13 Search Results for "Merino, Arturo"

Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.FUN.2026.31
A Demigod’s Number for the Rubik’s Cube

Authors: Arturo Merino and Bernardo Subercaseaux

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 366, 13th International Conference on Fun with Algorithms (FUN 2026)

Abstract
It is by now well-known that any state of the 3× 3 × 3 Rubik’s Cube can be solved in at most 20 moves, a result often referred to as "God’s Number". However, this result took Rokicki et al. around 35 CPU years to prove and is therefore very challenging to reproduce. We provide a novel approach to obtain a worse bound of 36 moves with high confidence, but that offers two main advantages: (i) it is easy to understand, reproduce, and verify, and (ii) our main idea generalizes to bounding the diameter of other vertex-transitive graphs by at most twice its true value, hence the name "demigod number". Our approach is based on the fact that, for vertex-transitive graphs, the diameter at most twice the average distance (of which we give a much simpler proof than in the literature). Then, by sampling uniformly random states and using a modern solver to obtain upper bounds on their distance, a standard concentration bound allows us to confidently state that the average distance is around 18.32 ± 0.18, from where the diameter is at most 36.
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Arturo Merino and Bernardo Subercaseaux. A Demigod’s Number for the Rubik’s Cube. In 13th International Conference on Fun with Algorithms (FUN 2026). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 366, pp. 31:1-31:20, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)

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@InProceedings{merino_et_al:LIPIcs.FUN.2026.31,
  author =	{Merino, Arturo and Subercaseaux, Bernardo},
  title =	{{A Demigod’s Number for the Rubik’s Cube}},
  booktitle =	{13th International Conference on Fun with Algorithms (FUN 2026)},
  pages =	{31:1--31:20},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-417-8},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2026},
  volume =	{366},
  editor =	{Iacono, John},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.FUN.2026.31},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-257505},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.FUN.2026.31},
  annote =	{Keywords: Diameter, Rubik’s Cube, Experimental mathematics}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.STACS.2026.32
Optimal Verification of a Minimum-Weight Basis in an Uncertainty Matroid

Authors: Haya Diwan, Lisa Hellerstein, Nicole Megow, and Jens Schlöter

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

Abstract
Research in explorable uncertainty addresses combinatorial optimization problems where there is partial information about the values of numeric input parameters, and exact values of these parameters can be determined by performing costly queries. The goal is to design an adaptive query strategy that minimizes the query cost incurred in computing an optimal solution. Solving such problems generally requires that we be able to solve the associated verification problem: given the answers to all queries in advance, find a minimum-cost set of queries that certifies an optimal solution to the combinatorial optimization problem. We present a polynomial-time algorithm for verifying a minimum-weight basis of a matroid, where each weight lies in a given uncertainty area. These areas may be finite sets, real intervals, or unions of open and closed intervals, strictly generalizing previous work by Erlebach and Hoffman which only handled the special case of open intervals. Our algorithm introduces new techniques to address the resulting challenges. Verification problems are of particular importance in the area of explorable uncertainty, as the structural insights and techniques used to solve the verification problem often heavily influence work on the corresponding online problem and its stochastic variant. In our case, we use structural results from the verification problem to give a best-possible algorithm for a promise variant of the corresponding adaptive online problem. Finally, we show that our algorithms can be applied to two learning-augmented variants of the minimum-weight basis problem under explorable uncertainty.
Cite as

Haya Diwan, Lisa Hellerstein, Nicole Megow, and Jens Schlöter. Optimal Verification of a Minimum-Weight Basis in an Uncertainty Matroid. In 43rd International Symposium on Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science (STACS 2026). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 364, pp. 32:1-32:20, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)

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@InProceedings{diwan_et_al:LIPIcs.STACS.2026.32,
  author =	{Diwan, Haya and Hellerstein, Lisa and Megow, Nicole and Schl\"{o}ter, Jens},
  title =	{{Optimal Verification of a Minimum-Weight Basis in an Uncertainty Matroid}},
  booktitle =	{43rd International Symposium on Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science (STACS 2026)},
  pages =	{32:1--32:20},
  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.2026.32},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-255216},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.STACS.2026.32},
  annote =	{Keywords: Matroid verification, minimum-weight basis, query strategy, uncertainty matroid, explorable uncertainty}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.ESA.2025.6
On the Complexity of Knapsack Under Explorable Uncertainty: Hardness and Algorithms

Authors: Jens Schlöter

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

Abstract
In the knapsack problem under explorable uncertainty, we are given a knapsack instance with uncertain item profits. Instead of having access to the precise profits, we are only given uncertainty intervals that are guaranteed to contain the corresponding profits. The actual item profit can be obtained via a query. The goal of the problem is to adaptively query item profits until the revealed information suffices to compute an optimal (or approximate) solution to the underlying knapsack instance. Since queries are costly, the objective is to minimize the number of queries. In the offline variant of this problem, we assume knowledge of the precise profits and the task is to compute a query set of minimum cardinality that a third party without access to the profits could use to identify an optimal (or approximate) knapsack solution. We show that this offline variant is complete for the second-level of the polynomial hierarchy, i.e., Σ₂^p-complete, and cannot be approximated within a non-trivial factor unless Σ₂^p = Δ₂^p. Motivated by these strong hardness results, we consider a "resource-augmented" variant of the problem where the requirements on the query set computed by an algorithm are less strict than the requirements on the optimal solution we compare against. More precisely, a query set computed by the algorithm must reveal sufficient information to identify an approximate knapsack solution, while the optimal query set we compare against has to reveal sufficient information to identify an optimal solution. We show that this resource-augmented setting allows interesting non-trivial algorithmic results.
Cite as

Jens Schlöter. On the Complexity of Knapsack Under Explorable Uncertainty: Hardness and Algorithms. In 33rd Annual European Symposium on Algorithms (ESA 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 351, pp. 6:1-6:15, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

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@InProceedings{schloter:LIPIcs.ESA.2025.6,
  author =	{Schl\"{o}ter, Jens},
  title =	{{On the Complexity of Knapsack Under Explorable Uncertainty: Hardness and Algorithms}},
  booktitle =	{33rd Annual European Symposium on Algorithms (ESA 2025)},
  pages =	{6:1--6:15},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-395-9},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{351},
  editor =	{Benoit, Anne and Kaplan, Haim and Wild, Sebastian and Herman, Grzegorz},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.ESA.2025.6},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-244740},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ESA.2025.6},
  annote =	{Keywords: Explorable uncertainty, knapsack, queries, approximation algorithms}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.MFCS.2025.15
Symmetry Classes of Hamiltonian Cycles

Authors: Júlia Baligács, Sofia Brenner, Annette Lutz, and Lena Volk

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

Abstract
We initiate the study of Hamiltonian cycles up to symmetries of the underlying graph. Our focus lies on the extremal case of Hamiltonian-transitive graphs, i.e., Hamiltonian graphs where, for every pair of Hamiltonian cycles, there is a graph automorphism mapping one cycle to the other. This generalizes the extensively studied uniquely Hamiltonian graphs. In this paper, we show that Cayley graphs of abelian groups are not Hamiltonian-transitive (under some mild conditions and some non-surprising exceptions), i.e., they contain at least two structurally different Hamiltonian cycles. To show this, we reduce Hamiltonian-transitivity to properties of the prime factors of a Cartesian product decomposition, which we believe is interesting in its own right. We complement our results by constructing infinite families of regular Hamiltonian-transitive graphs and take a look at the opposite extremal case by constructing a family with many different Hamiltonian cycles up to symmetry.
Cite as

Júlia Baligács, Sofia Brenner, Annette Lutz, and Lena Volk. Symmetry Classes of Hamiltonian Cycles. In 50th International Symposium on Mathematical Foundations of Computer Science (MFCS 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 345, pp. 15:1-15:18, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

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@InProceedings{baligacs_et_al:LIPIcs.MFCS.2025.15,
  author =	{Balig\'{a}cs, J\'{u}lia and Brenner, Sofia and Lutz, Annette and Volk, Lena},
  title =	{{Symmetry Classes of Hamiltonian Cycles}},
  booktitle =	{50th International Symposium on Mathematical Foundations of Computer Science (MFCS 2025)},
  pages =	{15:1--15:18},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-388-1},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{345},
  editor =	{Gawrychowski, Pawe{\l} and Mazowiecki, Filip and Skrzypczak, Micha{\l}},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.MFCS.2025.15},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-241221},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.MFCS.2025.15},
  annote =	{Keywords: Hamiltonian cycles, graph automorphisms, Cayley graphs, abelian groups, Cartesian product of graphs}
}
Document
Track A: Algorithms, Complexity and Games
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.ICALP.2025.63
Computing Distances on Graph Associahedra Is Fixed-Parameter Tractable

Authors: Luís Felipe I. Cunha, Ignasi Sau, Uéverton S. Souza, and Mario Valencia-Pabon

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

Abstract
An elimination tree of a connected graph G is a rooted tree on the vertices of G obtained by choosing a root v and recursing on the connected components of G-v to obtain the subtrees of v. The graph associahedron of G is a polytope whose vertices correspond to elimination trees of G and whose edges correspond to tree rotations, a natural operation between elimination trees. These objects generalize associahedra, which correspond to the case where G is a path. Ito et al. [ICALP 2023] recently proved that the problem of computing distances on graph associahedra is NP-hard. In this paper we prove that the problem, for a general graph G, is fixed-parameter tractable parameterized by the distance k. Prior to our work, only the case where G is a path was known to be fixed-parameter tractable. To prove our result, we use a novel approach based on a marking scheme that restricts the search to a set of vertices whose size is bounded by a (large) function of k.
Cite as

Luís Felipe I. Cunha, Ignasi Sau, Uéverton S. Souza, and Mario Valencia-Pabon. Computing Distances on Graph Associahedra Is Fixed-Parameter Tractable. In 52nd International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming (ICALP 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 334, pp. 63:1-63:19, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

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@InProceedings{cunha_et_al:LIPIcs.ICALP.2025.63,
  author =	{Cunha, Lu{\'\i}s Felipe I. and Sau, Ignasi and Souza, U\'{e}verton S. and Valencia-Pabon, Mario},
  title =	{{Computing Distances on Graph Associahedra Is Fixed-Parameter Tractable}},
  booktitle =	{52nd International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming (ICALP 2025)},
  pages =	{63:1--63:19},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-372-0},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{334},
  editor =	{Censor-Hillel, Keren and Grandoni, Fabrizio and Ouaknine, Jo\"{e}l and Puppis, Gabriele},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.ICALP.2025.63},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-234408},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ICALP.2025.63},
  annote =	{Keywords: graph associahedra, elimination tree, rotation distance, parameterized complexity, fixed-parameter tractable algorithm, combinatorial shortest path, reconfiguration}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.ISAAC.2024.35
Generating All Invertible Matrices by Row Operations

Authors: Petr Gregor, Hung P. Hoang, Arturo Merino, and Ondřej Mička

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 322, 35th International Symposium on Algorithms and Computation (ISAAC 2024)

Abstract
We show that all invertible n × n matrices over any finite field 𝔽_q can be generated in a Gray code fashion. More specifically, there exists a listing such that (1) each matrix appears exactly once, and (2) two consecutive matrices differ by adding or subtracting one row from a previous or subsequent row, or by multiplying or dividing a row by the generator of the multiplicative group of 𝔽_q. This even holds in the more general setting where the pairs of rows that can be added or subtracted are specified by an arbitrary transition tree that has to satisfy some mild constraints. Moreover, we can prescribe the first and the last matrix if n ≥ 3, or n = 2 and q > 2. In other words, the corresponding flip graph on all invertible n × n matrices over 𝔽_q is Hamilton connected if it is not a cycle. This solves yet another special case of Lovász conjecture on Hamiltonicity of vertex-transitive graphs.
Cite as

Petr Gregor, Hung P. Hoang, Arturo Merino, and Ondřej Mička. Generating All Invertible Matrices by Row Operations. In 35th International Symposium on Algorithms and Computation (ISAAC 2024). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 322, pp. 35:1-35:14, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2024)

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@InProceedings{gregor_et_al:LIPIcs.ISAAC.2024.35,
  author =	{Gregor, Petr and Hoang, Hung P. and Merino, Arturo and Mi\v{c}ka, Ond\v{r}ej},
  title =	{{Generating All Invertible Matrices by Row Operations}},
  booktitle =	{35th International Symposium on Algorithms and Computation (ISAAC 2024)},
  pages =	{35:1--35:14},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-354-6},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2024},
  volume =	{322},
  editor =	{Mestre, Juli\'{a}n and Wirth, Anthony},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.ISAAC.2024.35},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-221621},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ISAAC.2024.35},
  annote =	{Keywords: Hamilton cycle, combinatorial Gray code, invertible matrices, finite field, general linear group, generation algorithms}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.STACS.2023.8
Enumerating Regular Languages with Bounded Delay

Authors: Antoine Amarilli and Mikaël Monet

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 254, 40th International Symposium on Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science (STACS 2023)

Abstract
We study the task, for a given language L, of enumerating the (generally infinite) sequence of its words, without repetitions, while bounding the delay between two consecutive words. To allow for delay bounds that do not depend on the current word length, we assume a model where we produce each word by editing the preceding word with a small edit script, rather than writing out the word from scratch. In particular, this witnesses that the language is orderable, i.e., we can write its words as an infinite sequence such that the Levenshtein edit distance between any two consecutive words is bounded by a value that depends only on the language. For instance, (a+b)^* is orderable (with a variant of the Gray code), but a^* + b^* is not. We characterize which regular languages are enumerable in this sense, and show that this can be decided in PTIME in an input deterministic finite automaton (DFA) for the language. In fact, we show that, given a DFA A, we can compute in PTIME automata A₁, …, A_t such that L(A) is partitioned as L(A₁) ⊔ … ⊔ L(A_t) and every L(A_i) is orderable in this sense. Further, we show that the value of t obtained is optimal, i.e., we cannot partition L(A) into less than t orderable languages. In the case where L(A) is orderable (i.e., t = 1), we show that the ordering can be produced by a bounded-delay algorithm: specifically, the algorithm runs in a suitable pointer machine model, and produces a sequence of bounded-length edit scripts to visit the words of L(A) without repetitions, with bounded delay - exponential in |A| - between each script. In fact, we show that we can achieve this while only allowing the edit operations push and pop at the beginning and end of the word, which implies that the word can in fact be maintained in a double-ended queue. By contrast, when fixing the distance bound d between consecutive words and the number of classes of the partition, it is NP-hard in the input DFA A to decide if L(A) is orderable in this sense, already for finite languages. Last, we study the model where push-pop edits are only allowed at the end of the word, corresponding to a case where the word is maintained on a stack. We show that these operations are strictly weaker and that the slender languages are precisely those that can be partitioned into finitely many languages that are orderable in this sense. For the slender languages, we can again characterize the minimal number of languages in the partition, and achieve bounded-delay enumeration.
Cite as

Antoine Amarilli and Mikaël Monet. Enumerating Regular Languages with Bounded Delay. In 40th International Symposium on Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science (STACS 2023). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 254, pp. 8:1-8:18, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2023)

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@InProceedings{amarilli_et_al:LIPIcs.STACS.2023.8,
  author =	{Amarilli, Antoine and Monet, Mika\"{e}l},
  title =	{{Enumerating Regular Languages with Bounded Delay}},
  booktitle =	{40th International Symposium on Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science (STACS 2023)},
  pages =	{8:1--8:18},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-266-2},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2023},
  volume =	{254},
  editor =	{Berenbrink, Petra and Bouyer, Patricia and Dawar, Anuj and Kant\'{e}, Mamadou Moustapha},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.STACS.2023.8},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-176609},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.STACS.2023.8},
  annote =	{Keywords: Regular language, constant-delay enumeration, edit distance}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.MFCS.2022.54
The Hamilton Compression of Highly Symmetric Graphs

Authors: Petr Gregor, Arturo Merino, and Torsten Mütze

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

Abstract
We say that a Hamilton cycle C = (x₁,…,x_n) in a graph G is k-symmetric, if the mapping x_i ↦ x_{i+n/k} for all i = 1,…,n, where indices are considered modulo n, is an automorphism of G. In other words, if we lay out the vertices x₁,…,x_n equidistantly on a circle and draw the edges of G as straight lines, then the drawing of G has k-fold rotational symmetry, i.e., all information about the graph is compressed into a 360^∘/k wedge of the drawing. We refer to the maximum k for which there exists a k-symmetric Hamilton cycle in G as the Hamilton compression of G. We investigate the Hamilton compression of four different families of vertex-transitive graphs, namely hypercubes, Johnson graphs, permutahedra and Cayley graphs of abelian groups. In several cases we determine their Hamilton compression exactly, and in other cases we provide close lower and upper bounds. The cycles we construct have a much higher compression than several classical Gray codes known from the literature. Our constructions also yield Gray codes for bitstrings, combinations and permutations that have few tracks and/or that are balanced.
Cite as

Petr Gregor, Arturo Merino, and Torsten Mütze. The Hamilton Compression of Highly Symmetric Graphs. In 47th International Symposium on Mathematical Foundations of Computer Science (MFCS 2022). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 241, pp. 54:1-54:14, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2022)

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@InProceedings{gregor_et_al:LIPIcs.MFCS.2022.54,
  author =	{Gregor, Petr and Merino, Arturo and M\"{u}tze, Torsten},
  title =	{{The Hamilton Compression of Highly Symmetric Graphs}},
  booktitle =	{47th International Symposium on Mathematical Foundations of Computer Science (MFCS 2022)},
  pages =	{54:1--54:14},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-256-3},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2022},
  volume =	{241},
  editor =	{Szeider, Stefan and Ganian, Robert and Silva, Alexandra},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.MFCS.2022.54},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-168529},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.MFCS.2022.54},
  annote =	{Keywords: Hamilton cycle, Gray code, hypercube, permutahedron, Johnson graph, Cayley graph, abelian group, vertex-transitive}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.FUN.2022.22
All Your bases Are Belong to Us: Listing All Bases of a Matroid by Greedy Exchanges

Authors: Arturo Merino, Torsten Mütze, and Aaron Williams

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 226, 11th International Conference on Fun with Algorithms (FUN 2022)

Abstract
You provide us with a matroid and an initial base. We say that a subset of the bases "belongs to us" if we can visit each one via a sequence of base exchanges starting from the initial base. It is well-known that "All your base are belong to us". We refine this classic result by showing that it can be done by a simple greedy algorithm. For example, the spanning trees of a graph can be generated by edge exchanges using the following greedy rule: Minimize the larger label of an edge that enters or exits the current spanning tree and which creates a spanning tree that is new (i.e., hasn't been visited already). Amazingly, this works for any graph, for any labeling of its edges, for any initial spanning tree, and regardless of how you choose the edge with the smaller label in each exchange. Furthermore, by maintaining a small amount of information, we can generate each successive spanning tree without storing the previous trees. In general, for any matroid, we can greedily compute a listing of all its bases matroid such that consecutive bases differ by a base exchange. Our base exchange Gray codes apply a prefix-exchange on a prefix-minor of the matroid, and we can generate these orders using "history-free" iterative algorithms. More specifically, we store O(m) bits of data, and use O(m) time per base assuming O(1) time independence and coindependence oracles. Our work generalizes and extends a number of previous results. For example, the bases of the uniform matroid are combinations, and they belong to us using homogeneous transpositions via an Eades-McKay style order. Similarly, the spanning trees of fan graphs belong to us via face pivot Gray codes, which extends recent results of Cameron, Grubb, and Sawada [Pivot Gray Codes for the Spanning Trees of a Graph ft. the Fan, COCOON 2021].
Cite as

Arturo Merino, Torsten Mütze, and Aaron Williams. All Your bases Are Belong to Us: Listing All Bases of a Matroid by Greedy Exchanges. In 11th International Conference on Fun with Algorithms (FUN 2022). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 226, pp. 22:1-22:28, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2022)

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@InProceedings{merino_et_al:LIPIcs.FUN.2022.22,
  author =	{Merino, Arturo and M\"{u}tze, Torsten and Williams, Aaron},
  title =	{{All Your bases Are Belong to Us: Listing All Bases of a Matroid by Greedy Exchanges}},
  booktitle =	{11th International Conference on Fun with Algorithms (FUN 2022)},
  pages =	{22:1--22:28},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-232-7},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2022},
  volume =	{226},
  editor =	{Fraigniaud, Pierre and Uno, Yushi},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.FUN.2022.22},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-159928},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.FUN.2022.22},
  annote =	{Keywords: Matroids, base exchange, Gray codes, combinatorial generation, greedy algorithms, spanning trees}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.STACS.2022.34
Star Transposition Gray Codes for Multiset Permutations

Authors: Petr Gregor, Torsten Mütze, and Arturo Merino

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 219, 39th International Symposium on Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science (STACS 2022)

Abstract
Given integers k ≥ 2 and a_1,…,a_k ≥ 1, let a: = (a_1,…,a_k) and n: = a_1+⋯+a_k. An a-multiset permutation is a string of length n that contains exactly a_i symbols i for each i = 1,…,k. In this work we consider the problem of exhaustively generating all a-multiset permutations by star transpositions, i.e., in each step, the first entry of the string is transposed with any other entry distinct from the first one. This is a far-ranging generalization of several known results. For example, it is known that permutations (a_1 = ⋯ = a_k = 1) can be generated by star transpositions, while combinations (k = 2) can be generated by these operations if and only if they are balanced (a_1 = a_2), with the positive case following from the middle levels theorem. To understand the problem in general, we introduce a parameter Δ(a): = n-2max{a_1,…,a_k} that allows us to distinguish three different regimes for this problem. We show that if Δ(a) < 0, then a star transposition Gray code for a-multiset permutations does not exist. We also construct such Gray codes for the case Δ(a) > 0, assuming that they exist for the case Δ(a) = 0. For the case Δ(a) = 0 we present some partial positive results. Our proofs establish Hamilton-connectedness or Hamilton-laceability of the underlying flip graphs, and they answer several cases of a recent conjecture of Shen and Williams. In particular, we prove that the middle levels graph is Hamilton-laceable.
Cite as

Petr Gregor, Torsten Mütze, and Arturo Merino. Star Transposition Gray Codes for Multiset Permutations. In 39th International Symposium on Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science (STACS 2022). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 219, pp. 34:1-34:14, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2022)

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@InProceedings{gregor_et_al:LIPIcs.STACS.2022.34,
  author =	{Gregor, Petr and M\"{u}tze, Torsten and Merino, Arturo},
  title =	{{Star Transposition Gray Codes for Multiset Permutations}},
  booktitle =	{39th International Symposium on Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science (STACS 2022)},
  pages =	{34:1--34:14},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-222-8},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2022},
  volume =	{219},
  editor =	{Berenbrink, Petra and Monmege, Benjamin},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.STACS.2022.34},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-158448},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.STACS.2022.34},
  annote =	{Keywords: Gray code, permutation, combination, transposition, Hamilton cycle}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.SoCG.2021.54
Efficient Generation of Rectangulations via Permutation Languages

Authors: Arturo Merino and Torsten Mütze

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 189, 37th International Symposium on Computational Geometry (SoCG 2021)

Abstract
A generic rectangulation is a partition of a rectangle into finitely many interior-disjoint rectangles, such that no four rectangles meet in a point. In this work we present a versatile algorithmic framework for exhaustively generating a large variety of different classes of generic rectangulations. Our algorithms work under very mild assumptions, and apply to a large number of rectangulation classes known from the literature, such as generic rectangulations, diagonal rectangulations, 1-sided/area-universal, block-aligned rectangulations, and their guillotine variants. They also apply to classes of rectangulations that are characterized by avoiding certain patterns, and in this work we initiate a systematic investigation of pattern avoidance in rectangulations. Our generation algorithms are efficient, in some cases even loopless or constant amortized time, i.e., each new rectangulation is generated in constant time in the worst case or on average, respectively. Moreover, the Gray codes we obtain are cyclic, and sometimes provably optimal, in the sense that they correspond to a Hamilton cycle on the skeleton of an underlying polytope. These results are obtained by encoding rectangulations as permutations, and by applying our recently developed permutation language framework.
Cite as

Arturo Merino and Torsten Mütze. Efficient Generation of Rectangulations via Permutation Languages. In 37th International Symposium on Computational Geometry (SoCG 2021). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 189, pp. 54:1-54:18, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2021)

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@InProceedings{merino_et_al:LIPIcs.SoCG.2021.54,
  author =	{Merino, Arturo and M\"{u}tze, Torsten},
  title =	{{Efficient Generation of Rectangulations via Permutation Languages}},
  booktitle =	{37th International Symposium on Computational Geometry (SoCG 2021)},
  pages =	{54:1--54:18},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-184-9},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2021},
  volume =	{189},
  editor =	{Buchin, Kevin and Colin de Verdi\`{e}re, \'{E}ric},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.SoCG.2021.54},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-138534},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.SoCG.2021.54},
  annote =	{Keywords: Exhaustive generation, Gray code, flip graph, polytope, generic rectangulation, diagonal rectangulation, cartogram, floorplan, permutation pattern}
}
Document
Track A: Algorithms, Complexity and Games
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.ICALP.2020.84
On the Two-Dimensional Knapsack Problem for Convex Polygons

Authors: Arturo Merino and Andreas Wiese

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 168, 47th International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming (ICALP 2020)

Abstract
We study the two-dimensional geometric knapsack problem for convex polygons. Given a set of weighted convex polygons and a square knapsack, the goal is to select the most profitable subset of the given polygons that fits non-overlappingly into the knapsack. We allow to rotate the polygons by arbitrary angles. We present a quasi-polynomial time O(1)-approximation algorithm for the general case and a polynomial time O(1)-approximation algorithm if all input polygons are triangles, both assuming polynomially bounded integral input data. Also, we give a quasi-polynomial time algorithm that computes a solution of optimal weight under resource augmentation, i.e., we allow to increase the size of the knapsack by a factor of 1+δ for some δ > 0 but compare ourselves with the optimal solution for the original knapsack. To the best of our knowledge, these are the first results for two-dimensional geometric knapsack in which the input objects are more general than axis-parallel rectangles or circles and in which the input polygons can be rotated by arbitrary angles.
Cite as

Arturo Merino and Andreas Wiese. On the Two-Dimensional Knapsack Problem for Convex Polygons. In 47th International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming (ICALP 2020). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 168, pp. 84:1-84:16, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2020)

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@InProceedings{merino_et_al:LIPIcs.ICALP.2020.84,
  author =	{Merino, Arturo and Wiese, Andreas},
  title =	{{On the Two-Dimensional Knapsack Problem for Convex Polygons}},
  booktitle =	{47th International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming (ICALP 2020)},
  pages =	{84:1--84:16},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-138-2},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2020},
  volume =	{168},
  editor =	{Czumaj, Artur and Dawar, Anuj and Merelli, Emanuela},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.ICALP.2020.84},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-124916},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ICALP.2020.84},
  annote =	{Keywords: Approximation algorithms, geometric knapsack problem, polygons, rotation}
}
Document
Track A: Algorithms, Complexity and Games
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.ICALP.2019.83
The Minimum Cost Query Problem on Matroids with Uncertainty Areas

Authors: Arturo I. Merino and José A. Soto

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 132, 46th International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming (ICALP 2019)

Abstract
We study the minimum weight basis problem on matroid when elements' weights are uncertain. For each element we only know a set of possible values (an uncertainty area) that contains its real weight. In some cases there exist bases that are uniformly optimal, that is, they are minimum weight bases for every possible weight function obeying the uncertainty areas. In other cases, computing such a basis is not possible unless we perform some queries for the exact value of some elements. Our main result is a polynomial time algorithm for the following problem. Given a matroid with uncertainty areas and a query cost function on its elements, find the set of elements of minimum total cost that we need to simultaneously query such that, no matter their revelation, the resulting instance admits a uniformly optimal base. We also provide combinatorial characterizations of all uniformly optimal bases, when one exists; and of all sets of queries that can be performed so that after revealing the corresponding weights the resulting instance admits a uniformly optimal base.
Cite as

Arturo I. Merino and José A. Soto. The Minimum Cost Query Problem on Matroids with Uncertainty Areas. In 46th International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming (ICALP 2019). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 132, pp. 83:1-83:14, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2019)

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@InProceedings{merino_et_al:LIPIcs.ICALP.2019.83,
  author =	{Merino, Arturo I. and Soto, Jos\'{e} A.},
  title =	{{The Minimum Cost Query Problem on Matroids with Uncertainty Areas}},
  booktitle =	{46th International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming (ICALP 2019)},
  pages =	{83:1--83:14},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-109-2},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2019},
  volume =	{132},
  editor =	{Baier, Christel and Chatzigiannakis, Ioannis and Flocchini, Paola and Leonardi, Stefano},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.ICALP.2019.83},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-106592},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ICALP.2019.83},
  annote =	{Keywords: Minimum spanning tree, matroids, uncertainty, queries}
}
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