5 Search Results for "Castenow, Jannik"


Document
Fairness in the k-Server Problem

Authors: Mohammadreza Daneshvaramoli, Mohammad Hajiesmaili, Shahin Kamali, Helia Karisani, and Cameron Musco

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


Abstract
We initiate a formal study of fairness for the k-server problem, where the objective is not only to minimize the total movement cost, but also to distribute the cost equitably among servers. We first define a general notion of (α,β)-fairness, where, for parameters α ≥ 1 and β ≥ 0, no server incurs more than an α/k-fraction of the total cost plus an additive term β. We then show that fairness can be achieved without a loss in competitiveness in both the offline and online settings. In the offline setting, we give a deterministic algorithm that, for any ε > 0, transforms any optimal solution into an (α,β)-fair solution for α = 1 + ε and β = O(diam ⋅ log k / ε), while increasing the cost of the solution by just an additive O(diam ⋅ k log k / ε) term. Here diam is the diameter of the underlying metric space. We give a similar result in the online setting, showing that any competitive algorithm can be transformed into a randomized online algorithm that is fair with high probability against an oblivious adversary and still competitive up to a small loss. The above results leave open a significant question: can fairness be achieved in the online setting, either with a deterministic algorithm or a randomized algorithm, against a fully adaptive adversary? We make progress towards answering this question, showing that the classic deterministic Double Coverage Algorithm (DCA) is fair on line metrics and on tree metrics when k = 2. However, we also show a negative result: DCA fails to be fair for any non-vacuous parameters on general tree metrics. We further show that on uniform metrics (i.e., the paging problem), the deterministic First-In First-Out (FIFO) algorithm is fair. We show that any "marking algorithm", including the Least Recently Used (LRU) algorithm, also satisfies a weaker, but still meaningful notion of fairness.

Cite as

Mohammadreza Daneshvaramoli, Mohammad Hajiesmaili, Shahin Kamali, Helia Karisani, and Cameron Musco. Fairness in the k-Server Problem. In 17th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2026). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 362, pp. 45:1-45:21, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)


Copy BibTex To Clipboard

@InProceedings{daneshvaramoli_et_al:LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.45,
  author =	{Daneshvaramoli, Mohammadreza and Hajiesmaili, Mohammad and Kamali, Shahin and Karisani, Helia and Musco, Cameron},
  title =	{{Fairness in the k-Server Problem}},
  booktitle =	{17th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2026)},
  pages =	{45:1--45:21},
  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.2026.45},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-253328},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.45},
  annote =	{Keywords: k-server problem, online algorithms, fairness, competitive analysis}
}
Document
Distributed and Parallel Low-Diameter Decompositions for Arbitrary and Restricted Graphs

Authors: Jinfeng Dou, Thorsten Götte, Henning Hillebrandt, Christian Scheideler, and Julian Werthmann

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


Abstract
We consider the distributed and parallel construction of low-diameter decompositions with strong diameter. We present algorithms for arbitrary undirected, weighted graphs and also for undirected, weighted graphs that can be separated through k ∈ Õ(1) shortest paths. This class of graphs includes planar graphs, graphs of bounded treewidth, and graphs that exclude a fixed minor K_r. Our algorithms work in the PRAM, CONGEST, and the novel HYBRID communication model and are competitive in all relevant parameters. Given 𝒟 > 0, our low-diameter decomposition algorithm divides the graph into connected clusters of strong diameter 𝒟. For an arbitrary graph, an edge e ∈ E of length 𝓁_e is cut between two clusters with probability O(𝓁_e⋅log(n)/𝒟). If the graph can be separated by k ∈ Õ(1) paths, the probability improves to O(𝓁_e⋅log(log n)/𝒟). In either case, the decompositions can be computed in Õ(1) depth and Õ(m) work in the PRAM and Õ(1) time in the HYBRID model. In CONGEST, the runtimes are Õ(HD + √n) and Õ(HD) respectively. All these results hold w.h.p. Broadly speaking, we present distributed and parallel implementations of sequential divide-and-conquer algorithms where we replace exact shortest paths with approximate shortest paths. In contrast to exact paths, these can be efficiently computed in the distributed and parallel setting [STOC '22]. Further, and perhaps more importantly, we show that instead of explicitly computing vertex-separators to enable efficient parallelization of these algorithms, it suffices to sample a few random paths of bounded length and the nodes close to them. Thereby, we do not require complex embeddings whose implementation is unknown in the distributed and parallel setting.

Cite as

Jinfeng Dou, Thorsten Götte, Henning Hillebrandt, Christian Scheideler, and Julian Werthmann. Distributed and Parallel Low-Diameter Decompositions for Arbitrary and Restricted Graphs. In 16th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 325, pp. 45:1-45:26, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)


Copy BibTex To Clipboard

@InProceedings{dou_et_al:LIPIcs.ITCS.2025.45,
  author =	{Dou, Jinfeng and G\"{o}tte, Thorsten and Hillebrandt, Henning and Scheideler, Christian and Werthmann, Julian},
  title =	{{Distributed and Parallel Low-Diameter Decompositions for Arbitrary and Restricted Graphs}},
  booktitle =	{16th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2025)},
  pages =	{45:1--45:26},
  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.2025.45},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-226734},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2025.45},
  annote =	{Keywords: Distributed Graph Algorithms, Network Decomposition, Excluded Minor}
}
Document
Symmetry Preservation in Swarms of Oblivious Robots with Limited Visibility

Authors: Raphael Gerlach, Sören von der Gracht, Christopher Hahn, Jonas Harbig, and Peter Kling

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


Abstract
In the general pattern formation (GPF) problem, a swarm of simple autonomous, disoriented robots must form a given pattern. The robots' simplicity imply a strong limitation: When the initial configuration is rotationally symmetric, only patterns with a similar symmetry can be formed [Masafumi Yamashita and Ichiro Suzuki, 2010]. The only known algorithm to form large patterns with limited visibility and without memory requires the robots to start in a near-gathering (a swarm of constant diameter) [Christopher Hahn et al., 2024]. However, not only do we not know any near-gathering algorithm guaranteed to preserve symmetry but most natural gathering strategies trivially increase symmetries [Jannik Castenow et al., 2022]. Thus, we study near-gathering without changing the swarm’s rotational symmetry for disoriented, oblivious robots with limited visibility (the OBLOT-model, see [Paola Flocchini et al., 2019]). We introduce a technique based on the theory of dynamical systems to analyze how a given algorithm affects symmetry and provide sufficient conditions for symmetry preservation. Until now, it was unknown whether the considered OBLOT-model allows for any non-trivial algorithm that always preserves symmetry. Our first result shows that a variant of Go-To-The-Average always preserves symmetry but may sometimes lead to multiple, unconnected near-gathering clusters. Our second result is a symmetry-preserving near-gathering algorithm that works on swarms with a convex boundary (the outer boundary of the unit disc graph) and without "holes" (circles of diameter 1 inside the boundary without any robots).

Cite as

Raphael Gerlach, Sören von der Gracht, Christopher Hahn, Jonas Harbig, and Peter Kling. Symmetry Preservation in Swarms of Oblivious Robots with Limited Visibility. In 28th International Conference on Principles of Distributed Systems (OPODIS 2024). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 324, pp. 13:1-13:28, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2024)


Copy BibTex To Clipboard

@InProceedings{gerlach_et_al:LIPIcs.OPODIS.2024.13,
  author =	{Gerlach, Raphael and von der Gracht, S\"{o}ren and Hahn, Christopher and Harbig, Jonas and Kling, Peter},
  title =	{{Symmetry Preservation in Swarms of Oblivious Robots with Limited Visibility}},
  booktitle =	{28th International Conference on Principles of Distributed Systems (OPODIS 2024)},
  pages =	{13:1--13:28},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-360-7},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{324},
  editor =	{Bonomi, Silvia and Galletta, Letterio and Rivi\`{e}re, Etienne and Schiavoni, Valerio},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.OPODIS.2024.13},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-225490},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.OPODIS.2024.13},
  annote =	{Keywords: Swarm Algorithm, Swarm Robots, Distributed Algorithm, Pattern Formation, Limited Visibility, Oblivious}
}
Document
A Unifying Approach to Efficient (Near)-Gathering of Disoriented Robots with Limited Visibility

Authors: Jannik Castenow, Jonas Harbig, Daniel Jung, Peter Kling, Till Knollmann, and Friedhelm Meyer auf der Heide

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 253, 26th International Conference on Principles of Distributed Systems (OPODIS 2022)


Abstract
We consider a swarm of n robots in a d-dimensional Euclidean space. The robots are oblivious (no persistent memory), disoriented (no common coordinate system/compass), and have limited visibility (observe other robots up to a constant distance). The basic formation task Gathering requires that all robots reach the same, not predefined position. In the related NearGathering task, they must reach distinct positions in close proximity such that every robot sees the entire swarm. In the considered setting, Gathering can be solved in 𝒪(n + Δ²) synchronous rounds both in two and three dimensions, where Δ denotes the initial maximal distance of two robots [Hideki Ando et al., 1999; Michael Braun et al., 2020; Bastian Degener et al., 2011]. In this work, we formalize a key property of efficient Gathering protocols and use it to define λ-contracting protocols. Any such protocol gathers n robots in the d-dimensional space in 𝒪(Δ²) synchronous rounds, for d ≥ 2. For d = 1, any λ-contracting protocol gathers in optimal time 𝒪(Δ). Moreover, we prove a corresponding lower bound stating that any protocol in which robots move to target points inside the local convex hulls of their neighborhoods - λ-contracting protocols have this property - requires Ω(Δ²) rounds to gather all robots (d > 1). Among others, we prove that the d-dimensional generalization of the GTC-protocol [Hideki Ando et al., 1999] is λ-contracting. Remarkably, our improved and generalized runtime bound is independent of n and d. We also introduce an approach to make any λ-contracting protocol collision-free (robots never occupy the same position) to solve NearGathering. The resulting protocols maintain the runtime of Θ (Δ²) and work even in the semi-synchronous model. This yields the first NearGathering protocols for disoriented robots and the first proven runtime bound. In particular, combined with results from [Paola Flocchini et al., 2017] for robots with global visibility, we obtain the first protocol to solve Uniform Circle Formation (arrange the robots on the vertices of a regular n-gon) for oblivious, disoriented robots with limited visibility.

Cite as

Jannik Castenow, Jonas Harbig, Daniel Jung, Peter Kling, Till Knollmann, and Friedhelm Meyer auf der Heide. A Unifying Approach to Efficient (Near)-Gathering of Disoriented Robots with Limited Visibility. In 26th International Conference on Principles of Distributed Systems (OPODIS 2022). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 253, pp. 15:1-15:25, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2023)


Copy BibTex To Clipboard

@InProceedings{castenow_et_al:LIPIcs.OPODIS.2022.15,
  author =	{Castenow, Jannik and Harbig, Jonas and Jung, Daniel and Kling, Peter and Knollmann, Till and Meyer auf der Heide, Friedhelm},
  title =	{{A Unifying Approach to Efficient (Near)-Gathering of Disoriented Robots with Limited Visibility}},
  booktitle =	{26th International Conference on Principles of Distributed Systems (OPODIS 2022)},
  pages =	{15:1--15:25},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-265-5},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2023},
  volume =	{253},
  editor =	{Hillel, Eshcar and Palmieri, Roberto and Rivi\`{e}re, Etienne},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.OPODIS.2022.15},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-176350},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.OPODIS.2022.15},
  annote =	{Keywords: mobile robots, gathering, limited visibility, runtime, collision avoidance, near-gathering}
}
Document
Mincut Sensitivity Data Structures for the Insertion of an Edge

Authors: Surender Baswana, Shiv Gupta, and Till Knollmann

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 173, 28th Annual European Symposium on Algorithms (ESA 2020)


Abstract
Let G = (V,E) be an undirected graph on n vertices with non-negative capacities on its edges. The mincut sensitivity problem for the insertion of an edge is defined as follows. Build a compact data structure for G and a given set S ⊆ V of vertices that, on receiving any edge (x,y) ∈ S×S of positive capacity as query input, can efficiently report the set of all pairs from S× S whose mincut value increases upon insertion of the edge (x,y) to G. The only result that exists for this problem is for a single pair of vertices (Picard and Queyranne, Mathematical Programming Study, 13 (1980), 8-16). We present the following results for the single source and the all-pairs versions of this problem. 1) Single source: Given any designated source vertex s, there exists a data structure of size 𝒪(|S|) that can output all those vertices from S whose mincut value to s increases upon insertion of any given edge. The time taken by the data structure to answer any query is 𝒪(|S|). 2) All-pairs: There exists an 𝒪(|S|²) size data structure that can output all those pairs of vertices from S× S whose mincut value gets increased upon insertion of any given edge. The time taken by the data structure to answer any query is 𝒪(k), where k is the number of pairs of vertices whose mincut increases. For both these versions, we also address the problem of reporting the values of the mincuts upon insertion of any given edge. To derive our results, we use interesting insights into the nearest and the farthest mincuts for a pair of vertices. In addition, a crucial result, that we establish and use in our data structures, is that there exists a directed acyclic graph of 𝒪(n) size that compactly stores the farthest mincuts from all vertices of V to a designated vertex s in the graph. We believe that this result is of independent interest, especially, because it also complements a previously existing result by Hariharan et al. (STOC 2007) that the nearest mincuts from all vertices of V to s is a laminar family, and hence, can be stored compactly in a tree of 𝒪(n) size.

Cite as

Surender Baswana, Shiv Gupta, and Till Knollmann. Mincut Sensitivity Data Structures for the Insertion of an Edge. In 28th Annual European Symposium on Algorithms (ESA 2020). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 173, pp. 12:1-12:14, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2020)


Copy BibTex To Clipboard

@InProceedings{baswana_et_al:LIPIcs.ESA.2020.12,
  author =	{Baswana, Surender and Gupta, Shiv and Knollmann, Till},
  title =	{{Mincut Sensitivity Data Structures for the Insertion of an Edge}},
  booktitle =	{28th Annual European Symposium on Algorithms (ESA 2020)},
  pages =	{12:1--12:14},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-162-7},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2020},
  volume =	{173},
  editor =	{Grandoni, Fabrizio and Herman, Grzegorz and Sanders, Peter},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.ESA.2020.12},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-128781},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ESA.2020.12},
  annote =	{Keywords: Mincut, Sensitivity, Data Structure}
}
  • Refine by Type
  • 5 Document/PDF
  • 3 Document/HTML

  • Refine by Publication Year
  • 1 2026
  • 2 2025
  • 1 2023
  • 1 2020

  • Refine by Author
  • 2 Harbig, Jonas
  • 2 Kling, Peter
  • 2 Knollmann, Till
  • 1 Baswana, Surender
  • 1 Castenow, Jannik
  • Show More...

  • Refine by Series/Journal
  • 5 LIPIcs

  • Refine by Classification
  • 2 Mathematics of computing → Graph algorithms
  • 2 Theory of computation → Distributed algorithms
  • 1 Mathematics of computing → Network flows
  • 1 Theory of computation → Design and analysis of algorithms
  • 1 Theory of computation → Dynamic graph algorithms
  • Show More...

  • Refine by Keyword
  • 1 Data Structure
  • 1 Distributed Algorithm
  • 1 Distributed Graph Algorithms
  • 1 Excluded Minor
  • 1 Limited Visibility
  • 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