunte, Arnav and Valiant, Paul and Wang, Hongao},
  title =	{{New Bounds for Circular Trace Reconstruction}},
  booktitle =	{17th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2026)},
  pages =	{30:1--30:23},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-410-9},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2026},
  volume =	{362},
  editor =	{Saraf, Shubhangi},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.30},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-253176},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.30},
  annote =	{Keywords: Trace reconstruction, algorithmic statistics, Fourier analysis}
}

Document

DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.ESA.2025.80

Online Metric TSP

Authors: Christian Bertram

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 351, 33rd Annual European Symposium on Algorithms (ESA 2025)

Abstract

In the online metric traveling salesperson problem, n points of a metric space arrive one by one and have to be placed (immediately and irrevocably) into empty cells of a size-n array. The goal is to minimize the sum of distances between consecutive points in the array. This problem was introduced by Abrahamsen, Bercea, Beretta, Klausen, and Kozma [ESA'24] as a generalization of the online sorting problem, which was introduced by Aamand, Abrahamsen, Beretta, and Kleist [SODA'23] as a tool in their study of online geometric packing problems. Online metric TSP has been studied for a range of fixed metric spaces. For 1-dimensional Euclidean space, the problem is equivalent to online sorting, where an optimal competitive ratio of Θ(√n) is known. For d-dimensional Euclidean space, the best-known upper bound is O(2^d √{dn log n}), leaving a gap to the Ω(√n) lower bound. Finally, for the uniform metric, where all distances are 0 or 1, the optimal competitive ratio is known to be Θ(log n). We study the problem for a general metric space, presenting an algorithm with competitive ratio O(√n). In particular, we close the gap for d-dimensional Euclidean space, completely removing the dependence on dimension. One might hope to simultaneously guarantee competitive ratio O(√n) in general and O(log n) for the uniform metric, but we show that this is impossible.

Cite as

Christian Bertram. Online Metric TSP. In 33rd Annual European Symposium on Algorithms (ESA 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 351, pp. 80:1-80:9, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

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@InProceedings{bertram:LIPIcs.ESA.2025.80,
  author =	{Bertram, Christian},
  title =	{{Online Metric TSP}},
  booktitle =	{33rd Annual European Symposium on Algorithms (ESA 2025)},
  pages =	{80:1--80:9},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-395-9},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{351},
  editor =	{Benoit, Anne and Kaplan, Haim and Wild, Sebastian and Herman, Grzegorz},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.ESA.2025.80},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-245485},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ESA.2025.80},
  annote =	{Keywords: online algorithm, metric space, TSP}
}

Document

DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.ESA.2025.62

Polynomial-Time Constant-Approximation for Fair Sum-Of-Radii Clustering

Authors: Sina Bagheri Nezhad, Sayan Bandyapadhyay, and Tianzhi Chen

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 351, 33rd Annual European Symposium on Algorithms (ESA 2025)

Abstract

In a seminal work, Chierichetti et al. [Chierichetti et al., 2017] introduced the (t,k)-fair clustering problem: Given a set of red points and a set of blue points in a metric space, a clustering is called fair if the number of red points in each cluster is at most t times and at least 1/t times the number of blue points in that cluster. The goal is to compute a fair clustering with at most k clusters that optimizes certain objective function. Considering this problem, they designed a polynomial-time O(1)- and O(t)-approximation for the k-center and the k-median objective, respectively. Recently, Carta et al. [Carta et al., 2024] studied this problem with the sum-of-radii objective and obtained a (6+ε)-approximation with running time O((k log_{1+ε}(k/ε))^k n^O(1)), i.e., fixed-parameter tractable in k. Here n is the input size. In this work, we design the first polynomial-time O(1)-approximation for (t,k)-fair clustering with the sum-of-radii objective, improving the result of Carta et al. Our result places sum-of-radii in the same group of objectives as k-center, that admit polynomial-time O(1)-approximations. This result also implies a polynomial-time O(1)-approximation for the Euclidean version of the problem, for which an f(k)⋅n^O(1)-time (1+ε)-approximation was known due to Drexler et al. [Drexler et al., 2023]. Here f is an exponential function of k. We are also able to extend our result to any arbitrary 𝓁 ≥ 2 number of colors when t = 1. This matches known results for the k-center and k-median objectives in this case. The significant disparity of sum-of-radii compared to k-center and k-median presents several complex challenges, all of which we successfully overcome in our work. Our main contribution is a novel cluster-merging-based analysis technique for sum-of-radii that helps us achieve the constant-approximation bounds.

Cite as

Sina Bagheri Nezhad, Sayan Bandyapadhyay, and Tianzhi Chen. Polynomial-Time Constant-Approximation for Fair Sum-Of-Radii Clustering. In 33rd Annual European Symposium on Algorithms (ESA 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 351, pp. 62:1-62:16, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

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@InProceedings{bagherinezhad_et_al:LIPIcs.ESA.2025.62,
  author =	{Bagheri Nezhad, Sina and Bandyapadhyay, Sayan and Chen, Tianzhi},
  title =	{{Polynomial-Time Constant-Approximation for Fair Sum-Of-Radii Clustering}},
  booktitle =	{33rd Annual European Symposium on Algorithms (ESA 2025)},
  pages =	{62:1--62:16},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-395-9},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{351},
  editor =	{Benoit, Anne and Kaplan, Haim and Wild, Sebastian and Herman, Grzegorz},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.ESA.2025.62},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-245309},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ESA.2025.62},
  annote =	{Keywords: fair clustering, sum-of-radii clustering, approximation algorithms}
}

Document

DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.ESA.2025.36

Efficient Contractions of Dynamic Graphs - With Applications

Authors: Monika Henzinger, Evangelos Kosinas, Robin Münk, and Harald Räcke

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 351, 33rd Annual European Symposium on Algorithms (ESA 2025)

Abstract

A non-trivial minimum cut (NMC) sparsifier is a multigraph Ĝ that preserves all non-trivial minimum cuts of a given undirected graph G. We introduce a flexible data structure for fully dynamic graphs that can efficiently provide an NMC sparsifier upon request at any point during the sequence of updates. We employ simple dynamic forest data structures to achieve a fast from-scratch construction of the sparsifier at query time. Based on the strength of the adversary and desired type of time bounds, the data structure comes with different guarantees. Specifically, let G be a fully dynamic simple graph with n vertices and minimum degree δ. Then our data structure supports an insertion/deletion of an edge to/from G in n^o(1) worst-case time. Furthermore, upon request, it can return w.h.p. an NMC sparsifier of G that has O(n/δ) vertices and O(n) edges, in Ô(n) time. The probabilistic guarantees hold against an adaptive adversary. Alternatively, the update and query times can be improved to Õ(1) and Õ(n) respectively, if amortized-time guarantees are sufficient, or if the adversary is oblivious. Throughout the paper, we use Õ to hide polylogarithmic factors and Ô to hide subpolynomial (i.e., n^o(1)) factors. We discuss two applications of our new data structure. First, it can be used to efficiently report a cactus representation of all minimum cuts of a fully dynamic simple graph. Building this cactus for the NMC sparsifier instead of the original graph allows for a construction time that is sublinear in the number of edges. Against an adaptive adversary, we can with high probability output the cactus representation in worst-case Ô(n) time. Second, our data structure allows us to efficiently compute the maximal k-edge-connected subgraphs of undirected simple graphs, by repeatedly applying a minimum cut algorithm on the NMC sparsifier. Specifically, we can compute with high probability the maximal k-edge-connected subgraphs of a simple graph with n vertices and m edges in Õ(m+n²/k) time. This improves the best known time bounds for k = Ω(n^{1/8}) and naturally extends to the case of fully dynamic graphs.

Cite as

Monika Henzinger, Evangelos Kosinas, Robin Münk, and Harald Räcke. Efficient Contractions of Dynamic Graphs - With Applications. In 33rd Annual European Symposium on Algorithms (ESA 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 351, pp. 36:1-36:14, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

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@InProceedings{henzinger_et_al:LIPIcs.ESA.2025.36,
  author =	{Henzinger, Monika and Kosinas, Evangelos and M\"{u}nk, Robin and R\"{a}cke, Harald},
  title =	{{Efficient Contractions of Dynamic Graphs - With Applications}},
  booktitle =	{33rd Annual European Symposium on Algorithms (ESA 2025)},
  pages =	{36:1--36:14},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-395-9},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{351},
  editor =	{Benoit, Anne and Kaplan, Haim and Wild, Sebastian and Herman, Grzegorz},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.ESA.2025.36},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-245047},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ESA.2025.36},
  annote =	{Keywords: Graph Algorithms, Cut Sparsifiers, Dynamic Algorithms}
}

Document

Track A: Algorithms, Complexity and Games

DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.ICALP.2025.3

Near-Optimal Trace Reconstruction for Mildly Separated Strings

Authors: Anders Aamand, Allen Liu, and Shyam Narayanan

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 334, 52nd International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming (ICALP 2025)

Abstract

In the trace reconstruction problem our goal is to learn an unknown string x ∈ {0,1}ⁿ given independent traces of x. A trace is obtained by independently deleting each bit of x with some probability δ and concatenating the remaining bits. It is a major open question whether the trace reconstruction problem can be solved with a polynomial number of traces when the deletion probability δ is constant. The best known upper bound and lower bounds are respectively exp(Õ(n^{1/5})) [Zachary Chase, 2021a] and ̃ Ω(n^{3/2}) [Zachary Chase, 2021b]. Our main result is that if the string x is mildly separated, meaning that the number of zeros between any two ones in x is at least polylog n, and if δ is a sufficiently small constant, then the trace reconstruction problem can be solved with O(n log n) traces and in polynomial time.

Cite as

Anders Aamand, Allen Liu, and Shyam Narayanan. Near-Optimal Trace Reconstruction for Mildly Separated Strings. In 52nd International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming (ICALP 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 334, pp. 3:1-3:20, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

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@InProceedings{aamand_et_al:LIPIcs.ICALP.2025.3,
  author =	{Aamand, Anders and Liu, Allen and Narayanan, Shyam},
  title =	{{Near-Optimal Trace Reconstruction for Mildly Separated Strings}},
  booktitle =	{52nd International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming (ICALP 2025)},
  pages =	{3:1--3:20},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-372-0},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{334},
  editor =	{Censor-Hillel, Keren and Grandoni, Fabrizio and Ouaknine, Jo\"{e}l and Puppis, Gabriele},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.ICALP.2025.3},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-233801},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ICALP.2025.3},
  annote =	{Keywords: Trace Reconstruction, deletion channel, sample complexity}
}

Document

Track A: Algorithms, Complexity and Games

DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.ICALP.2025.92

Fully Dynamic Algorithms for Transitive Reduction

Authors: Gramoz Goranci, Adam Karczmarz, Ali Momeni, and Nikos Parotsidis

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 334, 52nd International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming (ICALP 2025)

Abstract

Given a directed graph G, a transitive reduction G^t of G (first studied by Aho, Garey, Ullman [SICOMP `72]) is a minimal subgraph of G that preserves the reachability relation between every two vertices in G. In this paper, we study the computational complexity of transitive reduction in the dynamic setting. We obtain the first fully dynamic algorithms for maintaining a transitive reduction of a general directed graph undergoing updates such as edge insertions or deletions. Our first algorithm achieves O(m+n log n) amortized update time, which is near-optimal for sparse directed graphs, and can even support extended update operations such as inserting a set of edges all incident to the same vertex, or deleting an arbitrary set of edges. Our second algorithm relies on fast matrix multiplication and achieves O(m+ n^{1.585}) worst-case update time.

Cite as

Gramoz Goranci, Adam Karczmarz, Ali Momeni, and Nikos Parotsidis. Fully Dynamic Algorithms for Transitive Reduction. In 52nd International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming (ICALP 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 334, pp. 92:1-92:20, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

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@InProceedings{goranci_et_al:LIPIcs.ICALP.2025.92,
  author =	{Goranci, Gramoz and Karczmarz, Adam and Momeni, Ali and Parotsidis, Nikos},
  title =	{{Fully Dynamic Algorithms for Transitive Reduction}},
  booktitle =	{52nd International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming (ICALP 2025)},
  pages =	{92:1--92:20},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-372-0},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{334},
  editor =	{Censor-Hillel, Keren and Grandoni, Fabrizio and Ouaknine, Jo\"{e}l and Puppis, Gabriele},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.ICALP.2025.92},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-234697},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ICALP.2025.92},
  annote =	{Keywords: Spectral sparsification, Dynamic algorithms, (Directed) hypergraphs, Data structures}
}

Document

DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.SoCG.2025.62

On Approximability of 𝓁₂² Min-Sum Clustering

Authors: Karthik C. S., Euiwoong Lee, Yuval Rabani, Chris Schwiegelshohn, and Samson Zhou

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 332, 41st International Symposium on Computational Geometry (SoCG 2025)

Abstract

The 𝓁₂² min-sum k-clustering problem is to partition an input set into clusters C_1,…,C_k to minimize ∑_{i=1}^k ∑_{p,q ∈ C_i} ‖p-q‖₂². Although 𝓁₂² min-sum k-clustering is NP-hard, it is not known whether it is NP-hard to approximate 𝓁₂² min-sum k-clustering beyond a certain factor. In this paper, we give the first hardness-of-approximation result for the 𝓁₂² min-sum k-clustering problem. We show that it is NP-hard to approximate the objective to a factor better than 1.056 and moreover, assuming a balanced variant of the Johnson Coverage Hypothesis, it is NP-hard to approximate the objective to a factor better than 1.327. We then complement our hardness result by giving a fast PTAS for 𝓁₂² min-sum k-clustering. Specifically, our algorithm runs in time O(n^{1+o(1)}d⋅ 2^{(k/ε)^O(1)}), which is the first nearly linear time algorithm for this problem. We also consider a learning-augmented setting, where the algorithm has access to an oracle that outputs a label i ∈ [k] for input point, thereby implicitly partitioning the input dataset into k clusters that induce an approximately optimal solution, up to some amount of adversarial error α ∈ [0,1/2). We give a polynomial-time algorithm that outputs a (1+γα)/(1-α)²-approximation to 𝓁₂² min-sum k-clustering, for a fixed constant γ > 0.

Cite as

Karthik C. S., Euiwoong Lee, Yuval Rabani, Chris Schwiegelshohn, and Samson Zhou. On Approximability of 𝓁₂² Min-Sum Clustering. In 41st International Symposium on Computational Geometry (SoCG 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 332, pp. 62:1-62:18, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

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@InProceedings{karthikc.s._et_al:LIPIcs.SoCG.2025.62,
  author =	{Karthik C. S. and Lee, Euiwoong and Rabani, Yuval and Schwiegelshohn, Chris and Zhou, Samson},
  title =	{{On Approximability of 𝓁₂² Min-Sum Clustering}},
  booktitle =	{41st International Symposium on Computational Geometry (SoCG 2025)},
  pages =	{62:1--62:18},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-370-6},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{332},
  editor =	{Aichholzer, Oswin and Wang, Haitao},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.SoCG.2025.62},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-232142},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.SoCG.2025.62},
  annote =	{Keywords: Clustering, hardness of approximation, polynomial-time approximation schemes, learning-augmented algorithms}
}

Document

DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2025.44

Learning-Augmented Streaming Algorithms for Approximating MAX-CUT

Authors: Yinhao Dong, Pan Peng, and Ali Vakilian

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 325, 16th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2025)

Abstract

We study learning-augmented streaming algorithms for estimating the value of MAX-CUT in a graph. In the classical streaming model, while a 1/2-approximation for estimating the value of MAX-CUT can be trivially achieved with O(1) words of space, Kapralov and Krachun [STOC’19] showed that this is essentially the best possible: for any ε > 0, any (randomized) single-pass streaming algorithm that achieves an approximation ratio of at least 1/2 + ε requires Ω(n / 2^poly(1/ε)) space. We show that it is possible to surpass the 1/2-approximation barrier using just O(1) words of space by leveraging a (machine learned) oracle. Specifically, we consider streaming algorithms that are equipped with an ε-accurate oracle that for each vertex in the graph, returns its correct label in {-1, +1}, corresponding to an optimal MAX-CUT solution in the graph, with some probability 1/2 + ε, and the incorrect label otherwise. Within this framework, we present a single-pass algorithm that approximates the value of MAX-CUT to within a factor of 1/2 + Ω(ε²) with probability at least 2/3 for insertion-only streams, using only poly(1/ε) words of space. We also extend our algorithm to fully dynamic streams while maintaining a space complexity of poly(1/ε,log n) words.

Cite as

Yinhao Dong, Pan Peng, and Ali Vakilian. Learning-Augmented Streaming Algorithms for Approximating MAX-CUT. In 16th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 325, pp. 44:1-44:24, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

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@InProceedings{dong_et_al:LIPIcs.ITCS.2025.44,
  author =	{Dong, Yinhao and Peng, Pan and Vakilian, Ali},
  title =	{{Learning-Augmented Streaming Algorithms for Approximating MAX-CUT}},
  booktitle =	{16th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2025)},
  pages =	{44:1--44:24},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-361-4},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{325},
  editor =	{Meka, Raghu},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2025.44},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-226728},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2025.44},
  annote =	{Keywords: Learning-Augmented Algorithms, Graph Streaming Algorithms, MAX-CUT}
}

Document

DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.OPODIS.2024.24

Hash & Adjust: Competitive Demand-Aware Consistent Hashing

Authors: Arash Pourdamghani, Chen Avin, Robert Sama, Maryam Shiran, and Stefan Schmid

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 324, 28th International Conference on Principles of Distributed Systems (OPODIS 2024)

Abstract

Distributed systems often serve dynamic workloads and resource demands evolve over time. Such a temporal behavior stands in contrast to the static and demand-oblivious nature of most data structures used by these systems. In this paper, we are particularly interested in consistent hashing, a fundamental building block in many large distributed systems. Our work is motivated by the hypothesis that a more adaptive approach to consistent hashing can leverage structure in the demand, and hence improve storage utilization and reduce access time. We initiate the study of demand-aware consistent hashing. Our main contribution is H&A, a constant-competitive online algorithm (i.e., it comes with provable performance guarantees over time). H&A is demand-aware and optimizes its internal structure to enable faster access times, while offering a high utilization of storage. We further evaluate H&A empirically.

Cite as

Arash Pourdamghani, Chen Avin, Robert Sama, Maryam Shiran, and Stefan Schmid. Hash & Adjust: Competitive Demand-Aware Consistent Hashing. In 28th International Conference on Principles of Distributed Systems (OPODIS 2024). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 324, pp. 24:1-24:23, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2024)

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@InProceedings{pourdamghani_et_al:LIPIcs.OPODIS.2024.24,
  author =	{Pourdamghani, Arash and Avin, Chen and Sama, Robert and Shiran, Maryam and Schmid, Stefan},
  title =	{{Hash \& Adjust: Competitive Demand-Aware Consistent Hashing}},
  booktitle =	{28th International Conference on Principles of Distributed Systems (OPODIS 2024)},
  pages =	{24:1--24:23},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-360-7},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{324},
  editor =	{Bonomi, Silvia and Galletta, Letterio and Rivi\`{e}re, Etienne and Schiavoni, Valerio},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.OPODIS.2024.24},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-225607},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.OPODIS.2024.24},
  annote =	{Keywords: Consistent hashing, demand-awareness, online algorithms}
}

Document

DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2024.38

Graph Threading

Authors: Erik D. Demaine, Yael Kirkpatrick, and Rebecca Lin

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 287, 15th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2024)

Abstract

Inspired by artistic practices such as beadwork and himmeli, we study the problem of threading a single string through a set of tubes, so that pulling the string forms a desired graph. More precisely, given a connected graph (where edges represent tubes and vertices represent junctions where they meet), we give a polynomial-time algorithm to find a minimum-length closed walk (representing a threading of string) that induces a connected graph of string at every junction. The algorithm is based on a surprising reduction to minimum-weight perfect matching. Along the way, we give tight worst-case bounds on the length of the optimal threading and on the maximum number of times this threading can visit a single edge. We also give more efficient solutions to two special cases: cubic graphs and the case when each edge can be visited at most twice.

Cite as

Erik D. Demaine, Yael Kirkpatrick, and Rebecca Lin. Graph Threading. In 15th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2024). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 287, pp. 38:1-38:18, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2024)

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@InProceedings{demaine_et_al:LIPIcs.ITCS.2024.38,
  author =	{Demaine, Erik D. and Kirkpatrick, Yael and Lin, Rebecca},
  title =	{{Graph Threading}},
  booktitle =	{15th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2024)},
  pages =	{38:1--38:18},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-309-6},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2024},
  volume =	{287},
  editor =	{Guruswami, Venkatesan},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2024.38},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-195665},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2024.38},
  annote =	{Keywords: Shortest walk, Eulerian cycle, perfect matching, beading}
}

Document

Track A: Algorithms, Complexity and Games

DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.ICALP.2023.6

Optimal Decremental Connectivity in Non-Sparse Graphs

Authors: Anders Aamand, Adam Karczmarz, Jakub Łącki, Nikos Parotsidis, Peter M. R. Rasmussen, and Mikkel Thorup

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 261, 50th International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming (ICALP 2023)

Abstract

We present a dynamic algorithm for maintaining the connected and 2-edge-connected components in an undirected graph subject to edge deletions. The algorithm is Monte-Carlo randomized and processes any sequence of edge deletions in O(m + n poly log n) total time. Interspersed with the deletions, it can answer queries whether any two given vertices currently belong to the same (2-edge-)connected component in constant time. Our result is based on a general Monte-Carlo randomized reduction from decremental c-edge-connectivity to a variant of fully-dynamic c-edge-connectivity on a sparse graph. For non-sparse graphs with Ω(n poly log n) edges, our connectivity and 2-edge-connectivity algorithms handle all deletions in optimal linear total time, using existing algorithms for the respective fully-dynamic problems. This improves upon an O(m log (n² / m) + n poly log n)-time algorithm of Thorup [J.Alg. 1999], which runs in linear time only for graphs with Ω(n²) edges. Our constant amortized cost for edge deletions in decremental connectivity in non-sparse graphs should be contrasted with an Ω(log n/log log n) worst-case time lower bound in the decremental setting [Alstrup, Husfeldt, and Rauhe FOCS'98] as well as an Ω(log n) amortized time lower-bound in the fully-dynamic setting [Patrascu and Demaine STOC'04].

Cite as

Anders Aamand, Adam Karczmarz, Jakub Łącki, Nikos Parotsidis, Peter M. R. Rasmussen, and Mikkel Thorup. Optimal Decremental Connectivity in Non-Sparse Graphs. In 50th International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming (ICALP 2023). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 261, pp. 6:1-6:17, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2023)

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@InProceedings{aamand_et_al:LIPIcs.ICALP.2023.6,
  author =	{Aamand, Anders and Karczmarz, Adam and {\L}\k{a}cki, Jakub and Parotsidis, Nikos and Rasmussen, Peter M. R. and Thorup, Mikkel},
  title =	{{Optimal Decremental Connectivity in Non-Sparse Graphs}},
  booktitle =	{50th International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming (ICALP 2023)},
  pages =	{6:1--6:17},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-278-5},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2023},
  volume =	{261},
  editor =	{Etessami, Kousha and Feige, Uriel and Puppis, Gabriele},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.ICALP.2023.6},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-180581},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ICALP.2023.6},
  annote =	{Keywords: decremental connectivity, dynamic connectivity}
}

Document

DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.SoCG.2022.1

Tiling with Squares and Packing Dominos in Polynomial Time

Authors: Anders Aamand, Mikkel Abrahamsen, Thomas Ahle, and Peter M. R. Rasmussen

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 224, 38th International Symposium on Computational Geometry (SoCG 2022)

Abstract

A polyomino is a polygonal region with axis-parallel edges and corners of integral coordinates, which may have holes. In this paper, we consider planar tiling and packing problems with polyomino pieces and a polyomino container P. We give polynomial-time algorithms for deciding if P can be tiled with k× k squares for any fixed k which can be part of the input (that is, deciding if P is the union of a set of non-overlapping k× k squares) and for packing P with a maximum number of non-overlapping and axis-parallel 2× 1 dominos, allowing rotations by 90^∘. As packing is more general than tiling, the latter algorithm can also be used to decide if P can be tiled by 2× 1 dominos. These are classical problems with important applications in VLSI design, and the related problem of finding a maximum packing of 2× 2 squares is known to be NP-hard [J. Algorithms 1990]. For our three problems there are known pseudo-polynomial-time algorithms, that is, algorithms with running times polynomial in the area or perimeter of P. However, the standard, compact way to represent a polygon is by listing the coordinates of the corners in binary. We use this representation, and thus present the first polynomial-time algorithms for the problems. Concretely, we give a simple O(nlog n)-time algorithm for tiling with squares, where n is the number of corners of P. We then give a more involved algorithm that reduces the problems of packing and tiling with dominos to finding a maximum and perfect matching in a graph with O(n³) vertices. This leads to algorithms with running times O(n³(log³ n)/(log²log n)) and O(n³(log² n)/(log log n)), respectively.

Cite as

Anders Aamand, Mikkel Abrahamsen, Thomas Ahle, and Peter M. R. Rasmussen. Tiling with Squares and Packing Dominos in Polynomial Time. In 38th International Symposium on Computational Geometry (SoCG 2022). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 224, pp. 1:1-1:17, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2022)

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@InProceedings{aamand_et_al:LIPIcs.SoCG.2022.1,
  author =	{Aamand, Anders and Abrahamsen, Mikkel and Ahle, Thomas and Rasmussen, Peter M. R.},
  title =	{{Tiling with Squares and Packing Dominos in Polynomial Time}},
  booktitle =	{38th International Symposium on Computational Geometry (SoCG 2022)},
  pages =	{1:1--1:17},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-227-3},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2022},
  volume =	{224},
  editor =	{Goaoc, Xavier and Kerber, Michael},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.SoCG.2022.1},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-160096},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.SoCG.2022.1},
  annote =	{Keywords: packing, tiling, polyominos}
}

Document

DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.SoCG.2021.3

Classifying Convex Bodies by Their Contact and Intersection Graphs

Authors: Anders Aamand, Mikkel Abrahamsen, Jakob Bæk Tejs Knudsen, and Peter Michael Reichstein Rasmussen

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 189, 37th International Symposium on Computational Geometry (SoCG 2021)

Abstract

Let A be a convex body in the plane and A₁,…,A_n be translates of A. Such translates give rise to an intersection graph of A, G = (V,E), with vertices V = {1,… ,n} and edges E = {uv∣ A_u ∩ A_v ≠ ∅}. The subgraph G' = (V, E') satisfying that E' ⊂ E is the set of edges uv for which the interiors of A_u and A_v are disjoint is a unit distance graph of A. If furthermore G' = G, i.e., if the interiors of A_u and A_v are disjoint whenever u≠ v, then G is a contact graph of A. In this paper, we study which pairs of convex bodies have the same contact, unit distance, or intersection graphs. We say that two convex bodies A and B are equivalent if there exists a linear transformation B' of B such that for any slope, the longest line segments with that slope contained in A and B', respectively, are equally long. For a broad class of convex bodies, including all strictly convex bodies and linear transformations of regular polygons, we show that the contact graphs of A and B are the same if and only if A and B are equivalent. We prove the same statement for unit distance and intersection graphs.

Cite as

Anders Aamand, Mikkel Abrahamsen, Jakob Bæk Tejs Knudsen, and Peter Michael Reichstein Rasmussen. Classifying Convex Bodies by Their Contact and Intersection Graphs. In 37th International Symposium on Computational Geometry (SoCG 2021). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 189, pp. 3:1-3:16, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2021)

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@InProceedings{aamand_et_al:LIPIcs.SoCG.2021.3,
  author =	{Aamand, Anders and Abrahamsen, Mikkel and Knudsen, Jakob B{\ae}k Tejs and Rasmussen, Peter Michael Reichstein},
  title =	{{Classifying Convex Bodies by Their Contact and Intersection Graphs}},
  booktitle =	{37th International Symposium on Computational Geometry (SoCG 2021)},
  pages =	{3:1--3:16},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-184-9},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2021},
  volume =	{189},
  editor =	{Buchin, Kevin and Colin de Verdi\`{e}re, \'{E}ric},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.SoCG.2021.3},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-138024},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.SoCG.2021.3},
  annote =	{Keywords: convex body, contact graph, intersection graph}
}

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