72 Search Results for "Goldberg, Leslie Ann"


Document
Modular Counting over 3-Element and Conservative Domains

Authors: Andrei A. Bulatov and Amirhossein Kazeminia

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


Abstract
In the Constraint Satisfaction Problem (CSP for short) the goal is to decide the existence of a homomorphism from a given relational structure {G} to a given relational structure {H}. If the structure {H} is fixed and {G} is the only input, the problem is denoted CSP({H}). In its counting version, #CSP({H}), the task is to find the number of such homomorphisms. The CSP and #CSP have been used to model a wide variety of combinatorial problems and have received a tremendous amount of attention from researchers from multiple disciplines. In this paper we consider the modular version of the counting CSPs, that is, problems of the form #_pCSP({H}) of counting the number of homomorphisms to {H} modulo a fixed prime number p. Modular counting has been intensively studied during the last decade, although mainly in the case of graph homomorphisms. Here we continue the program of systematic research of modular counting of homomorphisms to general relational structures. The main results of the paper include a new way of reducing modular counting problems to smaller domains and a study of the complexity of such problems over 3-element domains and over conservative domains, that is, relational structures that allow to express (in a certain exact way) every possible unary predicate.

Cite as

Andrei A. Bulatov and Amirhossein Kazeminia. Modular Counting over 3-Element and Conservative Domains. In 43rd International Symposium on Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science (STACS 2026). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 364, pp. 22:1-22:20, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)


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@InProceedings{bulatov_et_al:LIPIcs.STACS.2026.22,
  author =	{Bulatov, Andrei A. and Kazeminia, Amirhossein},
  title =	{{Modular Counting over 3-Element and Conservative Domains}},
  booktitle =	{43rd International Symposium on Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science (STACS 2026)},
  pages =	{22:1--22:20},
  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.2026.22},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-255114},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.STACS.2026.22},
  annote =	{Keywords: Constraint Satisfaction Problem, Modular Counting}
}
Document
Time-Optimal Construction of String Synchronizing Sets

Authors: Jonas Ellert and Tomasz Kociumaka

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


Abstract
A powerful design principle behind many modern string algorithms is local consistency: breaking the symmetry between string positions based on their small contexts so that matching fragments are handled consistently. Among the most influential instantiations of this principle are string synchronizing sets [Kempa & Kociumaka; STOC 2019]. A τ-synchronizing set of a string of length n is a set of O(n/τ) string positions, chosen using their length-2τ contexts, such that (outside of highly periodic regions) every block of τ consecutive positions contains at least one element of the set. Synchronizing sets have found dozens of applications in diverse settings, from quantum and dynamic algorithms to fully compressed computation. In the classic word RAM model, particularly for strings over small alphabets, they enabled faster solutions to core problems in data compression, text indexing, and string similarity. In this work, we show that any string T ∈ [0 .. σ)ⁿ can be preprocessed in O(n log σ / log n) time so that, for any given integer τ ∈ [1 .. n], a τ-synchronizing set of T can be constructed in O((n log τ)/(τ log n)) time. Both bounds are optimal in the word RAM model with machine word size w = Θ(log n), matching the information-theoretic minimum for the input and output sizes, respectively. Previously, constructing a τ-synchronizing set required O(n/τ) time after an O(n)-time preprocessing [Kociumaka, Radoszewski, Rytter, and Waleń; SICOMP 2024], or, in the restricted regime of τ < 0.2 log_σ n, without any preprocessing needed [Kempa & Kociumaka; STOC 2019]. A simple instantiation of our method outputs the synchronizing set as a sorted list in O(n/τ) time, or as a bitmask in O(n/log n) time. Our optimal construction produces a compact fully indexable dictionary, supporting select queries in O(1) time and rank queries in O(log ((log τ)/(log log n))) time. The latter complexity matches known unconditional cell-probe lower bounds for τ ≤ n^{1-Ω(1)}. To achieve this, we introduce a general framework for efficiently processing sparse integer sequences via a custom variable-length encoding. We also augment the optimal variant of van Emde Boas trees [Pătraşcu & Thorup; STOC 2006] with a deterministic linear-time construction. When the set is represented as a bitmask under our sparse encoding, the same guarantees for select and rank queries hold after preprocessing in time proportional to the size of our encoding (in words).

Cite as

Jonas Ellert and Tomasz Kociumaka. Time-Optimal Construction of String Synchronizing Sets. In 43rd International Symposium on Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science (STACS 2026). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 364, pp. 36:1-36:22, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)


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@InProceedings{ellert_et_al:LIPIcs.STACS.2026.36,
  author =	{Ellert, Jonas and Kociumaka, Tomasz},
  title =	{{Time-Optimal Construction of String Synchronizing Sets}},
  booktitle =	{43rd International Symposium on Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science (STACS 2026)},
  pages =	{36:1--36:22},
  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.2026.36},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-255258},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.STACS.2026.36},
  annote =	{Keywords: synchronizing sets, local consistency, packed strings}
}
Document
Planting and MCMC Sampling from the Potts Model

Authors: Andreas Galanis, Leslie Ann Goldberg, and Paulina Smolarova

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


Abstract
We consider the problem of sampling from the ferromagnetic q-state Potts model on the random d-regular graph with parameter β > 0. A key difficulty that arises in sampling from the model is the existence of a "metastability" window β ∈ (β_u,β_u'), where roughly the distribution has two competing modes, the so-called disordered and ordered phases. This causes classical Markov-chain algorithms to be slow mixing from worst-case initialisations. Nevertheless, Helmuth, Jenssen and Perkins (SODA '19) designed a sampling algorithm that works for all β, when d ≥ 5 and q = d^{Ω(d)}, using polymers and cluster expansion methods; more recently, their analysis technique has been adapted to show that a Markov chain (random-cluster dynamics) mixes fast when initialised appropriately, in the same regime of q,d,β. Despite these positive algorithmic results, a well-known bottleneck behind cluster-expansion arguments is that they inherently only work for large q, whereas it is widely conjectured that sampling on the random d-regular graph is possible for all q,d ≥ 3. The only result so far that applies to general q,d ≥ 3 is by Blanca and Gheissari who showed that the random-cluster dynamics mixes fast in the "uniqueness" regime β < β_u where roughly only the disordered mode exists. For β ≥ β_u however, a second subdominant mode emerges creating bottlenecks and giving rise to correlations which have been hard to handle, especially for small values of q and d. Our main contribution is to perform a delicate analysis of the Potts distribution and the random-cluster dynamics that goes beyond the threshold β_u. We use planting as the main tool, a technique used in the analysis of random CSPs to capture how the space of solutions is correlated with the structure of the random instance. While planting arguments provide only weak sampling guarantees generically, here we instead combine planting with the analysis of random-cluster dynamics to obtain significantly stronger guarantees. We are thus able to show that the random-cluster dynamics initialised from all-out mixes fast for all integers q,d ≥ 3 beyond the uniqueness threshold β_u, all the way to the optimal threshold β_c ∈ (β_u,β_u') where the dominant mode switches from disordered to ordered. A more involved analysis also applies to the ordered regime β > β_c where we obtain an algorithm for all d ≥ 3 and q ≥ (5d)⁵, improving significantly upon the previous range of q,d by Carlson, Davies, Fraiman, Kolla, Potukuchi, and Yap (FOCS'22).

Cite as

Andreas Galanis, Leslie Ann Goldberg, and Paulina Smolarova. Planting and MCMC Sampling from the Potts Model. In 43rd International Symposium on Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science (STACS 2026). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 364, pp. 39:1-39:19, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)


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@InProceedings{galanis_et_al:LIPIcs.STACS.2026.39,
  author =	{Galanis, Andreas and Goldberg, Leslie Ann and Smolarova, Paulina},
  title =	{{Planting and MCMC Sampling from the Potts Model}},
  booktitle =	{43rd International Symposium on Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science (STACS 2026)},
  pages =	{39:1--39:19},
  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.2026.39},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-255280},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.STACS.2026.39},
  annote =	{Keywords: approximate sampling, Glauber dynamics, Potts model, random cluster model}
}
Document
Generalised Quantifiers Based on Rabin-Mostowski Index

Authors: Denis Kuperberg, Damian Niwiński, Paweł Parys, and Michał Skrzypczak

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


Abstract
In this work we introduce new generalised quantifiers which allow us to express the Rabin-Mostowski index of automata. Our main results study expressive power and decidability of the monadic second-order (MSO) logic extended with these quantifiers. We study these problems in the realm of both ω-words and infinite trees. As it turns out, the pictures in these two cases are very different. In the case of ω-words the new quantifiers can be effectively expressed in pure MSO logic. In contrast, in the case of infinite trees, addition of these quantifiers leads to an undecidable formalism. To realise index-quantifier elimination, we consider the extension of MSO by game quantifiers. As a tool, we provide a specific quantifier-elimination procedure for them. Moreover, we introduce a novel construction of transducers realising strategies in ω-regular games with monadic parameters.

Cite as

Denis Kuperberg, Damian Niwiński, Paweł Parys, and Michał Skrzypczak. Generalised Quantifiers Based on Rabin-Mostowski Index. In 43rd International Symposium on Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science (STACS 2026). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 364, pp. 63:1-63:22, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)


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@InProceedings{kuperberg_et_al:LIPIcs.STACS.2026.63,
  author =	{Kuperberg, Denis and Niwi\'{n}ski, Damian and Parys, Pawe{\l} and Skrzypczak, Micha{\l}},
  title =	{{Generalised Quantifiers Based on Rabin-Mostowski Index}},
  booktitle =	{43rd International Symposium on Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science (STACS 2026)},
  pages =	{63:1--63:22},
  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.2026.63},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-255526},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.STACS.2026.63},
  annote =	{Keywords: monadic quantifiers, decidability, quantifier elimination, parity automata, game quantifier, Rabin-Mostowski index}
}
Document
A Logic for Fresh Labelled Transition Systems

Authors: Mohamed H. Bandukara and Nikos Tzevelekos

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 363, 34th EACSL Annual Conference on Computer Science Logic (CSL 2026)


Abstract
We introduce a Hennessy-Milner logic with recursion for Fresh Labelled Transition Systems (FLTSs). These are nominal labelled transition systems which keep track of the history, i.e. of data values seen so far, and can model fresh data generation. In particular, FLTSs generalise the computations of Fresh-Register Automata, which in turn can be seen as a "regular" class of history-tracking automata operating on infinite input alphabets. The logic we introduce is a modal mu-calculus equipped with infinite disjunctions over arbitrary and fresh data values respectively, while its recursion is parameterised on vectors of data values. It can express a variety of properties, such as the existence of an infinite path of distinct data values, the absence of paths where values are repeated, or the existence of a finite path where some taint property is violated. We study the model-checking problem and its complexity via a reduction to parity games and, using nominal sets techniques, provide an exponential upper bound for it.

Cite as

Mohamed H. Bandukara and Nikos Tzevelekos. A Logic for Fresh Labelled Transition Systems. In 34th EACSL Annual Conference on Computer Science Logic (CSL 2026). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 363, pp. 23:1-23:24, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)


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@InProceedings{bandukara_et_al:LIPIcs.CSL.2026.23,
  author =	{Bandukara, Mohamed H. and Tzevelekos, Nikos},
  title =	{{A Logic for Fresh Labelled Transition Systems}},
  booktitle =	{34th EACSL Annual Conference on Computer Science Logic (CSL 2026)},
  pages =	{23:1--23:24},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-411-6},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2026},
  volume =	{363},
  editor =	{Guerrini, Stefano and K\"{o}nig, Barbara},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.CSL.2026.23},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-254478},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.CSL.2026.23},
  annote =	{Keywords: Nominal Transition Systems, Hennessy-Milner Logic, Modal Mu-Calculus, Register Automata, Nominal Sets, Parity Games}
}
Document
Adversarially-Robust Gossip Algorithms for Approximate Quantile and Mean Computations

Authors: Bernhard Haeupler, Marc Kaufmann, Raghu Raman Ravi, and Ulysse Schaller

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


Abstract
This paper presents gossip algorithms for aggregation tasks that demonstrate both robustness to adversarial corruptions of any order of magnitude and optimality across a substantial range of these corruption levels. Gossip algorithms distribute information in a scalable and efficient way by having random pairs of nodes exchange small messages. Value aggregation problems are of particular interest in this setting, as they occur frequently in practice, and many elegant algorithms have been proposed for computing aggregates and statistics such as averages and quantiles. An important and well-studied advantage of gossip algorithms is their robustness to message delays, network churn, and unreliable message transmissions. However, these crucial robustness guarantees only hold if all nodes follow the protocol and no messages are corrupted. In this paper, we remedy this by providing a framework to model both adversarial participants and message corruptions in gossip-style communications by allowing an adversary to control a small fraction of the nodes or corrupt messages arbitrarily. Despite this very powerful and general corruption model, we show that robust gossip algorithms can be designed for many important aggregation problems. Our algorithms guarantee that almost all nodes converge to an approximately correct answer with optimal efficiency and essentially as fast as without corruptions. The design of adversarially-robust gossip algorithms poses completely new challenges. Despite this, our algorithms remain very simple variations of known non-robust algorithms with often only subtle changes to avoid non-compliant nodes gaining too much influence over outcomes. While our algorithms remain simple, their analysis is much more complex and often requires a completely different approach than the non-adversarial setting.

Cite as

Bernhard Haeupler, Marc Kaufmann, Raghu Raman Ravi, and Ulysse Schaller. Adversarially-Robust Gossip Algorithms for Approximate Quantile and Mean Computations. In 17th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2026). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 362, pp. 74:1-74:14, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)


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@InProceedings{haeupler_et_al:LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.74,
  author =	{Haeupler, Bernhard and Kaufmann, Marc and Ravi, Raghu Raman and Schaller, Ulysse},
  title =	{{Adversarially-Robust Gossip Algorithms for Approximate Quantile and Mean Computations}},
  booktitle =	{17th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2026)},
  pages =	{74:1--74:14},
  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.2026.74},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-253611},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.74},
  annote =	{Keywords: Gossip Algorithms, Distributed Computing, Adversarial Robustness}
}
Document
Perfect Simulation of Las Vegas Algorithms via Local Computation

Authors: Xinyu Fu, Yonggang Jiang, and Yitong Yin

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


Abstract
The notion of Las Vegas algorithms was introduced by Babai (1979) and can be defined in two ways: - In Babai’s original definition, a randomized algorithm is called Las Vegas if it has a finitely bounded running time and certifiable random failure. - Another definition widely accepted today is that Las Vegas algorithms refer to zero-error randomized algorithms with random running times. The equivalence between the two definitions is straightforward. Specifically, for randomized algorithms with certifiable failures, repeatedly running the algorithm until no failure is encountered allows for faithful simulation of the correct output when it executes successfully. We show that a similar perfect simulation can also be achieved in distributed local computation. Specifically, in the LOCAL model, with a polylogarithmic overhead in time complexity, any Las Vegas algorithm with finitely bounded running time and locally certifiable failures can be converted to a zero error Las Vegas algorithm. This transformed algorithm faithfully reproduces the correct output of the original algorithm in successful executions. This is achieved by a reduction to a distributed sampling problem under the Lovász Local Lemma (LLL), where the objective is to sample from the joint distribution of random variables avoiding all bad events. We then design the first efficient algorithm to solve this sampling problem in the LOCAL model.

Cite as

Xinyu Fu, Yonggang Jiang, and Yitong Yin. Perfect Simulation of Las Vegas Algorithms via Local Computation. In 17th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2026). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 362, pp. 63:1-63:22, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)


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@InProceedings{fu_et_al:LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.63,
  author =	{Fu, Xinyu and Jiang, Yonggang and Yin, Yitong},
  title =	{{Perfect Simulation of Las Vegas Algorithms via Local Computation}},
  booktitle =	{17th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2026)},
  pages =	{63:1--63:22},
  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.2026.63},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-253503},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.63},
  annote =	{Keywords: Las Vegas algorithms, perfect simulation, Lov\'{a}sz Local Lemma, sampling}
}
Document
Zero-Freeness Is All You Need: A Weitz-Type FPTAS for the Entire Lee-Yang Zero-Free Region

Authors: Shuai Shao and Ke Shi

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


Abstract
We present a Weitz-type FPTAS for the ferromagnetic Ising model across the entire Lee–Yang zero-free region, without relying on the strong spatial mixing (SSM) property. Our algorithm is Weitz-type for two reasons. First, it expresses the partition function as a telescoping product of ratios, with the key being to approximate each ratio. Second, it uses Weitz’s self-avoiding walk tree, and truncates it at logarithmic depth to give a good and efficient approximation. The key difference from the standard Weitz algorithm is that we approximate a carefully designed edge-deletion ratio instead of the marginal probability of a vertex being assigned a particular spin, ensuring our algorithm does not require SSM. Furthermore, by establishing local dependence of coefficients (LDC), we indeed prove a novel form of SSM for these edge-deletion ratios, which, in turn, implies the standard SSM for the random cluster model. This is the first SSM result for the random cluster model on general graphs, beyond lattices. Our proof of LDC is based on a new division relation, and we show such relations hold quite universally. This leads to a broadly applicable framework for proving LDC across a variety of models, including the Potts model, the hypergraph independence polynomial, and Holant problems. Combined with existing zero-freeness results for these models, we derive new SSM results for them.

Cite as

Shuai Shao and Ke Shi. Zero-Freeness Is All You Need: A Weitz-Type FPTAS for the Entire Lee-Yang Zero-Free Region. In 17th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2026). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 362, pp. 114:1-114:17, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)


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@InProceedings{shao_et_al:LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.114,
  author =	{Shao, Shuai and Shi, Ke},
  title =	{{Zero-Freeness Is All You Need: A Weitz-Type FPTAS for the Entire Lee-Yang Zero-Free Region}},
  booktitle =	{17th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2026)},
  pages =	{114:1--114:17},
  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.2026.114},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-254010},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.114},
  annote =	{Keywords: Ferromagnetic Ising Model, Lee–Yang Theorem, Weitz-Type FPTAS, Strong Spatial Mixing, Random Cluster Model}
}
Document
On the Complexity of Secluded Path Problems

Authors: Tesshu Hanaka and Daisuke Tsuru

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 358, 20th International Symposium on Parameterized and Exact Computation (IPEC 2025)


Abstract
This paper investigates the complexity of finding secluded paths in graphs. We focus on the Short Secluded Path problem and a natural new variant we introduce, Shortest Secluded Path. Formally, given an undirected graph G = (V, E), two vertices s,t ∈ V, and two integers k,l, the Short Secluded Path problem asks whether there exists an s-t path of length at most k with at most l neighbors. This problem is known to be computationally hard: it is W[1]-hard when parameterized by the path length k or by cliquewidth, and para-NP-complete when parameterized by the number l of neighbors. The fixed-parameter tractability is known for k+l or treewidth. In this paper, we expand the parameterized complexity landscape by designing (1) an XP algorithm parameterized by cliquewidth and (2) fixed-parameter algorithms parameterized by neighborhood diversity and twin cover number, respectively. As a byproduct, our results also provide parameterized algorithms for the classic s-t k-Path problem. Furthermore, we introduce the Shortest Secluded Path problem, which seeks a shortest s-t path with the minimum number of neighbors. In contrast to the hardness of the original problem, we reveal that this variant is solvable in polynomial time on unweighted graphs. We complete this by showing that for edge-weighted graphs, the problem becomes W[1]-hard yet remains in XP when parameterized by the shortest path distance between s and t.

Cite as

Tesshu Hanaka and Daisuke Tsuru. On the Complexity of Secluded Path Problems. In 20th International Symposium on Parameterized and Exact Computation (IPEC 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 358, pp. 4:1-4:16, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)


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@InProceedings{hanaka_et_al:LIPIcs.IPEC.2025.4,
  author =	{Hanaka, Tesshu and Tsuru, Daisuke},
  title =	{{On the Complexity of Secluded Path Problems}},
  booktitle =	{20th International Symposium on Parameterized and Exact Computation (IPEC 2025)},
  pages =	{4:1--4:16},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-407-9},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{358},
  editor =	{Agrawal, Akanksha and van Leeuwen, Erik Jan},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.IPEC.2025.4},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-251361},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.IPEC.2025.4},
  annote =	{Keywords: Secluded path, Parameterized complexity, Polynomial-time algorithm}
}
Document
Cutoff for the Swendsen–Wang Dynamics on the Complete Graph

Authors: Antonio Blanca and Zhezheng Song

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


Abstract
We study the speed of convergence of the Swendsen-Wang (SW) dynamics for the q-state ferromagnetic Potts model on the n-vertex complete graph, known as the mean-field model. The SW dynamics was introduced as an attractive alternative to the local Glauber dynamics, often offering faster convergence rates to stationarity in a variety of settings. A series of works have characterized the asymptotic behavior of the speed of convergence of the mean-field SW dynamics for all q ≥ 2 and all values of the inverse temperature parameter β > 0. In particular, it is known that when β > q the mixing time of the SW dynamics is Θ(log n). We strengthen this result by showing that for all β > q, there exists a constant c(β,q) > 0 such that the mixing time of the SW dynamics is c(β,q) log n + Θ(1). This implies that the mean-field SW dynamics exhibits the cutoff phenomenon in this temperature regime, demonstrating that this Markov chain undergoes a sharp transition from "far from stationarity" to "well-mixed" within a narrow Θ(1) time window. The presence of cutoff is algorithmically significant, as simulating the chain for fewer steps than its mixing time could lead to highly biased samples.

Cite as

Antonio Blanca and Zhezheng Song. Cutoff for the Swendsen–Wang Dynamics on the Complete Graph. 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. 17:1-17:21, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)


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@InProceedings{blanca_et_al:LIPIcs.FSTTCS.2025.17,
  author =	{Blanca, Antonio and Song, Zhezheng},
  title =	{{Cutoff for the Swendsen–Wang Dynamics on the Complete Graph}},
  booktitle =	{45th IARCS Annual Conference on Foundations of Software Technology and Theoretical Computer Science (FSTTCS 2025)},
  pages =	{17:1--17:21},
  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.2025.17},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-250987},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.FSTTCS.2025.17},
  annote =	{Keywords: Markov chains, mixing times, cutoff phenomenon, Potts model, mean-field}
}
Document
Coloring Reconfiguration Under Color Swapping

Authors: Janosch Fuchs, Rin Saito, Tatsuhiro Suga, Takahiro Suzuki, and Yuma Tamura

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


Abstract
In the Coloring Reconfiguration problem, we are given two proper k-colorings of a graph and asked to decide whether one can be transformed into the other by repeatedly applying a specified recoloring rule, while maintaining a proper coloring throughout. For this problem, two recoloring rules have been widely studied: single-vertex recoloring and Kempe chain recoloring. In this paper, we introduce a new rule, called color swapping, where two adjacent vertices may exchange their colors, so that the resulting coloring remains proper, and study the computational complexity of the problem under this rule. We first establish a complexity dichotomy with respect to k: the problem is solvable in polynomial time for k ≤ 2, and is PSPACE-complete for k ≥ 3. We further show that the problem remains PSPACE-complete even on restricted graph classes, including bipartite graphs, split graphs, and planar graphs of bounded degree. In contrast, we present polynomial-time algorithms for several graph classes: for paths when k = 3, for split graphs when k is fixed, and for cographs when k is arbitrary.

Cite as

Janosch Fuchs, Rin Saito, Tatsuhiro Suga, Takahiro Suzuki, and Yuma Tamura. Coloring Reconfiguration Under Color Swapping. In 36th International Symposium on Algorithms and Computation (ISAAC 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 359, pp. 33:1-33:21, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)


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@InProceedings{fuchs_et_al:LIPIcs.ISAAC.2025.33,
  author =	{Fuchs, Janosch and Saito, Rin and Suga, Tatsuhiro and Suzuki, Takahiro and Tamura, Yuma},
  title =	{{Coloring Reconfiguration Under Color Swapping}},
  booktitle =	{36th International Symposium on Algorithms and Computation (ISAAC 2025)},
  pages =	{33:1--33:21},
  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.2025.33},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-249411},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ISAAC.2025.33},
  annote =	{Keywords: Combinatorial reconfiguration, graph coloring, PSPACE-complete, graph algorithm}
}
Document
Counting Small Induced Subgraphs: Scorpions Are Easy but Not Trivial

Authors: Radu Curticapean, Simon Döring, and Daniel Neuen

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


Abstract
In the parameterized problem #IndSub(Φ) for fixed graph properties Φ, given as input a graph G and an integer k, the task is to compute the number of induced k-vertex subgraphs satisfying Φ. Dörfler et al. [Algorithmica 2022] and Roth et al. [SICOMP 2024] conjectured that #IndSub(Φ) is #W[1]-hard for all non-meager properties Φ, i.e., properties that are nontrivial for infinitely many k. This conjecture has been confirmed for several restricted types of properties, including all hereditary properties [STOC 2022] and all edge-monotone properties [STOC 2024]. We refute this conjecture by showing that induced k-vertex graphs that are scorpions can be counted in time O(n⁴) for all k. Scorpions were introduced more than 50 years ago in the context of the evasiveness conjecture. A simple variant of this construction results in graph properties that achieve arbitrary intermediate complexity assuming ETH. Moreover, we formulate an updated conjecture on the complexity of #IndSub(Φ) that correctly captures the complexity status of scorpions and related constructions.

Cite as

Radu Curticapean, Simon Döring, and Daniel Neuen. Counting Small Induced Subgraphs: Scorpions Are Easy but Not Trivial. In 33rd Annual European Symposium on Algorithms (ESA 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 351, pp. 96:1-96:16, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)


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@InProceedings{curticapean_et_al:LIPIcs.ESA.2025.96,
  author =	{Curticapean, Radu and D\"{o}ring, Simon and Neuen, Daniel},
  title =	{{Counting Small Induced Subgraphs: Scorpions Are Easy but Not Trivial}},
  booktitle =	{33rd Annual European Symposium on Algorithms (ESA 2025)},
  pages =	{96:1--96:16},
  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.2025.96},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-245651},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ESA.2025.96},
  annote =	{Keywords: induced subgraphs, counting complexity, parameterized complexity, scorpions}
}
Document
RANDOM
Time Lower Bounds for the Metropolis Process and Simulated Annealing

Authors: Zongchen Chen, Dan Mikulincer, Daniel Reichman, and Alexander S. Wein

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 353, Approximation, Randomization, and Combinatorial Optimization. Algorithms and Techniques (APPROX/RANDOM 2025)


Abstract
The Metropolis process (MP) and Simulated Annealing (SA) are stochastic local search heuristics that are often used in solving combinatorial optimization problems. Despite significant interest, there are very few theoretical results regarding the quality of approximation obtained by MP and SA (with polynomially many iterations) for NP-hard optimization problems. We provide rigorous lower bounds for MP and SA with respect to the classical maximum independent set problem when the algorithms are initialized from the empty set. We establish the existence of a family of graphs for which both MP and SA fail to find approximate solutions in polynomial time. More specifically, we show that for any ε ∈ (0,1) there are n-vertex graphs for which the probability SA (when limited to polynomially many iterations) will approximate the optimal solution within ratio Ω(1/n^{1-ε}) is exponentially small. Our lower bounds extend to graphs of constant average degree d, illustrating the failure of MP to achieve an approximation ratio of Ω(log(d)/d) in polynomial time. In some cases, our lower bounds apply even when the temperature is chosen adaptively. Finally, we prove exponential-time lower bounds when the inputs to these algorithms are bipartite graphs, and even trees, which are known to admit polynomial-time algorithms for the independent set problem.

Cite as

Zongchen Chen, Dan Mikulincer, Daniel Reichman, and Alexander S. Wein. Time Lower Bounds for the Metropolis Process and Simulated Annealing. In Approximation, Randomization, and Combinatorial Optimization. Algorithms and Techniques (APPROX/RANDOM 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 353, pp. 47:1-47:22, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)


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@InProceedings{chen_et_al:LIPIcs.APPROX/RANDOM.2025.47,
  author =	{Chen, Zongchen and Mikulincer, Dan and Reichman, Daniel and Wein, Alexander S.},
  title =	{{Time Lower Bounds for the Metropolis Process and Simulated Annealing}},
  booktitle =	{Approximation, Randomization, and Combinatorial Optimization. Algorithms and Techniques (APPROX/RANDOM 2025)},
  pages =	{47:1--47:22},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-397-3},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{353},
  editor =	{Ene, Alina and Chattopadhyay, Eshan},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.APPROX/RANDOM.2025.47},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-244138},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.APPROX/RANDOM.2025.47},
  annote =	{Keywords: Metropolis Process, Simulated Annealing, Independent Set}
}
Document
RANDOM
Rapid Mixing via Coupling Independence for Spin Systems with Unbounded Degree

Authors: Xiaoyu Chen and Weiming Feng

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 353, Approximation, Randomization, and Combinatorial Optimization. Algorithms and Techniques (APPROX/RANDOM 2025)


Abstract
We develop a new framework to prove the mixing or relaxation time for the Glauber dynamics on spin systems with unbounded degree. It works for general spin systems including both 2-spin and multi-spin systems. As applications for this approach: - We prove the optimal O(n) relaxation time for the Glauber dynamics of random q-list-coloring on an n-vertices triangle-tree graph with maximum degree Δ such that q/Δ > α^⋆, where α^⋆ ≈ 1.763 is the unique positive solution of the equation α = exp(1/α). This improves the n^{1+o(1)} relaxation time for Glauber dynamics obtained by the previous work of Jain, Pham, and Vuong (2022). Besides, our framework can also give a near-linear time sampling algorithm under the same condition. - We prove the optimal O(n) relaxation time and near-optimal Õ(n) mixing time for the Glauber dynamics on hardcore models with parameter λ in balanced bipartite graphs such that λ < λ_c(Δ_L) for the max degree Δ_L in left part and the max degree Δ_R of right part satisfies Δ_R = O(Δ_L). This improves the previous result by Chen, Liu, and Yin (2023). At the heart of our proof is the notion of coupling independence which allows us to consider multiple vertices as a huge single vertex with exponentially large domain and do a "coarse-grained" local-to-global argument on spin systems. The technique works for general (multi) spin systems and helps us obtain some new comparison results for Glauber dynamics.

Cite as

Xiaoyu Chen and Weiming Feng. Rapid Mixing via Coupling Independence for Spin Systems with Unbounded Degree. In Approximation, Randomization, and Combinatorial Optimization. Algorithms and Techniques (APPROX/RANDOM 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 353, pp. 68:1-68:17, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)


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@InProceedings{chen_et_al:LIPIcs.APPROX/RANDOM.2025.68,
  author =	{Chen, Xiaoyu and Feng, Weiming},
  title =	{{Rapid Mixing via Coupling Independence for Spin Systems with Unbounded Degree}},
  booktitle =	{Approximation, Randomization, and Combinatorial Optimization. Algorithms and Techniques (APPROX/RANDOM 2025)},
  pages =	{68:1--68:17},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-397-3},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{353},
  editor =	{Ene, Alina and Chattopadhyay, Eshan},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.APPROX/RANDOM.2025.68},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-244345},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.APPROX/RANDOM.2025.68},
  annote =	{Keywords: coupling independence, Glauber dynamics, mixing times, relaxation times, spin systems}
}
Document
Quantum Search with In-Place Queries

Authors: Blake Holman, Ronak Ramachandran, and Justin Yirka

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 350, 20th Conference on the Theory of Quantum Computation, Communication and Cryptography (TQC 2025)


Abstract
Quantum query complexity is typically characterized in terms of xor queries |x,y⟩ ↦ |x,y⊕ f(x)⟩ or phase queries, which ensure that even queries to non-invertible functions are unitary. When querying a permutation, another natural model is unitary: in-place queries |x⟩↦ |f(x)⟩. Some problems are known to require exponentially fewer in-place queries than xor queries, but no separation has been shown in the opposite direction. A candidate for such a separation was the problem of inverting a permutation over N elements. This task, equivalent to unstructured search in the context of permutations, is solvable with O(√N) xor queries but was conjectured to require Ω(N) in-place queries. We refute this conjecture by designing a quantum algorithm for Permutation Inversion using O(√N) in-place queries. Our algorithm achieves the same speedup as Grover’s algorithm despite the inability to efficiently uncompute queries or perform straightforward oracle-controlled reflections. Nonetheless, we show that there are indeed problems which require fewer xor queries than in-place queries. We introduce a subspace-conversion problem called Function Erasure that requires 1 xor query and Θ(√N) in-place queries. Then, we build on a recent extension of the quantum adversary method to characterize exact conditions for a decision problem to exhibit such a separation, and we propose a candidate problem.

Cite as

Blake Holman, Ronak Ramachandran, and Justin Yirka. Quantum Search with In-Place Queries. In 20th Conference on the Theory of Quantum Computation, Communication and Cryptography (TQC 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 350, pp. 1:1-1:18, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)


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@InProceedings{holman_et_al:LIPIcs.TQC.2025.1,
  author =	{Holman, Blake and Ramachandran, Ronak and Yirka, Justin},
  title =	{{Quantum Search with In-Place Queries}},
  booktitle =	{20th Conference on the Theory of Quantum Computation, Communication and Cryptography (TQC 2025)},
  pages =	{1:1--1:18},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-392-8},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{350},
  editor =	{Fefferman, Bill},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.TQC.2025.1},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-240502},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.TQC.2025.1},
  annote =	{Keywords: Quantum algorithms, query complexity, quantum complexity theory, quantum search, Grover’s algorithm, permutation inversion}
}
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