90 Search Results for "Kratsch, Stefan"

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)

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@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.2026.73
Colouring Probe H-Free Graphs

Authors: Daniël Paulusma, Johannes Rauch, and Erik Jan van Leeuwen

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

Abstract
The NP-complete problems Colouring and k-Colouring (k ≥ 3) are well studied on H-free graphs, i.e., graphs that do not contain some fixed graph H as an induced subgraph. We research to what extent the known polynomial-time algorithms for H-free graphs can be generalized if we only know some of the edges of the input graph. We do this by considering the classical probe graph model introduced in the early nineties. For a graph H, a partitioned probe H-free graph (G,P,N) consists of a graph G = (V,E), together with a set P ⊆ V of probes and an independent set N = V ⧵ P of non-probes, such that G+F is H-free for some edge set F ⊆ binom(N,2). We show the following: - We fully classify Colouring on partitioned probe H-free graphs and show that the obtained complexity dichotomy differs from the known dichotomy of Colouring for H-free graphs. - We fully classify 3-Colouring on partitioned probe P_t-free graphs: we prove polynomial-time solvability for t ≤ 5 and NP-completeness for t ≥ 6. In contrast, 3-Colouring on P_t-free graphs is known to be polynomial-time solvable for t ≤ 7 and quasi-polynomial-time solvable for t ≥ 8. Our main result is our polynomial-time algorithm for 3-Colouring on partitioned P₅-free graphs. For this result, and also for all our other polynomial-time results, we do not need to know the edge set F; we only need to know its existence. Moreover, the class of probe P₅-free graphs includes not only paths of arbitrary length but even all bipartite graphs and is much richer than the class of P₅-free graphs. The latter is also evidenced by the fact that there exist graph problems, such as Matching Cut, that are known to be polynomial-time solvable for P₅-free graphs but NP-complete for partitioned probe P₅-free graphs. In particular, unlike the class of 3-colourable P₅-free graphs, the class of 3-colourable probe P₅-free graphs has unbounded mim-width. Hence, our polynomial-time result for 3-Colouring for probe P₅-free graphs suggests that there may be another, deeper overarching reason why 3-Colouring is polynomial-time solvable for P₅-free graphs.
Cite as

Daniël Paulusma, Johannes Rauch, and Erik Jan van Leeuwen. Colouring Probe H-Free Graphs. In 43rd International Symposium on Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science (STACS 2026). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 364, pp. 73:1-73:20, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)

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@InProceedings{paulusma_et_al:LIPIcs.STACS.2026.73,
  author =	{Paulusma, Dani\"{e}l and Rauch, Johannes and van Leeuwen, Erik Jan},
  title =	{{Colouring Probe H-Free Graphs}},
  booktitle =	{43rd International Symposium on Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science (STACS 2026)},
  pages =	{73:1--73:20},
  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.2026.73},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-255621},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.STACS.2026.73},
  annote =	{Keywords: colouring, probe graph, forbidden induced subgraph, complexity dichotomy}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.STACS.2026.74
List Coloring Ordered Graphs with Forbidden Induced Subgraphs

Authors: Marta Piecyk and Paweł Rzążewski

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

Abstract
In the List k-Coloring problem we are given a graph whose every vertex is equipped with a list, which is a subset of {1,…,k}. We need to decide if G admits a proper coloring, where every vertex receives a color from its list. The complexity of the problem in classes defined by forbidding induced subgraphs is a widely studied topic in algorithmic graph theory. Recently, Hajebi, Li, and Spirkl [SIAM J. Discr. Math. 38 (2024)] initiated the study of List 3-Coloring in ordered graphs, i.e., graphs with fixed linear ordering of vertices. Forbidding ordered induced subgraphs allows us to investigate the boundary of tractability more closely. We continue this direction of research, focusing mostly on the case of List 4-Coloring. We present several algorithmic and hardness results, which altogether provide an almost complete dichotomy for classes defined by forbidding one fixed ordered graph: our investigations leave one minimal open case.
Cite as

Marta Piecyk and Paweł Rzążewski. List Coloring Ordered Graphs with Forbidden Induced Subgraphs. In 43rd International Symposium on Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science (STACS 2026). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 364, pp. 74:1-74:17, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)

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@InProceedings{piecyk_et_al:LIPIcs.STACS.2026.74,
  author =	{Piecyk, Marta and Rz\k{a}\.{z}ewski, Pawe{\l}},
  title =	{{List Coloring Ordered Graphs with Forbidden Induced Subgraphs}},
  booktitle =	{43rd International Symposium on Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science (STACS 2026)},
  pages =	{74:1--74:17},
  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.2026.74},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-255634},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.STACS.2026.74},
  annote =	{Keywords: coloring, ordered graphs, forbidden induced subgraphs}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.STACS.2026.79
Mind the Gap. Doubling Constant Parametrization of Weighted Problems: TSP, Max-Cut, and More

Authors: Mihail Stoian

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

Abstract
Despite much research, hard weighted problems still resist super-polynomial improvements over their textbook solution. On the other hand, the unweighted versions of these problems have recently witnessed the sought-after speedups. Currently, the only way to repurpose the algorithm of the unweighted version for the weighted version is to employ a polynomial embedding of the input weights. This, however, introduces a pseudo-polynomial factor into the running time, which becomes impractical for arbitrarily weighted instances. In this paper, we introduce a new way to repurpose the algorithm of the unweighted problem. Specifically, we show that the time complexity of several well-known NP-hard problems operating over the (min, +) and (max, +) semirings, such as TSP, Weighted Max-Cut, and Edge-Weighted k-Clique, is proportional to that of their unweighted versions when the set of input weights has small doubling. We achieve this by a meta-algorithm that converts the input weights into polynomially bounded integers using the recent constructive Freiman’s theorem by Randolph and Węgrzycki [ESA 2024] before applying the polynomial embedding.
Cite as

Mihail Stoian. Mind the Gap. Doubling Constant Parametrization of Weighted Problems: TSP, Max-Cut, and More. In 43rd International Symposium on Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science (STACS 2026). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 364, pp. 79:1-79:19, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)

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@InProceedings{stoian:LIPIcs.STACS.2026.79,
  author =	{Stoian, Mihail},
  title =	{{Mind the Gap. Doubling Constant Parametrization of Weighted Problems: TSP, Max-Cut, and More}},
  booktitle =	{43rd International Symposium on Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science (STACS 2026)},
  pages =	{79:1--79:19},
  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.2026.79},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-255680},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.STACS.2026.79},
  annote =	{Keywords: doubling constant parametrization, weighted problems, traveling salesman, weighted max-cut, edge-weighted k-clique}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.STACS.2026.78
Protrusion Decompositions Revisited: Uniform Lossy Kernels for Reducing Treewidth and Linear Kernels for Hitting Disconnected Minors

Authors: Roohani Sharma and Michał Włodarczyk

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

Abstract
Let ℱ be a finite family of graphs. In the ℱ-Deletion problem, one is given a graph G and an integer k, and the goal is to find k vertices whose deletion results in a graph with no minor from the family ℱ. This may be regarded as a far-reaching generalization of Vertex Cover and Feedback vertex Set. In their seminal work, Fomin, Lokshtanov, Misra & Saurabh [FOCS 2012] gave a polynomial kernel for this problem when the family ℱ contains a planar graph. As the size of their kernel is g(ℱ) ⋅ k^{f(ℱ)}, a natural follow-up question was whether the dependence on ℱ in the exponent of k can be avoided. The answer turned out to be negative: Giannopoulou, Jansen, Lokshtanov & Saurabh [TALG 2017] proved that this is already inevitable for the special case of the Treewidth-η-Deletion problem. In this work, we show that this non-uniformity can be avoided at the expense of a small loss. First, we present a simple 2-approximate kernelization algorithm for Treewidth-η-Deletion with a kernel size g(η) ⋅ k⁶. Next, we show that the approximation factor can be made arbitrarily close to 1, if we settle for a kernelization protocol with 𝒪(1) calls to an oracle that solves instances of size bounded by a uniform polynomial in k. We extend the above results to general ℱ-Deletion, whenever ℱ contains a planar graph, as long as an oracle for Treewidth-η-Deletion is available for small instances. Notably, all our constants are computable functions of ℱ and our techniques work also when some graphs in ℱ may be disconnected. Our results rely on two novel techniques. First, we transform so-called "near-protrusion decompositions" into true protrusion decompositions by sacrificing a small accuracy loss. Secondly, we show how to optimally compress such a decomposition with respect to general ℱ-Deletion. Using our second technique, we also obtain linear kernels on sparse graph classes when ℱ contains a planar graph, whereas the previously known theorems required all graphs in ℱ to be connected. Specifically, we generalize the kernelization algorithm by Kim, Langer, Paul, Reidl, Rossmanith, Sau & Sikdar [TALG 2015] on graph classes that exclude a topological minor.
Cite as

Roohani Sharma and Michał Włodarczyk. Protrusion Decompositions Revisited: Uniform Lossy Kernels for Reducing Treewidth and Linear Kernels for Hitting Disconnected Minors. In 43rd International Symposium on Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science (STACS 2026). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 364, pp. 78:1-78:21, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)

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@InProceedings{sharma_et_al:LIPIcs.STACS.2026.78,
  author =	{Sharma, Roohani and W{\l}odarczyk, Micha{\l}},
  title =	{{Protrusion Decompositions Revisited: Uniform Lossy Kernels for Reducing Treewidth and Linear Kernels for Hitting Disconnected Minors}},
  booktitle =	{43rd International Symposium on Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science (STACS 2026)},
  pages =	{78:1--78:21},
  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.2026.78},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-255674},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.STACS.2026.78},
  annote =	{Keywords: kernelization, graph minors, treewidth, uniform kernels, minor hitting}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.STACS.2026.42
Computing Twin-Width via Treedepth and Vertex Integrity

Authors: Robert Ganian and Mathis Rocton

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

Abstract
Twin-width is a graph parameter that has become central to explaining the fixed-parameter tractability of first-order model checking across many graph classes. Despite its algorithmic importance, computing twin-width remains poorly understood: even recognizing graphs of twin-width at most four is NP-hard, and no fixed-parameter approximations parameterized by twin-width itself are known. A recent approach towards breaking this barrier focuses on first developing fixed-parameter algorithms for computing or approximating twin-width under parameterizations distinct from twin-width. Our first result establishes that approximating twin-width is fixed-parameter tractable when parameterized by treedepth, thereby breaking the long-standing barrier that all previous tractable parameterizations were based on deletion distance. The proof proceeds via oriented twin-width, yielding the first constructive evidence that this variant may be easier to handle algorithmically. As our second main result, we show that computing twin-width exactly is fixed-parameter tractable with respect to vertex integrity. This constitutes the first non-trivial parameterized algorithm for computing optimal contraction sequences.
Cite as

Robert Ganian and Mathis Rocton. Computing Twin-Width via Treedepth and Vertex Integrity. In 43rd International Symposium on Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science (STACS 2026). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 364, pp. 42:1-42:20, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)

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@InProceedings{ganian_et_al:LIPIcs.STACS.2026.42,
  author =	{Ganian, Robert and Rocton, Mathis},
  title =	{{Computing Twin-Width via Treedepth and Vertex Integrity}},
  booktitle =	{43rd International Symposium on Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science (STACS 2026)},
  pages =	{42:1--42:20},
  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.2026.42},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-255318},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.STACS.2026.42},
  annote =	{Keywords: twin-width, fixed-parameter algorithms, treedepth, vertex integrity}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.5
Maximum-Flow and Minimum-Cut Sensitivity Oracles for Directed Graphs

Authors: Mridul Ahi, Keerti Choudhary, Shlok Pande, Pushpraj, and Lakshay Saggi

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

Abstract
This paper addresses the problem of designing fault-tolerant data structures for the (s,t)-max-flow and (s,t)-min-cut problems in unweighted directed graphs. Given a directed graph G = (V, E) with a designated source s, sink t, and an (s,t)-max-flow of value λ, we present constructions for max-flow and min-cut sensitivity oracles, and introduce the concept of a fault-tolerant flow family, which may be of independent interest. Our main contributions are as follows. 1) Fault-Tolerant Flow Family: We construct a family ℬ of 2λ+1 (s,t)-flows such that for every edge e, ℬ contains an (s,t)-max-flow of G-e. This covering property is tight up to constants for single failures and provably cannot extend to comparably small families for k ≥ 2, where we show an Ω(n) lower bound on the family size, independent of λ. 2) Max-Flow Sensitivity Oracle: Using the fault-tolerant flow family, we construct a single as well as dual-edge sensitivity oracle for (s,t)-max-flow that requires only O(λ n) space. Given any set F of up to two failing edges, the oracle reports the updated max-flow value in G-F in O(n) time. Additionally, for the single-failure case, the oracle can determine in constant time whether the flow through an edge x changes when another edge e fails. 3) Min-Cut Sensitivity Oracle for Dual Failures: Recently, Baswana et al. (ICALP’22) designed an O(n²)-sized oracle for answering (s,t)-min-cut size queries under dual edge failures in constant time, along with a matching lower bound. We extend this by focusing on graphs with small min-cut values λ, and present a more compact oracle of size O(λ n) that answers such min-cut size queries in constant time and reports the corresponding (s,t)-min-cut partition in O(n) time. We also show that the space complexity of our oracle is asymptotically optimal in this setting. 4) Min-Cut Sensitivity Oracle for Multiple Failures: We extend our results to the general case of k edge failures. For any graph with (s,t)-min-cut of size λ, we construct a k-fault-tolerant min-cut oracle with space complexity O_{λ,k}(n log n) that answers min-cut size queries in O_{λ,k}(log n) time. This also leads to improved fault-tolerant (s,t)-reachability oracles, achieving O(n log n) space and O(log n) query time for up to k = O(1) edge failures.
Cite as

Mridul Ahi, Keerti Choudhary, Shlok Pande, Pushpraj, and Lakshay Saggi. Maximum-Flow and Minimum-Cut Sensitivity Oracles for Directed Graphs. In 17th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2026). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 362, pp. 5:1-5:24, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)

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@InProceedings{ahi_et_al:LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.5,
  author =	{Ahi, Mridul and Choudhary, Keerti and Pande, Shlok and Pushpraj and Saggi, Lakshay},
  title =	{{Maximum-Flow and Minimum-Cut Sensitivity Oracles for Directed Graphs}},
  booktitle =	{17th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2026)},
  pages =	{5:1--5:24},
  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.2026.5},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-252920},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.5},
  annote =	{Keywords: Fault tolerance, Data structures, Minimum cuts, Maximum flows}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.66
A Parameterized-Complexity Framework for Finding Local Optima

Authors: Robert Ganian, Hung P. Hoang, Christian Komusiewicz, and Nils Morawietz

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

Abstract
Local search is a fundamental optimization technique that is both widely used in practice and deeply studied in theory, yet its computational complexity remains poorly understood. The traditional frameworks, PLS and the standard algorithm problem, introduced by Johnson, Papadimitriou, and Yannakakis (1988) fail to capture the methodology of local search algorithms: PLS is concerned with finding a local optimum and not with using local search, while the standard algorithm problem restricts each improvement step to follow a fixed pivoting rule. In this work, we introduce a novel formulation of local search which provides a middle ground between these models. In particular, the task is to output not only a local optimum but also a chain of local improvements leading to it. With this framework, we aim to capture the challenge in designing a good pivoting rule. Especially, when combined with the parameterized complexity paradigm, it enables both strong lower bounds and meaningful tractability results. Unlike previous works that combined parameterized complexity with local search, our framework targets the whole task of finding a local optimum and not only a single improvement step. Focusing on two representative meta-problems - Subset Weight Optimization Problem with the c-swap neighborhood and Weighted Circuit with the flip neighborhood - we establish fixed-parameter tractability results related to the number of distinct weights, while ruling out an analogous result when parameterizing by the distance to the nearest optimum via a new type of reduction.
Cite as

Robert Ganian, Hung P. Hoang, Christian Komusiewicz, and Nils Morawietz. A Parameterized-Complexity Framework for Finding Local Optima. In 17th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2026). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 362, pp. 66:1-66:20, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)

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@InProceedings{ganian_et_al:LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.66,
  author =	{Ganian, Robert and Hoang, Hung P. and Komusiewicz, Christian and Morawietz, Nils},
  title =	{{A Parameterized-Complexity Framework for Finding Local Optima}},
  booktitle =	{17th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2026)},
  pages =	{66:1--66:20},
  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.2026.66},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-253532},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.66},
  annote =	{Keywords: Local Search, Parameterized Complexity, PLS}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.IPEC.2025.5
Kernelization for H-Coloring

Authors: Yael Berkman and Ishay Haviv

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

Abstract
For a fixed graph H, the H-Coloring problem asks whether a given graph admits an edge-preserving function from its vertex set to that of H. A seminal theorem of Hell and Nešetřil asserts that the H-Coloring problem is NP-hard whenever H is loopless and non-bipartite. A result of Jansen and Pieterse implies that for every graph H, the H-Coloring problem parameterized by the vertex cover number k admits a kernel with O(k^Δ(H)) vertices and bit-size bounded by O(k^Δ(H)⋅log k), where Δ(H) denotes the maximum degree in H. For the case where H is a complete graph on at least three vertices, this kernel size nearly matches conditional lower bounds established by Jansen and Kratsch and by Jansen and Pieterse. This paper presents new upper and lower bounds on the kernel size of H-Coloring problems parameterized by the vertex cover number. The upper bounds arise from two kernelization algorithms. The first is purely combinatorial, and its size is governed by a structural quantity of the graph H, called the non-adjacency witness number. As applications, we obtain kernels whose size is bounded by a fixed polynomial for natural classes of graphs H with unbounded maximum degree, such as planar graphs and, more broadly, graphs with bounded degeneracy. More strikingly, we show that for almost every graph H, the degree of the polynomial that bounds the size of our combinatorial kernel grows only logarithmically in Δ(H). Our second kernel leverages linear-algebraic tools and involves the notion of faithful independent representations of graphs. It strengthens the general bound from prior work and, among other applications, yields near-optimal kernels for problems concerning the dimension of orthogonal graph representations over finite fields. We complement our kernelization results with conditional lower bounds, thereby nearly settling the kernel complexity of the problem for various target graphs H.
Cite as

Yael Berkman and Ishay Haviv. Kernelization for H-Coloring. In 20th International Symposium on Parameterized and Exact Computation (IPEC 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 358, pp. 5:1-5:17, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

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@InProceedings{berkman_et_al:LIPIcs.IPEC.2025.5,
  author =	{Berkman, Yael and Haviv, Ishay},
  title =	{{Kernelization for H-Coloring}},
  booktitle =	{20th International Symposium on Parameterized and Exact Computation (IPEC 2025)},
  pages =	{5:1--5:17},
  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.2025.5},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-251376},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.IPEC.2025.5},
  annote =	{Keywords: Kernelization, Graph coloring, Graph homomorphism}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.IPEC.2025.6
Boundaried Kernelization via Representative Sets

Authors: Leonid Antipov and Stefan Kratsch

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

Abstract
A kernelization is an efficient algorithm that given an instance of a parameterized problem returns an equivalent instance of size bounded by some function of the input parameter value. It is quite well understood which problems do or (conditionally) do not admit a kernelization where this size bound is polynomial, a so-called polynomial kernelization. Unfortunately, such polynomial kernelizations are known only in fairly restrictive settings where a small parameter value corresponds to a strong restriction on the global structure on the instance. Motivated by this, Antipov and Kratsch [WG 2025] proposed a local variant of kernelization, called boundaried kernelization, that requires only local structure to achieve a local improvement of the instance, which is in the spirit of protrusion replacement used in meta-kernelization [Bodlaender et al. JACM 2016]. They obtain polynomial boundaried kernelizations as well as (unconditional) lower bounds for several well-studied problems in kernelization. In this work, we leverage the matroid-based techniques of Kratsch and Wahlström [JACM 2020] to obtain randomized polynomial boundaried kernelizations for s-Multiway Cut, Deletable Terminal Multiway Cut, Odd Cycle Transversal, and Vertex Cover[oct], for which randomized polynomial kernelizations in the usual sense were known before. A priori, these techniques rely on the global connectivity of the graph to identify reducible (irrelevant) vertices. Nevertheless, the separation of the local part by its boundary turns out to be sufficient for a local application of these methods.
Cite as

Leonid Antipov and Stefan Kratsch. Boundaried Kernelization via Representative Sets. In 20th International Symposium on Parameterized and Exact Computation (IPEC 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 358, pp. 6:1-6:13, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

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@InProceedings{antipov_et_al:LIPIcs.IPEC.2025.6,
  author =	{Antipov, Leonid and Kratsch, Stefan},
  title =	{{Boundaried Kernelization via Representative Sets}},
  booktitle =	{20th International Symposium on Parameterized and Exact Computation (IPEC 2025)},
  pages =	{6:1--6:13},
  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.2025.6},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-251386},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.IPEC.2025.6},
  annote =	{Keywords: Parameterized complexity, boundaried kernelization, local preprocessing, representative sets method}
}
Document
Invited Talk
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.IPEC.2025.1
A Brief History of Parameterized Algorithms for Block-Structured Integer Programs (Invited Talk)

Authors: Martin Koutecký

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

Abstract
Integer Programming (IP) is a fundamental but computationally hard problem. Still, certain efficiently solvable subclasses have been identified over time, most notably totally unimodular IPs in the 1950s, and fixed-dimension IPs in the 1980s. Starting around the year 2000, a stream of research has identified block-structured IPs as yet another tractable subclass. In this paper, we give a brief and incomplete review of this history, with a focus on several of the author’s contributions.
Cite as

Martin Koutecký. A Brief History of Parameterized Algorithms for Block-Structured Integer Programs (Invited Talk). In 20th International Symposium on Parameterized and Exact Computation (IPEC 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 358, pp. 1:1-1:20, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

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@InProceedings{koutecky:LIPIcs.IPEC.2025.1,
  author =	{Kouteck\'{y}, Martin},
  title =	{{A Brief History of Parameterized Algorithms for Block-Structured Integer Programs}},
  booktitle =	{20th International Symposium on Parameterized and Exact Computation (IPEC 2025)},
  pages =	{1:1--1:20},
  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.2025.1},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-251338},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.IPEC.2025.1},
  annote =	{Keywords: Integer Programming, Parameterized Algorithm, Graver Basis, Treedepth, n-fold, tree-fold, 2-stage stochastic, multistage stochastic, Mixed-Integer Programming}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.IPEC.2025.16
Designing Compact ILPs via Fast Witness Verification

Authors: Michał Włodarczyk

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

Abstract
The standard formalization of preprocessing in parameterized complexity is given by kernelization. In this work, we depart from this paradigm and study a different type of preprocessing for problems without polynomial kernels, still aiming at producing instances that are easily solvable in practice. Specifically, we ask for which parameterized problems an instance (I,k) can be reduced in polynomial time to an integer linear program (ILP) with poly(k) constraints. We show that this property coincides with the parameterized complexity class WK[1], previously studied in the context of Turing kernelization lower bounds. In turn, the class WK[1] enjoys an elegant characterization in terms of witness verification protocols: a yes-instance should admit a witness of size poly(k) that can be verified in time poly(k). By combining known data structures with new ideas, we design such protocols for several problems, such as r-Way Cut, Vertex Multiway Cut, Steiner Tree, and Minimum Common String Partition, thus showing that they can be modeled by compact ILPs. We also present explicit ILP and MILP formulations for Weighted Vertex Cover on graphs with small (unweighted) vertex cover number. We believe that these results will provide a background for a systematic study of ILP-oriented preprocessing procedures for parameterized problems.
Cite as

Michał Włodarczyk. Designing Compact ILPs via Fast Witness Verification. In 20th International Symposium on Parameterized and Exact Computation (IPEC 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 358, pp. 16:1-16:18, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

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@InProceedings{wlodarczyk:LIPIcs.IPEC.2025.16,
  author =	{W{\l}odarczyk, Micha{\l}},
  title =	{{Designing Compact ILPs via Fast Witness Verification}},
  booktitle =	{20th International Symposium on Parameterized and Exact Computation (IPEC 2025)},
  pages =	{16:1--16:18},
  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.2025.16},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-251481},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.IPEC.2025.16},
  annote =	{Keywords: integer programming, kernelization, nondeterminism, multiway cut}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.IPEC.2025.18
Bridging Treewidth and Clique-Width via Cograph-Modular-Treewidth

Authors: Václav Blažej, Satyabrata Jana, M. S. Ramanujan, and Peter Strulo

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

Abstract
Many classical graph problems - such as Max Cut, Chromatic Number, Edge Dominating Set, and Hamiltonian Cycle - are polynomial-time solvable on cographs, fixed-parameter tractable (FPT) when parameterized by treewidth, but W[1]-hard when parameterized by clique-width. In contrast, Graph Isomorphism is FPT parameterized by treewidth, but for clique-width it is known to be in XP; whether it is FPT or W[1]-hard is open. This reveals a sharp tractability gap between treewidth and clique-width. In this work, we propose a new structural graph parameter, 𝒞-modular-treewidth, which lies between treewidth and clique-width. The parameter leverages modular decomposition and restricts modules to induce graphs from a fixed class 𝒞 (e.g., cographs or edgeless graphs). By exploiting true and false twins - a hallmark of cograph-like structure - our parameter allows the design of efficient algorithms for several hard problems beyond the reach of treewidth-based methods. In this work, we show that 𝒞-modular-treewidth enables efficient solutions under suitable choices of 𝒞, opening a new pathway in the parameterized complexity landscape between treewidth and clique-width. In particular we show that - When parameterized by cograph-modular-treewidth, Isomorphism admits an FPT algorithm, whereas Chromatic Number remains W[1]-hard. - When parameterized by independent-modular-treewidth, Hamiltonian Cycle and Edge Dominating Set remain W[1]-hard.
Cite as

Václav Blažej, Satyabrata Jana, M. S. Ramanujan, and Peter Strulo. Bridging Treewidth and Clique-Width via Cograph-Modular-Treewidth. In 20th International Symposium on Parameterized and Exact Computation (IPEC 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 358, pp. 18:1-18:18, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

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@InProceedings{blazej_et_al:LIPIcs.IPEC.2025.18,
  author =	{Bla\v{z}ej, V\'{a}clav and Jana, Satyabrata and Ramanujan, M. S. and Strulo, Peter},
  title =	{{Bridging Treewidth and Clique-Width via Cograph-Modular-Treewidth}},
  booktitle =	{20th International Symposium on Parameterized and Exact Computation (IPEC 2025)},
  pages =	{18:1--18:18},
  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.2025.18},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-251507},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.IPEC.2025.18},
  annote =	{Keywords: Treewidth, Clique-width, Cograph, FPT, W\lbrack1\rbrack-hard}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.IPEC.2025.19
Tight Bounds for Connected Odd Cycle Transversal Parameterized by Clique-Width

Authors: Narek Bojikian and Stefan Kratsch

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

Abstract
Recently, Bojikian and Kratsch [ICALP 2024] presented a novel approach to tackle connectivity problems parameterized by clique-width (cw), based on counting (modulo 2) the number of representations of partial solutions, while allowing for possibly multiple representations to exist for the same partial solution. Using this technique, they got a SETH-tight bound of 𝒪^*(3^{cw}) for the Steiner Tree problem, which was left open by Hegerfeld and Kratsch [ESA 2023]. We use the same technique to solve the Connected Odd Cycle Transversal problem in time 𝒪^*(12^{cw}). Moreover, we prove that our result is tight by providing a SETH-based lower bound excluding algorithms with running time 𝒪^*((12-ε)^{cw}). This answers another question of Hegerfeld and Kratsch [ESA 2023].
Cite as

Narek Bojikian and Stefan Kratsch. Tight Bounds for Connected Odd Cycle Transversal Parameterized by Clique-Width. In 20th International Symposium on Parameterized and Exact Computation (IPEC 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 358, pp. 19:1-19:15, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

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@InProceedings{bojikian_et_al:LIPIcs.IPEC.2025.19,
  author =	{Bojikian, Narek and Kratsch, Stefan},
  title =	{{Tight Bounds for Connected Odd Cycle Transversal Parameterized by Clique-Width}},
  booktitle =	{20th International Symposium on Parameterized and Exact Computation (IPEC 2025)},
  pages =	{19:1--19:15},
  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.2025.19},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-251516},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.IPEC.2025.19},
  annote =	{Keywords: Parameterized complexity, connected odd cycle transversal, clique-width}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.IPEC.2025.20
Deterministically Counting k-Paths and Trees Parameterized by Treewidth in Single-Exponential Time

Authors: Jonne Visser and Hans L. Bodlaender

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

Abstract
In this paper, we give new and faster deterministic algorithms to count the number of k-paths and trees in host graphs of bounded treewidth. Our algorithms use time that is single-exponential in the treewidth, and employ the determinant method from [Hans L. Bodlaender et al., 2015]. Modifications of the algorithms count in single-exponential time the number of k-paths between specified end-points, the number of k-cycles, and the number of trees with k vertices that are a subgraph of the host graph.
Cite as

Jonne Visser and Hans L. Bodlaender. Deterministically Counting k-Paths and Trees Parameterized by Treewidth in Single-Exponential Time. In 20th International Symposium on Parameterized and Exact Computation (IPEC 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 358, pp. 20:1-20:14, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

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@InProceedings{visser_et_al:LIPIcs.IPEC.2025.20,
  author =	{Visser, Jonne and Bodlaender, Hans L.},
  title =	{{Deterministically Counting k-Paths and Trees Parameterized by Treewidth in Single-Exponential Time}},
  booktitle =	{20th International Symposium on Parameterized and Exact Computation (IPEC 2025)},
  pages =	{20:1--20:14},
  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.2025.20},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-251529},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.IPEC.2025.20},
  annote =	{Keywords: Parameterized Complexity, Counting Subgraphs, #k-path, Dynamic Programming, Tree Decomposition, Determinant Method}
}
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