23 Search Results for "Ibsen-Jensen, Rasmus"

Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.STACS.2026.31
Lower Bounds for Ranking-Based Pivot Rules

Authors: Yann Disser, Georg Loho, Matthew Maat, and Nils Mosis

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

Abstract
The existence of a polynomial pivot rule for the simplex method for linear programming, policy iteration for Markov decision processes, and strategy improvement for parity games each are prominent open problems in their respective fields. While numerous natural candidates for efficient rules have been eliminated, all existing lower bound constructions are tailored to individual or small sets of pivot rules. We introduce a unified framework for formalizing classes of rules according to the information about the input that they rely on. Within this framework, we show lower bounds for ranking-based classes of rules that base their decisions on orderings of the improving pivot steps induced by the underlying data. Our first result is a superpolynomial lower bound for strategy improvement, obtained via a family of sink parity games, which applies to memory-based generalizations of Bland’s rule that only access the input by comparing the ranks of improving edges in some global order. Our second result is a subexponential lower bound for policy iteration, obtained via a family of Markov decision processes, which applies to memoryless rules that only access the input by comparing improving actions according to their ranks in a global order, their reduced costs, and the associated improvements in objective value. Both results carry over to the simplex method for linear programming.
Cite as

Yann Disser, Georg Loho, Matthew Maat, and Nils Mosis. Lower Bounds for Ranking-Based Pivot Rules. In 43rd International Symposium on Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science (STACS 2026). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 364, pp. 31:1-31:19, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)

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@InProceedings{disser_et_al:LIPIcs.STACS.2026.31,
  author =	{Disser, Yann and Loho, Georg and Maat, Matthew and Mosis, Nils},
  title =	{{Lower Bounds for Ranking-Based Pivot Rules}},
  booktitle =	{43rd International Symposium on Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science (STACS 2026)},
  pages =	{31:1--31:19},
  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.2026.31},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-255207},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.STACS.2026.31},
  annote =	{Keywords: lower bounds, Markov decision processes, parity games, pivot rules, policy iteration, simplex method}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.FSTTCS.2025.9
ε-Stationary Nash Equilibria in Multi-Player Stochastic Graph Games

Authors: Ali Asadi, Léonard Brice, Krishnendu Chatterjee, and K. S. Thejaswini

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

Abstract
A strategy profile in a multi-player game is a Nash equilibrium if no player can unilaterally deviate to achieve a strictly better payoff. A profile is an ε-Nash equilibrium if no player can gain more than ε by unilaterally deviating from their strategy. In this work, we use ε-Nash equilibria to approximate the computation of Nash equilibria. Specifically, we focus on turn-based, multiplayer stochastic games played on graphs, where players are restricted to stationary strategies - strategies that use randomness but not memory. The problem of deciding the constrained existence of stationary Nash equilibria - where each player’s payoff must lie within a given interval - is known to be ∃ℝ-complete in such a setting (Hansen and Sølvsten, 2020). We extend this line of work to stationary ε-Nash equilibria and present an algorithm that solves the following promise problem: given a game with a Nash equilibrium satisfying the constraints, compute an ε-Nash equilibrium that ε-satisfies those same constraints - satisfies the constraints up to an ε additive error. Our algorithm runs in FNP^NP time. To achieve this, we first show that if a constrained Nash equilibrium exists, then one exists where the non-zero probabilities are at least an inverse of a double-exponential in the input. We further prove that such a strategy can be encoded using floating-point representations, as in the work of Frederiksen and Miltersen (2013), which finally gives us our FNP^NP algorithm. We further show that the decision version of the promise problem is NP-hard. Finally, we show a partial tightness result by proving a lower bound for such techniques: if a constrained Nash equilibrium exists, then there must be one where the probabilities in the strategies are double-exponentially small.
Cite as

Ali Asadi, Léonard Brice, Krishnendu Chatterjee, and K. S. Thejaswini. ε-Stationary Nash Equilibria in Multi-Player Stochastic Graph Games. 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. 9:1-9:17, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

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@InProceedings{asadi_et_al:LIPIcs.FSTTCS.2025.9,
  author =	{Asadi, Ali and Brice, L\'{e}onard and Chatterjee, Krishnendu and Thejaswini, K. S.},
  title =	{{\epsilon-Stationary Nash Equilibria in Multi-Player Stochastic Graph Games}},
  booktitle =	{45th IARCS Annual Conference on Foundations of Software Technology and Theoretical Computer Science (FSTTCS 2025)},
  pages =	{9:1--9:17},
  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.2025.9},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-250897},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.FSTTCS.2025.9},
  annote =	{Keywords: Nash Equilibria, \epsilon-Nash equilibria, Approximation, Existential Theory of Reals}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.ESA.2025.39
Going Beyond Surfaces in Diameter Approximation

Authors: Michał Włodarczyk

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

Abstract
Calculating the diameter of an undirected graph requires quadratic running time under the Strong Exponential Time Hypothesis and this barrier works even against any approximation better than 3/2. For planar graphs with positive edge weights, there are known (1+ε)-approximation algorithms with running time poly(1/ε, log n)⋅ n. However, these algorithms rely on shortest path separators and this technique falls short to yield efficient algorithms beyond graphs of bounded genus. In this work we depart from embedding-based arguments and obtain diameter approximations relying on VC set systems and the local treewidth property. We present two orthogonal extensions of the planar case by giving (1+ε)-approximation algorithms with the following running times: - 𝒪_h((1/ε)^𝒪(h) ⋅ nlog² n)-time algorithm for graphs excluding an apex graph of size h as a minor, - 𝒪_d((1/ε)^𝒪(d) ⋅ nlog² n)-time algorithm for the class of d-apex graphs. As a stepping stone, we obtain efficient (1+ε)-approximate distance oracles for graphs excluding an apex graph of size h as a minor. Our oracle has preprocessing time 𝒪_h((1/ε)⁸⋅ nlog nlog W) and query time 𝒪_h((1/ε)²⋅log n log W), where W is the metric stretch. Such oracles have been so far only known for bounded genus graphs. All our algorithms are deterministic.
Cite as

Michał Włodarczyk. Going Beyond Surfaces in Diameter Approximation. In 33rd Annual European Symposium on Algorithms (ESA 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 351, pp. 39:1-39:19, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

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@InProceedings{wlodarczyk:LIPIcs.ESA.2025.39,
  author =	{W{\l}odarczyk, Micha{\l}},
  title =	{{Going Beyond Surfaces in Diameter Approximation}},
  booktitle =	{33rd Annual European Symposium on Algorithms (ESA 2025)},
  pages =	{39:1--39:19},
  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.2025.39},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-245076},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ESA.2025.39},
  annote =	{Keywords: diameter, approximation, distance oracles, graph minors, treewidth}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.MFCS.2025.31
Games with ω-Automatic Preference Relations

Authors: Véronique Bruyère, Christophe Grandmont, and Jean-François Raskin

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

Abstract
This paper investigates Nash equilibria (NEs) in multi-player turn-based games on graphs, where player preferences are modeled as ω-automatic relations via deterministic parity automata. Unlike much of the existing literature, which focuses on specific reward functions, our results apply to any preference relation definable by an ω-automatic relation. We analyze the computational complexity of determining the existence of an NE (possibly under some constraints), verifying whether a given strategy profile forms an NE, and checking whether a specific outcome can be realized by an NE. When a (constrained) NE exists, we show that there always exists one with finite-memory strategies. Finally, we explore fundamental properties of ω-automatic relations and their implications in the existence of equilibria.
Cite as

Véronique Bruyère, Christophe Grandmont, and Jean-François Raskin. Games with ω-Automatic Preference Relations. In 50th International Symposium on Mathematical Foundations of Computer Science (MFCS 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 345, pp. 31:1-31:19, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

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@InProceedings{bruyere_et_al:LIPIcs.MFCS.2025.31,
  author =	{Bruy\`{e}re, V\'{e}ronique and Grandmont, Christophe and Raskin, Jean-Fran\c{c}ois},
  title =	{{Games with \omega-Automatic Preference Relations}},
  booktitle =	{50th International Symposium on Mathematical Foundations of Computer Science (MFCS 2025)},
  pages =	{31:1--31:19},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-388-1},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{345},
  editor =	{Gawrychowski, Pawe{\l} and Mazowiecki, Filip and Skrzypczak, Micha{\l}},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.MFCS.2025.31},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-241381},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.MFCS.2025.31},
  annote =	{Keywords: Games played on graphs, Nash equilibrium, \omega-automatic relations, \omega-recognizable relations, constrained Nash equilibria existence problem}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.MFCS.2025.77
Minimization of Deterministic Finite Automata Modulo the Edit Distance

Authors: Jakub Michaliszyn and Jan Otop

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

Abstract
We propose a novel approach to minimization of deterministic finite automata (DFA), in which the DFA is further minimized at the expense of relaxing equality of languages to merely a similarity. As the notion of similarity of languages, we consider the edit distance between languages ℒ, ℒ', i.e., the minimal number of edits necessary to transform any word from ℒ to some word from ℒ' and vice versa. In this paper we address two problems: minimization up to a predetermined edit distance given in the input, and minimization up to a bounded edit distance, in which there has to be an upper bound on the number of edits, but it is not specified. We show the first problem to be PSpace {}-complete and that the second problem is in Σ₂^p, and both NP-hard and coNP-hard. We show that if we limit how many strongly connected components can be visited by a single run (i.e., bounded SCC-depth), the problem becomes NP-complete. We also establish maximal subclasses of DFA over which minimization up to a bounded edit distance can be performed in polynomial time. Additionally, we provide a succinct overview of alternative metrics for assessing language similarity.
Cite as

Jakub Michaliszyn and Jan Otop. Minimization of Deterministic Finite Automata Modulo the Edit Distance. In 50th International Symposium on Mathematical Foundations of Computer Science (MFCS 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 345, pp. 77:1-77:17, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

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@InProceedings{michaliszyn_et_al:LIPIcs.MFCS.2025.77,
  author =	{Michaliszyn, Jakub and Otop, Jan},
  title =	{{Minimization of Deterministic Finite Automata Modulo the Edit Distance}},
  booktitle =	{50th International Symposium on Mathematical Foundations of Computer Science (MFCS 2025)},
  pages =	{77:1--77:17},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-388-1},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{345},
  editor =	{Gawrychowski, Pawe{\l} and Mazowiecki, Filip and Skrzypczak, Micha{\l}},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.MFCS.2025.77},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-241843},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.MFCS.2025.77},
  annote =	{Keywords: automata theory, automata minimization, edit distance}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.MFCS.2025.19
Monotone Bounded-Depth Complexity of Homomorphism Polynomials

Authors: C.S. Bhargav, Shiteng Chen, Radu Curticapean, and Prateek Dwivedi

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

Abstract
For every fixed graph H, it is known that homomorphism counts from H and colorful H-subgraph counts can be determined in O(n^{t+1}) time on n-vertex input graphs G, where t is the treewidth of H. On the other hand, a running time of n^{o(t / log t)} would refute the exponential-time hypothesis. Komarath, Pandey, and Rahul (Algorithmica, 2023) studied algebraic variants of these counting problems, i.e., homomorphism and subgraph polynomials for fixed graphs H. These polynomials are weighted sums over the objects counted above, where each object is weighted by the product of variables corresponding to edges contained in the object. As shown by Komarath et al., the monotone circuit complexity of the homomorphism polynomial for H is Θ(n^{tw(H)+1}). In this paper, we characterize the power of monotone bounded-depth circuits for homomorphism and colorful subgraph polynomials. This leads us to discover a natural hierarchy of graph parameters tw_Δ(H), for fixed Δ ∈ ℕ, which capture the width of tree-decompositions for H when the underlying tree is required to have depth at most Δ. We prove that monotone circuits of product-depth Δ computing the homomorphism polynomial for H require size Θ(n^{tw_Δ(H^{†})+1}), where H^{†} is the graph obtained from H by removing all degree-1 vertices. This allows us to derive an optimal depth hierarchy theorem for monotone bounded-depth circuits through graph-theoretic arguments.
Cite as

C.S. Bhargav, Shiteng Chen, Radu Curticapean, and Prateek Dwivedi. Monotone Bounded-Depth Complexity of Homomorphism Polynomials. In 50th International Symposium on Mathematical Foundations of Computer Science (MFCS 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 345, pp. 19:1-19:18, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

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@InProceedings{bhargav_et_al:LIPIcs.MFCS.2025.19,
  author =	{Bhargav, C.S. and Chen, Shiteng and Curticapean, Radu and Dwivedi, Prateek},
  title =	{{Monotone Bounded-Depth Complexity of Homomorphism Polynomials}},
  booktitle =	{50th International Symposium on Mathematical Foundations of Computer Science (MFCS 2025)},
  pages =	{19:1--19:18},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-388-1},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{345},
  editor =	{Gawrychowski, Pawe{\l} and Mazowiecki, Filip and Skrzypczak, Micha{\l}},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.MFCS.2025.19},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-241269},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.MFCS.2025.19},
  annote =	{Keywords: algebraic complexity, homomorphisms, monotone circuit complexity, bounded-depth circuits, treewidth, pathwidth}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.MFCS.2025.66
Deciding Regular Games: a Playground for Exponential Time Algorithms

Authors: Zihui Liang, Bakh Khoussainov, and Mingyu Xiao

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

Abstract
Regular games form a well-established class of games for analysis and synthesis of reactive systems. They include colored Muller games, McNaughton games, Muller games, Rabin games, and Streett games. These games are played on directed graphs G where Player 0 and Player 1 play by generating an infinite path ρ through the graph. The winner is determined by specifications put on the set X of vertices in ρ that occur infinitely often. These games are determined, enabling the partitioning of G into two sets Win₀ and Win₁ of winning positions for Player 0 and Player 1, respectively. Numerous algorithms exist that decide instances of regular games, e.g., Muller games, by computing Win₀ and Win₁. In this paper we aim to find general principles for designing uniform algorithms that decide all regular games. For this we utilize various recursive and dynamic programming algorithms that leverage standard notions such as subgames and traps. Importantly, we show that our techniques improve or match the performances of existing algorithms for many instances of regular games.
Cite as

Zihui Liang, Bakh Khoussainov, and Mingyu Xiao. Deciding Regular Games: a Playground for Exponential Time Algorithms. In 50th International Symposium on Mathematical Foundations of Computer Science (MFCS 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 345, pp. 66:1-66:18, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

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@InProceedings{liang_et_al:LIPIcs.MFCS.2025.66,
  author =	{Liang, Zihui and Khoussainov, Bakh and Xiao, Mingyu},
  title =	{{Deciding Regular Games: a Playground for Exponential Time Algorithms}},
  booktitle =	{50th International Symposium on Mathematical Foundations of Computer Science (MFCS 2025)},
  pages =	{66:1--66:18},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-388-1},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{345},
  editor =	{Gawrychowski, Pawe{\l} and Mazowiecki, Filip and Skrzypczak, Micha{\l}},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.MFCS.2025.66},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-241732},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.MFCS.2025.66},
  annote =	{Keywords: Regular games, colored Muller games, Rabin games, McNaughton games, Muller games, deciding games}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.CONCUR.2025.7
Temporal Explorability Games

Authors: Pete Austin, Sougata Bose, Nicolas Mazzocchi, and Patrick Totzke

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 348, 36th International Conference on Concurrency Theory (CONCUR 2025)

Abstract
Temporal graphs extend ordinary graphs with discrete time that affects the availability of edges. We consider solving games played on temporal graphs where one player aims to explore the graph, i.e., visit all vertices. The complexity depends majorly on two factors: the presence of an adversary and how edge availability is specified. We demonstrate that on static graphs, where edges are always available, solving explorability games is just as hard as solving reachability games. In contrast, on temporal graphs, the complexity of explorability coincides with generalized reachability (NP-complete for one-player and PSPACE-complete for two player games). We show that if temporal graphs are given symbolically, even one-player reachability (and thus explorability and generalized reachability) games are PSPACE-hard. For one player, all these are also solvable in PSPACE and for two players, they are in PSPACE, EXP and EXP, respectively.
Cite as

Pete Austin, Sougata Bose, Nicolas Mazzocchi, and Patrick Totzke. Temporal Explorability Games. In 36th International Conference on Concurrency Theory (CONCUR 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 348, pp. 7:1-7:17, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

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@InProceedings{austin_et_al:LIPIcs.CONCUR.2025.7,
  author =	{Austin, Pete and Bose, Sougata and Mazzocchi, Nicolas and Totzke, Patrick},
  title =	{{Temporal Explorability Games}},
  booktitle =	{36th International Conference on Concurrency Theory (CONCUR 2025)},
  pages =	{7:1--7:17},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-389-8},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{348},
  editor =	{Bouyer, Patricia and van de Pol, Jaco},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.CONCUR.2025.7},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-239575},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.CONCUR.2025.7},
  annote =	{Keywords: Temporal Graphs, Explorability, Reachability, Games}
}
Document
Track B: Automata, Logic, Semantics, and Theory of Programming
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.ICALP.2025.138
Taming Infinity One Chunk at a Time: Concisely Represented Strategies in One-Counter MDPs

Authors: Michal Ajdarów, James C. A. Main, Petr Novotný, and Mickael Randour

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

Abstract
Markov decision processes (MDPs) are a canonical model to reason about decision making within a stochastic environment. We study a fundamental class of infinite MDPs: one-counter MDPs (OC-MDPs). They extend finite MDPs via an associated counter taking natural values, thus inducing an infinite MDP over the set of configurations (current state and counter value). We consider two characteristic objectives: reaching a target state (state-reachability), and reaching a target state with counter value zero (selective termination). The synthesis problem for the latter is not known to be decidable and connected to major open problems in number theory. Furthermore, even seemingly simple strategies (e.g., memoryless ones) in OC-MDPs might be impossible to build in practice (due to the underlying infinite configuration space): we need finite, and preferably small, representations. To overcome these obstacles, we introduce two natural classes of concisely represented strategies based on a (possibly infinite) partition of counter values in intervals. For both classes, and both objectives, we study the verification problem (does a given strategy ensure a high enough probability for the objective?), and two synthesis problems (does there exist such a strategy?): one where the interval partition is fixed as input, and one where it is only parameterized. We develop a generic approach based on a compression of the induced infinite MDP that yields decidability in all cases, with all complexities within PSPACE.
Cite as

Michal Ajdarów, James C. A. Main, Petr Novotný, and Mickael Randour. Taming Infinity One Chunk at a Time: Concisely Represented Strategies in One-Counter MDPs. In 52nd International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming (ICALP 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 334, pp. 138:1-138:19, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

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@InProceedings{ajdarow_et_al:LIPIcs.ICALP.2025.138,
  author =	{Ajdar\'{o}w, Michal and Main, James C. A. and Novotn\'{y}, Petr and Randour, Mickael},
  title =	{{Taming Infinity One Chunk at a Time: Concisely Represented Strategies in One-Counter MDPs}},
  booktitle =	{52nd International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming (ICALP 2025)},
  pages =	{138:1--138:19},
  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.2025.138},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-235157},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ICALP.2025.138},
  annote =	{Keywords: one-counter Markov decision processes, randomised strategies, termination, reachability}
}
Document
Track B: Automata, Logic, Semantics, and Theory of Programming
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.ICALP.2025.145
Reducing Stochastic Games to Semidefinite Programming

Authors: Manuel Bodirsky, Georg Loho, and Mateusz Skomra

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

Abstract
We present a polynomial-time reduction from max-average constraints to the feasibility problem for semidefinite programs. This shows that Condon’s simple stochastic games, stochastic mean payoff games, and in particular mean payoff games and parity games can all be reduced to semidefinite programming.
Cite as

Manuel Bodirsky, Georg Loho, and Mateusz Skomra. Reducing Stochastic Games to Semidefinite Programming. In 52nd International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming (ICALP 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 334, pp. 145:1-145:15, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

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@InProceedings{bodirsky_et_al:LIPIcs.ICALP.2025.145,
  author =	{Bodirsky, Manuel and Loho, Georg and Skomra, Mateusz},
  title =	{{Reducing Stochastic Games to Semidefinite Programming}},
  booktitle =	{52nd International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming (ICALP 2025)},
  pages =	{145:1--145:15},
  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.2025.145},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-235224},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ICALP.2025.145},
  annote =	{Keywords: Mean-payoff games, stochastic games, semidefinite programming, max-average constraints, max-atom problem}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.STACS.2025.69
A Dichotomy Theorem for Ordinal Ranks in MSO

Authors: Damian Niwiński, Paweł Parys, and Michał Skrzypczak

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

Abstract
We focus on formulae ∃X.φ(Y, X) of monadic second-order logic over the full binary tree, such that the witness X is a well-founded set. The ordinal rank rank(X) < ω₁ of such a set X measures its depth and branching structure. We search for the least upper bound for these ranks, and discover the following dichotomy depending on the formula φ. Let η_φ be the minimal ordinal such that, whenever an instance Y satisfies the formula, there is a witness X with rank(X) ≤ η_φ. Then η_φ is either strictly smaller than ω² or it reaches the maximal possible value ω₁. Moreover, it is decidable which of the cases holds. The result has potential for applications in a variety of ordinal-related problems, in particular it entails a result about the closure ordinal of a fixed-point formula.
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Damian Niwiński, Paweł Parys, and Michał Skrzypczak. A Dichotomy Theorem for Ordinal Ranks in MSO. In 42nd International Symposium on Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science (STACS 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 327, pp. 69:1-69:18, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

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@InProceedings{niwinski_et_al:LIPIcs.STACS.2025.69,
  author =	{Niwi\'{n}ski, Damian and Parys, Pawe{\l} and Skrzypczak, Micha{\l}},
  title =	{{A Dichotomy Theorem for Ordinal Ranks in MSO}},
  booktitle =	{42nd International Symposium on Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science (STACS 2025)},
  pages =	{69:1--69:18},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-365-2},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{327},
  editor =	{Beyersdorff, Olaf and Pilipczuk, Micha{\l} and Pimentel, Elaine and Thắng, Nguy\~{ê}n Kim},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.STACS.2025.69},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-228942},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.STACS.2025.69},
  annote =	{Keywords: dichotomy result, limit ordinal, countable ordinals, nondeterministic tree automata}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.CONCUR.2024.13
The Power of Counting Steps in Quantitative Games

Authors: Sougata Bose, Rasmus Ibsen-Jensen, David Purser, Patrick Totzke, and Pierre Vandenhove

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 311, 35th International Conference on Concurrency Theory (CONCUR 2024)

Abstract
We study deterministic games of infinite duration played on graphs and focus on the strategy complexity of quantitative objectives. Such games are known to admit optimal memoryless strategies over finite graphs, but require infinite-memory strategies in general over infinite graphs. We provide new lower and upper bounds for the strategy complexity of mean-payoff and total-payoff objectives over infinite graphs, focusing on whether step-counter strategies (sometimes called Markov strategies) suffice to implement winning strategies. In particular, we show that over finitely branching arenas, three variants of limsup mean-payoff and total-payoff objectives admit winning strategies that are based either on a step counter or on a step counter and an additional bit of memory. Conversely, we show that for certain liminf total-payoff objectives, strategies resorting to a step counter and finite memory are not sufficient. For step-counter strategies, this settles the case of all classical quantitative objectives up to the second level of the Borel hierarchy.
Cite as

Sougata Bose, Rasmus Ibsen-Jensen, David Purser, Patrick Totzke, and Pierre Vandenhove. The Power of Counting Steps in Quantitative Games. In 35th International Conference on Concurrency Theory (CONCUR 2024). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 311, pp. 13:1-13:18, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2024)

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@InProceedings{bose_et_al:LIPIcs.CONCUR.2024.13,
  author =	{Bose, Sougata and Ibsen-Jensen, Rasmus and Purser, David and Totzke, Patrick and Vandenhove, Pierre},
  title =	{{The Power of Counting Steps in Quantitative Games}},
  booktitle =	{35th International Conference on Concurrency Theory (CONCUR 2024)},
  pages =	{13:1--13:18},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-339-3},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2024},
  volume =	{311},
  editor =	{Majumdar, Rupak and Silva, Alexandra},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.CONCUR.2024.13},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-207852},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.CONCUR.2024.13},
  annote =	{Keywords: Games on graphs, Markov strategies, quantitative objectives, infinite-state systems}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.FSTTCS.2022.11
Complexity of Spatial Games

Authors: Krishnendu Chatterjee, Rasmus Ibsen-Jensen, Ismaël Jecker, and Jakub Svoboda

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 250, 42nd IARCS Annual Conference on Foundations of Software Technology and Theoretical Computer Science (FSTTCS 2022)

Abstract
Spatial games form a widely-studied class of games from biology and physics modeling the evolution of social behavior. Formally, such a game is defined by a square (d by d) payoff matrix M and an undirected graph G. Each vertex of G represents an individual, that initially follows some strategy i ∈ {1,2,…,d}. In each round of the game, every individual plays the matrix game with each of its neighbors: An individual following strategy i meeting a neighbor following strategy j receives a payoff equal to the entry (i,j) of M. Then, each individual updates its strategy to its neighbors' strategy with the highest sum of payoffs, and the next round starts. The basic computational problems consist of reachability between configurations and the average frequency of a strategy. For general spatial games and graphs, these problems are in PSPACE. In this paper, we examine restricted setting: the game is a prisoner’s dilemma; and G is a subgraph of grid. We prove that basic computational problems for spatial games with prisoner’s dilemma on a subgraph of a grid are PSPACE-hard.
Cite as

Krishnendu Chatterjee, Rasmus Ibsen-Jensen, Ismaël Jecker, and Jakub Svoboda. Complexity of Spatial Games. In 42nd IARCS Annual Conference on Foundations of Software Technology and Theoretical Computer Science (FSTTCS 2022). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 250, pp. 11:1-11:14, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2022)

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@InProceedings{chatterjee_et_al:LIPIcs.FSTTCS.2022.11,
  author =	{Chatterjee, Krishnendu and Ibsen-Jensen, Rasmus and Jecker, Isma\"{e}l and Svoboda, Jakub},
  title =	{{Complexity of Spatial Games}},
  booktitle =	{42nd IARCS Annual Conference on Foundations of Software Technology and Theoretical Computer Science (FSTTCS 2022)},
  pages =	{11:1--11:14},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-261-7},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2022},
  volume =	{250},
  editor =	{Dawar, Anuj and Guruswami, Venkatesan},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.FSTTCS.2022.11},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-174038},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.FSTTCS.2022.11},
  annote =	{Keywords: spatial games, computational complexity, prisoner’s dilemma, dynamical systems}
}
Document
Invited Talk
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.MFCS.2022.3
An Updated Survey of Bidding Games on Graphs (Invited Talk)

Authors: Guy Avni and Thomas A. Henzinger

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 241, 47th International Symposium on Mathematical Foundations of Computer Science (MFCS 2022)

Abstract
A graph game is a two-player zero-sum game in which the players move a token throughout a graph to produce an infinite path, which determines the winner or payoff of the game. In bidding games, both players have budgets, and in each turn, we hold an "auction" (bidding) to determine which player moves the token. In this survey, we consider several bidding mechanisms and their effect on the properties of the game. Specifically, bidding games, and in particular bidding games of infinite duration, have an intriguing equivalence with random-turn games in which in each turn, the player who moves is chosen randomly. We summarize how minor changes in the bidding mechanism lead to unexpected differences in the equivalence with random-turn games.
Cite as

Guy Avni and Thomas A. Henzinger. An Updated Survey of Bidding Games on Graphs (Invited Talk). In 47th International Symposium on Mathematical Foundations of Computer Science (MFCS 2022). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 241, pp. 3:1-3:6, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2022)

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@InProceedings{avni_et_al:LIPIcs.MFCS.2022.3,
  author =	{Avni, Guy and Henzinger, Thomas A.},
  title =	{{An Updated Survey of Bidding Games on Graphs}},
  booktitle =	{47th International Symposium on Mathematical Foundations of Computer Science (MFCS 2022)},
  pages =	{3:1--3:6},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-256-3},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2022},
  volume =	{241},
  editor =	{Szeider, Stefan and Ganian, Robert and Silva, Alexandra},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.MFCS.2022.3},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-168017},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.MFCS.2022.3},
  annote =	{Keywords: Bidding games, Richman bidding, poorman bidding, mean-payoff, parity}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.FSTTCS.2021.42
Quantitative Verification on Product Graphs of Small Treewidth

Authors: Krishnendu Chatterjee, Rasmus Ibsen-Jensen, and Andreas Pavlogiannis

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 213, 41st IARCS Annual Conference on Foundations of Software Technology and Theoretical Computer Science (FSTTCS 2021)

Abstract
Product graphs arise naturally in formal verification and program analysis. For example, the analysis of two concurrent threads requires the product of two component control-flow graphs, and for language inclusion of deterministic automata the product of two automata is constructed. In many cases, the component graphs have constant treewidth, e.g., when the input contains control-flow graphs of programs. We consider the algorithmic analysis of products of two constant-treewidth graphs with respect to three classic specification languages, namely, (a) algebraic properties, (b) mean-payoff properties, and (c) initial credit for energy properties. Our main contributions are as follows. Consider a graph G that is the product of two constant-treewidth graphs of size n each. First, given an idempotent semiring, we present an algorithm that computes the semiring transitive closure of G in time Õ(n⁴). Since the output has size Θ(n⁴), our algorithm is optimal (up to polylog factors). Second, given a mean-payoff objective, we present an O(n³)-time algorithm for deciding whether the value of a starting state is non-negative, improving the previously known O(n⁴) bound. Third, given an initial credit for energy objective, we present an O(n⁵)-time algorithm for computing the minimum initial credit for all nodes of G, improving the previously known O(n⁸) bound. At the heart of our approach lies an algorithm for the efficient construction of strongly-balanced tree decompositions of constant-treewidth graphs. Given a constant-treewidth graph G' of n nodes and a positive integer λ, our algorithm constructs a binary tree decomposition of G' of width O(λ) with the property that the size of each subtree decreases geometrically with rate (1/2 + 2^{-λ}).
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Krishnendu Chatterjee, Rasmus Ibsen-Jensen, and Andreas Pavlogiannis. Quantitative Verification on Product Graphs of Small Treewidth. In 41st IARCS Annual Conference on Foundations of Software Technology and Theoretical Computer Science (FSTTCS 2021). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 213, pp. 42:1-42:23, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2021)

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@InProceedings{chatterjee_et_al:LIPIcs.FSTTCS.2021.42,
  author =	{Chatterjee, Krishnendu and Ibsen-Jensen, Rasmus and Pavlogiannis, Andreas},
  title =	{{Quantitative Verification on Product Graphs of Small Treewidth}},
  booktitle =	{41st IARCS Annual Conference on Foundations of Software Technology and Theoretical Computer Science (FSTTCS 2021)},
  pages =	{42:1--42:23},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-215-0},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2021},
  volume =	{213},
  editor =	{Boja\'{n}czyk, Miko{\l}aj and Chekuri, Chandra},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.FSTTCS.2021.42},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-155533},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.FSTTCS.2021.42},
  annote =	{Keywords: graph algorithms, algebraic paths, mean-payoff, initial credit for energy}
}
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