13 Search Results for "Bhattiprolu, Vijay"


Document
Search-Space Reduction for Boolean MinCSPs via Essential Constraints

Authors: Bart M. P. Jansen and Ruben F. A. Verhaegh

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 370, 20th Scandinavian Symposium on Algorithm Theory (SWAT 2026)


Abstract
For a fixed set ℱ of Boolean constraint types, a MinCSP(ℱ)-instance consists of a formula F that applies m constraints from ℱ to a set of n Boolean variables. The goal is to remove a minimum subset of constraint applications from F to make the remaining formula satisfiable. Previous work characterized how the choice of ℱ affects its polynomial-time solvability and approximability. We extend a recently introduced preprocessing framework for graph problems to the problem above. Rephrased in the context of CSPs, this framework defines a constraint application from a given formula F as c-essential if it is contained in all c-approximate solutions to F. Being able to efficiently detect these essential parts of a solution reduces the search space of any follow-up FPT algorithms parameterized by the solution size and yields an immediate asymptotic improvement to the runtime of such algorithms. In this work, we present a dichotomy theorem that distinguishes constraint sets ℱ for which c_ℱ-essential constraint applications can be detected efficiently for some c_{ℱ} ∈ 𝒪(1), from those for which this task is intractable under established complexity-theoretic conjectures. Our results show that for any set ℱ of bijunctive constraints, there is a polynomial-time algorithm that detects 𝒪(1)-essential constraint applications. This contrasts the fact that constant-factor approximating a bijunctive MinCSP(ℱ)-problem is intractable under the Unique Games Conjecture.

Cite as

Bart M. P. Jansen and Ruben F. A. Verhaegh. Search-Space Reduction for Boolean MinCSPs via Essential Constraints. In 20th Scandinavian Symposium on Algorithm Theory (SWAT 2026). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 370, pp. 22:1-22:17, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)


Copy BibTex To Clipboard

@InProceedings{jansen_et_al:LIPIcs.SWAT.2026.22,
  author =	{Jansen, Bart M. P. and Verhaegh, Ruben F. A.},
  title =	{{Search-Space Reduction for Boolean MinCSPs via Essential Constraints}},
  booktitle =	{20th Scandinavian Symposium on Algorithm Theory (SWAT 2026)},
  pages =	{22:1--22:17},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-421-5},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2026},
  volume =	{370},
  editor =	{Fraigniaud, Pierre},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.SWAT.2026.22},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-260586},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.SWAT.2026.22},
  annote =	{Keywords: fixed-parameter tractability, constraint satisfaction problems}
}
Document
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)


Copy BibTex To Clipboard

@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
Approximating q → p Norms of Non-Negative Matrices in Nearly-Linear Time

Authors: Etienne Objois and Adrian Vladu

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


Abstract
We provide the first nearly-linear time algorithm for approximating 𝓁_{q → p}-norms of non-negative matrices, for q ≥ p ≥ 1. Our algorithm returns a (1-ε)-approximation to the matrix norm in time Õ(1/(q ε) ⋅ nnz(A)), where A is the input matrix, and improves upon the previous state of the art, which either proved convergence only in the limit [Boyd '74], or had very high polynomial running times [Bhaskara-Vijayraghavan, SODA '11]. Our algorithm is extremely simple, and is largely inspired from the coordinate-scaling approach used for positive linear program solvers. Our algorithm can readily be used in the [Englert-Räcke, FOCS '09] to improve the running time of constructing O(log n)-competitive 𝓁_p-oblivious routings.

Cite as

Etienne Objois and Adrian Vladu. Approximating q → p Norms of Non-Negative Matrices in Nearly-Linear Time. In 43rd International Symposium on Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science (STACS 2026). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 364, pp. 69:1-69:19, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)


Copy BibTex To Clipboard

@InProceedings{objois_et_al:LIPIcs.STACS.2026.69,
  author =	{Objois, Etienne and Vladu, Adrian},
  title =	{{Approximating q → p Norms of Non-Negative Matrices in Nearly-Linear Time}},
  booktitle =	{43rd International Symposium on Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science (STACS 2026)},
  pages =	{69:1--69:19},
  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.2026.69},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-255585},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.STACS.2026.69},
  annote =	{Keywords: matrix norm, Perron-Frobenius theory, oblivious routings, input-sparsity time, lp norm}
}
Document
Decoding Balanced Linear Codes with Preprocessing

Authors: Andrej Bogdanov, Rohit Chatterjee, Yunqi Li, and Prashant Nalini Vasudevan

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


Abstract
Prange’s information set algorithm is a well-known decoding algorithm for linear codes. It decodes corrupted codewords of most 𝔽₂-linear codes C of message length n up to relative error rate O(log n / n) in poly(n) time. We show that the error rate can be improved to O((log n)² / n), provided: (1) the decoder has access to a polynomial-length advice string that depends on C only, and (2) C is n^{-Ω(1)}-balanced. As a consequence we improve the error tolerance in decoding random linear codes if inefficient preprocessing of the code is allowed. This reveals potential vulnerabilities in cryptographic applications of Learning Noisy Parities with low noise rate. Our main technical result is that the Hamming weight of Hw, where the rows of H are a random sample of short dual codewords, measures the proximity of a received word w to the code in the regime of interest. Given such H as advice, our algorithm corrects errors by locally minimizing this measure. We show that for most codes, the error rate tolerated by our decoder is asymptotically optimal among all algorithms whose decision is based on thresholding Hw for an arbitrary polynomial-size advice matrix H.

Cite as

Andrej Bogdanov, Rohit Chatterjee, Yunqi Li, and Prashant Nalini Vasudevan. Decoding Balanced Linear Codes with Preprocessing. In 17th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2026). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 362, pp. 23:1-23:23, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)


Copy BibTex To Clipboard

@InProceedings{bogdanov_et_al:LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.23,
  author =	{Bogdanov, Andrej and Chatterjee, Rohit and Li, Yunqi and Vasudevan, Prashant Nalini},
  title =	{{Decoding Balanced Linear Codes with Preprocessing}},
  booktitle =	{17th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2026)},
  pages =	{23:1--23:23},
  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.2026.23},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-253107},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.23},
  annote =	{Keywords: Linear codes, nearest codeword problem, learning parity with noise}
}
Document
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)


Copy BibTex To Clipboard

@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
Track A: Algorithms, Complexity and Games
Guessing Efficiently for Constrained Subspace Approximation

Authors: Aditya Bhaskara, Sepideh Mahabadi, Madhusudhan Reddy Pittu, Ali Vakilian, and David P. Woodruff

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


Abstract
In this paper we study constrained subspace approximation problem. Given a set of n points {a₁,…,a_n} in ℝ^d, the goal of the subspace approximation problem is to find a k dimensional subspace that best approximates the input points. More precisely, for a given p ≥ 1, we aim to minimize the pth power of the 𝓁_p norm of the error vector (‖a₁-Pa₁‖,…,‖a_n-Pa_n‖), where P denotes the projection matrix onto the subspace and the norms are Euclidean. In constrained subspace approximation (CSA), we additionally have constraints on the projection matrix P. In its most general form, we require P to belong to a given subset 𝒮 that is described explicitly or implicitly. We introduce a general framework for constrained subspace approximation. Our approach, that we term coreset-guess-solve, yields either (1+ε)-multiplicative or ε-additive approximations for a variety of constraints. We show that it provides new algorithms for partition-constrained subspace approximation with applications to fair subspace approximation, k-means clustering, and projected non-negative matrix factorization, among others. Specifically, while we reconstruct the best known bounds for k-means clustering in Euclidean spaces, we improve the known results for the remainder of the problems.

Cite as

Aditya Bhaskara, Sepideh Mahabadi, Madhusudhan Reddy Pittu, Ali Vakilian, and David P. Woodruff. Guessing Efficiently for Constrained Subspace Approximation. In 52nd International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming (ICALP 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 334, pp. 29:1-29:20, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)


Copy BibTex To Clipboard

@InProceedings{bhaskara_et_al:LIPIcs.ICALP.2025.29,
  author =	{Bhaskara, Aditya and Mahabadi, Sepideh and Pittu, Madhusudhan Reddy and Vakilian, Ali and Woodruff, David P.},
  title =	{{Guessing Efficiently for Constrained Subspace Approximation}},
  booktitle =	{52nd International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming (ICALP 2025)},
  pages =	{29:1--29:20},
  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.2025.29},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-234068},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ICALP.2025.29},
  annote =	{Keywords: parameterized complexity, low rank approximation, fairness, non-negative matrix factorization, clustering}
}
Document
Track A: Algorithms, Complexity and Games
From Trees to Polynomials and Back Again: New Capacity Bounds with Applications to TSP

Authors: Leonid Gurvits, Nathan Klein, and Jonathan Leake

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 297, 51st International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming (ICALP 2024)


Abstract
We give simply exponential lower bounds on the probabilities of a given strongly Rayleigh distribution, depending only on its expectation. This resolves a weak version of a problem left open by Karlin-Klein-Oveis Gharan in their recent breakthrough work on metric TSP, and this resolution leads to a minor improvement of their approximation factor for metric TSP. Our results also allow for a more streamlined analysis of the algorithm. To achieve these new bounds, we build upon the work of Gurvits-Leake on the use of the productization technique for bounding the capacity of a real stable polynomial. This technique allows one to reduce certain inequalities for real stable polynomials to products of affine linear forms, which have an underlying matrix structure. In this paper, we push this technique further by characterizing the worst-case polynomials via bipartitioned forests. This rigid combinatorial structure yields a clean induction argument, which implies our stronger bounds. In general, we believe the results of this paper will lead to further improvement and simplification of the analysis of various combinatorial and probabilistic bounds and algorithms.

Cite as

Leonid Gurvits, Nathan Klein, and Jonathan Leake. From Trees to Polynomials and Back Again: New Capacity Bounds with Applications to TSP. In 51st International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming (ICALP 2024). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 297, pp. 79:1-79:20, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2024)


Copy BibTex To Clipboard

@InProceedings{gurvits_et_al:LIPIcs.ICALP.2024.79,
  author =	{Gurvits, Leonid and Klein, Nathan and Leake, Jonathan},
  title =	{{From Trees to Polynomials and Back Again: New Capacity Bounds with Applications to TSP}},
  booktitle =	{51st International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming (ICALP 2024)},
  pages =	{79:1--79:20},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-322-5},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2024},
  volume =	{297},
  editor =	{Bringmann, Karl and Grohe, Martin and Puppis, Gabriele and Svensson, Ola},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.ICALP.2024.79},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-202229},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ICALP.2024.79},
  annote =	{Keywords: traveling salesman problem, strongly Rayleigh distributions, polynomial capacity, probability lower bounds, combinatorial lower bounds}
}
Document
Separating the NP-Hardness of the Grothendieck Problem from the Little-Grothendieck Problem

Authors: Vijay Bhattiprolu, Euiwoong Lee, and Madhur Tulsiani

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 215, 13th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2022)


Abstract
Grothendieck’s inequality [Grothendieck, 1953] states that there is an absolute constant K > 1 such that for any n× n matrix A, ‖A‖_{∞→1} := max_{s,t ∈ {± 1}ⁿ}∑_{i,j} A[i,j]⋅s(i)⋅t(j) ≥ 1/K ⋅ max_{u_i,v_j ∈ S^{n-1}}∑_{i,j} A[i,j]⋅⟨u_i,v_j⟩. In addition to having a tremendous impact on Banach space theory, this inequality has found applications in several unrelated fields like quantum information, regularity partitioning, communication complexity, etc. Let K_G (known as Grothendieck’s constant) denote the smallest constant K above. Grothendieck’s inequality implies that a natural semidefinite programming relaxation obtains a constant factor approximation to ‖A‖_{∞ → 1}. The exact value of K_G is yet unknown with the best lower bound (1.67…) being due to Reeds and the best upper bound (1.78…) being due to Braverman, Makarychev, Makarychev and Naor [Braverman et al., 2013]. In contrast, the little Grothendieck inequality states that under the assumption that A is PSD the constant K above can be improved to π/2 and moreover this is tight. The inapproximability of ‖A‖_{∞ → 1} has been studied in several papers culminating in a tight UGC-based hardness result due to Raghavendra and Steurer (remarkably they achieve this without knowing the value of K_G). Briet, Regev and Saket [Briët et al., 2015] proved tight NP-hardness of approximating the little Grothendieck problem within π/2, based on a framework by Guruswami, Raghavendra, Saket and Wu [Guruswami et al., 2016] for bypassing UGC for geometric problems. This also remained the best known NP-hardness for the general Grothendieck problem due to the nature of the Guruswami et al. framework, which utilized a projection operator onto the degree-1 Fourier coefficients of long code encodings, which naturally yielded a PSD matrix A. We show how to extend the above framework to go beyond the degree-1 Fourier coefficients, using the global structure of optimal solutions to the Grothendieck problem. As a result, we obtain a separation between the NP-hardness results for the two problems, obtaining an inapproximability result for the Grothendieck problem, of a factor π/2 + ε₀ for a fixed constant ε₀ > 0.

Cite as

Vijay Bhattiprolu, Euiwoong Lee, and Madhur Tulsiani. Separating the NP-Hardness of the Grothendieck Problem from the Little-Grothendieck Problem. In 13th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2022). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 215, pp. 22:1-22:17, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2022)


Copy BibTex To Clipboard

@InProceedings{bhattiprolu_et_al:LIPIcs.ITCS.2022.22,
  author =	{Bhattiprolu, Vijay and Lee, Euiwoong and Tulsiani, Madhur},
  title =	{{Separating the NP-Hardness of the Grothendieck Problem from the Little-Grothendieck Problem}},
  booktitle =	{13th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2022)},
  pages =	{22:1--22:17},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-217-4},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2022},
  volume =	{215},
  editor =	{Braverman, Mark},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2022.22},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-156186},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2022.22},
  annote =	{Keywords: Grothendieck’s Inequality, Hardness of Approximation, Semidefinite Programming, Optimization}
}
Document
Pseudobinomiality of the Sticky Random Walk

Authors: Venkatesan Guruswami and Vinayak M. Kumar

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 185, 12th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2021)


Abstract
Random walks on expanders are a central and versatile tool in pseudorandomness. If an arbitrary half of the vertices of an expander graph are marked, known Chernoff bounds for expander walks imply that the number M of marked vertices visited in a long n-step random walk strongly concentrates around the expected n/2 value. Surprisingly, it was recently shown that the parity of M also has exponentially small bias. Is there a common unification of these results? What other statistics about M resemble the binomial distribution (the Hamming weight of a random n-bit string)? To gain insight into such questions, we analyze a simpler model called the sticky random walk. This model is a natural stepping stone towards understanding expander random walks, and we also show that it is a necessary step. The sticky random walk starts with a random bit and then each subsequent bit independently equals the previous bit with probability (1+λ)/2. Here λ is the proxy for the expander’s (second largest) eigenvalue. Using Krawtchouk expansion of functions, we derive several probabilistic results about the sticky random walk. We show an asymptotically tight Θ(λ) bound on the total variation distance between the (Hamming weight of the) sticky walk and the binomial distribution. We prove that the correlation between the majority and parity bit of the sticky walk is bounded by O(n^{-1/4}). This lends hope to unifying Chernoff bounds and parity concentration, as well as establishing other interesting statistical properties, of expander random walks.

Cite as

Venkatesan Guruswami and Vinayak M. Kumar. Pseudobinomiality of the Sticky Random Walk. In 12th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2021). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 185, pp. 48:1-48:19, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2021)


Copy BibTex To Clipboard

@InProceedings{guruswami_et_al:LIPIcs.ITCS.2021.48,
  author =	{Guruswami, Venkatesan and Kumar, Vinayak M.},
  title =	{{Pseudobinomiality of the Sticky Random Walk}},
  booktitle =	{12th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2021)},
  pages =	{48:1--48:19},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-177-1},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2021},
  volume =	{185},
  editor =	{Lee, James R.},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2021.48},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-135870},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2021.48},
  annote =	{Keywords: Expander Graphs, Fourier analysis, Markov Chains, Pseudorandomness, Random Walks}
}
Document
RANDOM
A Simpler Strong Refutation of Random k-XOR

Authors: Kwangjun Ahn

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 176, Approximation, Randomization, and Combinatorial Optimization. Algorithms and Techniques (APPROX/RANDOM 2020)


Abstract
Strong refutation of random CSPs is a fundamental question in theoretical computer science that has received particular attention due to the long-standing gap between the information-theoretic limit and the computational limit. This gap is recently bridged by Raghavendra, Rao and Schramm where they study sub-exponential algorithms for the regime between the two limits. In this work, we take a simpler approach to their algorithms and analyses.

Cite as

Kwangjun Ahn. A Simpler Strong Refutation of Random k-XOR. In Approximation, Randomization, and Combinatorial Optimization. Algorithms and Techniques (APPROX/RANDOM 2020). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 176, pp. 2:1-2:15, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2020)


Copy BibTex To Clipboard

@InProceedings{ahn:LIPIcs.APPROX/RANDOM.2020.2,
  author =	{Ahn, Kwangjun},
  title =	{{A Simpler Strong Refutation of Random k-XOR}},
  booktitle =	{Approximation, Randomization, and Combinatorial Optimization. Algorithms and Techniques (APPROX/RANDOM 2020)},
  pages =	{2:1--2:15},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-164-1},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2020},
  volume =	{176},
  editor =	{Byrka, Jaros{\l}aw and Meka, Raghu},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.APPROX/RANDOM.2020.2},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-126053},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.APPROX/RANDOM.2020.2},
  annote =	{Keywords: Strong refutation, Random k-XOR, Spectral method, Trace power method}
}
Document
Sum-of-Squares Certificates for Maxima of Random Tensors on the Sphere

Authors: Vijay Bhattiprolu, Venkatesan Guruswami, and Euiwoong Lee

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 81, Approximation, Randomization, and Combinatorial Optimization. Algorithms and Techniques (APPROX/RANDOM 2017)


Abstract
For an n-variate order-d tensor A, define A_{max} := sup_{||x||_2 = 1} <A,x^(otimes d)>, to be the maximum value taken by the tensor on the unit sphere. It is known that for a random tensor with i.i.d. +1/-1 entries, A_{max} <= sqrt(n.d.log(d)) w.h.p. We study the problem of efficiently certifying upper bounds on A_{max} via the natural relaxation from the Sum of Squares (SoS) hierarchy. Our results include: * When A is a random order-q tensor, we prove that q levels of SoS certifies an upper bound B on A_{max} that satisfies B <= A_{max} * (n/q^(1-o(1)))^(q/4-1/2) w.h.p. Our upper bound improves a result of Montanari and Richard (NIPS 2014) when q is large. * We show the above bound is the best possible up to lower order terms, namely the optimum of the level-q SoS relaxation is at least A_{max} * (n/q^(1+o(1)))^(q/4-1/2). * When A is a random order-d tensor, we prove that q levels of SoS certifies an upper bound B on A_{max} that satisfies B <= A_{max} * (n*polylog/q)^(d/4 - 1/2) w.h.p. For growing q, this improves upon the bound certified by constant levels of SoS. This answers in part, a question posed by Hopkins, Shi, and Steurer (COLT 2015), who tightly characterized constant levels of SoS.

Cite as

Vijay Bhattiprolu, Venkatesan Guruswami, and Euiwoong Lee. Sum-of-Squares Certificates for Maxima of Random Tensors on the Sphere. In Approximation, Randomization, and Combinatorial Optimization. Algorithms and Techniques (APPROX/RANDOM 2017). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 81, pp. 31:1-31:20, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2017)


Copy BibTex To Clipboard

@InProceedings{bhattiprolu_et_al:LIPIcs.APPROX-RANDOM.2017.31,
  author =	{Bhattiprolu, Vijay and Guruswami, Venkatesan and Lee, Euiwoong},
  title =	{{Sum-of-Squares Certificates for Maxima of Random Tensors on the Sphere}},
  booktitle =	{Approximation, Randomization, and Combinatorial Optimization. Algorithms and Techniques (APPROX/RANDOM 2017)},
  pages =	{31:1--31:20},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-044-6},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2017},
  volume =	{81},
  editor =	{Jansen, Klaus and Rolim, Jos\'{e} D. P. and Williamson, David P. and Vempala, Santosh S.},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.APPROX-RANDOM.2017.31},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-75808},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.APPROX-RANDOM.2017.31},
  annote =	{Keywords: Sum-of-Squares, Optimization over Sphere, Random Polynomials}
}
Document
Separating a Voronoi Diagram via Local Search

Authors: Vijay V. S. P. Bhattiprolu and Sariel Har-Peled

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 51, 32nd International Symposium on Computational Geometry (SoCG 2016)


Abstract
Given a set P of n points in R^d , we show how to insert a set Z of O(n^(1-1/d)) additional points, such that P can be broken into two sets P1 and P2 , of roughly equal size, such that in the Voronoi diagram V(P u Z), the cells of P1 do not touch the cells of P2; that is, Z separates P1 from P2 in the Voronoi diagram (and also in the dual Delaunay triangulation). In addition, given such a partition (P1,P2) of P , we present an approximation algorithm to compute a minimum size separator realizing this partition. We also present a simple local search algorithm that is a PTAS for approximating the optimal Voronoi partition.

Cite as

Vijay V. S. P. Bhattiprolu and Sariel Har-Peled. Separating a Voronoi Diagram via Local Search. In 32nd International Symposium on Computational Geometry (SoCG 2016). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 51, pp. 18:1-18:16, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2016)


Copy BibTex To Clipboard

@InProceedings{bhattiprolu_et_al:LIPIcs.SoCG.2016.18,
  author =	{Bhattiprolu, Vijay V. S. P. and Har-Peled, Sariel},
  title =	{{Separating a Voronoi Diagram via Local Search}},
  booktitle =	{32nd International Symposium on Computational Geometry (SoCG 2016)},
  pages =	{18:1--18:16},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-009-5},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2016},
  volume =	{51},
  editor =	{Fekete, S\'{a}ndor and Lubiw, Anna},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.SoCG.2016.18},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-59107},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.SoCG.2016.18},
  annote =	{Keywords: Separators, Local search, Approximation, Voronoi diagrams, Delaunay triangulation, Meshing, Geometric hitting set}
}
Document
Approximate Hypergraph Coloring under Low-discrepancy and Related Promises

Authors: Vijay V. S. P. Bhattiprolu, Venkatesan Guruswami, and Euiwoong Lee

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 40, Approximation, Randomization, and Combinatorial Optimization. Algorithms and Techniques (APPROX/RANDOM 2015)


Abstract
A hypergraph is said to be X-colorable if its vertices can be colored with X colors so that no hyperedge is monochromatic. 2-colorability is a fundamental property (called Property B) of hypergraphs and is extensively studied in combinatorics. Algorithmically, however, given a 2-colorable k-uniform hypergraph, it is NP-hard to find a 2-coloring miscoloring fewer than a fraction 2^(-k+1) of hyperedges (which is trivially achieved by a random 2-coloring), and the best algorithms to color the hypergraph properly require about n^(1-1/k) colors, approaching the trivial bound of n as k increases. In this work, we study the complexity of approximate hypergraph coloring, for both the maximization (finding a 2-coloring with fewest miscolored edges) and minimization (finding a proper coloring using fewest number of colors) versions, when the input hypergraph is promised to have the following stronger properties than 2-colorability: (A) Low-discrepancy: If the hypergraph has a 2-coloring of discrepancy l << sqrt(k), we give an algorithm to color the hypergraph with about n^(O(l^2/k)) colors. However, for the maximization version, we prove NP-hardness of finding a 2-coloring miscoloring a smaller than 2^(-O(k)) (resp. k^(-O(k))) fraction of the hyperedges when l = O(log k) (resp. l=2). Assuming the Unique Games conjecture, we improve the latter hardness factor to 2^(-O(k)) for almost discrepancy-1 hypergraphs. (B) Rainbow colorability: If the hypergraph has a (k-l)-coloring such that each hyperedge is polychromatic with all these colors (this is stronger than a (l+1)-discrepancy 2-coloring), we give a 2-coloring algorithm that miscolors at most k^(-Omega(k)) of the hyperedges when l << sqrt(k), and complement this with a matching Unique Games hardness result showing that when l = sqrt(k), it is hard to even beat the 2^(-k+1) bound achieved by a random coloring. (C) Strong Colorability: We obtain similar (stronger) Min- and Max-2-Coloring algorithmic results in the case of (k+l)-strong colorability.

Cite as

Vijay V. S. P. Bhattiprolu, Venkatesan Guruswami, and Euiwoong Lee. Approximate Hypergraph Coloring under Low-discrepancy and Related Promises. In Approximation, Randomization, and Combinatorial Optimization. Algorithms and Techniques (APPROX/RANDOM 2015). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 40, pp. 152-174, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2015)


Copy BibTex To Clipboard

@InProceedings{bhattiprolu_et_al:LIPIcs.APPROX-RANDOM.2015.152,
  author =	{Bhattiprolu, Vijay V. S. P. and Guruswami, Venkatesan and Lee, Euiwoong},
  title =	{{Approximate Hypergraph Coloring under Low-discrepancy and Related Promises}},
  booktitle =	{Approximation, Randomization, and Combinatorial Optimization. Algorithms and Techniques (APPROX/RANDOM 2015)},
  pages =	{152--174},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-939897-89-7},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2015},
  volume =	{40},
  editor =	{Garg, Naveen and Jansen, Klaus and Rao, Anup and Rolim, Jos\'{e} D. P.},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.APPROX-RANDOM.2015.152},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-53011},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.APPROX-RANDOM.2015.152},
  annote =	{Keywords: Hypergraph Coloring, Discrepancy, Rainbow Coloring, Stong Coloring, Algorithms, Semidefinite Programming, Hardness of Approximation}
}
  • Refine by Type
  • 13 Document/PDF
  • 6 Document/HTML

  • Refine by Publication Year
  • 4 2026
  • 2 2025
  • 1 2024
  • 1 2022
  • 1 2021
  • Show More...

  • Refine by Author
  • 3 Guruswami, Venkatesan
  • 3 Lee, Euiwoong
  • 2 Bhattiprolu, Vijay
  • 2 Bhattiprolu, Vijay V. S. P.
  • 2 Grigorescu, Elena
  • Show More...

  • Refine by Series/Journal
  • 13 LIPIcs

  • Refine by Classification
  • 2 Theory of computation → Error-correcting codes
  • 2 Theory of computation → Routing and network design problems
  • 1 Mathematics of computing → Approximation algorithms
  • 1 Mathematics of computing → Coding theory
  • 1 Mathematics of computing → Functional analysis
  • Show More...

  • Refine by Keyword
  • 2 Hardness of Approximation
  • 2 NP-hardness
  • 2 Semidefinite Programming
  • 1 Algorithms
  • 1 Approximation
  • Show More...

Any Issues?
X

Feedback on the Current Page

CAPTCHA

Thanks for your feedback!

Feedback submitted to Dagstuhl Publishing

Could not send message

Please try again later or send an E-mail