16 Search Results for "Coester, Christian"

Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.45
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)

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@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
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.31
Delaunay Triangulations with Predictions

Authors: Sergio Cabello, Timothy M. Chan, and Panos Giannopoulos

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

Abstract
We investigate algorithms with predictions in computational geometry, specifically focusing on the basic problem of computing 2D Delaunay triangulations. Given a set P of n points in the plane and a triangulation G that serves as a "prediction" of the Delaunay triangulation, we would like to use G to compute the correct Delaunay triangulation DT(P) more quickly when G is "close" to DT(P). We obtain a variety of results of this type, under different deterministic and probabilistic settings, including the following: 1) Define D to be the number of edges in G that are not in DT(P). We present a deterministic algorithm to compute DT(P) from G in O(n + Dlog³ n) time, and a randomized algorithm in O(n+Dlog n) expected time, the latter of which is optimal in terms of D. 2) Let R be a random subset of the edges of DT(P), where each edge is chosen independently with probability ρ. Suppose G is any triangulation of P that contains R. We present an algorithm to compute DT(P) from G in O(nlog log n + nlog(1/ρ)) time with high probability. 3) Define d_{vio} to be the maximum number of points of P strictly inside the circumcircle of a triangle in G (the number is 0 if G is equal to DT(P)). We present a deterministic algorithm to compute DT(P) from G in O(nlog^*n + nlog d_{vio}) time. We also obtain results in similar settings for related problems such as 2D Euclidean minimum spanning trees, and hope that our work will open up a fruitful line of future research.
Cite as

Sergio Cabello, Timothy M. Chan, and Panos Giannopoulos. Delaunay Triangulations with Predictions. In 17th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2026). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 362, pp. 31:1-31:23, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)

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@InProceedings{cabello_et_al:LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.31,
  author =	{Cabello, Sergio and Chan, Timothy M. and Giannopoulos, Panos},
  title =	{{Delaunay Triangulations with Predictions}},
  booktitle =	{17th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2026)},
  pages =	{31:1--31:23},
  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.2026.31},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-253186},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.31},
  annote =	{Keywords: Delaunay Triangulation, Minimum Spanning Tree, Algorithms with Predictions}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.94
Smoothed Analysis of Online Metric Matching with a Single Sample: Beyond Metric Distortion

Authors: Yingxi Li, Ellen Vitercik, and Mingwei Yang

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

Abstract
In the online metric matching problem, n servers and n requests lie in a metric space. Servers are available upfront, and requests arrive sequentially. An arriving request must be matched immediately and irrevocably to an available server, incurring a cost equal to their distance. The goal is to minimize the total matching cost. We study this problem in [0, 1]^d with the Euclidean metric, when servers are adversarial and requests are independently drawn from distinct distributions that satisfy a mild smoothness condition. Our main result is an O(1)-competitive algorithm for d ≠ 2 that requires no distributional knowledge, relying only on a single sample from each request distribution. To our knowledge, this is the first algorithm to achieve an o(log n) competitive ratio for non-trivial metrics beyond the i.i.d. setting. Our approach bypasses the Ω(log n) barrier introduced by probabilistic metric embeddings: instead of analyzing the embedding distortion and the algorithm separately, we directly bound the cost of the algorithm on the target metric space of a simple deterministic embedding. We then combine this analysis with lower bounds on the offline optimum for Euclidean metrics, derived via majorization arguments, to obtain our guarantees.
Cite as

Yingxi Li, Ellen Vitercik, and Mingwei Yang. Smoothed Analysis of Online Metric Matching with a Single Sample: Beyond Metric Distortion. In 17th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2026). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 362, pp. 94:1-94:23, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)

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@InProceedings{li_et_al:LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.94,
  author =	{Li, Yingxi and Vitercik, Ellen and Yang, Mingwei},
  title =	{{Smoothed Analysis of Online Metric Matching with a Single Sample: Beyond Metric Distortion}},
  booktitle =	{17th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2026)},
  pages =	{94:1--94:23},
  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.2026.94},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-253815},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.94},
  annote =	{Keywords: Online algorithm, Metric matching, Competitive analysis, Smoothed analysis}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.86
The Secretary Problem with Predictions and a Chosen Order

Authors: Helia Karisani, Mohammadreza Daneshvaramoli, Hedyeh Beyhaghi, Mohammad Hajiesmaili, and Cameron Musco

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

Abstract
We study a learning-augmented variant of the secretary problem, recently introduced by Fujii and Yoshida (2023). In this variant, the decision-maker has access to machine-learned predictions of candidate values in advance. The key challenge is to balance consistency and robustness: when the predictions are accurate, the algorithm should hire a near-best secretary; however, if they are inaccurate, the algorithm should still achieve a bounded competitive ratio. We consider both the standard Random Order Secretary Problem (ROSP), where candidates arrive in a uniform random order, and a more natural model in the learning-augmented setting, where the decision-maker can choose the arrival order based on the predicted candidate values. This model, which we call the Chosen Order Secretary Problem (COSP), can capture scenarios such as an interview schedule that is set by the decision-maker. We propose a novel algorithm that applies to both ROSP and COSP. Building on the approach of Fujii and Yoshida, our method switches from fully trusting predictions to a threshold-based rule when a large deviation of a prediction is observed. Importantly, unlike the algorithm of Fujii and Yoshida, our algorithm uses randomization as part of its decision logic. We show that if ε ∈ [0,1] denotes the maximum multiplicative prediction error, then for ROSP our algorithm achieves competitive ratio max {0.221, (1-ε)/(1+ε)}, improving on a previous bound of max {0.215, (1-ε)/(1+ε)} due to Fujii and Yoshida [Fujii and Yoshida, 2023]. For COSP, our algorithm achieves max {0.262, (1-ε)/(1+ε)}. This surpasses a 0.25 upper bound on the worst-case competitive ratio that applies to the approach of Fujii and Yoshida, and gets closer to the classical secretary benchmark of 1/e ≈ 0.368, which is an upper bound for any algorithm. Our result for COSP highlights the benefit of integrating predictions with arrival-order control in online decision-making.
Cite as

Helia Karisani, Mohammadreza Daneshvaramoli, Hedyeh Beyhaghi, Mohammad Hajiesmaili, and Cameron Musco. The Secretary Problem with Predictions and a Chosen Order. In 17th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2026). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 362, pp. 86:1-86:24, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)

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@InProceedings{karisani_et_al:LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.86,
  author =	{Karisani, Helia and Daneshvaramoli, Mohammadreza and Beyhaghi, Hedyeh and Hajiesmaili, Mohammad and Musco, Cameron},
  title =	{{The Secretary Problem with Predictions and a Chosen Order}},
  booktitle =	{17th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2026)},
  pages =	{86:1--86:24},
  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.2026.86},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-253734},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.86},
  annote =	{Keywords: Secretary problem, learning-augmented algorithms, online algorithms}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.ISAAC.2025.32
Time-Optimal k-Server

Authors: Fabian Frei, Dennis Komm, Moritz Stocker, and Philip Whittington

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 359, 36th International Symposium on Algorithms and Computation (ISAAC 2025)

Abstract
The time-optimal k-server problem minimizes the time spent instead of the distance traveled when serving n requests, appearing one after the other, with k servers in a metric space. The classical distance model was motivated by a hard disk with k heads. Instead of minimal head movements, the time model aims for optimal reading speeds. This paper provides a lower bound of 2k-1 on the competitive ratio of any deterministic online algorithm for the time-optimal k-server problem on a specifically designed metric space. This lower bound coincides with the best known upper bound on the competitive ratio for the classical k-server problem, achieved by the famous work function algorithm. We provide further lower bounds of k+1 for all Euclidean spaces and k for uniform metric spaces. Our most technical result, proven by applying Yao’s principle to a suitable instance distribution, is a lower bound of k+H_k-1 that holds even for randomized algorithms, which contrasts with the best known lower bound for the classical problem, which is polylogarithmic in k. We hope to initiate further intensive study of this natural problem.
Cite as

Fabian Frei, Dennis Komm, Moritz Stocker, and Philip Whittington. Time-Optimal k-Server. In 36th International Symposium on Algorithms and Computation (ISAAC 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 359, pp. 32:1-32:17, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

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@InProceedings{frei_et_al:LIPIcs.ISAAC.2025.32,
  author =	{Frei, Fabian and Komm, Dennis and Stocker, Moritz and Whittington, Philip},
  title =	{{Time-Optimal k-Server}},
  booktitle =	{36th International Symposium on Algorithms and Computation (ISAAC 2025)},
  pages =	{32:1--32:17},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-408-6},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{359},
  editor =	{Chen, Ho-Lin and Hon, Wing-Kai and Tsai, Meng-Tsung},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.ISAAC.2025.32},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-249407},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ISAAC.2025.32},
  annote =	{Keywords: k-server problem, optimizing time instead of distance, deterministic and randomized algorithms, Yao’s principle}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.ESA.2025.115
Smoothed Analysis of Online Metric Problems

Authors: Christian Coester and Jack Umenberger

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

Abstract
We study three classical online problems - k-server, k-taxi, and chasing size k sets - through a lens of smoothed analysis. Our setting allows request locations to be adversarial up to small perturbations, interpolating between worst-case and average-case models. Specifically, we show that if the metric space is contained in a ball in any normed space and requests are drawn from distributions whose density functions are upper bounded by 1/σ times the uniform density over the ball, then all three problems admit polylog(k/σ)-competitive algorithms. Our approach is simple: it reduces smoothed instances to fully adversarial instances on finite metrics and leverages existing algorithms in a black-box manner. We also provide a lower bound showing that no algorithm can achieve a competitive ratio sub-polylogarithmic in k/σ, matching our upper bounds up to the exponent of the polylogarithm. In contrast, the best known competitive ratios for these problems in the fully adversarial setting are 2k-1, ∞ and Θ(k²), respectively.
Cite as

Christian Coester and Jack Umenberger. Smoothed Analysis of Online Metric Problems. In 33rd Annual European Symposium on Algorithms (ESA 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 351, pp. 115:1-115:14, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

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@InProceedings{coester_et_al:LIPIcs.ESA.2025.115,
  author =	{Coester, Christian and Umenberger, Jack},
  title =	{{Smoothed Analysis of Online Metric Problems}},
  booktitle =	{33rd Annual European Symposium on Algorithms (ESA 2025)},
  pages =	{115:1--115:14},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-395-9},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{351},
  editor =	{Benoit, Anne and Kaplan, Haim and Wild, Sebastian and Herman, Grzegorz},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.ESA.2025.115},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-245847},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ESA.2025.115},
  annote =	{Keywords: Online Algorithms, Competitive Analysis, Smoothed Analysis, k-server, k-taxi, Metrical Service Systems}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.MFCS.2025.12
Online Knapsack Problems with Estimates

Authors: Jakub Balabán, Matthias Gehnen, Henri Lotze, Finn Seesemann, and Moritz Stocker

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

Abstract
Imagine you are a computer scientist who enjoys attending conferences or workshops within the year. Sadly, your travel budget is limited, so you must select a subset of events you can travel to. When you are aware of all possible events and their costs at the beginning of the year, you can select the subset of the possible events that maximizes your happiness and is within your budget. On the other hand, if you are blind about the options, you will likely have a hard time when trying to decide if you want to register somewhere or not, and will likely regret decisions you made in the future. These scenarios can be modeled by knapsack variants, either by an offline or an online problem. However, both scenarios are somewhat unrealistic: Usually, you will not know the exact costs of each workshop at the beginning of the year. The online version, however, is too pessimistic, as you might already know which options there are and how much they cost roughly. At some point, you have to decide whether to register for some workshop, but then you are aware of the conference fee and the flight and hotel prices. We model this problem within the setting of online knapsack problems with estimates: in the beginning, you receive a list of potential items with their estimated size as well as the accuracy of the estimates. Then, the items are revealed one by one in an online fashion with their actual size, and you need to decide whether to take one or not. In this article, we show a best-possible algorithm for each estimate accuracy δ (i.e., when each actual item size can deviate by ± δ from the announced size) for both the simple knapsack (also known as subset sum problem) and the simple knapsack with removability.
Cite as

Jakub Balabán, Matthias Gehnen, Henri Lotze, Finn Seesemann, and Moritz Stocker. Online Knapsack Problems with Estimates. In 50th International Symposium on Mathematical Foundations of Computer Science (MFCS 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 345, pp. 12:1-12:19, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

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@InProceedings{balaban_et_al:LIPIcs.MFCS.2025.12,
  author =	{Balab\'{a}n, Jakub and Gehnen, Matthias and Lotze, Henri and Seesemann, Finn and Stocker, Moritz},
  title =	{{Online Knapsack Problems with Estimates}},
  booktitle =	{50th International Symposium on Mathematical Foundations of Computer Science (MFCS 2025)},
  pages =	{12:1--12:19},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-388-1},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{345},
  editor =	{Gawrychowski, Pawe{\l} and Mazowiecki, Filip and Skrzypczak, Micha{\l}},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.MFCS.2025.12},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-241190},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.MFCS.2025.12},
  annote =	{Keywords: Knapsack, Online Knapsack, Removability, Estimate, Prediction}
}
Document
Track A: Algorithms, Complexity and Games
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.ICALP.2025.117
Incremental Approximate Single-Source Shortest Paths with Predictions

Authors: Samuel McCauley, Benjamin Moseley, Aidin Niaparast, Helia Niaparast, and Shikha Singh

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

Abstract
The algorithms-with-predictions framework has been used extensively to develop online algorithms with improved beyond-worst-case competitive ratios. Recently, there is growing interest in leveraging predictions for designing data structures with improved beyond-worst-case running times. In this paper, we study the fundamental data structure problem of maintaining approximate shortest paths in incremental graphs in the algorithms-with-predictions model. Given a sequence σ of edges that are inserted one at a time, the goal is to maintain approximate shortest paths from the source to each vertex in the graph at each time step. Before any edges arrive, the data structure is given a prediction of the online edge sequence σ̂ which is used to "warm start" its state. As our main result, we design a learned algorithm that maintains (1+ε)-approximate single-source shortest paths, which runs in Õ(m η log W/ε) time, where W is the weight of the heaviest edge and η is the prediction error. We show these techniques immediately extend to the all-pairs shortest-path setting as well. Our algorithms are consistent (performing nearly as fast as the offline algorithm) when predictions are nearly perfect, have a smooth degradation in performance with respect to the prediction error and, in the worst case, match the best offline algorithm up to logarithmic factors. That is, the algorithms are "ideal" in the algorithms-with-predictions model. As a building block, we study the offline incremental approximate single-source shortest-path (SSSP) problem. In the offline incremental SSSP problem, the edge sequence σ is known a priori and the goal is to construct a data structure that can efficiently return the length of the shortest paths in the intermediate graph G_t consisting of the first t edges, for all t. Note that the offline incremental problem is defined in the worst-case setting (without predictions) and is of independent interest.
Cite as

Samuel McCauley, Benjamin Moseley, Aidin Niaparast, Helia Niaparast, and Shikha Singh. Incremental Approximate Single-Source Shortest Paths with Predictions. In 52nd International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming (ICALP 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 334, pp. 117:1-117:20, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

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@InProceedings{mccauley_et_al:LIPIcs.ICALP.2025.117,
  author =	{McCauley, Samuel and Moseley, Benjamin and Niaparast, Aidin and Niaparast, Helia and Singh, Shikha},
  title =	{{Incremental Approximate Single-Source Shortest Paths with Predictions}},
  booktitle =	{52nd International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming (ICALP 2025)},
  pages =	{117:1--117:20},
  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.2025.117},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-234946},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ICALP.2025.117},
  annote =	{Keywords: Algorithms with Predictions, Shortest Paths, Approximation Algorithms, Dynamic Graph Algorithms}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.SoCG.2025.62
On Approximability of 𝓁₂² Min-Sum Clustering

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

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

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

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

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@InProceedings{karthikc.s._et_al:LIPIcs.SoCG.2025.62,
  author =	{Karthik C. S. and Lee, Euiwoong and Rabani, Yuval and Schwiegelshohn, Chris and Zhou, Samson},
  title =	{{On Approximability of 𝓁₂² Min-Sum Clustering}},
  booktitle =	{41st International Symposium on Computational Geometry (SoCG 2025)},
  pages =	{62:1--62:18},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-370-6},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{332},
  editor =	{Aichholzer, Oswin and Wang, Haitao},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.SoCG.2025.62},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-232142},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.SoCG.2025.62},
  annote =	{Keywords: Clustering, hardness of approximation, polynomial-time approximation schemes, learning-augmented algorithms}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.STACS.2025.18
Online Disjoint Set Covers: Randomization Is Not Necessary

Authors: Marcin Bienkowski, Jarosław Byrka, and Łukasz Jeż

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 327, 42nd International Symposium on Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science (STACS 2025)

Abstract
In the online disjoint set covers problem, the edges of a hypergraph are revealed online, and the goal is to partition them into a maximum number of disjoint set covers. That is, n nodes of a hypergraph are given at the beginning, and then a sequence of hyperedges (subsets of [n]) is presented to an algorithm. For each hyperedge, an online algorithm must assign a color (an integer). Once an input terminates, the gain of the algorithm is the number of colors that correspond to valid set covers (i.e., the union of hyperedges that have that color contains all n nodes). We present a deterministic online algorithm that is O(log² n)-competitive, exponentially improving on the previous bound of O(n) and matching the performance of the best randomized algorithm by Emek et al. [ESA 2019]. For color selection, our algorithm uses a novel potential function, which can be seen as an online counterpart of the derandomization method of conditional probabilities and pessimistic estimators. There are only a few cases where derandomization has been successfully used in the field of online algorithms. In contrast to previous approaches, our result extends to the following new challenges: (i) the potential function derandomizes not only the Chernoff bound, but also the coupon collector’s problem, (ii) the value of Opt of the maximization problem is not bounded a priori, and (iii) we do not produce a fractional solution first, but work directly on the input.
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Marcin Bienkowski, Jarosław Byrka, and Łukasz Jeż. Online Disjoint Set Covers: Randomization Is Not Necessary. In 42nd International Symposium on Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science (STACS 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 327, pp. 18:1-18:16, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

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@InProceedings{bienkowski_et_al:LIPIcs.STACS.2025.18,
  author =	{Bienkowski, Marcin and Byrka, Jaros{\l}aw and Je\.{z}, {\L}ukasz},
  title =	{{Online Disjoint Set Covers: Randomization Is Not Necessary}},
  booktitle =	{42nd International Symposium on Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science (STACS 2025)},
  pages =	{18:1--18:16},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-365-2},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{327},
  editor =	{Beyersdorff, Olaf and Pilipczuk, Micha{\l} and Pimentel, Elaine 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.2025.18},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-228433},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.STACS.2025.18},
  annote =	{Keywords: Disjoint Set Covers, Derandomization, pessimistic Estimator, potential Function, online Algorithms, competitive Analysis}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2025.44
Learning-Augmented Streaming Algorithms for Approximating MAX-CUT

Authors: Yinhao Dong, Pan Peng, and Ali Vakilian

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

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

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

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@InProceedings{dong_et_al:LIPIcs.ITCS.2025.44,
  author =	{Dong, Yinhao and Peng, Pan and Vakilian, Ali},
  title =	{{Learning-Augmented Streaming Algorithms for Approximating MAX-CUT}},
  booktitle =	{16th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2025)},
  pages =	{44:1--44:24},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-361-4},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{325},
  editor =	{Meka, Raghu},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2025.44},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-226728},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2025.44},
  annote =	{Keywords: Learning-Augmented Algorithms, Graph Streaming Algorithms, MAX-CUT}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.ESA.2022.13
Online Metric Allocation and Time-Varying Regularization

Authors: Nikhil Bansal and Christian Coester

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 244, 30th Annual European Symposium on Algorithms (ESA 2022)

Abstract
We introduce a general online allocation problem that connects several of the most fundamental problems in online optimization. Let M be an n-point metric space. Consider a resource that can be allocated in arbitrary fractions to the points of M. At each time t, a convex monotone cost function c_t: [0,1] → ℝ_+ appears at some point r_t ∈ M. In response, an algorithm may change the allocation of the resource, paying movement cost as determined by the metric and service cost c_t(x_{r_t}), where x_{r_t} is the fraction of the resource at r_t at the end of time t. For example, when the cost functions are c_t(x) = α x, this is equivalent to randomized MTS, and when the cost functions are c_t(x) = ∞⋅1_{x < 1/k}, this is equivalent to fractional k-server. Because of an inherent scale-freeness property of the problem, existing techniques for MTS and k-server fail to achieve similar guarantees for metric allocation. To handle this, we consider a generalization of the online multiplicative update method where we decouple the rate at which a variable is updated from its value, resulting in interesting new dynamics. We use this to give an O(log n)-competitive algorithm for weighted star metrics. We then show how this corresponds to an extension of the online mirror descent framework to a setting where the regularizer is time-varying. Using this perspective, we further refine the guarantees of our algorithm. We also consider the case of non-convex cost functions. Using a simple 𝓁₂²-regularizer, we give tight bounds of Θ(n) on tree metrics, which imply deterministic and randomized competitive ratios of O(n²) and O(nlog n) respectively on arbitrary metrics.
Cite as

Nikhil Bansal and Christian Coester. Online Metric Allocation and Time-Varying Regularization. In 30th Annual European Symposium on Algorithms (ESA 2022). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 244, pp. 13:1-13:13, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2022)

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@InProceedings{bansal_et_al:LIPIcs.ESA.2022.13,
  author =	{Bansal, Nikhil and Coester, Christian},
  title =	{{Online Metric Allocation and Time-Varying Regularization}},
  booktitle =	{30th Annual European Symposium on Algorithms (ESA 2022)},
  pages =	{13:1--13:13},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-247-1},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2022},
  volume =	{244},
  editor =	{Chechik, Shiri and Navarro, Gonzalo and Rotenberg, Eva 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.2022.13},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-169515},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ESA.2022.13},
  annote =	{Keywords: Online algorithms, competitive analysis, k-server, metrical task systems, mirror descent, regularization}
}
Document
Track A: Algorithms, Complexity and Games
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.ICALP.2021.57
Towards the k-Server Conjecture: A Unifying Potential, Pushing the Frontier to the Circle

Authors: Christian Coester and Elias Koutsoupias

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

Abstract
The k-server conjecture, first posed by Manasse, McGeoch and Sleator in 1988, states that a k-competitive deterministic algorithm for the k-server problem exists. It is conjectured that the work function algorithm (WFA) achieves this guarantee, a multi-purpose algorithm with applications to various online problems. This has been shown for several special cases: k = 2, (k+1)-point metrics, (k+2)-point metrics, the line metric, weighted star metrics, and k = 3 in the Manhattan plane. The known proofs of these results are based on potential functions tied to each particular special case, thus requiring six different potential functions for the six cases. We present a single potential function proving k-competitiveness of WFA for all these cases. We also use this potential to show k-competitiveness of WFA on multiray spaces and for k = 3 on trees. While the DoubleCoverage algorithm was known to be k-competitive for these latter cases, it has been open for WFA. Our potential captures a type of lazy adversary and thus shows that in all settled cases, the worst-case adversary is lazy. Chrobak and Larmore conjectured in 1992 that a potential capturing the lazy adversary would resolve the k-server conjecture. To our major surprise, this is not the case, as we show (using connections to the k-taxi problem) that our potential fails for three servers on the circle. Thus, our potential highlights laziness of the adversary as a fundamental property that is shared by all settled cases but violated in general. On the one hand, this weakens our confidence in the validity of the k-server conjecture. On the other hand, if the k-server conjecture holds, then we believe it can be proved by a variant of our potential.
Cite as

Christian Coester and Elias Koutsoupias. Towards the k-Server Conjecture: A Unifying Potential, Pushing the Frontier to the Circle. In 48th International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming (ICALP 2021). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 198, pp. 57:1-57:20, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2021)

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@InProceedings{coester_et_al:LIPIcs.ICALP.2021.57,
  author =	{Coester, Christian and Koutsoupias, Elias},
  title =	{{Towards the k-Server Conjecture: A Unifying Potential, Pushing the Frontier to the Circle}},
  booktitle =	{48th International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming (ICALP 2021)},
  pages =	{57:1--57:20},
  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.2021.57},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-141263},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ICALP.2021.57},
  annote =	{Keywords: Online algorithms, competitive analysis, k-server, work function algorithm}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2021.21
Metrical Service Systems with Transformations

Authors: Sébastien Bubeck, Niv Buchbinder, Christian Coester, and Mark Sellke

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

Abstract
We consider a generalization of the fundamental online metrical service systems (MSS) problem where the feasible region can be transformed between requests. In this problem, which we call T-MSS, an algorithm maintains a point in a metric space and has to serve a sequence of requests. Each request is a map (transformation) f_t: A_t → B_t between subsets A_t and B_t of the metric space. To serve it, the algorithm has to go to a point a_t ∈ A_t, paying the distance from its previous position. Then, the transformation is applied, modifying the algorithm’s state to f_t(a_t). Such transformations can model, e.g., changes to the environment that are outside of an algorithm’s control, and we therefore do not charge any additional cost to the algorithm when the transformation is applied. The transformations also allow to model requests occurring in the k-taxi problem. We show that for α-Lipschitz transformations, the competitive ratio is Θ(α)^{n-2} on n-point metrics. Here, the upper bound is achieved by a deterministic algorithm and the lower bound holds even for randomized algorithms. For the k-taxi problem, we prove a competitive ratio of Õ((nlog k)²). For chasing convex bodies, we show that even with contracting transformations no competitive algorithm exists. The problem T-MSS has a striking connection to the following deep mathematical question: Given a finite metric space M, what is the required cardinality of an extension M̂ ⊇ M where each partial isometry on M extends to an automorphism? We give partial answers for special cases.
Cite as

Sébastien Bubeck, Niv Buchbinder, Christian Coester, and Mark Sellke. Metrical Service Systems with Transformations. In 12th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2021). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 185, pp. 21:1-21:20, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2021)

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@InProceedings{bubeck_et_al:LIPIcs.ITCS.2021.21,
  author =	{Bubeck, S\'{e}bastien and Buchbinder, Niv and Coester, Christian and Sellke, Mark},
  title =	{{Metrical Service Systems with Transformations}},
  booktitle =	{12th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2021)},
  pages =	{21:1--21:20},
  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.2021.21},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-135608},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2021.21},
  annote =	{Keywords: Online algorithms, competitive analysis, metrical task systems, k-taxi}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.MFCS.2019.8
Better Bounds for Online Line Chasing

Authors: Marcin Bienkowski, Jarosław Byrka, Marek Chrobak, Christian Coester, Łukasz Jeż, and Elias Koutsoupias

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 138, 44th International Symposium on Mathematical Foundations of Computer Science (MFCS 2019)

Abstract
We study online competitive algorithms for the line chasing problem in Euclidean spaces R^d, where the input consists of an initial point P_0 and a sequence of lines X_1, X_2, ..., X_m, revealed one at a time. At each step t, when the line X_t is revealed, the algorithm must determine a point P_t in X_t. An online algorithm is called c-competitive if for any input sequence the path P_0, P_1 , ..., P_m it computes has length at most c times the optimum path. The line chasing problem is a variant of a more general convex body chasing problem, where the sets X_t are arbitrary convex sets. To date, the best competitive ratio for the line chasing problem was 28.1, even in the plane. We improve this bound by providing a simple 3-competitive algorithm for any dimension d. We complement this bound by a matching lower bound for algorithms that are memoryless in the sense of our algorithm, and a lower bound of 1.5358 for arbitrary algorithms. The latter bound also improves upon the previous lower bound of sqrt{2}~=1.412 for convex body chasing in 2 dimensions.
Cite as

Marcin Bienkowski, Jarosław Byrka, Marek Chrobak, Christian Coester, Łukasz Jeż, and Elias Koutsoupias. Better Bounds for Online Line Chasing. In 44th International Symposium on Mathematical Foundations of Computer Science (MFCS 2019). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 138, pp. 8:1-8:13, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2019)

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@InProceedings{bienkowski_et_al:LIPIcs.MFCS.2019.8,
  author =	{Bienkowski, Marcin and Byrka, Jaros{\l}aw and Chrobak, Marek and Coester, Christian and Je\.{z}, {\L}ukasz and Koutsoupias, Elias},
  title =	{{Better Bounds for Online Line Chasing}},
  booktitle =	{44th International Symposium on Mathematical Foundations of Computer Science (MFCS 2019)},
  pages =	{8:1--8:13},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-117-7},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2019},
  volume =	{138},
  editor =	{Rossmanith, Peter and Heggernes, Pinar and Katoen, Joost-Pieter},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.MFCS.2019.8},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-109521},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.MFCS.2019.8},
  annote =	{Keywords: convex body chasing, line chasing, competitive analysis}
}
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