30 Search Results for "Austrin, Per"

Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.CPM.2026.12
Maximizing Diversity in (Near-)Median String Selection

Authors: Diptarka Chakraborty, Rudrayan Kundu, Nidhi Purohit, and Aravinda Kanchana Ruwanpathirana

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 369, 37th Annual Symposium on Combinatorial Pattern Matching (CPM 2026)

Abstract
Given a set of strings over a specified alphabet, identifying a median or consensus string that minimizes the total distance to all input strings is a fundamental data aggregation problem. When the Hamming distance is considered as the underlying metric, this problem has extensive applications, ranging from bioinformatics to pattern recognition. However, modern applications often require the generation of multiple (near-)optimal yet diverse median strings to enhance flexibility and robustness in decision-making. In this study, we address this need by focusing on two prominent diversity measures: sum dispersion and min dispersion. We first introduce an exact algorithm for the diameter variant of the problem, which identifies pairs of near-optimal medians that are maximally diverse. Subsequently, we propose a (1-ε)-approximation algorithm (for any ε > 0) for sum dispersion, as well as a bi-criteria approximation algorithm for the more challenging min dispersion case, allowing the generation of multiple (more than two) diverse near-optimal Hamming medians. Our approach primarily leverages structural insights into the Hamming median space and also draws on techniques from error-correcting code construction to establish these results.
Cite as

Diptarka Chakraborty, Rudrayan Kundu, Nidhi Purohit, and Aravinda Kanchana Ruwanpathirana. Maximizing Diversity in (Near-)Median String Selection. In 37th Annual Symposium on Combinatorial Pattern Matching (CPM 2026). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 369, pp. 12:1-12:15, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)

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@InProceedings{chakraborty_et_al:LIPIcs.CPM.2026.12,
  author =	{Chakraborty, Diptarka and Kundu, Rudrayan and Purohit, Nidhi and Ruwanpathirana, Aravinda Kanchana},
  title =	{{Maximizing Diversity in (Near-)Median String Selection}},
  booktitle =	{37th Annual Symposium on Combinatorial Pattern Matching (CPM 2026)},
  pages =	{12:1--12:15},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-420-8},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2026},
  volume =	{369},
  editor =	{Bille, Philip and Prezza, Nicola},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.CPM.2026.12},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-259382},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.CPM.2026.12},
  annote =	{Keywords: Diversity maximization, Hamming median, diameter, dispersion, approximation algorithms}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.SoCG.2026.33
Near-Optimal Bounds for Parameterized Euclidean k-Means

Authors: Vincent Cohen-Addad, Karthik C. S., David Saulpic, and Chris Schwiegelshohn

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

Abstract
The k-means problem is a classic objective for modeling clustering in a metric space. Given a set of points in a metric space, the goal is to find k representative points so as to minimize the sum of the squared distances from each point to its closest representative. In this work, we study the approximability of k-means in Euclidean spaces parameterized by the number of clusters, k. In seminal works, de la Vega, Karpinski, Kenyon, and Rabani [STOC'03] and Kumar, Sabharwal, and Sen [JACM'10] showed how to obtain a (1+ε)-approximation for high-dimensional Euclidean k-means in time 2^{(k/ε)^O(1)} ⋅ dn^O(1). In this work, we introduce a new fine-grained hypothesis called Exponential Time for Expanders Hypothesis (XXH) which roughly asserts that there are no non-trivial exponential time approximation algorithms for the vertex cover problem on near perfect vertex expanders. Assuming XXH, we close the above long line of work on approximating Euclidean k-means by showing that there is no 2^{(k/ε)^{1-o(1)}} ⋅ n^O(1) time algorithm achieving a (1+ε)-approximation for k-means in Euclidean space. This lower bound is tight as it matches the algorithm given by Feldman, Monemizadeh, and Sohler [SoCG'07] whose runtime is 2^O(k/ε) + O(ndk). Furthermore, assuming XXH, we show that the seminal O(n^{kd+1}) runtime exact algorithm of Inaba, Katoh, and Imai [SoCG'94] for k-means is optimal for small values of k.
Cite as

Vincent Cohen-Addad, Karthik C. S., David Saulpic, and Chris Schwiegelshohn. Near-Optimal Bounds for Parameterized Euclidean k-Means. In 42nd International Symposium on Computational Geometry (SoCG 2026). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 367, pp. 33:1-33:17, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)

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@InProceedings{cohenaddad_et_al:LIPIcs.SoCG.2026.33,
  author =	{Cohen-Addad, Vincent and C. S., Karthik and Saulpic, David and Schwiegelshohn, Chris},
  title =	{{Near-Optimal Bounds for Parameterized Euclidean k-Means}},
  booktitle =	{42nd International Symposium on Computational Geometry (SoCG 2026)},
  pages =	{33:1--33:17},
  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.2026.33},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-258391},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.SoCG.2026.33},
  annote =	{Keywords: k-means clustering, Euclidean space, Fine-Grained Complexity}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.STACS.2026.47
On the Hardness of the One-Sided Code Sparsifier Problem

Authors: Elena Grigorescu and Alice Moayyedi

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

Abstract
The notion of code sparsification was introduced by Khanna, Putterman and Sudan (SODA 2024) as an analogue to the more established notion of cut sparsification in graphs and hypergraphs. In particular, for α ∈ (0,1), an (unweighted) one-sided α-sparsifier for a linear code 𝒞 ⊆ 𝐅₂ⁿ is a subset S ⊆ [n] such that the weight of each codeword projected onto the coordinates in S is preserved up to an α fraction. Recently, Gharan and Sahami (arXiv:2502.02799) show the existence of one-sided 1/2-sparsifiers of size n/2+O(√{kn}) for any linear code, where k is the dimension of 𝒞. In this paper, we consider the computational problem of finding a one-sided 1/2-sparsifier of minimal size, and show that it is NP-hard, via a reduction from the classical nearest codeword problem. We also show hardness of approximation results.
Cite as

Elena Grigorescu and Alice Moayyedi. On the Hardness of the One-Sided Code Sparsifier Problem. In 43rd International Symposium on Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science (STACS 2026). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 364, pp. 47:1-47:10, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)

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@InProceedings{grigorescu_et_al:LIPIcs.STACS.2026.47,
  author =	{Grigorescu, Elena and Moayyedi, Alice},
  title =	{{On the Hardness of the One-Sided Code Sparsifier Problem}},
  booktitle =	{43rd International Symposium on Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science (STACS 2026)},
  pages =	{47:1--47:10},
  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.2026.47},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-255365},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.STACS.2026.47},
  annote =	{Keywords: Code sparsifiers, NP-hardness, Approximation hardness}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.STACS.2026.35
A Quantum Pigeonhole Principle and Two Semidefinite Relaxations of Communication Complexity

Authors: Pavel Dvořák, Bruno Loff, and Suhail Sherif

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

Abstract
We are interested in what happens when we take a Π₁ combinatorial statement, write its negation as a homogeneous quadratic feasibility problem (HQFP), and relax the problem into a positive semidefinite feasibility problem. This question is particularly interesting owing to the fact that any statement written as a PSD feasibility problem can be proven or disproven using a short proof. We investigate this for one very simple and one very complicated statement. The simple statement we look at is the pigeonhole principle. We prove that the relaxed negation of the PHP remains unsatisfiable and we thus obtain a new "quantum" pigeonhole principle (QPHP) which is a stronger statement than the vanilla PHP. It states that if we take n copies of the same state, and measure each copy using a measurement with only n-1 outcomes (the measurement can be different for different copies), then there will be an outcome j and two copies i₁, i₂ where the resulting states, obtained when the outcome is j for both copies, are not orthogonal. We then look at the statement "the deterministic communication complexity of f is ≤ k", where f could be either a function or a relation. We write this statement in two equivalent ways, using two different HQFPs. By relaxing to PSD feasibility, we increase the set of available protocols, and thus we always get a communication model which is stronger than deterministic communication complexity. An argument from proof complexity shows that any model obtained in this way will solve all Karchmer-Wigderson games efficiently. However, the argument is very indirect and does not give us an explicit protocol that solves the Karchmer-Wigderson games. We then work to find such protocols in the two communication models obtained by relaxing our two formulations. When relaxing the first of the two formulations we obtain a structured variant of the γ₂ norm. This communication model is to subunit γ₂ norm matrices like deterministic protocols are to rectangles, and so we call the protocols in this model γ₂ protocols. We show that log-inverse-discrepancy is a lower-bound for this model. We then show how to compute equality (deterministically) using O(1) bits of γ₂-communication, which implies that KW games are easy in the model. When relaxing the second of the two formulations we obtain what we call quantum lab protocols. This model happens to have a functional description, wherein Alice and Bob communicate solely via the outcomes of binary measurements of a shared quantum state (whose initial state is independent of the inputs). They are required to give the correct output with zero error probability. We use our QPHP to prove a lower-bound of n against two-round quantum lab protocols for equality. However we also show that any Boolean function f can be computed in three rounds and four measurements.
Cite as

Pavel Dvořák, Bruno Loff, and Suhail Sherif. A Quantum Pigeonhole Principle and Two Semidefinite Relaxations of Communication Complexity. In 43rd International Symposium on Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science (STACS 2026). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 364, pp. 35:1-35:20, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)

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@InProceedings{dvorak_et_al:LIPIcs.STACS.2026.35,
  author =	{Dvo\v{r}\'{a}k, Pavel and Loff, Bruno and Sherif, Suhail},
  title =	{{A Quantum Pigeonhole Principle and Two Semidefinite Relaxations of Communication Complexity}},
  booktitle =	{43rd International Symposium on Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science (STACS 2026)},
  pages =	{35:1--35:20},
  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.2026.35},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-255243},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.STACS.2026.35},
  annote =	{Keywords: Proofs, Semidefinite Programs, Quantum Pigeonhole Principle, Communication Complexity}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.STACS.2026.57
Improving Lagarias-Odlyzko Algorithm for Average-Case Subset Sum: Modular Arithmetic Approach

Authors: Antoine Joux and Karol Węgrzycki

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

Abstract
Lagarias and Odlyzko (J.ACM 1985) proposed a polynomial-time algorithm for solving "almost all" instances of the Subset Sum problem with n integers of size Ω(Γ_LO), where log₂(Γ_LO) > n² log₂(γ) and γ is a parameter of the lattice basis reduction (γ > √{4/3} for LLL). The algorithm of Lagarias and Odlyzko is a cornerstone of cryptography. However, the theoretical guarantee on the density of feasible instances has remained unimproved for almost 40 years. In this paper, we propose an algorithm that solves "almost all" instances of Subset Sum with integers of size Ω(√{Γ_LO}) after a single call to lattice reduction. Additionally, our approach allows solving the Subset Sum problem for multiple targets, whereas the previous method could handle only one target per call to lattice basis reduction. We introduce a modular arithmetic approach to the Subset Sum problem, leveraging lattice reduction to solve a linear system modulo a suitably large prime. By analyzing the lengths of the LLL-reduced basis vectors of both the primal and dual lattices simultaneously, we show that density guarantees can be improved.
Cite as

Antoine Joux and Karol Węgrzycki. Improving Lagarias-Odlyzko Algorithm for Average-Case Subset Sum: Modular Arithmetic Approach. In 43rd International Symposium on Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science (STACS 2026). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 364, pp. 57:1-57:19, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)

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@InProceedings{joux_et_al:LIPIcs.STACS.2026.57,
  author =	{Joux, Antoine and W\k{e}grzycki, Karol},
  title =	{{Improving Lagarias-Odlyzko Algorithm for Average-Case Subset Sum: Modular Arithmetic Approach}},
  booktitle =	{43rd International Symposium on Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science (STACS 2026)},
  pages =	{57:1--57:19},
  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.2026.57},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-255462},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.STACS.2026.57},
  annote =	{Keywords: Average-Case Analysis, Subset Sum, Lattice Reduction, LLL}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.FSTTCS.2025.34
On the Hardness of Approximating Distances of Quantum Codes

Authors: Elena Grigorescu, Vatsal Jha, and Eric Samperton

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 360, 45th IARCS Annual Conference on Foundations of Software Technology and Theoretical Computer Science (FSTTCS 2025)

Abstract
The problem of computing distances of error-correcting codes is fundamental in both the classical and quantum settings. While hardness for the classical version of these problems has been known for some time (in both the exact and approximate settings), it was only recently that Kapshikar and Kundu showed these problems are also hard in the quantum setting. As our first main result, we reprove this using arguably simpler arguments based on hypergraph product codes. In particular, we get a direct reduction to CSS codes, the most commonly used type of quantum code, from the minimum distance problem for classical linear codes. Our second set of results considers the distance of a graph state, which is a key parameter for quantum codes obtained via the codeword stabilized formalism. We show that it is NP-hard to compute/approximate the distance of a graph state when the adjacency matrix of the graph is the input. In fact, we show this is true even if we only consider X-type errors of a graph state. Our techniques moreover imply an interesting classical consequence: the hardness of computing or approximating the distance of classical codes with rate equal to 1/2. One of the main motivations of the present work is a question raised by Kapshikar and Kundu concerning the NP-hardness of approximation when there is an additive error proportional to a quantum code’s length. We show that no such hardness can hold for hypergraph product codes. These observations suggest the possibility of a new kind of square root barrier.
Cite as

Elena Grigorescu, Vatsal Jha, and Eric Samperton. On the Hardness of Approximating Distances of Quantum Codes. In 45th IARCS Annual Conference on Foundations of Software Technology and Theoretical Computer Science (FSTTCS 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 360, pp. 34:1-34:18, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

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@InProceedings{grigorescu_et_al:LIPIcs.FSTTCS.2025.34,
  author =	{Grigorescu, Elena and Jha, Vatsal and Samperton, Eric},
  title =	{{On the Hardness of Approximating Distances of Quantum Codes}},
  booktitle =	{45th IARCS Annual Conference on Foundations of Software Technology and Theoretical Computer Science (FSTTCS 2025)},
  pages =	{34:1--34:18},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-406-2},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{360},
  editor =	{Aiswarya, C. and Mehta, Ruta and Roy, Subhajit},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.FSTTCS.2025.34},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-251152},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.FSTTCS.2025.34},
  annote =	{Keywords: quantum codes, minimum distance problem, NP-hardness, graph state distance}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.FSTTCS.2025.49
On the Hardness of Order Finding and Equivalence Testing for ROABPs

Authors: C. Ramya and Pratik Shastri

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 360, 45th IARCS Annual Conference on Foundations of Software Technology and Theoretical Computer Science (FSTTCS 2025)

Abstract
The complexity of representing a polynomial by a Read-Once Oblivious Algebraic Branching Program (ROABP) is highly dependent on the chosen variable ordering. Bhargava et al. [Bhargava et al., 2024] prove that finding the optimal ordering is NP-hard, and provide some evidence (based on the Small Set Expansion hypothesis) that it is also hard to approximate the optimal ROABP width. In another work, Baraskar et al. [Baraskar et al., 2024] show that it is NP-hard to test whether a polynomial is in the GL_n orbit of a polynomial of sparsity at most s. Building upon these works, we show the following results: first, we prove that approximating the minimum ROABP width up to any constant factor is NP-hard, when the input is presented as a circuit. This removes the reliance on stronger conjectures in the previous work [Bhargava et al., 2024]. Second, we show that testing if an input polynomial given in the sparse representation is in the affine GL_n orbit of a width-w ROABP is NP-hard. Furthermore, we show that over fields of characteristic 0, the problem is NP-hard even when the input polynomial is homogeneous. This provides the first NP-hardness results for membership testing for a dense subclass of polynomial sized algebraic branching programs (VBP). Finally, we locate the source of hardness for the order finding problem at the lowest possible non-trivial degree, proving that the problem is NP-hard even for quadratic forms.
Cite as

C. Ramya and Pratik Shastri. On the Hardness of Order Finding and Equivalence Testing for ROABPs. In 45th IARCS Annual Conference on Foundations of Software Technology and Theoretical Computer Science (FSTTCS 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 360, pp. 49:1-49:13, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

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@InProceedings{ramya_et_al:LIPIcs.FSTTCS.2025.49,
  author =	{Ramya, C. and Shastri, Pratik},
  title =	{{On the Hardness of Order Finding and Equivalence Testing for ROABPs}},
  booktitle =	{45th IARCS Annual Conference on Foundations of Software Technology and Theoretical Computer Science (FSTTCS 2025)},
  pages =	{49:1--49:13},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-406-2},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{360},
  editor =	{Aiswarya, C. and Mehta, Ruta and Roy, Subhajit},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.FSTTCS.2025.49},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-251296},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.FSTTCS.2025.49},
  annote =	{Keywords: ROABP, Order Finding, Equivalence Testing, NP-hardness, Hardness of Approximation}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/OASIcs.ATMOS.2025.4
Visualization of Event Graphs for Train Schedules

Authors: Johann Hartleb, Marie Schmidt, Samuel Wolf, and Alexander Wolff

Published in: OASIcs, Volume 137, 25th Symposium on Algorithmic Approaches for Transportation Modelling, Optimization, and Systems (ATMOS 2025)

Abstract
Train timetables can be represented as event graphs, where events correspond to a train passing through a location at a certain point in time. A visual representation of an event graph is important for many applications such as dispatching and (the development of) dispatching software. A common way to represent event graphs are time-space diagrams. In such a diagram, key locations are visualized on the y-axis and time on the x-axis of a coordinate system. A train’s movement is then represented as a connected sequence of line segments in this coordinate system. This visualization allows for an easy detection of infrastructure conflicts and safety distance violations. However, time-space diagrams are usually used only to depict event graphs that are restricted to corridors, where an obvious ordering of the locations exists. In this paper, we consider the visualization of general event graphs in time-space diagrams, where the challenge is to find an ordering of the locations that produces readable drawings. We argue that this means to minimize the number of turns, i.e., the total number of changes in y-direction. To this end, we establish a connection between this problem and Maximum Betweenness. Then we develop a preprocessing strategy to reduce the instance size. We also propose a parameterized algorithm and integer linear programming formulations. We experimentally evaluate the preprocessing strategy and the integer programming formulations on a real-world dataset. Our best algorithm solves every instance in the dataset in less than a second. This suggests that turn-optimal time-space diagrams can be computed in real time.
Cite as

Johann Hartleb, Marie Schmidt, Samuel Wolf, and Alexander Wolff. Visualization of Event Graphs for Train Schedules. In 25th Symposium on Algorithmic Approaches for Transportation Modelling, Optimization, and Systems (ATMOS 2025). Open Access Series in Informatics (OASIcs), Volume 137, pp. 4:1-4:20, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

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@InProceedings{hartleb_et_al:OASIcs.ATMOS.2025.4,
  author =	{Hartleb, Johann and Schmidt, Marie and Wolf, Samuel and Wolff, Alexander},
  title =	{{Visualization of Event Graphs for Train Schedules}},
  booktitle =	{25th Symposium on Algorithmic Approaches for Transportation Modelling, Optimization, and Systems (ATMOS 2025)},
  pages =	{4:1--4:20},
  series =	{Open Access Series in Informatics (OASIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-404-8},
  ISSN =	{2190-6807},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{137},
  editor =	{Sauer, Jonas and Schmidt, Marie},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/OASIcs.ATMOS.2025.4},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-247607},
  doi =		{10.4230/OASIcs.ATMOS.2025.4},
  annote =	{Keywords: Graph Drawing, Event Graphs, Integer Linear Programming, Parameterized Algorithms, Treewidth}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.ESA.2025.86
New Algorithms for Pigeonhole Equal Subset Sum

Authors: Ce Jin, Ryan Williams, and Stan Zhang

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

Abstract
We study the Pigeonhole Equal Subset Sum problem, which is a total-search variant of the Subset Sum problem introduced by Papadimitriou (1994): we are given a set of n positive integers {w₁,…,w_n} with the additional restriction that ∑_{i=1}^n w_i < 2ⁿ - 1, and want to find two different subsets A,B ⊆ [n] such that ∑_{i∈A} w_i = ∑_{i∈B} w_i. Very recently, Jin and Wu (ICALP 2024) gave a randomized algorithm solving Pigeonhole Equal Subset Sum in O^*(2^{0.4n}) time, beating the classical meet-in-the-middle algorithm with O^*(2^{n/2}) runtime. In this paper, we refine Jin and Wu’s techniques to improve the runtime even further to O^*(2^{n/3}).
Cite as

Ce Jin, Ryan Williams, and Stan Zhang. New Algorithms for Pigeonhole Equal Subset Sum. In 33rd Annual European Symposium on Algorithms (ESA 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 351, pp. 86:1-86:12, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

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@InProceedings{jin_et_al:LIPIcs.ESA.2025.86,
  author =	{Jin, Ce and Williams, Ryan and Zhang, Stan},
  title =	{{New Algorithms for Pigeonhole Equal Subset Sum}},
  booktitle =	{33rd Annual European Symposium on Algorithms (ESA 2025)},
  pages =	{86:1--86:12},
  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.2025.86},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-245541},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ESA.2025.86},
  annote =	{Keywords: pigeonhole principle, subset sums}
}
Document
APPROX
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.APPROX/RANDOM.2025.27
Triangles Improve 0.878 Approximation for Maxcut

Authors: Fredie George, Anand Louis, and Rameesh Paul

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 353, Approximation, Randomization, and Combinatorial Optimization. Algorithms and Techniques (APPROX/RANDOM 2025)

Abstract
Maxcut is a fundamental problem in graph algorithms, extensively studied for its theoretical and practical significance. The goal is to partition the vertex set of a graph G = (V, E) into disjoint subsets S and V⧵S so as to maximize the number of edges crossing the cut (S,V⧵S). The seminal work of Goemans and Williamson [Goemans and Williamson, 1995] introduced a semidefinite programming (SDP) based algorithm achieving a α_{GW} ≈ 0.87856-approximation for general graphs, guaranteed to be optimal under the Unique Games Conjecture [Khot, 2002; Khot et al., 2007]. We revisit the Goemans–Williamson SDP and prove that the standard Maxcut SDP achieves a (α_{GW} + Ω(1))-approximation whenever the input graph contains Ω(|E|) edge-disjoint triangles. Our analysis builds on classical rounding techniques studied in [Goemans and Williamson, 1995; Zwick, 1999] and introduces a refined understanding of the SDP solution structure in regimes where the previous guarantees are tight. Our result identifies a simple combinatorial property that may be satisfied by many natural graph classes. As applications, we show that unit ball graphs and graphs satisfying a spectral transitivity condition (as studied in [Gupta et al., 2016; Basu et al., 2024]) meet our structural criterion, and therefore we get better than α_{GW} approximation guarantees for them. Our algorithm runs in nearly linear time 𝒪̃(|E|), offering a more practical alternative to the PTAS of [Jansen et al., 2005] for unit ball graphs, which has exponential dependence on the approximation parameter.
Cite as

Fredie George, Anand Louis, and Rameesh Paul. Triangles Improve 0.878 Approximation for Maxcut. In Approximation, Randomization, and Combinatorial Optimization. Algorithms and Techniques (APPROX/RANDOM 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 353, pp. 27:1-27:25, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

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@InProceedings{george_et_al:LIPIcs.APPROX/RANDOM.2025.27,
  author =	{George, Fredie and Louis, Anand and Paul, Rameesh},
  title =	{{Triangles Improve 0.878 Approximation for Maxcut}},
  booktitle =	{Approximation, Randomization, and Combinatorial Optimization. Algorithms and Techniques (APPROX/RANDOM 2025)},
  pages =	{27:1--27:25},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-397-3},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{353},
  editor =	{Ene, Alina and Chattopadhyay, Eshan},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.APPROX/RANDOM.2025.27},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-243931},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.APPROX/RANDOM.2025.27},
  annote =	{Keywords: Approximation Algorithms, Maxcut, Semidefinite Programming, Edge-disjoint Triangles, Unit Ball Graphs, Spectral Triadic Graphs}
}
Document
APPROX
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.APPROX/RANDOM.2025.13
Max-Cut with Multiple Cardinality Constraints

Authors: Yury Makarychev, Madhusudhan Reddy Pittu, and Ali Vakilian

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 353, Approximation, Randomization, and Combinatorial Optimization. Algorithms and Techniques (APPROX/RANDOM 2025)

Abstract
We study the classic Max-Cut problem under multiple cardinality constraints, which we refer to as the Constrained Max-Cut problem. Given a graph G = (V, E), a partition of the vertices into c disjoint parts V₁, …, V_c, and cardinality parameters k₁, …, k_c, the goal is to select a set S ⊆ V such that |S ∩ V_i| = k_i for each i ∈ [c], maximizing the total weight of edges crossing S (i.e., edges with exactly one endpoint in S). By designing an approximate kernel for Constrained Max-Cut and building on the correlation rounding technique of Raghavendra and Tan (2012), we present a (0.858 - ε)-approximation algorithm for the problem when c = O(1). The algorithm runs in time O(min{k/ε, n}^poly(c/ε) + poly(n)), where k = ∑_{i∈[c]} k_i and n = |V|. This improves upon the (1/2 + ε₀)-approximation of Feige and Langberg (2001) for Max-Cut_k (the special case when c = 1, k₁ = k), and generalizes the (0.858 - ε)-approximation of Raghavendra and Tan (2012), which only applies when min{k,n-k} = Ω(n) and does not handle multiple constraints. We also establish that, for general values of c, it is NP-hard to determine whether a feasible solution exists that cuts all edges. Finally, we present a 1/2-approximation algorithm for Max-Cut under an arbitrary matroid constraint.
Cite as

Yury Makarychev, Madhusudhan Reddy Pittu, and Ali Vakilian. Max-Cut with Multiple Cardinality Constraints. In Approximation, Randomization, and Combinatorial Optimization. Algorithms and Techniques (APPROX/RANDOM 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 353, pp. 13:1-13:21, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

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@InProceedings{makarychev_et_al:LIPIcs.APPROX/RANDOM.2025.13,
  author =	{Makarychev, Yury and Pittu, Madhusudhan Reddy and Vakilian, Ali},
  title =	{{Max-Cut with Multiple Cardinality Constraints}},
  booktitle =	{Approximation, Randomization, and Combinatorial Optimization. Algorithms and Techniques (APPROX/RANDOM 2025)},
  pages =	{13:1--13:21},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-397-3},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{353},
  editor =	{Ene, Alina and Chattopadhyay, Eshan},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.APPROX/RANDOM.2025.13},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-243790},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.APPROX/RANDOM.2025.13},
  annote =	{Keywords: Maxcut, Semi-definite Programming, Sum of Squares Hierarchy}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.WADS.2025.22
On Minimizing Wiggle in Stacked Area Charts

Authors: Alexander Dobler and Martin Nöllenburg

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 349, 19th International Symposium on Algorithms and Data Structures (WADS 2025)

Abstract
Stacked area charts are a widely used visualization technique for numerical time series. The x-axis represents time, and the time series are displayed as horizontal, variable-height layers stacked on top of each other. The height of each layer corresponds to the time series values at each time point. The main aesthetic criterion for optimizing the readability of stacked area charts is the amount of vertical change of the borders between the time series in the visualization, called wiggle. While many heuristic algorithms have been developed to minimize wiggle, the computational complexity of minimizing wiggle has not been formally analyzed. In this paper, we show that different variants of wiggle minimization are NP-hard and even hard to approximate. We also present an exact mixed-integer linear programming formulation and compare its performance with a state-of-the-art heuristic in an experimental evaluation. Lastly, we consider a special case of wiggle minimization that corresponds to the fundamentally interesting and natural problem of ordering a set of numbers as to minimize their sum of absolute prefix sums. We show several complexity results for this problem that imply some of the mentioned hardness results for wiggle minimization.
Cite as

Alexander Dobler and Martin Nöllenburg. On Minimizing Wiggle in Stacked Area Charts. In 19th International Symposium on Algorithms and Data Structures (WADS 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 349, pp. 22:1-22:14, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

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@InProceedings{dobler_et_al:LIPIcs.WADS.2025.22,
  author =	{Dobler, Alexander and N\"{o}llenburg, Martin},
  title =	{{On Minimizing Wiggle in Stacked Area Charts}},
  booktitle =	{19th International Symposium on Algorithms and Data Structures (WADS 2025)},
  pages =	{22:1--22:14},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-398-0},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{349},
  editor =	{Morin, Pat and Oh, Eunjin},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.WADS.2025.22},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-242530},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.WADS.2025.22},
  annote =	{Keywords: Stacked area charts, NP-hardness, Mixed-integer linear programming}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.MFCS.2025.83
Three Fundamental Questions in Modern Infinite-Domain Constraint Satisfaction

Authors: Michael Pinsker, Jakub Rydval, Moritz Schöbi, and Christoph Spiess

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 345, 50th International Symposium on Mathematical Foundations of Computer Science (MFCS 2025)

Abstract
The Feder-Vardi dichotomy conjecture for Constraint Satisfaction Problems (CSPs) with finite templates, confirmed independently by Bulatov and Zhuk, has an extension to certain well-behaved infinite templates due to Bodirsky and Pinsker which remains wide open. We provide answers to three fundamental questions on the scope of the Bodirsky-Pinsker conjecture. Our first two main results provide two simplifications of this scope, one of structural, and the other one of algebraic nature. The former simplification implies that the conjecture is equivalent to its restriction to templates without algebraicity, a crucial assumption in the most powerful classification methods. The latter yields that the higher-arity invariants of any template within its scope can be assumed to be essentially injective, and any algebraic condition characterizing any complexity class within the conjecture closed under Datalog reductions must be satisfiable by injections, thus lifting the mystery of the better applicability of certain conditions over others. Our third main result uses the first one to show that any non-trivially tractable template within the scope serves, up to a Datalog-computable modification of it, as the witness of the tractability of a non-finitely tractable finite-domain Promise Constraint Satisfaction Problem (PCSP) by the so-called sandwich method. This generalizes a recent result of Mottet and provides a strong hitherto unknown connection between the Bodirsky-Pinsker conjecture and finite-domain PCSPs.
Cite as

Michael Pinsker, Jakub Rydval, Moritz Schöbi, and Christoph Spiess. Three Fundamental Questions in Modern Infinite-Domain Constraint Satisfaction. In 50th International Symposium on Mathematical Foundations of Computer Science (MFCS 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 345, pp. 83:1-83:20, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

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@InProceedings{pinsker_et_al:LIPIcs.MFCS.2025.83,
  author =	{Pinsker, Michael and Rydval, Jakub and Sch\"{o}bi, Moritz and Spiess, Christoph},
  title =	{{Three Fundamental Questions in Modern Infinite-Domain Constraint Satisfaction}},
  booktitle =	{50th International Symposium on Mathematical Foundations of Computer Science (MFCS 2025)},
  pages =	{83:1--83:20},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-388-1},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{345},
  editor =	{Gawrychowski, Pawe{\l} and Mazowiecki, Filip and Skrzypczak, Micha{\l}},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.MFCS.2025.83},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-241903},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.MFCS.2025.83},
  annote =	{Keywords: (Promise) Constraint Satisfaction Problem, dichotomy conjecture, polymorphism, identity, algebraicity, homogeneity, \omega-categoricity, finite boundedness, Datalog}
}
Document
Track A: Algorithms, Complexity and Games
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.ICALP.2025.38
Optimal Inapproximability of Promise Equations over Finite Groups

Authors: Silvia Butti, Alberto Larrauri, and Stanislav Živný

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

Abstract
A celebrated result of Håstad established that, for any constant ε > 0, it is NP-hard to find an assignment satisfying a (1/|G|+ε)-fraction of the constraints of a given 3-LIN instance over an Abelian group G even if one is promised that an assignment satisfying a (1-ε)-fraction of the constraints exists. Engebretsen, Holmerin, and Russell showed the same result for 3-LIN instances over any finite (not necessarily Abelian) group. In other words, for almost-satisfiable instances of 3-LIN the random assignment achieves an optimal approximation guarantee. We prove that the random assignment algorithm is still best possible under a stronger promise that the 3-LIN instance is almost satisfiable over an arbitrarily more restrictive group.
Cite as

Silvia Butti, Alberto Larrauri, and Stanislav Živný. Optimal Inapproximability of Promise Equations over Finite Groups. In 52nd International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming (ICALP 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 334, pp. 38:1-38:14, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

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@InProceedings{butti_et_al:LIPIcs.ICALP.2025.38,
  author =	{Butti, Silvia and Larrauri, Alberto and \v{Z}ivn\'{y}, Stanislav},
  title =	{{Optimal Inapproximability of Promise Equations over Finite Groups}},
  booktitle =	{52nd International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming (ICALP 2025)},
  pages =	{38:1--38:14},
  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.2025.38},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-234150},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ICALP.2025.38},
  annote =	{Keywords: promise constraint satisfaction, approximation, linear equations}
}
Document
Track A: Algorithms, Complexity and Games
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.ICALP.2025.96
Asymptotically Optimal Inapproximability of Maxmin k-Cut Reconfiguration

Authors: Shuichi Hirahara and Naoto Ohsaka

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

Abstract
k-Coloring Reconfiguration is one of the most well-studied reconfiguration problems, which asks to transform a given proper k-coloring of a graph to another by repeatedly recoloring a single vertex. Its approximate version, Maxmin k-Cut Reconfiguration, is defined as an optimization problem of maximizing the minimum fraction of bichromatic edges during the transformation between (not necessarily proper) k-colorings. In this paper, we demonstrate that the optimal approximation factor of this problem is 1 - Θ(1/k) for every k ≥ 2. Specifically, we prove the PSPACE-hardness of approximating the objective value within a factor of 1 - ε/k for some universal constant ε > 0, whereas we develop a deterministic polynomial-time algorithm that achieves the approximation factor of 1 - 2/k. To prove the hardness result, we propose a new probabilistic verifier that tests a "striped" pattern. Our approximation algorithm is based on a random transformation that passes through a random k-coloring.
Cite as

Shuichi Hirahara and Naoto Ohsaka. Asymptotically Optimal Inapproximability of Maxmin k-Cut Reconfiguration. In 52nd International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming (ICALP 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 334, pp. 96:1-96:18, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

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@InProceedings{hirahara_et_al:LIPIcs.ICALP.2025.96,
  author =	{Hirahara, Shuichi and Ohsaka, Naoto},
  title =	{{Asymptotically Optimal Inapproximability of Maxmin k-Cut Reconfiguration}},
  booktitle =	{52nd International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming (ICALP 2025)},
  pages =	{96:1--96:18},
  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.2025.96},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-234733},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ICALP.2025.96},
  annote =	{Keywords: reconfiguration problems, graph coloring, hardness of approximation}
}
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