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Invited Talk

DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.STACS.2026.3

Advancements in Online Edge Coloring Algorithms (Invited Talk)

Authors: Ola Svensson

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

Abstract

We study online edge coloring, where edges of an n-vertex graph arrive sequentially and must be colored irrevocably so that adjacent edges receive different colors. The goal is to use as few colors as possible as a function of the maximum degree Δ. This talk surveys recent progress that achieves near-optimal guarantees by leveraging martingale concentration arguments. Specifically, we show that near-optimal colorings (using (1+o(1))Δ colors) exhibit sharp threshold phenomena that match long-standing lower bounds, resolving and strengthening a conjecture of Bar‑Noy, Motwani, and Naor [Bar-Noy et al., 1992]. First, while the conjecture posited the existence of a randomized algorithm achieving a (1+o(1))Δ-edge-coloring for maximum degree Δ = ω(log n), we present a deterministic online algorithm that achieves this guarantee in the same regime. This result matches the known impossibility result for deterministic algorithms when Δ = O(log n), establishing a sharp threshold. Second, improving the conditions under which near-optimal coloring is known to be possible with randomness, we present a randomized online algorithm achieving a (1+o(1))Δ-edge-coloring already for graphs with maximum degree Δ = ω(√{log n}). This establishes a sharp threshold for randomized algorithms, matching the lower bound in [Bar-Noy et al., 1992] for the Δ = O(√{log n}) regime. This is joint work with Joakim Blikstad, Radu Vintan, and David Wajc [Joakim Blikstad et al., 2024; Joakim Blikstad et al., 2025].

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Ola Svensson. Advancements in Online Edge Coloring Algorithms (Invited Talk). In 43rd International Symposium on Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science (STACS 2026). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 364, p. 3:1, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)

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@InProceedings{svensson:LIPIcs.STACS.2026.3,
  author =	{Svensson, Ola},
  title =	{{Advancements in Online Edge Coloring Algorithms}},
  booktitle =	{43rd International Symposium on Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science (STACS 2026)},
  pages =	{3:1--3:1},
  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.2026.3},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-254928},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.STACS.2026.3},
  annote =	{Keywords: Edge coloring, Martingale, Online algorithms}
}

Document

DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.5

Maximum-Flow and Minimum-Cut Sensitivity Oracles for Directed Graphs

Authors: Mridul Ahi, Keerti Choudhary, Shlok Pande, Pushpraj, and Lakshay Saggi

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

Abstract

This paper addresses the problem of designing fault-tolerant data structures for the (s,t)-max-flow and (s,t)-min-cut problems in unweighted directed graphs. Given a directed graph G = (V, E) with a designated source s, sink t, and an (s,t)-max-flow of value λ, we present constructions for max-flow and min-cut sensitivity oracles, and introduce the concept of a fault-tolerant flow family, which may be of independent interest. Our main contributions are as follows. 1) Fault-Tolerant Flow Family: We construct a family ℬ of 2λ+1 (s,t)-flows such that for every edge e, ℬ contains an (s,t)-max-flow of G-e. This covering property is tight up to constants for single failures and provably cannot extend to comparably small families for k ≥ 2, where we show an Ω(n) lower bound on the family size, independent of λ. 2) Max-Flow Sensitivity Oracle: Using the fault-tolerant flow family, we construct a single as well as dual-edge sensitivity oracle for (s,t)-max-flow that requires only O(λ n) space. Given any set F of up to two failing edges, the oracle reports the updated max-flow value in G-F in O(n) time. Additionally, for the single-failure case, the oracle can determine in constant time whether the flow through an edge x changes when another edge e fails. 3) Min-Cut Sensitivity Oracle for Dual Failures: Recently, Baswana et al. (ICALP’22) designed an O(n²)-sized oracle for answering (s,t)-min-cut size queries under dual edge failures in constant time, along with a matching lower bound. We extend this by focusing on graphs with small min-cut values λ, and present a more compact oracle of size O(λ n) that answers such min-cut size queries in constant time and reports the corresponding (s,t)-min-cut partition in O(n) time. We also show that the space complexity of our oracle is asymptotically optimal in this setting. 4) Min-Cut Sensitivity Oracle for Multiple Failures: We extend our results to the general case of k edge failures. For any graph with (s,t)-min-cut of size λ, we construct a k-fault-tolerant min-cut oracle with space complexity O_{λ,k}(n log n) that answers min-cut size queries in O_{λ,k}(log n) time. This also leads to improved fault-tolerant (s,t)-reachability oracles, achieving O(n log n) space and O(log n) query time for up to k = O(1) edge failures.

Cite as

Mridul Ahi, Keerti Choudhary, Shlok Pande, Pushpraj, and Lakshay Saggi. Maximum-Flow and Minimum-Cut Sensitivity Oracles for Directed Graphs. In 17th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2026). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 362, pp. 5:1-5:24, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)

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@InProceedings{ahi_et_al:LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.5,
  author =	{Ahi, Mridul and Choudhary, Keerti and Pande, Shlok and Pushpraj and Saggi, Lakshay},
  title =	{{Maximum-Flow and Minimum-Cut Sensitivity Oracles for Directed Graphs}},
  booktitle =	{17th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2026)},
  pages =	{5:1--5:24},
  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.2026.5},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-252920},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.5},
  annote =	{Keywords: Fault tolerance, Data structures, Minimum cuts, Maximum flows}
}

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DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.DISC.2025.25

Model-Agnostic Approximation of Constrained Forest Problems

Authors: Corinna Coupette, Alipasha Montaseri, and Christoph Lenzen

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 356, 39th International Symposium on Distributed Computing (DISC 2025)

Abstract

Constrained Forest Problems (CFPs) as introduced by Goemans and Williamson in 1995 capture a wide range of network design problems with edge subsets as solutions, such as Minimum Spanning Tree, Steiner Forest, and Point-to-Point Connection. While individual CFPs have been studied extensively in individual computational models, a unified approach to solving general CFPs in multiple computational models has been lacking. Against this background, we present the shell-decomposition algorithm, a model-agnostic meta-algorithm that efficiently computes a (2+ε)-approximation to CFPs for a broad class of forest functions. The shell-decomposition algorithm isolates the problem-specific hardness of individual CFPs in a single computational subroutine, breaking the remainder of the computation into fundamental tasks that are studied extensively in a wide range of computational models. In contrast to prior work, our framework is compatible with the use of approximate distances. To demonstrate the power and flexibility of this result, we instantiate our algorithm for three fundamental, NP-hard CFPs (Steiner Forest, Point-to-Point Connection, and Facility Placement and Connection) in three different computational models (Congest, PRAM, and Multi-Pass Streaming). For constant ε, we obtain the following (2+ε)-approximations in the Congest model: [(1)] 1) For Steiner Forest specified via input components (SF-IC), where each node knows the identifier of one of k disjoint subsets of V (the input components), we achieve a deterministic (2+ε)-approximation in 𝒪̃(√n+D+k) rounds, where D is the hop diameter of the graph, significantly improving over the state of the art. 2) For Steiner Forest specified via symmetric connection requests (SF-SCR), where connection requests are issued to pairs of nodes u,v ∈ V, we leverage randomized equality testing to reduce the running time to 𝒪̃(√n+D), succeeding with high probability. 3) For Point-to-Point Connection, we provide a (2+ε)-approximation in 𝒪̃(√n+D) rounds. 4) For Facility Placement and Connection, a relative of non-metric Uncapacitated Facility Location, we obtain a (2+ε)-approximation in 𝒪̃(√n + D) rounds. We further show how to replace the √n+D term by the complexity of solving Partwise Aggregation, achieving (near-)universal optimality in any setting in which a solution to Partwise Aggregation in near-shortcut-quality time is known. Notably, all of our concrete results can be derived with relative ease once our model-agnostic meta-algorithm has been specified. This demonstrates the power of our modularization approach to algorithm design.

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Corinna Coupette, Alipasha Montaseri, and Christoph Lenzen. Model-Agnostic Approximation of Constrained Forest Problems. In 39th International Symposium on Distributed Computing (DISC 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 356, pp. 25:1-25:24, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

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@InProceedings{coupette_et_al:LIPIcs.DISC.2025.25,
  author =	{Coupette, Corinna and Montaseri, Alipasha and Lenzen, Christoph},
  title =	{{Model-Agnostic Approximation of Constrained Forest Problems}},
  booktitle =	{39th International Symposium on Distributed Computing (DISC 2025)},
  pages =	{25:1--25:24},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-402-4},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{356},
  editor =	{Kowalski, Dariusz R.},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.DISC.2025.25},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-248420},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.DISC.2025.25},
  annote =	{Keywords: Distributed Graph Algorithms, Model-Agnostic Algorithms, Steiner Forest}
}

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DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.ESA.2025.107

Length-Constrained Directed Expander Decomposition and Length-Constrained Vertex-Capacitated Flow Shortcuts

Authors: Bernhard Haeupler, Yaowei Long, Thatchaphol Saranurak, and Shengzhe Wang

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

Abstract

We show the existence of length-constrained expander decomposition in directed graphs and undirected vertex-capacitated graphs. Previously, its existence was shown only in undirected edge-capacitated graphs [Bernhard Haeupler et al., 2022; Haeupler et al., 2024]. Along the way, we prove the multi-commodity maxflow-mincut theorems for length-constrained expansion in both directed and undirected vertex-capacitated graphs. Based on our decomposition, we build a length-constrained flow shortcut for undirected vertex-capacitated graphs, which roughly speaking is a set of edges and vertices added to the graph so that every multi-commodity flow demand can be routed with approximately the same vertex-congestion and length, but all flow paths only contain few edges. This generalizes the shortcut for undirected edge-capacitated graphs from [Bernhard Haeupler et al., 2024]. Length-constrained expander decomposition and flow shortcuts have been crucial in the recent algorithms in undirected edge-capacitated graphs [Bernhard Haeupler et al., 2024; Haeupler et al., 2024]. Our work thus serves as a foundation to generalize these concepts to directed and vertex-capacitated graphs.

Cite as

Bernhard Haeupler, Yaowei Long, Thatchaphol Saranurak, and Shengzhe Wang. Length-Constrained Directed Expander Decomposition and Length-Constrained Vertex-Capacitated Flow Shortcuts. In 33rd Annual European Symposium on Algorithms (ESA 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 351, pp. 107:1-107:17, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

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@InProceedings{haeupler_et_al:LIPIcs.ESA.2025.107,
  author =	{Haeupler, Bernhard and Long, Yaowei and Saranurak, Thatchaphol and Wang, Shengzhe},
  title =	{{Length-Constrained Directed Expander Decomposition and Length-Constrained Vertex-Capacitated Flow Shortcuts}},
  booktitle =	{33rd Annual European Symposium on Algorithms (ESA 2025)},
  pages =	{107:1--107:17},
  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.2025.107},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-245765},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ESA.2025.107},
  annote =	{Keywords: Length-Constrained Expander, Expander Decomposition, Shortcut}
}

Document

DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.WADS.2025.34

Link Diameter, Radius and 2-Point Link Distance Queries in Polygonal Domains

Authors: Mart Hagedoorn and Valentin Polishchuk

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

Abstract

We show how to preprocess a polygonal domain with holes so that the link distance (the number of links in a minimum-link path) between two query points in the domain can be reported efficiently. Using our data structures, the link diameter of the domain (i.e., the maximum number of links that may be required in a minimum-link path between two points in the domain) as well as the link center and radius of the domain (i.e., the point minimizing the maximum link distance to the furthest point in the domain and this maximum link distance) can be found in polynomial time. We also give a simpler algorithm for finding the link diameter, not using the link distance query structures. Answering 2-point link distance queries and computing the link diameter/radius/center in polygonal domains have been open questions since these problems were studied for simple polygons in the 90’s.

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Mart Hagedoorn and Valentin Polishchuk. Link Diameter, Radius and 2-Point Link Distance Queries in Polygonal Domains. In 19th International Symposium on Algorithms and Data Structures (WADS 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 349, pp. 34:1-34:15, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

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@InProceedings{hagedoorn_et_al:LIPIcs.WADS.2025.34,
  author =	{Hagedoorn, Mart and Polishchuk, Valentin},
  title =	{{Link Diameter, Radius and 2-Point Link Distance Queries in Polygonal Domains}},
  booktitle =	{19th International Symposium on Algorithms and Data Structures (WADS 2025)},
  pages =	{34:1--34:15},
  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.2025.34},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-242659},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.WADS.2025.34},
  annote =	{Keywords: Minimum-link paths, link distance, diameter, center, radius, 2-point distance queries}
}

Document

DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.WADS.2025.50

Deterministic (2/3 - ε)-Approximation of Matroid Intersection Using Nearly-Linear Independence-Oracle Queries

Authors: Tatsuya Terao

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

Abstract

In the matroid intersection problem, we are given two matroids ℳ₁ = (V, ℐ₁) and ℳ₂ = (V, ℐ₂) defined on the same ground set V of n elements, and the objective is to find a common independent set S ∈ ℐ₁ ∩ ℐ₂ of largest possible cardinality, denoted by r. In this paper, we consider a deterministic matroid intersection algorithm with only a nearly linear number of independence oracle queries. Our contribution is to present a deterministic O(n/(ε) + r log r)-independence-query (2/3-ε)-approximation algorithm for any ε > 0. Our idea is very simple: we apply a recent Õ(n √r/ε)-independence-query (1 - ε)-approximation algorithm of Blikstad [ICALP 2021], but terminate it before completion. Moreover, we also present a semi-streaming algorithm for (2/3 -ε)-approximation of matroid intersection in O(1/ε) passes.

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Tatsuya Terao. Deterministic (2/3 - ε)-Approximation of Matroid Intersection Using Nearly-Linear Independence-Oracle Queries. In 19th International Symposium on Algorithms and Data Structures (WADS 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 349, pp. 50:1-50:18, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

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@InProceedings{terao:LIPIcs.WADS.2025.50,
  author =	{Terao, Tatsuya},
  title =	{{Deterministic (2/3 - \epsilon)-Approximation of Matroid Intersection Using Nearly-Linear Independence-Oracle Queries}},
  booktitle =	{19th International Symposium on Algorithms and Data Structures (WADS 2025)},
  pages =	{50:1--50:18},
  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.2025.50},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-242812},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.WADS.2025.50},
  annote =	{Keywords: Matroid intersection, approximation algorithm, streaming algorithm}
}

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Track A: Algorithms, Complexity and Games

DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.ICALP.2025.48

Improved Streaming Edge Coloring

Authors: Shiri Chechik, Hongyi Chen, and Tianyi Zhang

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

Abstract

Given a graph, an edge coloring assigns colors to edges so that no pairs of adjacent edges share the same color. We are interested in edge coloring algorithms under the W-streaming model. In this model, the algorithm does not have enough memory to hold the entire graph, so the edges of the input graph are read from a data stream one by one in an unknown order, and the algorithm needs to print a valid edge coloring in an output stream. The performance of the algorithm is measured by the amount of space and the number of different colors it uses. This streaming edge coloring problem has been studied by several works in recent years. When the input graph contains n vertices and has maximum vertex degree Δ, it is known that in the W-streaming model, an O(Δ²)-edge coloring can be computed deterministically with Õ(n) space [Ansari, Saneian, and Zarrabi-Zadeh, 2022], or an O(Δ^{1.5})-edge coloring can be computed by a Õ(n)-space randomized algorithm [Behnezhad, Saneian, 2024] [Chechik, Mukhtar, Zhang, 2024]. In this paper, we achieve polynomial improvement over previous results. Specifically, we show how to improve the number of colors to Õ(Δ^{4/3+ε}) using space Õ(n) deterministically, for any constant ε > 0. This is the first deterministic result that bypasses the quadratic bound on the number of colors while using near-linear space.

Cite as

Shiri Chechik, Hongyi Chen, and Tianyi Zhang. Improved Streaming Edge Coloring. In 52nd International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming (ICALP 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 334, pp. 48:1-48:18, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

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@InProceedings{chechik_et_al:LIPIcs.ICALP.2025.48,
  author =	{Chechik, Shiri and Chen, Hongyi and Zhang, Tianyi},
  title =	{{Improved Streaming Edge Coloring}},
  booktitle =	{52nd International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming (ICALP 2025)},
  pages =	{48:1--48:18},
  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.2025.48},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-234257},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ICALP.2025.48},
  annote =	{Keywords: edge coloring, streaming}
}

Document

Track A: Algorithms, Complexity and Games

DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.ICALP.2025.132

Near-Optimal Algorithm for Directed Expander Decompositions

Authors: Aurelio L. Sulser and Maximilian Probst Gutenberg

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

Abstract

In this work, we present the first algorithm to compute expander decompositions in an m-edge directed graph with near-optimal time Õ(m). Further, our algorithm can maintain such a decomposition in a dynamic graph and again obtains near-optimal update times. Our result improves over previous algorithms [Bernstein et al., 2020; Hua et al., 2023] that only obtained algorithms optimal up to subpolynomial factors. In order to obtain our new algorithm, we present a new push-pull-relabel flow framework that generalizes the classic push-relabel flow algorithm [Goldberg and Tarjan, 1988] which was later dynamized for computing expander decompositions in undirected graphs [Henzinger et al., 2020; Saranurak and Wang, 2019]. We then show that the flow problems formulated in recent work [Hua et al., 2023] to decompose directed graphs can be solved much more efficiently in the push-pull-relabel flow framework. Recently, our algorithm has already been employed to obtain the currently fastest algorithm to compute min-cost flows [Van Den Brand et al., 2024]. We further believe that our algorithm can be used to speed-up and simplify recent breakthroughs in combinatorial graph algorithms towards fast maximum flow algorithms [Chuzhoy and Khanna, 2024; Chuzhoy and Khanna, 2024; Bernstein et al., 2024].

Cite as

Aurelio L. Sulser and Maximilian Probst Gutenberg. Near-Optimal Algorithm for Directed Expander Decompositions. In 52nd International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming (ICALP 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 334, pp. 132:1-132:20, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

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@InProceedings{sulser_et_al:LIPIcs.ICALP.2025.132,
  author =	{Sulser, Aurelio L. and Gutenberg, Maximilian Probst},
  title =	{{Near-Optimal Algorithm for Directed Expander Decompositions}},
  booktitle =	{52nd International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming (ICALP 2025)},
  pages =	{132:1--132:20},
  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.2025.132},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-235096},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ICALP.2025.132},
  annote =	{Keywords: Directed Expander Decomposition, Push-Pull-Relabel Algorithm}
}

Document

Track A: Algorithms, Complexity and Games

DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.ICALP.2025.58

A New Impossibility Result for Online Bipartite Matching Problems

Authors: Flavio Chierichetti, Mirko Giacchini, Alessandro Panconesi, and Andrea Vattani

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

Abstract

Online Bipartite Matching with random user arrival is a fundamental problem in the online advertisement ecosystem. Over the last 30 years, many algorithms and impossibility results have been developed for this problem. In particular, the latest impossibility result was established by Manshadi, Oveis Gharan and Saberi [Manshadi et al., 2011] in 2011. Since then, several algorithms have been published in an effort to narrow the gap between the upper and the lower bounds on the competitive ratio. In this paper we show that no algorithm can achieve a competitive ratio better than 1- e/(e^e) = 0.82062…, improving upon the 0.823 upper bound presented in [Manshadi et al., 2011]. Our construction is simple to state, accompanied by a fully analytic proof, and yields a competitive ratio bound intriguingly similar to 1 - 1/e, the optimal competitive ratio for the fully adversarial Online Bipartite Matching problem. Although the tightness of our upper bound remains an open question, we show that our construction is extremal in a natural class of instances.

Cite as

Flavio Chierichetti, Mirko Giacchini, Alessandro Panconesi, and Andrea Vattani. A New Impossibility Result for Online Bipartite Matching Problems. In 52nd International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming (ICALP 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 334, pp. 58:1-58:20, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

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@InProceedings{chierichetti_et_al:LIPIcs.ICALP.2025.58,
  author =	{Chierichetti, Flavio and Giacchini, Mirko and Panconesi, Alessandro and Vattani, Andrea},
  title =	{{A New Impossibility Result for Online Bipartite Matching Problems}},
  booktitle =	{52nd International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming (ICALP 2025)},
  pages =	{58:1--58:20},
  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.2025.58},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-234354},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ICALP.2025.58},
  annote =	{Keywords: Bipartite Matching, Random Graphs, Competitive Ratio}
}

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Track A: Algorithms, Complexity and Games

DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.ICALP.2025.119

Faster Semi-Streaming Matchings via Alternating Trees

Authors: Slobodan Mitrović, Anish Mukherjee, Piotr Sankowski, and Wen-Horng Sheu

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

Abstract

We design a deterministic algorithm for the (1+ε)-approximate maximum matching problem. Our primary result demonstrates that this problem can be solved in O(ε^{-6}) semi-streaming passes, improving upon the O(ε^{-19}) pass-complexity algorithm by [Fischer, Mitrović, and Uitto, STOC'22]. This contributes substantially toward resolving Open question 2 from [Assadi, SOSA'24]. Leveraging the framework introduced in [FMU'22], our algorithm achieves an analogous round complexity speed-up for computing a (1+ε)-approximate maximum matching in both the Massively Parallel Computation (MPC) and CONGEST models. The data structures maintained by our algorithm are formulated using blossom notation and represented through alternating trees. This approach enables a simplified correctness analysis by treating specific components as if operating on bipartite graphs, effectively circumventing certain technical intricacies present in prior work.

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Slobodan Mitrović, Anish Mukherjee, Piotr Sankowski, and Wen-Horng Sheu. Faster Semi-Streaming Matchings via Alternating Trees. In 52nd International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming (ICALP 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 334, pp. 119:1-119:19, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

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@InProceedings{mitrovic_et_al:LIPIcs.ICALP.2025.119,
  author =	{Mitrovi\'{c}, Slobodan and Mukherjee, Anish and Sankowski, Piotr and Sheu, Wen-Horng},
  title =	{{Faster Semi-Streaming Matchings via Alternating Trees}},
  booktitle =	{52nd International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming (ICALP 2025)},
  pages =	{119:1--119:19},
  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.2025.119},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-234965},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ICALP.2025.119},
  annote =	{Keywords: streaming algorithms, approximation algorithms, maximum matching}
}

Document

Track A: Algorithms, Complexity and Games

DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.ICALP.2025.35

Near-Optimal Directed Low-Diameter Decompositions

Authors: Karl Bringmann, Nick Fischer, Bernhard Haeupler, and Rustam Latypov

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

Abstract

Low Diameter Decompositions (LDDs) are invaluable tools in the design of combinatorial graph algorithms. While historically they have been applied mainly to undirected graphs, in the recent breakthrough for the negative-length Single Source Shortest Path problem, Bernstein, Nanongkai, and Wulff-Nilsen [FOCS '22] extended the use of LDDs to directed graphs for the first time. Specifically, their LDD deletes each edge with probability at most O(1/D ⋅ log²n), while ensuring that each strongly connected component in the remaining graph has a (weak) diameter of at most D. In this work, we make further advancements in the study of directed LDDs. We reveal a natural and intuitive (in hindsight) connection to Expander Decompositions, and leveraging this connection along with additional techniques, we establish the existence of an LDD with an edge-cutting probability of O(1/D ⋅ log n log log n). This improves the previous bound by nearly a logarithmic factor and closely approaches the lower bound of Ω(1/D ⋅ log n). With significantly more technical effort, we also develop two efficient algorithms for computing our LDDs: a deterministic algorithm that runs in time Õ(m poly(D)) and a randomized algorithm that runs in near-linear time Õ(m). We believe that our work provides a solid conceptual and technical foundation for future research relying on directed LDDs, which will undoubtedly follow soon.

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Karl Bringmann, Nick Fischer, Bernhard Haeupler, and Rustam Latypov. Near-Optimal Directed Low-Diameter Decompositions. In 52nd International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming (ICALP 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 334, pp. 35:1-35:18, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

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@InProceedings{bringmann_et_al:LIPIcs.ICALP.2025.35,
  author =	{Bringmann, Karl and Fischer, Nick and Haeupler, Bernhard and Latypov, Rustam},
  title =	{{Near-Optimal Directed Low-Diameter Decompositions}},
  booktitle =	{52nd International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming (ICALP 2025)},
  pages =	{35:1--35:18},
  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.2025.35},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-234125},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ICALP.2025.35},
  annote =	{Keywords: Low Diameter Decompositions, Expander Decompositions, Directed Graphs}
}

Document

DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2025.75

Gadgetless Lifting Beats Round Elimination: Improved Lower Bounds for Pointer Chasing

Authors: Xinyu Mao, Guangxu Yang, and Jiapeng Zhang

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

Abstract

We prove an Ω(n / k + k) communication lower bound on (k - 1)-round distributional complexity of the k-step pointer chasing problem under uniform input distribution, improving the Ω(n/k - klog n) lower bound due to Yehudayoff (Combinatorics Probability and Computing, 2020). Our lower bound almost matches the upper bound of Õ(n/k + k) communication by Nisan and Wigderson (STOC 91). As part of our approach, we put forth gadgetless lifting, a new framework that lifts lower bounds for a family of restricted protocols into lower bounds for general protocols. A key step in gadgetless lifting is choosing the appropriate definition of restricted protocols. In this paper, our definition of restricted protocols is inspired by the structure-vs-pseudorandomness decomposition by Göös, Pitassi, and Watson (FOCS 17) and Yang and Zhang (STOC 24). Previously, round-communication trade-offs were mainly obtained by round elimination and information complexity. Both methods have some barriers in some situations, and we believe gadgetless lifting could potentially address these barriers.

Cite as

Xinyu Mao, Guangxu Yang, and Jiapeng Zhang. Gadgetless Lifting Beats Round Elimination: Improved Lower Bounds for Pointer Chasing. In 16th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 325, pp. 75:1-75:14, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

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@InProceedings{mao_et_al:LIPIcs.ITCS.2025.75,
  author =	{Mao, Xinyu and Yang, Guangxu and Zhang, Jiapeng},
  title =	{{Gadgetless Lifting Beats Round Elimination: Improved Lower Bounds for Pointer Chasing}},
  booktitle =	{16th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2025)},
  pages =	{75:1--75:14},
  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.2025.75},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-227038},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2025.75},
  annote =	{Keywords: communication complexity, lifting theorems, pointer chasing}
}

Document

DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.ESA.2023.22

Incremental (1-ε)-Approximate Dynamic Matching in O(poly(1/ε)) Update Time

Authors: Joakim Blikstad and Peter Kiss

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 274, 31st Annual European Symposium on Algorithms (ESA 2023)

Abstract

In the dynamic approximate maximum bipartite matching problem we are given bipartite graph G undergoing updates and our goal is to maintain a matching of G which is large compared the maximum matching size μ(G). We define a dynamic matching algorithm to be α (respectively (α, β))-approximate if it maintains matching M such that at all times |M | ≥ μ(G) ⋅ α (respectively |M| ≥ μ(G) ⋅ α - β). We present the first deterministic (1-ε)-approximate dynamic matching algorithm with O(poly(ε^{-1})) amortized update time for graphs undergoing edge insertions. Previous solutions either required super-constant [Gupta FSTTCS'14, Bhattacharya-Kiss-Saranurak SODA'23] or exponential in 1/ε [Grandoni-Leonardi-Sankowski-Schwiegelshohn-Solomon SODA'19] update time. Our implementation is arguably simpler than the mentioned algorithms and its description is self contained. Moreover, we show that if we allow for additive (1, ε⋅n)-approximation our algorithm seamlessly extends to also handle vertex deletions, on top of edge insertions. This makes our algorithm one of the few small update time algorithms for (1-ε)-approximate dynamic matching allowing for updates both increasing and decreasing the maximum matching size of G in a fully dynamic manner. Our algorithm relies on the weighted variant of the celebrated Edge-Degree-Constrained-Subgraph (EDCS) datastructure introduced by [Bernstein-Stein ICALP'15]. As far as we are aware we introduce the first application of the weighted-EDCS for arbitrarily dense graphs. We also present a significantly simplified proof for the approximation ratio of weighed-EDCS as a matching sparsifier compared to [Bernstein-Stein], as well as simple descriptions of a fractional matching and fractional vertex cover defined on top of the EDCS. Considering the wide range of applications EDCS has found in settings such as streaming, sub-linear, stochastic and more we hope our techniques will be of independent research interest outside of the dynamic setting.

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Joakim Blikstad and Peter Kiss. Incremental (1-ε)-Approximate Dynamic Matching in O(poly(1/ε)) Update Time. In 31st Annual European Symposium on Algorithms (ESA 2023). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 274, pp. 22:1-22:19, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2023)

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@InProceedings{blikstad_et_al:LIPIcs.ESA.2023.22,
  author =	{Blikstad, Joakim and Kiss, Peter},
  title =	{{Incremental (1-\epsilon)-Approximate Dynamic Matching in O(poly(1/\epsilon)) Update Time}},
  booktitle =	{31st Annual European Symposium on Algorithms (ESA 2023)},
  pages =	{22:1--22:19},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-295-2},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2023},
  volume =	{274},
  editor =	{G{\o}rtz, Inge Li and Farach-Colton, Martin and Puglisi, Simon J. 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.2023.22},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-186756},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ESA.2023.22},
  annote =	{Keywords: Bipartite Matching, Incremental Matching, Dynamic Algorithms, Approximation Algorithms, EDCS}
}

Document

Track A: Algorithms, Complexity and Games

DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.ICALP.2022.25

Sublinear-Round Parallel Matroid Intersection

Authors: Joakim Blikstad

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 229, 49th International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming (ICALP 2022)

Abstract

Despite a lot of recent progress in obtaining faster sequential matroid intersection algorithms, the fastest parallel poly(n)-query algorithm was still the straightforward O(n)-round parallel implementation of Edmonds' augmenting paths algorithm from the 1960s. Very recently, Chakrabarty-Chen-Khanna [FOCS'21] showed the lower bound that any, possibly randomized, parallel matroid intersection algorithm making poly(n) rank-queries requires Ω̃(n^{1/3}) rounds of adaptivity. They ask, as an open question, if the lower bound can be improved to Ω̃(n), or if there can be sublinear-round, poly(n)-query algorithms for matroid intersection. We resolve this open problem by presenting the first sublinear-round parallel matroid intersection algorithms. Perhaps surprisingly, we do not only break the Õ(n)-barrier in the rank-oracle model, but also in the weaker independence-oracle model. Our rank-query algorithm guarantees O(n^{3/4}) rounds of adaptivity, while the independence-query algorithm uses O(n^{7/8}) rounds of adaptivity, both making a total of poly(n) queries.

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Joakim Blikstad. Sublinear-Round Parallel Matroid Intersection. In 49th International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming (ICALP 2022). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 229, pp. 25:1-25:17, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2022)

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@InProceedings{blikstad:LIPIcs.ICALP.2022.25,
  author =	{Blikstad, Joakim},
  title =	{{Sublinear-Round Parallel Matroid Intersection}},
  booktitle =	{49th International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming (ICALP 2022)},
  pages =	{25:1--25:17},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-235-8},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2022},
  volume =	{229},
  editor =	{Boja\'{n}czyk, Miko{\l}aj and Merelli, Emanuela and Woodruff, David P.},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.ICALP.2022.25},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-163662},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ICALP.2022.25},
  annote =	{Keywords: Matroid Intersection, Combinatorial Optimization, Parallel Algorithms}
}

Document

Track A: Algorithms, Complexity and Games

DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.ICALP.2021.31

Breaking O(nr) for Matroid Intersection

Authors: Joakim Blikstad

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 198, 48th International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming (ICALP 2021)

Abstract

We present algorithms that break the Õ(nr)-independence-query bound for the Matroid Intersection problem for the full range of r; where n is the size of the ground set and r ≤ n is the size of the largest common independent set. The Õ(nr) bound was due to the efficient implementations [CLSSW FOCS'19; Nguyên 2019] of the classic algorithm of Cunningham [SICOMP'86]. It was recently broken for large r (r = ω(√n)), first by the Õ(n^{1.5}/ε^{1.5})-query (1-ε)-approximation algorithm of CLSSW [FOCS'19], and subsequently by the Õ(n^{6/5}r^{3/5})-query exact algorithm of BvdBMN [STOC'21]. No algorithm - even an approximation one - was known to break the Õ(nr) bound for the full range of r. We present an Õ(n√r/ε)-query (1-ε)-approximation algorithm and an Õ(nr^{3/4})-query exact algorithm. Our algorithms improve the Õ(nr) bound and also the bounds by CLSSW and BvdBMN for the full range of r.

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Joakim Blikstad. Breaking O(nr) for Matroid Intersection. In 48th International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming (ICALP 2021). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 198, pp. 31:1-31:17, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2021)

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@InProceedings{blikstad:LIPIcs.ICALP.2021.31,
  author =	{Blikstad, Joakim},
  title =	{{Breaking O(nr) for Matroid Intersection}},
  booktitle =	{48th International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming (ICALP 2021)},
  pages =	{31:1--31:17},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-195-5},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2021},
  volume =	{198},
  editor =	{Bansal, Nikhil and Merelli, Emanuela and Worrell, James},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.ICALP.2021.31},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-141004},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ICALP.2021.31},
  annote =	{Keywords: Matroid Intersection, Combinatorial Optimization, Approximation Algorithms}
}

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