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DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.SEA.2026.8

General Multiplicative Spanners in Practice

Authors: Fritz Bökler, Markus Chimani, and Henning Jasper

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 371, 24th International Symposium on Experimental Algorithms (SEA 2026)

Abstract

Given an undirected graph G with edge weights and lengths, a minimum α-spanner is a least-weight subgraph H ⊆ G that preserves distances w.r.t. the lengths between all node pairs up to a factor of α. Literature often takes the simplifying assumption of a single (coupled) edge function for weights and lengths. For such instances, several exact and non-exact algorithms are known and have been thoroughly evaluated in practice. However, many practical instances have decoupled form, as their weights and lengths are generally independent. Due to the increased complexity, only few (and even fewer practical) algorithms are able to guarantee low-weight solutions. This prompts practitioners to force their naturally decoupled instances into a coupled format, forsaking any quality guarantee. We implement several exact, approximative and heuristic algorithms for decoupled α-spanners, and use algorithm engineering to speed them up in practice. Our hypothesis-driven experiments evaluate their performance w.r.t. solution quality and speed. Generally, many practical instances can indeed be solved exactly within reasonable time, while LP-based approximation algorithms are not worthwhile. We find that standard greedy algorithms often yield acceptable results, but there are also practical instances for which they yield arbitrarily poor solutions. Here, augmented greedy variations offer a good compromise between solution quality and speed.

Cite as

Fritz Bökler, Markus Chimani, and Henning Jasper. General Multiplicative Spanners in Practice. In 24th International Symposium on Experimental Algorithms (SEA 2026). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 371, pp. 8:1-8:21, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)

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@InProceedings{bokler_et_al:LIPIcs.SEA.2026.8,
  author =	{B\"{o}kler, Fritz and Chimani, Markus and Jasper, Henning},
  title =	{{General Multiplicative Spanners in Practice}},
  booktitle =	{24th International Symposium on Experimental Algorithms (SEA 2026)},
  pages =	{8:1--8:21},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-422-2},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2026},
  volume =	{371},
  editor =	{Aum\"{u}ller, Martin and Finocchi, Irene},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.SEA.2026.8},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-260120},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.SEA.2026.8},
  annote =	{Keywords: Graph spanners, ILP, experimental study, algorithm engineering}
}

Document

DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.SWAT.2026.35

Path-Reporting Distance Oracles for Vertex-Labeled Graphs

Authors: Ofer Neiman and Alon Spector

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

Abstract

Let G = (V,E) be a weighted undirected graph, with n vertices. A distance oracle is a data structure that can quickly answer distance queries, with some stretch factor. A seminal work of [Thorup and Zwick, 2005], given an integer k ≥ 1, provides such an oracle with stretch 2k-1, query time O(k), and size O(k⋅ n^{1+1/k}). Furthermore, this oracle can also report a path in G corresponding to the returned distance. In this paper we focus on vertex-labeled graphs, in which each vertex is given a label from a set L of size 𝓁. A vertex-label distance oracle answers queries of the form (v,λ), where v ∈ V and λ ∈ L, by reporting (an approximation to) the distance from v to the closest vertex of label λ. Following [Danny Hermelin et al., 2011], it was shown in [Chechik, 2012] that for any integer k > 1, there exists a vertex-label distance oracle with stretch 4k-5, query time O(k), and size O(k⋅ n⋅ 𝓁^{1/k}). This state-of-the-art result suffers from two main drawbacks: The stretch is roughly a factor of 2 larger than in [Thorup and Zwick, 2005], and it is not path-reporting. We address these concerns in this work, and provide the following results. - First, we devise a path-reporting vertex-label distance oracle, at the cost of a slight increase in stretch and size. For any constant 0 < ε < 1, our oracle has stretch (4k-5)⋅(1+ε), query time O(k), and size O(n^{1+o(1)}⋅ 𝓁^{1/k}). - Second, we show how to improve the stretch to the optimal 2k-1, at the cost of mildly increasing the query time. Specifically, we devise a vertex-label distance oracle with stretch 2k-1, query time O(𝓁^{1/k}⋅log n), and size O(k⋅ n⋅ 𝓁^{1/k}).

Cite as

Ofer Neiman and Alon Spector. Path-Reporting Distance Oracles for Vertex-Labeled Graphs. In 20th Scandinavian Symposium on Algorithm Theory (SWAT 2026). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 370, pp. 35:1-35:16, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)

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@InProceedings{neiman_et_al:LIPIcs.SWAT.2026.35,
  author =	{Neiman, Ofer and Spector, Alon},
  title =	{{Path-Reporting Distance Oracles for Vertex-Labeled Graphs}},
  booktitle =	{20th Scandinavian Symposium on Algorithm Theory (SWAT 2026)},
  pages =	{35:1--35:16},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-421-5},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2026},
  volume =	{370},
  editor =	{Fraigniaud, Pierre},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.SWAT.2026.35},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-260719},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.SWAT.2026.35},
  annote =	{Keywords: Graph Algorithms, Shortest Paths, Distance Oracles}
}

Document

DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.SoCG.2026.68

Optimal Bounds for Spanners and Tree Covers in Doubling Metrics

Authors: An La, Hung Le, Shay Solomon, Cuong Than, Vinayak, Shuang Yang, and Tianyi Zhang

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

Abstract

It is known that any n-point set in the d-dimensional Euclidean space ℝ^d, for d = O(1), admits: 1) A (1+ε)-spanner with maximum degree Õ(ε^{-d+1}) and with lightness Õ(ε^{-d}), for any ε > 0. 2) A (1+ε)-tree cover with Õ(n ⋅ ε^{-d+1}) trees and maximum degree of O(1) in each tree. Moreover, all the parameters in these constructions are optimal: For any 2 ≤ d = O(1), there exists an n-point set in ℝ^d, for which any (1+ε)-spanner has Ω̃(n⋅ε^{-d+1}) edges and lightness Ω̃(ε^{-d}). The upper bounds for Euclidean spanners rely heavily on the spatial property of cone partitioning in ℝ^d, which does not seem to extend to the wider family of doubling metrics, i.e., metric spaces of constant doubling dimension. In doubling metrics, a simple spanner construction from two decades ago, the net-tree spanner, has Õ(n⋅ε^{-d}) edges, and it could be transformed into a spanner of maximum degree Õ(ε^{-d}) and lightness Õ(n⋅ε^{-(d+1)}) by pruning redundant edges. Moreover, a careful refinement of the net-tree spanner yields a (1+ε)-tree cover with Õ(ε^{-d}) trees. Despite a large body of work, the problem of obtaining tight bounds for spanners and tree covers in the wider family of doubling metrics has remained elusive. We resolve this problem by presenting: 1) A surprisingly simple and tight lower bound, which shows that the net-tree spanner and its pruned version are optimal with respect to all the involved parameters. 2) A new construction of (1+ε)-tree covers with Õ(n⋅ε^{-d}) trees, with maximum degree O(1) in each tree. This construction is optimal with respect to the number of trees and maximum degree.

Cite as

An La, Hung Le, Shay Solomon, Cuong Than, Vinayak, Shuang Yang, and Tianyi Zhang. Optimal Bounds for Spanners and Tree Covers in Doubling Metrics. In 42nd International Symposium on Computational Geometry (SoCG 2026). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 367, pp. 68:1-68:16, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)

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@InProceedings{la_et_al:LIPIcs.SoCG.2026.68,
  author =	{La, An and Le, Hung and Solomon, Shay and Than, Cuong and Vinayak and Yang, Shuang and Zhang, Tianyi},
  title =	{{Optimal Bounds for Spanners and Tree Covers in Doubling Metrics}},
  booktitle =	{42nd International Symposium on Computational Geometry (SoCG 2026)},
  pages =	{68:1--68:16},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-418-5},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2026},
  volume =	{367},
  editor =	{Ahn, Hee-Kap and Hoffmann, Michael and Nayyeri, Amir},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.SoCG.2026.68},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-258756},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.SoCG.2026.68},
  annote =	{Keywords: doubling metrics, doubling spanners, Euclidean spanners, tree cover}
}

Document

DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.SoCG.2026.71

Approximating Euclidean Shallow-Light Trees

Authors: Hung Le, Shay Solomon, Cuong Than, Csaba D. Tóth, and Tianyi Zhang

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

Abstract

For a weighted graph G = (V, E, w) and a designated source vertex s ∈ V, a spanning tree that simultaneously approximates a shortest-path tree w.r.t. source s and a minimum spanning tree is called a shallow-light tree (SLT). Specifically, an (α, β)-SLT of G w.r.t. s ∈ V is a spanning tree of G with root-stretch α (preserving all distances between s and all other vertices up to a factor of α) and lightness β (its weight is at most β times the weight of a minimum spanning tree of G). It was shown in the early 1990s that (1) for any graph, any source, and any ε > 0, there is a (1 + ε, O(1/ε))-SLT, and (2) there exist graphs for which β = Ω(1/ε) for any (1+ε,β)-SLT. The focus of this work is on SLTs in low-dimensional Euclidean spaces, which are of special interest for some applications of SLTs, in geometric network optimization problems. The aforementioned existential lower bound applies to Euclidean plane, as well. It was shown more than a decade ago that (1) by using Steiner points, one can reduce the lightness bound from O(1/ε) to O(√{1/ε}), and (2) there exist point sets in the plane for which β = Ω(√{1/ε}) for any Steiner (1+ε,β)-SLT. These tight existential bounds for the Euclidean case yield approximation factors of O(1/ε) and O(√{1/ε}) on the minimum weight of any non-Steiner and Steiner tree with root-stretch 1+ε, respectively. Despite the large body of work on SLTs, the basic question of whether a better approximation algorithm exists was left untouched to date, and this holds in any graph family. This paper makes a first nontrivial step towards resolving this question by presenting two bicriteria approximation algorithms. For any ε > 0, a set P of n points in constant-dimensional Euclidean space and a source s ∈ P, our first (respectively, second) algorithm returns, in O(n log n ⋅ polylog(ε^{-1})) time, a non-Steiner (resp., Steiner) tree with root-stretch 1+O(ε log ε^{-1}) and weight at most O(opt_ε ⋅ log² ε^{-1}) (resp., O(opt_ε ⋅ log ε^{-1})), where opt_ε denotes the minimum weight of a non-Steiner (resp., Steiner) tree with root-stretch 1+ε.

Cite as

Hung Le, Shay Solomon, Cuong Than, Csaba D. Tóth, and Tianyi Zhang. Approximating Euclidean Shallow-Light Trees. In 42nd International Symposium on Computational Geometry (SoCG 2026). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 367, pp. 71:1-71:16, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)

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@InProceedings{le_et_al:LIPIcs.SoCG.2026.71,
  author =	{Le, Hung and Solomon, Shay and Than, Cuong and T\'{o}th, Csaba D. and Zhang, Tianyi},
  title =	{{Approximating Euclidean Shallow-Light Trees}},
  booktitle =	{42nd International Symposium on Computational Geometry (SoCG 2026)},
  pages =	{71:1--71:16},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-418-5},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2026},
  volume =	{367},
  editor =	{Ahn, Hee-Kap and Hoffmann, Michael and Nayyeri, Amir},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.SoCG.2026.71},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-258789},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.SoCG.2026.71},
  annote =	{Keywords: geometric network design, optimization, shallow-light tree, Steiner point}
}

Document

DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.SoCG.2026.15

Euclidean Noncrossing Steiner Spanners of Nearly Optimal Sparsity

Authors: Sujoy Bhore, Sándor Kisfaludi‑Bak, Lazar Milenković, Csaba D. Tóth, Karol Węgrzycki, and Sampson Wong

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

Abstract

A Euclidean noncrossing Steiner (1+ε)-spanner for a point set P ⊂ ℝ² is a planar straight-line graph that, for any two points a, b ∈ P, contains a path whose length is at most 1+ε times the Euclidean distance between a and b. We construct a Euclidean noncrossing Steiner (1+ε)-spanner with O(n/ε^{3/2}) edges for any set of n points in the plane. This result improves upon the previous best upper bound of O(n/ε⁴) obtained nearly three decades ago. We also establish an almost matching lower bound: There exist n points in the plane for which any Euclidean noncrossing Steiner (1+ε)-spanner has Ω_μ(n/ε^{3/2-μ}) edges for any μ > 0. Our lower bound uses recent generalizations of the Szemerédi-Trotter theorem to disk-tube incidences in geometric measure theory.

Cite as

Sujoy Bhore, Sándor Kisfaludi‑Bak, Lazar Milenković, Csaba D. Tóth, Karol Węgrzycki, and Sampson Wong. Euclidean Noncrossing Steiner Spanners of Nearly Optimal Sparsity. In 42nd International Symposium on Computational Geometry (SoCG 2026). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 367, pp. 15:1-15:18, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)

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@InProceedings{bhore_et_al:LIPIcs.SoCG.2026.15,
  author =	{Bhore, Sujoy and Kisfaludi‑Bak, S\'{a}ndor and Milenkovi\'{c}, Lazar and T\'{o}th, Csaba D. and W\k{e}grzycki, Karol and Wong, Sampson},
  title =	{{Euclidean Noncrossing Steiner Spanners of Nearly Optimal Sparsity}},
  booktitle =	{42nd International Symposium on Computational Geometry (SoCG 2026)},
  pages =	{15:1--15:18},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-418-5},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2026},
  volume =	{367},
  editor =	{Ahn, Hee-Kap and Hoffmann, Michael and Nayyeri, Amir},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.SoCG.2026.15},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-258210},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.SoCG.2026.15},
  annote =	{Keywords: geometric network design, spanners, crossing number, incidences}
}

Document

DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.SoCG.2026.13

Dynamic Light Spanners in Doubling Metrics

Authors: Sujoy Bhore, Jonathan Conroy, and Arnold Filtser

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

Abstract

A t-spanner of a point set X in a metric space (𝒳, δ) is a graph G with vertex set P such that, for any pair of points u,v ∈ X, the distance between u and v in G is at most t times δ(u,v). We study the problem of maintaining a spanner for a dynamic point set X - that is, when X undergoes a sequence of insertions and deletions - in a metric space of constant doubling dimension. For any constant ε > 0, we maintain a (1+ε)-spanner of P whose total weight remains within a constant factor of the weight of the minimum spanning tree of X. Each update (insertion or deletion) can be performed in poly(log Φ) time, where Φ denotes the aspect ratio of X. Prior to our work, no efficient dynamic algorithm for maintaining a light-weight spanner was known even for point sets in low-dimensional Euclidean space.

Cite as

Sujoy Bhore, Jonathan Conroy, and Arnold Filtser. Dynamic Light Spanners in Doubling Metrics. In 42nd International Symposium on Computational Geometry (SoCG 2026). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 367, pp. 13:1-13:16, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)

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@InProceedings{bhore_et_al:LIPIcs.SoCG.2026.13,
  author =	{Bhore, Sujoy and Conroy, Jonathan and Filtser, Arnold},
  title =	{{Dynamic Light Spanners in Doubling Metrics}},
  booktitle =	{42nd International Symposium on Computational Geometry (SoCG 2026)},
  pages =	{13:1--13:16},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-418-5},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2026},
  volume =	{367},
  editor =	{Ahn, Hee-Kap and Hoffmann, Michael and Nayyeri, Amir},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.SoCG.2026.13},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-258193},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.SoCG.2026.13},
  annote =	{Keywords: Dynamic data structures, spanners, light-weight, Euclidean metrics, doubling metrics}
}

Document

DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.STACS.2026.71

Broadcast in Almost Mixing Time

Authors: Anton Paramonov and Roger Wattenhofer

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

Abstract

We study the problem of broadcasting multiple messages in the CONGEST model. In this problem, a dedicated source node s possesses a set M of messages with every message of size O(log n) where n is the total number of nodes. The objective is to ensure that every node in the network learns all messages in M. The execution of an algorithm progresses in rounds, and we focus on optimizing the round complexity of broadcasting multiple messages. Our primary contribution is a randomized algorithm for networks with expander topology. The algorithm succeeds with high probability and achieves a round complexity that is optimal up to a factor of the network’s mixing time and polylogarithmic terms. It leverages a multi-COBRA primitive, which uses multiple branching random walks running in parallel. A crucial aspect of our method is the use of these branching random walks to construct an optimal (up to a polylogarithmic factor) tree packing of a random graph, which is then used for efficient broadcasting. We also prove the problem to be NP-hard in a centralized setting and provide insights into why lower bounds that can be matched in expanders, namely graph diameter and |M|/minCut, cannot be tight in general graphs.

Cite as

Anton Paramonov and Roger Wattenhofer. Broadcast in Almost Mixing Time. In 43rd International Symposium on Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science (STACS 2026). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 364, pp. 71:1-71:20, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)

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@InProceedings{paramonov_et_al:LIPIcs.STACS.2026.71,
  author =	{Paramonov, Anton and Wattenhofer, Roger},
  title =	{{Broadcast in Almost Mixing Time}},
  booktitle =	{43rd International Symposium on Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science (STACS 2026)},
  pages =	{71:1--71:20},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-412-3},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2026},
  volume =	{364},
  editor =	{Mahajan, Meena and Manea, Florin and McIver, Annabelle and Thắng, Nguy\~{ê}n Kim},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.STACS.2026.71},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-255603},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.STACS.2026.71},
  annote =	{Keywords: Distributed algorithms, Expander Graphs, Random graphs, Broadcast, Branching random walks, Tree packing, CONGEST model}
}

Document

DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.107

New Greedy Spanners and Applications

Authors: Elizaveta Popova and Elad Tzalik

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

Abstract

We present a simple greedy procedure to compute an (α,β)-spanner for a graph G. We then show that this procedure is useful for building fault-tolerant spanners, as well as spanners for weighted graphs. Our first main result is an algorithm that, given a multigraph G, outputs an f edge fault-tolerant (k,k-1)-spanner H of size O(fn^{1+1/k}) which is tight. To our knowledge, this is the first tight result concerning the price of fault tolerance in spanners which are not multiplicative, in any model of faults. Our second main result is a new construction of a spanner for weighted graphs. We show that any weighted graph G has a subgraph H with O(n^{1+1/k}) edges such that any path P of hop-length 𝓁 in G has a replacement path P' in H of weighted length ≤ w(P)+(2k-2)w^(1/2)(P) where w(P) is the total edge weight of P, and w^(1/2) denotes the sum of the largest ⌈𝓁/2⌉ edge weights along P. Moreover, we show such approximation is optimal for shortest paths of hop-length 2. To our knowledge, this is the first construction of a "spanner" for weighted graphs that strictly improves upon the stretch of multiplicative (2k-1)-spanners for all non-adjacent vertex pairs, while maintaining the same size bound. Our technique is based on using clustering and ball-growing, which are methods commonly used in designing spanner algorithms, to analyze simple greedy algorithms. This allows us to combine the flexibility of clustering approaches with the unique properties of the greedy algorithm to get improved bounds. In particular, our methods give a very short proof that the parallel greedy spanner adds O(kn^{1+1/k}) edges, improving upon known bounds.

Cite as

Elizaveta Popova and Elad Tzalik. New Greedy Spanners and Applications. In 17th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2026). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 362, pp. 107:1-107:25, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)

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@InProceedings{popova_et_al:LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.107,
  author =	{Popova, Elizaveta and Tzalik, Elad},
  title =	{{New Greedy Spanners and Applications}},
  booktitle =	{17th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2026)},
  pages =	{107:1--107:25},
  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.2026.107},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-253945},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.107},
  annote =	{Keywords: Graph Spanners, Greedy Algorithms}
}

Document

DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.OPODIS.2025.25

On the Complexity of Distributed Edge Coloring and Orientation Problems

Authors: Sebastian Brandt, Fabian Kuhn, and Zahra Parsaeian

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 361, 29th International Conference on Principles of Distributed Systems (OPODIS 2025)

Abstract

Understanding the role of randomness when solving locally checkable labeling (LCL) problems in the LOCAL model has been one of the top priorities in the research on distributed graph algorithms in recent years. For LCL problems in bounded-degree graphs, it is known that randomness cannot help more than polynomially, except in one case: if the deterministic complexity of an LCL problem is in Ω(log n) and its randomized complexity is in o(log n), then the randomized complexity is guaranteed to be O(poly(log log n)) and it is even known to be O(log log n) in bounded-degree trees. However, the fundamental question of which problems with a deterministic complexity of Ω(log n) can be solved exponentially faster using randomization still remains wide open. We make a step towards answering this question by studying a simple, but natural class of LCL problems: so-called degree splitting problems. These problems come in two varieties: coloring problems where the edges of a graph have to be colored with 2 colors and orientation problems where each edge needs to be oriented. For an exact classification, it is most natural to consider the Δ-regular case (for Δ = O(1)), where we obtain the following results. - We exactly characterize the complexity of problems where the edges need to be colored with two colors, say red and blue. We show that for every y ∈ {0,… ,Δ-1}, the problem of red-blue coloring the edges such that every node of degree Δ has either y or y+1 red edges has randomized complexity O(log log n) in general graphs of maximum degree Δ. Any other problem, i.e., any problem that does not allow two consecutive red degrees, is already known to have randomized complexity Ω(log n) even in Δ-regular trees. We note that a set of edges F such that every node has either y or y+1 incident edges in F is also known as a {y,y+1}-factor of a graph. - For edge orientations, we show that for any two r₁ and r₂ such that r₁,r₂ ≤ Δ/2 and r₁+r₂ ≥ Δ/2, there are randomized algorithms with round complexities O(log log n) in trees and Õ(log⁴log n) in general graphs to compute an edge orientation such that all nodes have outdegree r₁ ± O(√{ΔlogΔ}) or Δ-r₂ ± O(√{ΔlogΔ}). Further, there exists a constant c > 0 such that for any 0 ≤ r₁+r₂ ≤ Δ/2, the problem of computing an edge orientation in which all outdegrees are either at most r₁-c⋅ √{Δ} or at least Δ-r₂+c⋅√{Δ} has randomized complexity Ω(log n) even in Δ-regular trees. While our results are cleanest to state for the Δ-regular case, all our algorithms naturally generalize to nodes of any degree d < Δ in general graphs of maximum degree Δ. All our algorithms also naturally generalize to the unbounded degree case and they then have a randomized complexity of Õ(Δ) ⋅ log log n (resp. Õ(Δ ⋅log⁴log n) for orienting general graphs).

Cite as

Sebastian Brandt, Fabian Kuhn, and Zahra Parsaeian. On the Complexity of Distributed Edge Coloring and Orientation Problems. In 29th International Conference on Principles of Distributed Systems (OPODIS 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 361, pp. 25:1-25:18, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

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@InProceedings{brandt_et_al:LIPIcs.OPODIS.2025.25,
  author =	{Brandt, Sebastian and Kuhn, Fabian and Parsaeian, Zahra},
  title =	{{On the Complexity of Distributed Edge Coloring and Orientation Problems}},
  booktitle =	{29th International Conference on Principles of Distributed Systems (OPODIS 2025)},
  pages =	{25:1--25:18},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-409-3},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2026},
  volume =	{361},
  editor =	{Arusoaie, Andrei and Onica, Emanuel and Spear, Michael and Tucci-Piergiovanni, Sara},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.OPODIS.2025.25},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-251982},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.OPODIS.2025.25},
  annote =	{Keywords: LCL problems, binary labeling problems, degree splitting}
}

Document

DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.OPODIS.2025.23

Distributed (Δ+1)-Coloring in Graphs of Bounded Neighborhood Independence

Authors: Marc Fuchs and Fabian Kuhn

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 361, 29th International Conference on Principles of Distributed Systems (OPODIS 2025)

Abstract

The distributed coloring problem is arguably one of the key problems studied in the area of distributed graph algorithms. The most standard variant of the problem asks for a proper vertex coloring of a graph with Δ+1 colors, where Δ is the maximum degree of the graph. Despite an immense amount of work on distributed coloring problems in the distributed setting, determining the deterministic complexity of (Δ+1)-coloring in the standard message passing model remains one of the most important open questions of the area. In the LOCAL model, it is known that (Δ+1)-coloring requires Ω(log^* n) rounds even in paths and rings (i.e., when Δ = 2). For general graphs, the problem is known to be solvable in Õ(log^{5/3}n) rounds and in O(√{ΔlogΔ} + log^* n) rounds when expressing the complexity as a function of Δ and with an optimal dependency on n. In the present paper, we aim to improve our understanding of the deterministic complexity of (Δ+1)-coloring as a function of Δ in a special family of graphs for which significantly faster algorithms are already known. The neighborhood independence θ of a graph is the maximum number of pairwise non-adjacent neighbors of some node of the graph. Notable examples of graphs of bounded neighborhood independence are line graphs of graphs and bounded-rank hypergraphs. It is known that the (2Δ-1)-edge coloring problem and therefore the (Δ+1)-coloring problem in line graphs of graphs can be solved in O(log^{12}Δ+log^* n) rounds. In general, in graphs of neighborhood independence θ = O(1), it is known that (Δ+1)-coloring can be solved in 2^{O(√{logΔ})}+O(log^* n) rounds. In the present paper, we significantly improve the latter result, and we show that in graphs of neighborhood independence θ, a (Δ+1)-coloring can be computed in (θ⋅logΔ)^{O(log logΔ / log log logΔ)}+O(log^* n) rounds and thus in quasipolylogarithmic time in Δ as long as θ is at most polylogarithmic in Δ. Our algorithm can be seen as a generalization of an existing similar, but slightly weaker result for (2Δ-1)-edge coloring. We also show that the approach that leads to this polylogarithmic in Δ algorithm for (2Δ-1)-edge coloring already fails for edge colorings of hypergraphs of rank at least 3. At the core of the fast edge coloring algorithm is an algorithm to divide the edges of a graph into two parts so that up to a multiplicative error of 1+o(1), the maximum degree of the line graph induced by each part is at most half the maximum degree of the original line graph. We show that computing such a bipartition of the edges of the line graph of a hypergraph of rank at least 3 requires time logarithmic in n.

Cite as

Marc Fuchs and Fabian Kuhn. Distributed (Δ+1)-Coloring in Graphs of Bounded Neighborhood Independence. In 29th International Conference on Principles of Distributed Systems (OPODIS 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 361, pp. 23:1-23:21, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

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@InProceedings{fuchs_et_al:LIPIcs.OPODIS.2025.23,
  author =	{Fuchs, Marc and Kuhn, Fabian},
  title =	{{Distributed (\Delta+1)-Coloring in Graphs of Bounded Neighborhood Independence}},
  booktitle =	{29th International Conference on Principles of Distributed Systems (OPODIS 2025)},
  pages =	{23:1--23:21},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-409-3},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2026},
  volume =	{361},
  editor =	{Arusoaie, Andrei and Onica, Emanuel and Spear, Michael and Tucci-Piergiovanni, Sara},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.OPODIS.2025.23},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-251968},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.OPODIS.2025.23},
  annote =	{Keywords: distributed computing, distributed graph algorithms, graph coloring, list coloring, defective coloring}
}

Document

DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.FSTTCS.2025.30

Approximating Optimal Broadcast of Files in a Hose-Model Network

Authors: Thomas Erlebach, Naveen Garg, Sukriti Gupta, and Amitabh Trehan

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

Abstract

The paper considers the problem of file sharing among peers who are connected to a common core network through links of differing upload and download capacities, as is the case in networks provisioned according to the hose model. The file is assumed to be divided into equal-sized chunks, and a peer can start sending a "chunk" of the file to another peer only after it has received the entire chunk. The objective is to share a chunk, initially residing on one of the peers, with all other peers in the least time possible. Peers can simultaneously send/receive parts of a chunk to/from multiple peers, subject to the upload and download capacity constraints. We only consider the problem of broadcasting one chunk to all peers. We consider two different models - in the migratory model, a peer can receive the chunk from multiple peers, while in the non-migratory model, any peer can receive the chunk only from one peer. For the migratory model, introduced in this paper, we show a novel integer program and use the optimum solution to the LP-relaxation to give a schedule with makespan e^{1/e} OPT+P where P is the time required by the slowest peer to download the chunk. Minimising makespan in the non-migratory model is known to be NP-hard. We give a solution with makespan 18OPT+P and this is the first approximation algorithm for heterogeneous and asymmetric upload/download capacities. We also consider 2 special cases. For uniform download capacities, we obtain a solution with makespan 2OPT extending a result due to Liu [Pangfeng Liu, 2002]. For uniform upload capacities, we give the first approximation algorithm, producing makespan at most 2OPT+2P.

Cite as

Thomas Erlebach, Naveen Garg, Sukriti Gupta, and Amitabh Trehan. Approximating Optimal Broadcast of Files in a Hose-Model Network. In 45th IARCS Annual Conference on Foundations of Software Technology and Theoretical Computer Science (FSTTCS 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 360, pp. 30:1-30:19, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

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@InProceedings{erlebach_et_al:LIPIcs.FSTTCS.2025.30,
  author =	{Erlebach, Thomas and Garg, Naveen and Gupta, Sukriti and Trehan, Amitabh},
  title =	{{Approximating Optimal Broadcast of Files in a Hose-Model Network}},
  booktitle =	{45th IARCS Annual Conference on Foundations of Software Technology and Theoretical Computer Science (FSTTCS 2025)},
  pages =	{30:1--30:19},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-406-2},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{360},
  editor =	{Aiswarya, C. and Mehta, Ruta and Roy, Subhajit},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.FSTTCS.2025.30},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-251118},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.FSTTCS.2025.30},
  annote =	{Keywords: File sharing, scheduling, peer-to-peer networks}
}

Document

DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.ISAAC.2025.43

New Approximate Distance Oracles and Their Applications

Authors: Avi Kadria and Liam Roditty

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

Abstract

Let G = (V, E) be an undirected graph with n vertices and m edges, and let μ = m/n. A distance oracle is a data structure designed to answer approximate distance queries, with the goal of achieving low stretch, efficient space usage, and fast query time. While much of the prior work focused on distance oracles with constant query time, this paper presents a comprehensive study of distance oracles with non-constant query time. We explore the tradeoffs between space, stretch, and query time of distance oracles in various regimes. Specifically, we consider both weighted and unweighted graphs in the regimes of stretch < 2 and stretch ≥ 2. In addition, we demonstrate several applications of our new distance oracles to the n-Pairs Shortest Paths (n-PSP) problem and the All Nodes Shortest Cycles (ANSC) problem. Our main contributions are: - Weighted graphs: We present a new three-way trade-off between stretch, space, and query time, offering a natural extension of the classical Thorup–Zwick distance oracle [STOC’01 and JACM’05] to regimes with larger query time. Specifically, for any 0 < r < 1/2 and integer k ≥ 1, we construct a (2k(1 - 2r) - 1)-stretch distance oracle with Õ(m + n^{1 + 1/k}) space and Õ(μ n^r) query time. This construction provides an asymptotic improvement over the classical (2k - 1)-stretch and O(n^{1 + 1/k})-space tradeoff of Thorup and Zwick in sparse graphs, at the cost of increased query time. We also improve upon a result of Dalirrooyfard et al. [FOCS’22], who presented a (2k - 2)-stretch distance oracle with O(m + n^{1 + 1/k}) space and O(μ n^{1/k}) query time. In our oracle we reduce the stretch from (2k - 2) to (2k - 5) while preserving the same space and query time. - Unweighted graphs: We present a (2k - 5, 4 + 2_{odd})-approximation distance oracle with O(n^{1 + 1/k}) space and O(n^{1/k}) query time. This improves upon a (2k - 2, 2_{odd})-approximation distance oracle of Dalirrooyfard et al. [FOCS’22] while maintaining the same space and query time. We also present a distance oracle that given u,v ∈ V returns an estimate d̂(u,v) ≤ d(u,v) + 2⌈ d(u,v) / 3 ⌉ + 2, using O(n^{4/3 + 2ε}) space and O(n^{1 - 3ε}) query time. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first distance oracle that simultaneously achieves a multiplicative stretch < 2, and a space complexity O(n^{1.5 - α}), for some α > 0. - Applications for n-PSP and ANSC: We present an Õ(m^{1 - 1/(k+1)} n)-time algorithm for the n-PSP problem, that for every input pair ⟨s_i,t_i⟩, where i ∈ [n], returns an estimate d̂(s_i, t_i) such that d̂(s_i,t_i) ≤ d(s_i,t_i) + 2⌈d(s_i,t_i)/2k⌉. By allowing a small additive error, this result circumvents the conditional running time lower bound of Ω(m^{2 - 2/(k+1)} ⋅ n^{1/(k+1) - o(1)}), established by Dalirrooyfard et al. [FOCS’22] for achieving (1 + 1/k)-stretch. Additionally, we present an Õ(mn^{1 - 1/k})-time algorithm for the ANSC problem that computes, for every u ∈ V, an estimate ĉ_u such that ĉ_u ≤ SC(u) + 2⌈SC(u)/2(k - 1)⌉, where SC(u) denotes the length of the shortest cycle containing u. This improves upon the Õ(m^{2 - 2/k}n^{1/k})-time algorithm of Dalirrooyfard et al. [FOCS'22], while achieving the same approximation guarantee. We obtain our results by developing several new techniques, among them are the borderline vertices technique and the middle vertex technique, which may be of independent interest.

Cite as

Avi Kadria and Liam Roditty. New Approximate Distance Oracles and Their Applications. In 36th International Symposium on Algorithms and Computation (ISAAC 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 359, pp. 43:1-43:17, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

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@InProceedings{kadria_et_al:LIPIcs.ISAAC.2025.43,
  author =	{Kadria, Avi and Roditty, Liam},
  title =	{{New Approximate Distance Oracles and Their Applications}},
  booktitle =	{36th International Symposium on Algorithms and Computation (ISAAC 2025)},
  pages =	{43:1--43:17},
  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.2025.43},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-249514},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ISAAC.2025.43},
  annote =	{Keywords: Distance oracles, Fine-grained algorithms, Graph algorithms, Data structures}
}

Document

DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.ISAAC.2025.23

Precoloring Extension with Demands on Paths

Authors: Arun Kumar Das, Michal Opler, and Tomáš Valla

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

Abstract

Let G be a graph with a set of precolored vertices, and let us be given an integer distance parameter d and a set of integer demands d₁,… ,d_c. The Distance Precoloring Extension with Demands (DPED) problem is to compute a vertex c-coloring of G such that the following three conditions hold: (i) the resulting coloring respects the colors of the precolored vertices, (ii) the distance of two vertices of the same color is at least d, and (iii) the number of vertices colored by color i is exactly d_i. This problem is motivated by a program scheduling in commercial broadcast channels with constraints on content repetition and placement, which leads precisely to the DPED problem for paths. In this paper, we study DPED on paths and present a polynomial time exact algorithm when precolored vertices are restricted to the two ends of the path and devise an approximation algorithm for DPED with an additive approximation factor polynomially bounded by d and the number of precolored vertices. Then, we prove that the Distance Precoloring Extension problem on paths, a less restrictive version of DPED without the demand constraints, and then DPED itself, is NP-complete. Motivated by this result, we further study the parameterized complexity of DPED on paths. We establish that the DPED problem on paths is W[1]-hard when parameterized by the number of colors and the distance. On the positive side, we devise a fixed parameter tractable (FPT) algorithm for DPED on paths when the number of colors, the distance, and the number of precolored vertices are considered as the parameters. Moreover, we prove that Distance Precoloring Extension is FPT parameterized by the distance. As a byproduct, we also obtain several results for the Distance List Coloring problem on paths.

Cite as

Arun Kumar Das, Michal Opler, and Tomáš Valla. Precoloring Extension with Demands on Paths. In 36th International Symposium on Algorithms and Computation (ISAAC 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 359, pp. 23:1-23:15, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

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@InProceedings{das_et_al:LIPIcs.ISAAC.2025.23,
  author =	{Das, Arun Kumar and Opler, Michal and Valla, Tom\'{a}\v{s}},
  title =	{{Precoloring Extension with Demands on Paths}},
  booktitle =	{36th International Symposium on Algorithms and Computation (ISAAC 2025)},
  pages =	{23:1--23:15},
  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.2025.23},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-249319},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ISAAC.2025.23},
  annote =	{Keywords: precoloring extension, distance coloring, FPT, approximation algorithms}
}

Document

DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.DISC.2025.40

On the Randomized Locality of Matching Problems in Regular Graphs

Authors: Seri Khoury, Manish Purohit, Aaron Schild, and Joshua R. Wang

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

Abstract

The main goal in distributed symmetry-breaking is to understand the locality of problems: the radius of the neighborhood that a node must explore to determine its part of a global solution. In this work, we study the locality of matching problems in the family of regular graphs, which is one of the main benchmarks for establishing lower bounds on the locality of symmetry-breaking problems, as well as for obtaining classification results. Our main results are summarized as follows: 1) Approximate matching: We develop randomized algorithms to show that (1 + ε)-approximate matching in regular graphs is truly local, i.e., the locality depends only on ε and is independent of all other graph parameters. Furthermore, as long as the degree Δ is not very small (namely, as long as Δ ≥ poly(1/ε)), this dependence is only logarithmic in 1/ε. This stands in sharp contrast to maximal matching in regular graphs which requires some dependence on the number of nodes n or the degree Δ. 2) Maximal matching: Our techniques further allow us to establish a strong separation between the node-averaged complexity and worst-case complexity of maximal matching in regular graphs, by showing that the former is only O(1). Central to our main technical contribution is a novel martingale-based analysis for the ≈ 40-year-old algorithm by Luby. In particular, our analysis shows that applying one round of Luby’s algorithm on the line graph of a Δ-regular graph results in an almost Δ/2-regular graph.

Cite as

Seri Khoury, Manish Purohit, Aaron Schild, and Joshua R. Wang. On the Randomized Locality of Matching Problems in Regular Graphs. In 39th International Symposium on Distributed Computing (DISC 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 356, pp. 40:1-40:20, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

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@InProceedings{khoury_et_al:LIPIcs.DISC.2025.40,
  author =	{Khoury, Seri and Purohit, Manish and Schild, Aaron and Wang, Joshua R.},
  title =	{{On the Randomized Locality of Matching Problems in Regular Graphs}},
  booktitle =	{39th International Symposium on Distributed Computing (DISC 2025)},
  pages =	{40:1--40:20},
  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.2025.40},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-248570},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.DISC.2025.40},
  annote =	{Keywords: regular graphs, maximum matching, augmenting paths, distributed algorithms, Luby’s algorithm, martingales}
}

Document

DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.DISC.2025.37

Towards Optimal Distributed Edge Coloring with Fewer Colors

Authors: Manuel Jakob, Yannic Maus, and Florian Schager

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

Abstract

There is a huge difference in techniques and runtimes of distributed algorithms for problems that can be solved by a sequential greedy algorithm and those that cannot. A prime example of this contrast appears in the edge coloring problem: while (2Δ-1)-edge coloring - where Δ is the maximum degree - can be solved in 𝒪(log^{∗}(n)) rounds on constant-degree graphs, the seemingly minor reduction to (2Δ-2) colors leads to an Ω(log n) lower bound [Chang, He, Li, Pettie & Uitto, SODA'18]. Understanding this sharp divide between very local problems and inherently more global ones remains a central open question in distributed computing and it is a core focus of this paper. As our main contribution we design a deterministic distributed 𝒪(log n)-round reduction from the (2Δ-2)-edge coloring problem to the much easier (2Δ-1)-edge coloring problem. This reduction is optimal, as the (2Δ-2)-edge coloring problem admits an Ω(log n) lower bound that even holds on the class of constant-degree graphs, whereas the 2Δ-1-edge coloring problem can be solved in 𝒪(log^{∗}n) rounds. By plugging in the (2Δ-1)-edge coloring algorithms from [Balliu, Brandt, Kuhn & Olivetti, PODC'22] running in 𝒪(log^{12}Δ + log^{∗} n) rounds, we obtain an optimal runtime of 𝒪(log n) rounds as long as Δ = 2^{𝒪(log^{1/12} n)}. Previously, such an optimal algorithm was only known for the class of constant-degree graphs [Brandt, Maus, Narayanan, Schager & Uitto, SODA'25]. Furthermore, on general graphs our reduction improves the runtime from 𝒪̃(log³ n) to 𝒪̃(log^{5/3} n). In addition, we also obtain an optimal 𝒪(log log n)-round randomized reduction of (2Δ - 2)-edge coloring to (2Δ - 1)-edge coloring. This leads to a 𝒪̃(log^{5/3} log n)-round (2Δ-2)-edge coloring algorithm, which beats the (very recent) previous state-of-the-art taking 𝒪̃(log^{8/3}log n) rounds from [Bourreau, Brandt & Nolin, STOC'25]. Lastly, we obtain an 𝒪(log_Δ n)-round reduction from the (2Δ-1)-edge coloring, albeit to the somewhat harder maximal independent set (MIS) problem.

Cite as

Manuel Jakob, Yannic Maus, and Florian Schager. Towards Optimal Distributed Edge Coloring with Fewer Colors. In 39th International Symposium on Distributed Computing (DISC 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 356, pp. 37:1-37:26, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

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@InProceedings{jakob_et_al:LIPIcs.DISC.2025.37,
  author =	{Jakob, Manuel and Maus, Yannic and Schager, Florian},
  title =	{{Towards Optimal Distributed Edge Coloring with Fewer Colors}},
  booktitle =	{39th International Symposium on Distributed Computing (DISC 2025)},
  pages =	{37:1--37:26},
  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.2025.37},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-248547},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.DISC.2025.37},
  annote =	{Keywords: distributed graph algorithms, edge coloring, LOCAL model}
}

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