DROPS

Document

NatureHCI: Towards Designing Computer-Enriched Nature Experiences (Dagstuhl Seminar 25302)

Authors: Masahiko Inami, Michael Jones, Zhuying Li, Florian `Floyd' Mueller, and Maria F. Montoya

Published in: Dagstuhl Reports, Volume 15, Issue 7 (2026)

Abstract

This report documents the proceedings and outcomes of a NatureHCI seminar, in which 21 researchers and academics from across the world gathered at Schloss Dagstuhl, Germany, to discuss the grand challenges that this field currently faces. We present the activities developed day by day, including PechaKucha self-introductions, collaborative workshops, hands-on design sessions, and group discussions. Finally, we present the pathways that attendees proposed to start addressing the seminar’s critical question: how interactive technologies can be designed responsibly to improve our experience of nature, thereby strengthening our connection with nature, which benefits health and wellbeing? Ultimately, with this report, we hope to inspire upcoming Dagstuhl Seminar proposals interested in advancing the field of HCI.

Cite as

Masahiko Inami, Michael Jones, Zhuying Li, Florian `Floyd' Mueller, and Maria F. Montoya. NatureHCI: Towards Designing Computer-Enriched Nature Experiences (Dagstuhl Seminar 25302). In Dagstuhl Reports, Volume 15, Issue 7, pp. 213-252, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)

Copy BibTex To Clipboard

@Article{inami_et_al:DagRep.15.7.213,
  author =	{Inami, Masahiko and Jones, Michael and Li, Zhuying and Mueller, Florian `Floyd' and Montoya, Maria F.},
  title =	{{NatureHCI: Towards Designing Computer-Enriched Nature Experiences (Dagstuhl Seminar 25302)}},
  pages =	{213--252},
  journal =	{Dagstuhl Reports},
  ISSN =	{2192-5283},
  year =	{2026},
  volume =	{15},
  number =	{7},
  editor =	{Inami, Masahiko and Jones, Michael and Li, Zhuying and Mueller, Florian `Floyd' and Montoya, Maria F.},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/DagRep.15.7.213},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-257645},
  doi =		{10.4230/DagRep.15.7.213},
  annote =	{Keywords: NatureHCI, Nature Interactions, Wilderness, Technology, Wellbeing, Sustainability, More-Than-Human, Human-Computer Interaction, non-humans, animals, nature}
}

Document

DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.STACS.2026.13

Line Cover and Related Problems

Authors: Matthias Bentert, Fedor V. Fomin, Petr A. Golovach, Souvik Saha, Sanjay Seetharaman, and Anannya Upasana

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

Abstract

We study several extensions of the classic Line Cover problem of covering a set of n points in the plane with k lines. Line Cover is known to be NP-hard and our focus is on two natural generalizations: (1) Line Clustering, where the objective is to find k lines in the plane that minimize the sum of squares of distances of a given set of input points to the closest line, and (2) Hyperplane Cover, where the goal is to cover n points in ℝ^d by k hyperplanes. We also consider the more general Projective Clustering problem, which unifies both of these and has numerous applications in machine learning, data mining, and computational geometry. In this problem one seeks k affine subspaces of dimension r minimizing the sum of squares of distances of a given set of n points in ℝ^d to the closest point within one of the k affine subspaces. Our main contributions reveal interesting differences in the parameterized complexity of these problems. While Line Cover is fixed-parameter tractable parameterized by the number k of lines in the solution, we show that Line Clustering is W[1]-hard when parameterized by k and rule out algorithms of running time n^{o(k)} under the Exponential Time Hypothesis. Hyperplane Cover is known to be NP-hard even when d = 2 and by the work of Langerman and Morin [Discrete & Computational Geometry, 2005], it is FPT parameterized by k and d. We complement this result by establishing that Hyperplane Cover is W[2]-hard when parameterized by only k. We complement our hardness results by presenting an algorithm for Projective Clustering. We show that this problem is solvable in n^{𝒪(dk(r+1))} time. Not only does this yield an upper bound for Line Clustering that asymptotically matches our lower bound, but it also significantly extends the seminal work on k-Means Clustering (the special case r = 0) by Inaba, Katoh, and Imai [SoCG 1994].

Cite as

Matthias Bentert, Fedor V. Fomin, Petr A. Golovach, Souvik Saha, Sanjay Seetharaman, and Anannya Upasana. Line Cover and Related Problems. In 43rd International Symposium on Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science (STACS 2026). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 364, pp. 13:1-13:18, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)

Copy BibTex To Clipboard

@InProceedings{bentert_et_al:LIPIcs.STACS.2026.13,
  author =	{Bentert, Matthias and Fomin, Fedor V. and Golovach, Petr A. and Saha, Souvik and Seetharaman, Sanjay and Upasana, Anannya},
  title =	{{Line Cover and Related Problems}},
  booktitle =	{43rd International Symposium on Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science (STACS 2026)},
  pages =	{13:1--13:18},
  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.2026.13},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-255023},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.STACS.2026.13},
  annote =	{Keywords: Point Line Cover, Projective Clustering, W-hardness, XP algorithm}
}

Document

DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.STACS.2026.53

Maximum Reachability Orientation of Mixed Graphs

Authors: Florian Hörsch

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

Abstract

We aim to find orientations of mixed graphs optimizing the total reachability, a problem that has applications in causality and biology. For given a digraph D, we use P(D) for the set of ordered pairs of distinct vertices in V(D) and we define κ_D:P(D) → {0,1} by κ_D(u,v) = 1 if v is reachable from u in D, and κ_D(u,v) = 0, otherwise. We use R(D) = ∑_{(u,v) ∈ P(D)}κ_D(u,v). Now, given a mixed graph G, we aim to find an orientation x⃑{G} of G that maximizes R(x⃑{G}). Hakimi, Schmeichel, and Young proved that the problem can be solved in polynomial time when restricted to undirected inputs. They inquired about the complexity in mixed graphs. We answer this question by showing that this problem is NP-hard, and, moreover, APX-hard. We then develop a finer understanding of how quickly the problem becomes difficult when going from undirected to mixed graphs. To this end, we consider the parameterized complexity of the problem with respect to the number k of preoriented arcs of G, a poorly studied form of parameterization. We show that the problem can be solved in time n^{O(k)} and that a (1-ε)-approximation can be computed in time f(k,ε)n^{O(1)} for any ε > 0.

Cite as

Florian Hörsch. Maximum Reachability Orientation of Mixed Graphs. In 43rd International Symposium on Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science (STACS 2026). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 364, pp. 53:1-53:17, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)

Copy BibTex To Clipboard

@InProceedings{horsch:LIPIcs.STACS.2026.53,
  author =	{H\"{o}rsch, Florian},
  title =	{{Maximum Reachability Orientation of Mixed Graphs}},
  booktitle =	{43rd International Symposium on Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science (STACS 2026)},
  pages =	{53:1--53:17},
  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.2026.53},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-255421},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.STACS.2026.53},
  annote =	{Keywords: orientations, mixed graphs, reachability, parameterized complexity, approximation}
}

Document

DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.CSL.2026.47

Useful Call-by-Value: A Semantic Interpretation via Quantitative Types

Authors: Pablo Barenbaum, Delia Kesner, and Mariana Milicich

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

Abstract

Useful evaluation is an optimised evaluation mechanism for functional programming languages. It relies on representing terms with sharing and imposing a restricted notion of useful substitutions, that intuitively disallows copying subterms that do not contribute to the progress of the computation. In particular, useful call-by-value evaluation optimises the standard call-by-value strategy by preserving its original semantics. This preservation result has been shown by means of syntactical rewriting techniques, difficult to adapt to alternative variants of the calculi at play. In this work, we present the first semantic model of useful call-by-value evaluation through the non-idempotent intersection type system 𝒰. Our first contribution is a characterisation of termination for useful call-by-value evaluation via system 𝒰. That is, a term is typable in system 𝒰 if and only if it terminates in the useful call-by-value strategy. As a second contribution, we show that system 𝒰 provides a quantitative interpretation for useful call-by-value evaluation, offering exact step-count information for program evaluation. Our third contribution is that termination in call-by-value and useful call-by-value are equivalent. This ensures in particular that call-by-value, which is (potentially) erasing, and useful call-by-value, which is non-erasing, are observationally equivalent. Even though the specification of the operational semantics of useful evaluation is highly complex, system 𝒰 is notably simple. As far as we know, system 𝒰 is one of the scarce quantitative type systems capturing exactly the substitution step-count for variables and abstractions in an open call-by-value strategy.

Cite as

Pablo Barenbaum, Delia Kesner, and Mariana Milicich. Useful Call-by-Value: A Semantic Interpretation via Quantitative Types. In 34th EACSL Annual Conference on Computer Science Logic (CSL 2026). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 363, pp. 47:1-47:24, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)

Copy BibTex To Clipboard

@InProceedings{barenbaum_et_al:LIPIcs.CSL.2026.47,
  author =	{Barenbaum, Pablo and Kesner, Delia and Milicich, Mariana},
  title =	{{Useful Call-by-Value: A Semantic Interpretation via Quantitative Types}},
  booktitle =	{34th EACSL Annual Conference on Computer Science Logic (CSL 2026)},
  pages =	{47:1--47:24},
  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.2026.47},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-254721},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.CSL.2026.47},
  annote =	{Keywords: Lambda calculus, Evaluation strategies, Call-by-Value, Useful Evaluation, Intersection types, Quantitative models}
}

Document

DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.44

Higher-Order Delsarte Dual LPs: Lifting, Constructions and Completeness

Authors: Leonardo Nagami Coregliano, Fernando Granha Jeronimo, Chris Jones, Nati Linial, and Elyassaf Loyfer

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

Abstract

A central and longstanding open problem in coding theory is the rate-versus-distance trade-off for binary error-correcting codes. In a seminal work, Delsarte introduced a family of linear programs establishing relaxations on the size of optimum codes. To date, the state-of-the-art upper bounds for binary codes come from dual feasible solutions to these LPs. Still, these bounds are exponentially far from the best-known existential constructions. Recently, hierarchies of linear programs extending and strengthening Delsarte’s original LPs were introduced for linear codes, which we refer to as higher-order Delsarte LPs. These new hierarchies were shown to provably converge to the actual value of optimum codes, namely, they are complete hierarchies. Therefore, understanding them and their dual formulations becomes a valuable line of investigation. Nonetheless, their higher-order structure poses challenges. In fact, analysis of all known convex programming hierarchies strengthening Delsarte’s original LPs has turned out to be exceedingly difficult and essentially nothing is known, stalling progress in the area since the 1970s. Our main result is an analysis of the higher-order Delsarte LPs via their dual formulation. Although quantitatively, our current analysis only matches the best-known upper bounds, it shows, for the first time, how to tame the complexity of analyzing a hierarchy strengthening Delsarte’s original LPs. In doing so, we reach a better understanding of the structure of the hierarchy, which may serve as the foundation for further quantitative improvements. We provide two additional structural results for this hierarchy. First, we show how to explicitly lift any feasible dual solution from level k to a (suitable) larger level 𝓁 while retaining the objective value. Second, we give a novel proof of completeness using the dual formulation.

Cite as

Leonardo Nagami Coregliano, Fernando Granha Jeronimo, Chris Jones, Nati Linial, and Elyassaf Loyfer. Higher-Order Delsarte Dual LPs: Lifting, Constructions and Completeness. In 17th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2026). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 362, pp. 44:1-44:22, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)

Copy BibTex To Clipboard

@InProceedings{coregliano_et_al:LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.44,
  author =	{Coregliano, Leonardo Nagami and Jeronimo, Fernando Granha and Jones, Chris and Linial, Nati and Loyfer, Elyassaf},
  title =	{{Higher-Order Delsarte Dual LPs: Lifting, Constructions and Completeness}},
  booktitle =	{17th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2026)},
  pages =	{44:1--44:22},
  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.2026.44},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-253315},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.44},
  annote =	{Keywords: Coding theory, code bounds, convex optimization, linear progamming hierarchy}
}

Document

DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.10

On the Complexity of Unique Quantum Witnesses and Quantum Approximate Counting

Authors: Anurag Anshu, Jonas Haferkamp, Yeongwoo Hwang, and Quynh T. Nguyen

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

Abstract

We study the long-standing open question on the power of unique witnesses in quantum protocols, which asks if UniqueQMA, a variant of QMA whose accepting witness space is 1-dimensional, contains QMA under quantum reductions. This work rules out any black-box reduction from QMA to UniqueQMA by showing a quantum oracle separation between BQP^UniqueQMA and QMA. This provides a contrast to the classical case, where the Valiant-Vazirani theorem shows a black-box randomized reduction from UniqueNP to NP, and suggests the need for studying the structure of the ground space of local Hamiltonians in distilling a potential unique witness. Via similar techniques, we show, relative to a quantum oracle, that QMA^QMA cannot decide quantum approximate counting, ruling out a quantum analogue of Stockmeyer’s algorithm in the black-box setting. Our results employ a subspace reflection oracle, previously considered in [Scott Aaronson and Greg Kuperberg, 2007; Scott Aaronson et al., 2020; She and Yuen, 2023], but we introduce new tools which allow us to exploit the unique witness constraint. We also show a strong "polarization" behavior of QMA circuits, which could be of independent interest in studying quantum polynomial hierarchies. We then ask a natural question; what structural properties of the local Hamiltonian problem can we exploit? We introduce a physically motivated candidate by showing that the ground energy of local Hamiltonians that satisfy a computational variant of the eigenstate thermalization hypothesis (ETH) can be estimated through a UniqueQMA protocol. Our protocol can be viewed as a quantum expander test in a low energy subspace of the Hamiltonian and verifies a unique entangled state across two copies of the subspace. This allows us to conclude that if UniqueQMA is not equivalent to QMA, then QMA-hard Hamiltonians must violate ETH under adversarial perturbations (more accurately, further assuming the quantum PCP conjecture if ETH only applies to extensive energy subspaces). Under the same assumption, this also serves as evidence that chaotic local Hamiltonians, such as the SYK model may be computationally simpler than general local Hamiltonians.

Cite as

Anurag Anshu, Jonas Haferkamp, Yeongwoo Hwang, and Quynh T. Nguyen. On the Complexity of Unique Quantum Witnesses and Quantum Approximate Counting. In 17th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2026). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 362, pp. 10:1-10:20, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)

Copy BibTex To Clipboard

@InProceedings{anshu_et_al:LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.10,
  author =	{Anshu, Anurag and Haferkamp, Jonas and Hwang, Yeongwoo and Nguyen, Quynh T.},
  title =	{{On the Complexity of Unique Quantum Witnesses and Quantum Approximate Counting}},
  booktitle =	{17th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2026)},
  pages =	{10:1--10:20},
  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.2026.10},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-252978},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.10},
  annote =	{Keywords: Quantum complexity, approximate counting, Valiant-Vazirani, eigenstate thermalization hypothesis}
}

Document

DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.12

Semi-Random Graphs, Robust Asymmetry, and Reconstruction

Authors: Julian Asilis, Xi Chen, Dutch Hansen, and Shang-Hua Teng

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

Abstract

The Graph Reconstruction Conjecture famously posits that any undirected graph on at least three vertices is determined up to isomorphism by its family of (unlabeled) induced subgraphs. At present, the conjecture admits partial resolutions of two types: 1) casework-based demonstrations of reconstructibility for families of graphs satisfying certain structural properties, and 2) probabilistic arguments establishing reconstructibility of random graphs by leveraging average-case phenomena. While results in the first category capture the worst-case nature of the conjecture, they play a limited role in understanding the general case. Results in the second category address much larger graph families, but it remains unclear how heavily the necessary arguments rely on optimistic distributional properties. Drawing on the algorithmic notions of smoothed and semi-random analysis, we study the robustness of what are arguably the two most fundamental properties in this latter line of work: asymmetry and uniqueness of subgraphs. Notably, we find that various natural semi-random graph distributions exhibit these properties asymptotically, much like their Erdős-Rényi counterparts. In particular, Bollobás [Bollob{á}s, 1990] demonstrated that almost all Erdős-Rényi random graphs G = (V, E) ∼ G(n, p) enjoy the property that their induced subgraphs on n - Θ(1) vertices are asymmetric and mutually non-isomorphic, for 1 - p, p = Ω(log(n) / n). As our primary result, we demonstrate that this property is robust against perturbation - even when an adversary is permitted to add/remove each vertex pair in V^{(2)} with (independent) arbitrarily large constant probability. Exploiting this result, we derive asymptotic characterizations of asymmetry in random graphs with large planted structure and bounded adversarial corruptions, along with improved bounds on the probability mass of nonreconstructible graphs in G(n, p).

Cite as

Julian Asilis, Xi Chen, Dutch Hansen, and Shang-Hua Teng. Semi-Random Graphs, Robust Asymmetry, and Reconstruction. In 17th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2026). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 362, pp. 12:1-12:21, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)

Copy BibTex To Clipboard

@InProceedings{asilis_et_al:LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.12,
  author =	{Asilis, Julian and Chen, Xi and Hansen, Dutch and Teng, Shang-Hua},
  title =	{{Semi-Random Graphs, Robust Asymmetry, and Reconstruction}},
  booktitle =	{17th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2026)},
  pages =	{12:1--12:21},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-410-9},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2026},
  volume =	{362},
  editor =	{Saraf, Shubhangi},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.12},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-252993},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.12},
  annote =	{Keywords: Graph reconstruction, random graphs}
}

Document

DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.56

The Hardness of Learning Quantum Circuits and Its Cryptographic Applications

Authors: Bill Fefferman, Soumik Ghosh, Makrand Sinha, and Henry Yuen

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

Abstract

We show that concrete hardness assumptions about learning or cloning the output state of a random quantum circuit can be used as the foundation for secure quantum cryptography. In particular, under these assumptions we construct secure one-way state generators (OWSGs), digital signature schemes, quantum bit commitments, and private key encryption schemes. We also discuss evidence for these hardness assumptions by analyzing the best-known quantum learning algorithms, as well as proving black-box lower bounds for cloning and learning given state preparation oracles. Our random circuit-based constructions provide concrete instantiations of quantum cryptographic primitives whose security do not depend on the existence of one-way functions. The use of random circuits in our constructions also opens the door to {NISQ-friendly quantum cryptography}. We discuss noise tolerant versions of our OWSG and digital signature constructions which can potentially be implementable on noisy quantum computers connected by a quantum network. On the other hand, they are still secure against {noiseless} quantum adversaries, raising the intriguing possibility of a useful implementation of an end-to-end cryptographic protocol on near-term quantum computers. Finally, our explorations suggest that the rich interconnections between learning theory and cryptography in classical theoretical computer science also extend to the quantum setting.

Cite as

Bill Fefferman, Soumik Ghosh, Makrand Sinha, and Henry Yuen. The Hardness of Learning Quantum Circuits and Its Cryptographic Applications. In 17th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2026). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 362, pp. 56:1-56:21, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)

Copy BibTex To Clipboard

@InProceedings{fefferman_et_al:LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.56,
  author =	{Fefferman, Bill and Ghosh, Soumik and Sinha, Makrand and Yuen, Henry},
  title =	{{The Hardness of Learning Quantum Circuits and Its Cryptographic Applications}},
  booktitle =	{17th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2026)},
  pages =	{56:1--56:21},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-410-9},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2026},
  volume =	{362},
  editor =	{Saraf, Shubhangi},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.56},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-253431},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.56},
  annote =	{Keywords: quantum learning, quantum circuits, cryptographic hardness, one-way state generators}
}

Document

DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.57

Anti-Concentration for the Unitary Haar Measure and Applications to Random Quantum Circuits

Authors: Bill Fefferman, Soumik Ghosh, and Wei Zhan

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

Abstract

We prove a Carbery-Wright style anti-concentration inequality for the unitary Haar measure, by showing that the probability of a polynomial in the entries of a random unitary falling into an ε range is at most a polynomial in ε. Using it, we show that the scrambling speed of a random quantum circuit is lower bounded: Namely, every input qubit has an influence that is at least inverse exponential in depth, on any output qubit touched by its lightcone. Our result on scrambling speed works with high probability over the choice of a circuit from an ensemble, as opposed to just working in expectation. As an application, we give the first polynomial-time algorithm for learning log-depth random quantum circuits with Haar random gates up to polynomially small diamond distance, given oracle access to the circuit. Other applications of this new scrambling speed lower bound include: - An optimal Ω(log ε^{-1}) depth lower bound for ε-approximate unitary designs on any circuit architecture; - A polynomial-time quantum algorithm that computes the depth of a bounded-depth circuit, given oracle access to the circuit. Our learning and depth-testing algorithms apply to architectures defined over any geometric dimension, and can be generalized to a wide class of architectures with good lightcone properties.

Cite as

Bill Fefferman, Soumik Ghosh, and Wei Zhan. Anti-Concentration for the Unitary Haar Measure and Applications to Random Quantum Circuits. In 17th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2026). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 362, pp. 57:1-57:24, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)

Copy BibTex To Clipboard

@InProceedings{fefferman_et_al:LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.57,
  author =	{Fefferman, Bill and Ghosh, Soumik and Zhan, Wei},
  title =	{{Anti-Concentration for the Unitary Haar Measure and Applications to Random Quantum Circuits}},
  booktitle =	{17th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2026)},
  pages =	{57:1--57:24},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-410-9},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2026},
  volume =	{362},
  editor =	{Saraf, Shubhangi},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.57},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-253443},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.57},
  annote =	{Keywords: Haar measure, anti-concentration, random quanytum circuit, learning}
}

Document

DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.70

Unconditional Pseudorandomness Against Shallow Quantum Circuits

Authors: Soumik Ghosh, Sathyawageeswar Subramanian, and Wei Zhan

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

Abstract

Quantum computational pseudorandomness has emerged as a fundamental notion that spans connections to complexity theory, cryptography and fundamental physics. However, all known constructions of efficient quantum-secure pseudorandom objects rely on complexity theoretic assumptions. In this work, we establish the first unconditionally secure efficient pseudorandom constructions against shallow-depth quantum circuit classes. We prove that: - Any quantum state 2-design yields unconditional pseudorandomness against both QNC⁰ circuits with arbitrarily many ancillae and AC⁰∘QNC⁰ circuits with nearly linear ancillae. - Random phased subspace states, where the phases are picked using a 4-wise independent function, are unconditionally pseudoentangled against the above circuit classes. - Any unitary 2-design yields unconditionally secure parallel-query pseudorandom unitaries against geometrically local QNC⁰ adversaries, even with limited AC⁰ postprocessing. Our results stand in stark contrast to the standard guarantee of the 2-design property, which only ensures that they cannot be distinguished from Haar random ensembles using two copies or queries. Our work demonstrates that quantum computational pseudorandomness can be achieved unconditionally for natural classes of restricted adversaries, opening new directions in quantum complexity theory.

Cite as

Soumik Ghosh, Sathyawageeswar Subramanian, and Wei Zhan. Unconditional Pseudorandomness Against Shallow Quantum Circuits. In 17th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2026). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 362, pp. 70:1-70:25, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)

Copy BibTex To Clipboard

@InProceedings{ghosh_et_al:LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.70,
  author =	{Ghosh, Soumik and Subramanian, Sathyawageeswar and Zhan, Wei},
  title =	{{Unconditional Pseudorandomness Against Shallow Quantum Circuits}},
  booktitle =	{17th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2026)},
  pages =	{70:1--70:25},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-410-9},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2026},
  volume =	{362},
  editor =	{Saraf, Shubhangi},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.70},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-253578},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.70},
  annote =	{Keywords: quantum pseudorandomness, shallow quantum circuits, pseudorandomness, t-designs}
}

Document

DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.95

Identity Testing for Circuits with Exponentiation Gates

Authors: Jiatu Li and Mengdi Wu

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

Abstract

Motivated by practical applications in the design of optimization compilers for neural networks, we initiated the study of identity testing problems for arithmetic circuits augmented with exponentiation gates that compute the real function x↦ e^x. These circuits compute real functions of form P(→x)/P'(→x), where both P(→x) and P'(→x) are exponential polynomials ∑_{i = 1}^k f_i(→x)⋅ exp((g_i(→x))/(h_i(→x))), for polynomials f_i(→x),g_i(→x), and h_i(→x). We formalize a black-box query model over finite fields for this class of circuits, which is mathematical simple and reflects constraints faced by real-world neural network compilers. We proved that a simple and efficient randomized identity testing algorithm achieves perfect completeness and non-trivial soundness. Concurrent with our work, the algorithm has been implemented in the optimization compiler Mirage by Wu et al. (OSDI 2025), demonstrating promising empirical performance in both efficiency and soundness error. Finally, we propose a number-theoretic conjecture under which our algorithm is sound with high probability.

Cite as

Jiatu Li and Mengdi Wu. Identity Testing for Circuits with Exponentiation Gates. In 17th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2026). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 362, pp. 95:1-95:22, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)

Copy BibTex To Clipboard

@InProceedings{li_et_al:LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.95,
  author =	{Li, Jiatu and Wu, Mengdi},
  title =	{{Identity Testing for Circuits with Exponentiation Gates}},
  booktitle =	{17th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2026)},
  pages =	{95:1--95:22},
  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.2026.95},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-253821},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.95},
  annote =	{Keywords: Polynomial Identity Testing, Exponential Polynomials}
}

Document

DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.IPEC.2025.11

Parameterized Algorithms for Diversity of Networks with Ecological Dependencies

Authors: Mark Jones and Jannik Schestag

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

Abstract

For a phylogenetic tree, the phylogenetic diversity of a set A of taxa is the total weight of edges on paths to A. Finding small sets of maximal diversity is crucial for conservation planning, as it indicates where limited resources can be invested most efficiently. In recent years, efficient algorithms have been developed to find sets of taxa that maximize phylogenetic diversity either in a phylogenetic network or in a phylogenetic tree subject to ecological constraints, such as a food web. However, these aspects have mostly been studied independently. Since both factors are biologically important, it seems natural to consider them together. In this paper, we introduce decision problems where, given a phylogenetic network, a food web, and integers k, and D, the task is to find a set of k taxa with phylogenetic diversity of at least D under the maximize all paths measure, while also satisfying viability conditions within the food web. Here, we consider different definitions of viability, which all demand that a "sufficient" number of prey species survive to support surviving predators. We investigate the parameterized complexity of these problems and present several fixed-parameter tractable (FPT) algorithms. Specifically, we provide a complete complexity dichotomy characterizing which combinations of parameters - out of the size constraint k, the acceptable diversity loss D̄, the scanwidth of the food web sw_ℱ, the maximum in-degree δ in the network, and the network height h - lead to W[1]-hardness and which admit FPT algorithms. Our primary methodological contribution is a novel algorithmic framework for solving phylogenetic diversity problems in networks where dependencies (such as those from a food web) impose an order, using a color coding approach.

Cite as

Mark Jones and Jannik Schestag. Parameterized Algorithms for Diversity of Networks with Ecological Dependencies. In 20th International Symposium on Parameterized and Exact Computation (IPEC 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 358, pp. 11:1-11:21, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

Copy BibTex To Clipboard

@InProceedings{jones_et_al:LIPIcs.IPEC.2025.11,
  author =	{Jones, Mark and Schestag, Jannik},
  title =	{{Parameterized Algorithms for Diversity of Networks with Ecological Dependencies}},
  booktitle =	{20th International Symposium on Parameterized and Exact Computation (IPEC 2025)},
  pages =	{11:1--11:21},
  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.2025.11},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-251439},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.IPEC.2025.11},
  annote =	{Keywords: Phylogenetic Diversity, Fixed-Parameter Tractability, Phylogenetic Networks, Food Webs, Color Coding}
}

Document

DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.IPEC.2025.12

Timeline Problems in Temporal Graphs: Vertex Cover vs. Dominating Set

Authors: Anton Herrmann, Christian Komusiewicz, Nils Morawietz, and Frank Sommer

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

Abstract

A temporal graph is a finite sequence of graphs, called snapshots, over the same vertex set. Many temporal graph problems turn out to be much more difficult than their static counterparts. One such problem is Timeline Vertex Cover (also known as MinTimeline_∞), a temporal analogue to the classical Vertex Cover problem. In this problem, one is given a temporal graph 𝒢 and two integers k and 𝓁, and the goal is to cover each edge of each snapshot by selecting for each vertex at most k activity intervals of length at most 𝓁 each. Here, an edge uv in the ith snapshot is covered, if an activity interval of u or v is active at time i. In this work, we continue the algorithmic study of Timeline Vertex Cover and introduce the Timeline Dominating Set problem where we want to dominate all vertices in each snapshot by the selected activity intervals. We analyze both problems from a classical and parameterized point of view and also consider partial problem versions, where the goal is to cover (dominate) at least t edges (vertices) of the snapshots. With respect to the parameterized complexity, we consider the temporal graph parameters vertex-interval-membership-width (vimw) and interval-membership-width (imw). We show that all considered problems admit FPT-algorithms when parameterized by vimw+k+𝓁. This provides a smaller parameter combination than the ones used for previously known FPT-algorithms for Timeline Vertex Cover. Surprisingly, for imw+k+𝓁, Timeline Dominating Set turns out to be easier than Timeline Vertex Cover, by also admitting an FPT-algorithm, whereas the vertex cover version is NP-hard even if imw+k+𝓁 is constant. We also consider parameterization by combinations of n, the vertex set size, with k or 𝓁 and parameterization by t. Here, we show for example that both partial problems are fixed-parameter tractable for t which significantly improves and generalizes a previous result for a special case of Partial Timeline Vertex Cover with k = 1.

Cite as

Anton Herrmann, Christian Komusiewicz, Nils Morawietz, and Frank Sommer. Timeline Problems in Temporal Graphs: Vertex Cover vs. Dominating Set. In 20th International Symposium on Parameterized and Exact Computation (IPEC 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 358, pp. 12:1-12:18, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

Copy BibTex To Clipboard

@InProceedings{herrmann_et_al:LIPIcs.IPEC.2025.12,
  author =	{Herrmann, Anton and Komusiewicz, Christian and Morawietz, Nils and Sommer, Frank},
  title =	{{Timeline Problems in Temporal Graphs: Vertex Cover vs. Dominating Set}},
  booktitle =	{20th International Symposium on Parameterized and Exact Computation (IPEC 2025)},
  pages =	{12:1--12:18},
  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.2025.12},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-251446},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.IPEC.2025.12},
  annote =	{Keywords: NP-hard problem, FPT-algorithm, interval-membership-width, Color coding}
}

Document

Invited Paper

DOI: 10.4230/OASIcs.RW.2024/2025.1

Rule-Based Knowledge Graph Completion (Invited Paper)

Authors: Patrick Betz, Christian Meilicke, and Heiner Stuckenschmidt

Published in: OASIcs, Volume 138, Joint Proceedings of the 20th and 21st Reasoning Web Summer Schools (RW 2024 & RW 2025)

Abstract

The field of knowledge graph completion is concerned with augmenting knowledge graphs with missing information. Symbolic rule-based approaches are not only efficient and interpretable but also competitive with embedding-based methods in regard to predictive quality. Rule-based knowledge graph completion can be separated into two stages, the learning stage and the application stage, which are both individually challenging. In the learning stage, horn rules are mined from a given knowledge graph. Given the vast size of the space of all possible rules, the mining approach must select relevant rules effectively. In the application stage, the mined rules are used to make new predictions which are assigned with plausibility scores. These scores need to be set by aggregating individual confidence values of rules that have the same consequence. This tutorial covers the fundamental aspects required to build a symbolic rule-based approach for knowledge graph completion. It will discuss the different rule types, mining strategies, and how to effectively apply the rules in different scenarios. Finally, we discuss practical examples for rule application by using the Python-based PyClause library.

Cite as

Patrick Betz, Christian Meilicke, and Heiner Stuckenschmidt. Rule-Based Knowledge Graph Completion (Invited Paper). In Joint Proceedings of the 20th and 21st Reasoning Web Summer Schools (RW 2024 & RW 2025). Open Access Series in Informatics (OASIcs), Volume 138, pp. 1:1-1:45, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

Copy BibTex To Clipboard

@InProceedings{betz_et_al:OASIcs.RW.2024/2025.1,
  author =	{Betz, Patrick and Meilicke, Christian and Stuckenschmidt, Heiner},
  title =	{{Rule-Based Knowledge Graph Completion}},
  booktitle =	{Joint Proceedings of the 20th and 21st Reasoning Web Summer Schools (RW 2024 \& RW 2025)},
  pages =	{1:1--1:45},
  series =	{Open Access Series in Informatics (OASIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-405-5},
  ISSN =	{2190-6807},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{138},
  editor =	{Artale, Alessandro and Bienvenu, Meghyn and Garc{\'\i}a, Yazm{\'\i}n Ib\'{a}\~{n}ez and Murlak, Filip},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/OASIcs.RW.2024/2025.1},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-250461},
  doi =		{10.4230/OASIcs.RW.2024/2025.1},
  annote =	{Keywords: Knowledge Graph Completion, Rule Learning, Symbolic AI}
}

Document

DX Competition

DOI: 10.4230/OASIcs.DX.2025.15

Data-Driven Fault Detection and Isolation Enhanced with System Structural Relationships (DX Competition)

Authors: Austin Coursey, Abel Diaz-Gonzalez, Marcos Quinones-Grueiro, and Gautam Biswas

Published in: OASIcs, Volume 136, 36th International Conference on Principles of Diagnosis and Resilient Systems (DX 2025)

Abstract

Fault detection and isolation are becoming increasingly important as modern systems become more complex. To encourage the development of new fault detection solutions that can operate with limited noisy data and an incomplete mathematical model, the DX 2025 LiU-ICE competition for diagnosis of the air path of an internal combustion engine was introduced. In this paper, we present our winning solution to this competition. Our fault detection architecture starts with a semi-supervised Transformer Autoencoder trained to reconstruct nominal data. Detected faults are then passed through a rule-based fault persistence filter that aims to suppress false positives. Once a fault is detected, we use four neural networks trained to estimate features determined from structural analysis of a partial system model. The residuals of these networks are fed to a supervised fault classification network that estimates the fault probabilities. With this architecture, we achieved an 87% detection rate with a 0% false alarm rate on the provided competition data. Additionally, our isolation architecture assigned the correct fault 73.8% probabilty on average. On unseen competition data from a new driving cycle, we achieved a 100% detection rate and assigned the correct fault 66.2% probability on average. On the other hand, the Transformer Autoencoder failed to transfer to the new driving conditions, causing many false alarms. We discuss ways future work can reduce this.

Cite as

Austin Coursey, Abel Diaz-Gonzalez, Marcos Quinones-Grueiro, and Gautam Biswas. Data-Driven Fault Detection and Isolation Enhanced with System Structural Relationships (DX Competition). In 36th International Conference on Principles of Diagnosis and Resilient Systems (DX 2025). Open Access Series in Informatics (OASIcs), Volume 136, pp. 15:1-15:17, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

Copy BibTex To Clipboard

@InProceedings{coursey_et_al:OASIcs.DX.2025.15,
  author =	{Coursey, Austin and Diaz-Gonzalez, Abel and Quinones-Grueiro, Marcos and Biswas, Gautam},
  title =	{{Data-Driven Fault Detection and Isolation Enhanced with System Structural Relationships}},
  booktitle =	{36th International Conference on Principles of Diagnosis and Resilient Systems (DX 2025)},
  pages =	{15:1--15:17},
  series =	{Open Access Series in Informatics (OASIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-394-2},
  ISSN =	{2190-6807},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{136},
  editor =	{Quinones-Grueiro, Marcos and Biswas, Gautam and Pill, Ingo},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/OASIcs.DX.2025.15},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-248043},
  doi =		{10.4230/OASIcs.DX.2025.15},
  annote =	{Keywords: fault detection, fault isolation, autoencoder}
}

107 Search Results for "Jones, Michael A."

Abstract

Cite as

Abstract

Cite as

Abstract

Cite as

Abstract

Cite as

Abstract

Cite as

Abstract

Cite as

Abstract

Cite as

Abstract

Cite as

Abstract

Cite as

Abstract

Cite as

Abstract

Cite as

Abstract

Cite as

Abstract

Cite as

Abstract

Cite as

Abstract

Cite as

Thanks for your feedback!

Could not send message