10 Search Results for "Függer, Matthias"

Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.DISC.2025.32
Coordination Through Stochastic Channels

Authors: Pierre Fraigniaud, Boaz Patt-Shamir, and Sergio Rajsbaum

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

Abstract
We consider a stochastic network model consisting of a set of n synchronous processes communicating by message passing. In each round, processes send messages directly to each other over a complete communication graph. The processes do not fail, but messages can be lost. Each message is delivered with probability p, for a given parameter p ∈ [0,1]. We study the following optimization version of approximate agreement in this model. We assume that processes start with binary input values, execute an algorithm for a fixed number of rounds, and decide values in [0,1] satisfying the usual validity requirement stating that if all processes start with the same input value, then they should all decide that value. We propose deterministic algorithms that minimize the expected discrepancy, namely, the expected maximum distance between the decided values. We also present lower bounds on the expected discrepancy, which demonstrate the optimality of our algorithms for two processes. Finally, we present applications of our algorithms to solve randomized consensus and randomized approximate agreement.
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Pierre Fraigniaud, Boaz Patt-Shamir, and Sergio Rajsbaum. Coordination Through Stochastic Channels. In 39th International Symposium on Distributed Computing (DISC 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 356, pp. 32:1-32:19, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

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@InProceedings{fraigniaud_et_al:LIPIcs.DISC.2025.32,
  author =	{Fraigniaud, Pierre and Patt-Shamir, Boaz and Rajsbaum, Sergio},
  title =	{{Coordination Through Stochastic Channels}},
  booktitle =	{39th International Symposium on Distributed Computing (DISC 2025)},
  pages =	{32:1--32:19},
  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.2025.32},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-248493},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.DISC.2025.32},
  annote =	{Keywords: Approximate agreement, randomized consensus, stochastic models, topology}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.DISC.2025.27
On the h-Majority Dynamics with Many Opinions

Authors: Francesco d'Amore, Niccolò D'Archivio, George Giakkoupis, and Emanuele Natale

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

Abstract
We present the first upper bound on the convergence time to consensus of the well-known h-majority dynamics with k opinions, in the synchronous setting, for h and k that are both non-constant values. We suppose that, at the beginning of the process, there is some initial additive bias towards some plurality opinion, that is, there is an opinion that is supported by x nodes while any other opinion is supported by strictly fewer nodes. We prove that, with high probability, if the bias is ω(√x) and the initial plurality opinion is supported by at least x = ω(log n) nodes, then the process converges to plurality consensus in O(log n) rounds whenever h = ω(n log n / x). A main corollary is the following: if k = o(n / log n) and the process starts from an almost-balanced configuration with an initial bias of magnitude ω(√{n/k}) towards the initial plurality opinion, then any function h = ω(k log n) suffices to guarantee convergence to consensus in O(log n) rounds, with high probability. Our upper bound shows that the lower bound of Ω(k / h²) rounds to reach consensus given by Becchetti et al. (2017) cannot be pushed further than Ω̃(k / h). Moreover, the bias we require is asymptotically smaller than the Ω(√{nlog n}) bias that guarantees plurality consensus in the 3-majority dynamics: in our case, the required bias is at most any (arbitrarily small) function in ω(√x) for any value of k ≥ 2.
Cite as

Francesco d'Amore, Niccolò D'Archivio, George Giakkoupis, and Emanuele Natale. On the h-Majority Dynamics with Many Opinions. In 39th International Symposium on Distributed Computing (DISC 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 356, pp. 27:1-27:24, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

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@InProceedings{damore_et_al:LIPIcs.DISC.2025.27,
  author =	{d'Amore, Francesco and D'Archivio, Niccol\`{o} and Giakkoupis, George and Natale, Emanuele},
  title =	{{On the h-Majority Dynamics with Many Opinions}},
  booktitle =	{39th International Symposium on Distributed Computing (DISC 2025)},
  pages =	{27:1--27:24},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-402-4},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{356},
  editor =	{Kowalski, Dariusz R.},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.DISC.2025.27},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-248448},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.DISC.2025.27},
  annote =	{Keywords: Distributed Algorithms, Randomized Algorithms, Markov Chains, Consensus Problem, Opinion dynamics, Plurality Consensus}
}
Document
Track A: Algorithms, Complexity and Games
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.ICALP.2025.115
On the Complexity of Hazard-Free Formulas

Authors: Leah London Arazi and Amir Shpilka

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

Abstract
This paper studies the hazard-free formula complexity of Boolean functions. Our first result shows that unate functions are the only Boolean functions for which the monotone formula complexity of the hazard-derivative equals the hazard-free formula complexity of the function itself. Consequently, they are the only functions for which the hazard-derivative approach of Ikenmeyer et al. (J. ACM, 2019) yields optimal bounds. Our second result proves that the hazard-free formula complexity of a uniformly random Boolean function is at most 2^{(1+o(1))n}. Prior to this, no better upper bound than O(3ⁿ) was known. Notably, unlike in the general case of Boolean circuits and formulas, where the typical complexity is derived from that of the multiplexer function with n-bit selector, the hazard-free formula complexity of a random function is smaller than the optimal hazard-free formula for the multiplexer by an exponential factor in n. We provide two proofs of this fact. The first is direct, bounding the number of prime implicants of a random Boolean function and using this bound to construct a DNF of the claimed size. The second introduces a new and independently interesting result: a weak converse to the hazard-derivative lower bound method, which gives an upper bound on the hazard-free complexity of a function in terms of the monotone complexity of a subset of its hazard-derivatives. Additionally, we explore the hazard-free formula complexity of block composition of Boolean functions and obtain a result in the hazard-free setting that is analogous to a result of Karchmer, Raz, and Wigderson (Computational Complexity, 1995) in the monotone setting. We show that our result implies a stronger lower bound on the hazard-free formula depth of the block composition of the set covering function with the multiplexer function than the bound obtained via the hazard-derivative method.
Cite as

Leah London Arazi and Amir Shpilka. On the Complexity of Hazard-Free Formulas. In 52nd International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming (ICALP 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 334, pp. 115:1-115:19, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

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@InProceedings{londonarazi_et_al:LIPIcs.ICALP.2025.115,
  author =	{London Arazi, Leah and Shpilka, Amir},
  title =	{{On the Complexity of Hazard-Free Formulas}},
  booktitle =	{52nd International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming (ICALP 2025)},
  pages =	{115:1--115:19},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-372-0},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{334},
  editor =	{Censor-Hillel, Keren and Grandoni, Fabrizio and Ouaknine, Jo\"{e}l and Puppis, Gabriele},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.ICALP.2025.115},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-234920},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ICALP.2025.115},
  annote =	{Keywords: Hazard-free computation, Boolean formulas, monotone formulas, Karchmer-Wigderson games, communication complexity, lower bounds}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.OPODIS.2024.18
Stabilizing Consensus Is Impossible in Lossy Iterated Immediate Snapshot Models

Authors: Stephan Felber and Hugo Rincon Galeana

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

Abstract
A substantial portion of distributed computing research is dedicated to terminating problems like consensus and similar agreement problems. However, non-terminating problems have been intensively studied in the context of self-stabilizing distributed algorithms, where processes may start from arbitrary initial states and can tolerate arbitrary transient faults. In between lie stabilizing problems, where the processes start from a well-defined initial state, but do not need to decide irrevocably and are allowed to change their decision finitely often until a stable decision is eventually reached. Stabilizing consensus has been studied within the context of synchronous message adversaries. In particular, Charron-Bost and Moran showed that a necessary condition for stabilizing consensus is the existence of at least one process that reaches all others infinitely often (a perpetual broadcaster). However, it was left open whether this is also a sufficient condition for solving stabilizing consensus. In this paper, we introduce the novel Delayed Lossy-Link (DLL) model, and the Lossy Iterated Immediate Snapshot Model (LIIS), for which we show stabilizing consensus to be impossible. The DLL model is introduced as a variant of the well-known Lossy-Link model, which admits silence periods of arbitrary but finite length. The LIIS model is a variant of the Iterated Immediate Snapshot (IIS), model which admits finite length periods of at most f omission faults per layer. In particular, we show that stabilizing consensus is impossible even when f = 1. Our results show that even in a model with very strong connectivity, namely, the Iterated Immediate Snapshot (IIS) model, a single omission fault per layer effectively disables stabilizing consensus. Furthermore, since the DLL model always has a perpetual broadcaster, the mere existence of a perpetual broadcaster, even in a crash-free setting, is not sufficient for solving stabilizing consensus, negatively answering the open question posed by Charron-Bost and Moran.
Cite as

Stephan Felber and Hugo Rincon Galeana. Stabilizing Consensus Is Impossible in Lossy Iterated Immediate Snapshot Models. In 28th International Conference on Principles of Distributed Systems (OPODIS 2024). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 324, pp. 18:1-18:16, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2024)

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@InProceedings{felber_et_al:LIPIcs.OPODIS.2024.18,
  author =	{Felber, Stephan and Rincon Galeana, Hugo},
  title =	{{Stabilizing Consensus Is Impossible in Lossy Iterated Immediate Snapshot Models}},
  booktitle =	{28th International Conference on Principles of Distributed Systems (OPODIS 2024)},
  pages =	{18:1--18:16},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-360-7},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{324},
  editor =	{Bonomi, Silvia and Galletta, Letterio and Rivi\`{e}re, Etienne and Schiavoni, Valerio},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.OPODIS.2024.18},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-225544},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.OPODIS.2024.18},
  annote =	{Keywords: distributed systems, dynamic networks, dynamic graphs, message adversaries, stabilizing consensus, asynchronous message passing}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.OPODIS.2024.32
Distributed Agreement in the Arrovian Framework

Authors: Kenan Wood, Hammurabi Mendes, and Jonad Pulaj

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

Abstract
Preference aggregation is a fundamental problem in voting theory, in which public input rankings of a set of alternatives (called preferences) must be aggregated into a single preference that satisfies certain soundness properties. The celebrated Arrow Impossibility Theorem is equivalent to a distributed task in a synchronous fault-free system that satisfies properties such as respecting unanimous preferences, maintaining independence of irrelevant alternatives (IIA), and non-dictatorship, along with consensus since only one preference can be decided. In this work, we study a weaker distributed task in which crash faults are introduced, IIA is not required, and the consensus property is relaxed to either k-set agreement or ε-approximate agreement using any metric on the set of preferences. In particular, we prove several novel impossibility results for both of these tasks in both synchronous and asynchronous distributed systems. We additionally show that the impossibility for our ε-approximate agreement task using the Kendall tau or Spearman footrule metrics holds under extremely weak assumptions.
Cite as

Kenan Wood, Hammurabi Mendes, and Jonad Pulaj. Distributed Agreement in the Arrovian Framework. In 28th International Conference on Principles of Distributed Systems (OPODIS 2024). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 324, pp. 32:1-32:18, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2024)

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@InProceedings{wood_et_al:LIPIcs.OPODIS.2024.32,
  author =	{Wood, Kenan and Mendes, Hammurabi and Pulaj, Jonad},
  title =	{{Distributed Agreement in the Arrovian Framework}},
  booktitle =	{28th International Conference on Principles of Distributed Systems (OPODIS 2024)},
  pages =	{32:1--32:18},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-360-7},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{324},
  editor =	{Bonomi, Silvia and Galletta, Letterio and Rivi\`{e}re, Etienne and Schiavoni, Valerio},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.OPODIS.2024.32},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-225686},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.OPODIS.2024.32},
  annote =	{Keywords: Approximate Agreement, Set Agreement, Preference Aggregation, Voting Theory, Impossibility}
}
Document
Invited Talk
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.SAND.2024.2
Distributed Computation with Bacteria (Invited Talk)

Authors: Thomas Nowak

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 292, 3rd Symposium on Algorithmic Foundations of Dynamic Networks (SAND 2024)

Abstract
Computing via synthetically engineered bacteria is a vibrant and active field with numerous applications in bio-production, bio-sensing, and medicine. Motivated by the lack of robustness and by resource limitation inside single cells, distributed approaches with communication among bacteria have recently gained in interest. In this talk, we describe the most important distributed approaches to synthetic biology with bacteria and discuss the crucial task of mathematical modeling of these systems. A particular problem is that of population growth happening concurrently, and possibly interfering, with the desired bio-computation. Specifically, we present a fast protocol in systems with continuous population growth for the majority consensus problem and prove that it correctly identifies the initial majority among two inputs with high probability. We also present a fast protocol that correctly computes the NAND of two inputs with high probability. By combining NAND gates with the majority consensus protocol as an amplifier, it is possible to compute arbitrary Boolean functions. The proposed protocols help set the stage for bio-engineered distributed computation that directly addresses continuous stochastic population growth. Own work presented in this talk is mostly based on joint work with Da-Jung Cho, Matthias Függer, Corbin Hopper, Manish Kushwaha, and Quentin Soubeyran.
Cite as

Thomas Nowak. Distributed Computation with Bacteria (Invited Talk). In 3rd Symposium on Algorithmic Foundations of Dynamic Networks (SAND 2024). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 292, p. 2:1, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2024)

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@InProceedings{nowak:LIPIcs.SAND.2024.2,
  author =	{Nowak, Thomas},
  title =	{{Distributed Computation with Bacteria}},
  booktitle =	{3rd Symposium on Algorithmic Foundations of Dynamic Networks (SAND 2024)},
  pages =	{2:1--2:1},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-315-7},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2024},
  volume =	{292},
  editor =	{Casteigts, Arnaud and Kuhn, Fabian},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.SAND.2024.2},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-198807},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.SAND.2024.2},
  annote =	{Keywords: Microbiological circuits, chemical reaction networks, birth-death processes}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.DISC.2020.7
Distributed Computation with Continual Population Growth

Authors: Da-Jung Cho, Matthias Függer, Corbin Hopper, Manish Kushwaha, Thomas Nowak, and Quentin Soubeyran

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 179, 34th International Symposium on Distributed Computing (DISC 2020)

Abstract
Computing with synthetically engineered bacteria is a vibrant and active field with numerous applications in bio-production, bio-sensing, and medicine. Motivated by the lack of robustness and by resource limitation inside single cells, distributed approaches with communication among bacteria have recently gained in interest. In this paper, we focus on the problem of population growth happening concurrently, and possibly interfering, with the desired bio-computation. Specifically, we present a fast protocol in systems with continuous population growth for the majority consensus problem and prove that it correctly identifies the initial majority among two inputs with high probability if the initial difference is Ω(√{nlog n}) where n is the total initial population. We also present a fast protocol that correctly computes the NAND of two inputs with high probability. We demonstrate that combining the NAND gate protocol with the continuous-growth majority consensus protocol, using the latter as an amplifier, it is possible to implement circuits computing arbitrary Boolean functions.
Cite as

Da-Jung Cho, Matthias Függer, Corbin Hopper, Manish Kushwaha, Thomas Nowak, and Quentin Soubeyran. Distributed Computation with Continual Population Growth. In 34th International Symposium on Distributed Computing (DISC 2020). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 179, pp. 7:1-7:17, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2020)

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@InProceedings{cho_et_al:LIPIcs.DISC.2020.7,
  author =	{Cho, Da-Jung and F\"{u}gger, Matthias and Hopper, Corbin and Kushwaha, Manish and Nowak, Thomas and Soubeyran, Quentin},
  title =	{{Distributed Computation with Continual Population Growth}},
  booktitle =	{34th International Symposium on Distributed Computing (DISC 2020)},
  pages =	{7:1--7:17},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-168-9},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2020},
  volume =	{179},
  editor =	{Attiya, Hagit},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.DISC.2020.7},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-130856},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.DISC.2020.7},
  annote =	{Keywords: microbiological circuits, majority consensus, birth-death processes}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.DISC.2018.27
Fast Multidimensional Asymptotic and Approximate Consensus

Authors: Matthias Függer and Thomas Nowak

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 121, 32nd International Symposium on Distributed Computing (DISC 2018)

Abstract
We study the problems of asymptotic and approximate consensus in which agents have to get their values arbitrarily close to each others' inside the convex hull of initial values, either without or with an explicit decision by the agents. In particular, we are concerned with the case of multidimensional data, i.e., the agents' values are d-dimensional vectors. We introduce two new algorithms for dynamic networks, subsuming classical failure models like asynchronous message passing systems with Byzantine agents. The algorithms are the first to have a contraction rate and time complexity independent of the dimension d. In particular, we improve the time complexity from the previously fastest approximate consensus algorithm in asynchronous message passing systems with Byzantine faults by Mendes et al. [Distrib. Comput. 28] from Omega(d log (d Delta)/epsilon) to O(log Delta/epsilon), where Delta is the initial and epsilon is the terminal diameter of the set of vectors of correct agents.
Cite as

Matthias Függer and Thomas Nowak. Fast Multidimensional Asymptotic and Approximate Consensus. In 32nd International Symposium on Distributed Computing (DISC 2018). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 121, pp. 27:1-27:16, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2018)

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@InProceedings{fugger_et_al:LIPIcs.DISC.2018.27,
  author =	{F\"{u}gger, Matthias and Nowak, Thomas},
  title =	{{Fast Multidimensional Asymptotic and Approximate Consensus}},
  booktitle =	{32nd International Symposium on Distributed Computing (DISC 2018)},
  pages =	{27:1--27:16},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-092-7},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2018},
  volume =	{121},
  editor =	{Schmid, Ulrich and Widder, Josef},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.DISC.2018.27},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-98167},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.DISC.2018.27},
  annote =	{Keywords: asymptotic consensus, approximate consensus, multidimensional data, dynamic networks, Byzantine processes}
}
Document
Brief Announcement
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.DISC.2017.51
Brief Announcement: Lower Bounds for Asymptotic Consensus in Dynamic Networks

Authors: Matthias Függer, Thomas Nowak, and Manfred Schwarz

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 91, 31st International Symposium on Distributed Computing (DISC 2017)

Abstract
In this work we study the performance of asymptotic and approximate consensus algorithms in dynamic networks. The asymptotic consensus problem requires a set of agents to repeatedly set their outputs such that the outputs converge to a common value within the convex hull of initial values. This problem, and the related approximate consensus problem, are fundamental building blocks in distributed systems where exact consensus among agents is not required, e.g., man-made distributed control systems, and have applications in the analysis of natural distributed systems, such as flocking and opinion dynamics. We prove new nontrivial lower bounds on the contraction rates of asymptotic consensus algorithms, from which we deduce lower bounds on the time complexity of approximate consensus algorithms. In particular, the obtained bounds show optimality of asymptotic and approximate consensus algorithms presented in [Charron-Bost et al., ICALP'16] for certain classes of networks that include classical failure assumptions, and confine the search for optimal bounds in the general case. Central to our lower bound proofs is an extended notion of valency, the set of reachable limits of an asymptotic consensus algorithm starting from a given configuration. We further relate topological properties of valencies to the solvability of exact consensus, shedding some light on the relation of these three fundamental problems in dynamic networks.
Cite as

Matthias Függer, Thomas Nowak, and Manfred Schwarz. Brief Announcement: Lower Bounds for Asymptotic Consensus in Dynamic Networks. In 31st International Symposium on Distributed Computing (DISC 2017). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 91, pp. 51:1-51:3, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2017)

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@InProceedings{fugger_et_al:LIPIcs.DISC.2017.51,
  author =	{F\"{u}gger, Matthias and Nowak, Thomas and Schwarz, Manfred},
  title =	{{Brief Announcement: Lower Bounds for Asymptotic Consensus in Dynamic Networks}},
  booktitle =	{31st International Symposium on Distributed Computing (DISC 2017)},
  pages =	{51:1--51:3},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-053-8},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2017},
  volume =	{91},
  editor =	{Richa, Andr\'{e}a},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.DISC.2017.51},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-79921},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.DISC.2017.51},
  annote =	{Keywords: Asymptotic Consensus, Dynamic Networks, Contraction Rate, Time Commplexity, Lower Bounds}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.ICALP.2016.137
Fast, Robust, Quantizable Approximate Consensus

Authors: Bernadette Charron-Bost, Matthias Függer, and Thomas Nowak

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 55, 43rd International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming (ICALP 2016)

Abstract
We introduce a new class of distributed algorithms for the approximate consensus problem in dynamic rooted networks, which we call amortized averaging algorithms. They are deduced from ordinary averaging algorithms by adding a value-gathering phase before each value update. This results in a drastic drop in decision times, from being exponential in the number n of processes to being polynomial under the assumption that each process knows n. In particular, the amortized midpoint algorithm is the first algorithm that achieves a linear decision time in dynamic rooted networks with an optimal contraction rate of 1/2 at each update step. We then show robustness of the amortized midpoint algorithm under violation of network assumptions: it gracefully degrades if communication graphs from time to time are non rooted, or under a wrong estimate of the number of processes. Finally, we prove that the amortized midpoint algorithm behaves well if processes can store and send only quantized values, rendering it well-suited for the design of dynamic networked systems. As a corollary we obtain that the 2-set consensus problem is solvable in linear time in any dynamic rooted network model.
Cite as

Bernadette Charron-Bost, Matthias Függer, and Thomas Nowak. Fast, Robust, Quantizable Approximate Consensus. In 43rd International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming (ICALP 2016). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 55, pp. 137:1-137:14, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2016)

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@InProceedings{charronbost_et_al:LIPIcs.ICALP.2016.137,
  author =	{Charron-Bost, Bernadette and F\"{u}gger, Matthias and Nowak, Thomas},
  title =	{{Fast, Robust, Quantizable Approximate Consensus}},
  booktitle =	{43rd International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming (ICALP 2016)},
  pages =	{137:1--137:14},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-013-2},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2016},
  volume =	{55},
  editor =	{Chatzigiannakis, Ioannis and Mitzenmacher, Michael and Rabani, Yuval and Sangiorgi, Davide},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.ICALP.2016.137},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-62812},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ICALP.2016.137},
  annote =	{Keywords: approximate consensus, dynamic networks, averaging algorithms}
}
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