DROPS

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DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.SoCG.2026.33

Near-Optimal Bounds for Parameterized Euclidean k-Means

Authors: Vincent Cohen-Addad, Karthik C. S., David Saulpic, and Chris Schwiegelshohn

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 367, 42nd International Symposium on Computational Geometry (SoCG 2026)

Abstract

The k-means problem is a classic objective for modeling clustering in a metric space. Given a set of points in a metric space, the goal is to find k representative points so as to minimize the sum of the squared distances from each point to its closest representative. In this work, we study the approximability of k-means in Euclidean spaces parameterized by the number of clusters, k. In seminal works, de la Vega, Karpinski, Kenyon, and Rabani [STOC'03] and Kumar, Sabharwal, and Sen [JACM'10] showed how to obtain a (1+ε)-approximation for high-dimensional Euclidean k-means in time 2^{(k/ε)^O(1)} ⋅ dn^O(1). In this work, we introduce a new fine-grained hypothesis called Exponential Time for Expanders Hypothesis (XXH) which roughly asserts that there are no non-trivial exponential time approximation algorithms for the vertex cover problem on near perfect vertex expanders. Assuming XXH, we close the above long line of work on approximating Euclidean k-means by showing that there is no 2^{(k/ε)^{1-o(1)}} ⋅ n^O(1) time algorithm achieving a (1+ε)-approximation for k-means in Euclidean space. This lower bound is tight as it matches the algorithm given by Feldman, Monemizadeh, and Sohler [SoCG'07] whose runtime is 2^O(k/ε) + O(ndk). Furthermore, assuming XXH, we show that the seminal O(n^{kd+1}) runtime exact algorithm of Inaba, Katoh, and Imai [SoCG'94] for k-means is optimal for small values of k.

Cite as

Vincent Cohen-Addad, Karthik C. S., David Saulpic, and Chris Schwiegelshohn. Near-Optimal Bounds for Parameterized Euclidean k-Means. In 42nd International Symposium on Computational Geometry (SoCG 2026). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 367, pp. 33:1-33:17, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)

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@InProceedings{cohenaddad_et_al:LIPIcs.SoCG.2026.33,
  author =	{Cohen-Addad, Vincent and C. S., Karthik and Saulpic, David and Schwiegelshohn, Chris},
  title =	{{Near-Optimal Bounds for Parameterized Euclidean k-Means}},
  booktitle =	{42nd International Symposium on Computational Geometry (SoCG 2026)},
  pages =	{33:1--33:17},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-418-5},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2026},
  volume =	{367},
  editor =	{Ahn, Hee-Kap and Hoffmann, Michael and Nayyeri, Amir},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.SoCG.2026.33},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-258391},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.SoCG.2026.33},
  annote =	{Keywords: k-means clustering, Euclidean space, Fine-Grained Complexity}
}

Document

DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.34

Testing Classical Properties from Quantum Data

Authors: Matthias C. Caro, Preksha Naik, and Joseph Slote

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

Abstract

Many properties of Boolean functions can be tested far more efficiently than the function itself can be learned. However, this dramatic advantage often disappears when testers are limited to random samples of f instead of adaptively chosen queries to f. In this work we investigate the quantum version of this restriction: quantum algorithms that test properties of a Boolean function f solely from copies of either the function state |f⟩∝ ∑_x|x,f(x)⟩ or the phase state |(-1)^f⟩∝ ∑_x (-1)^{f(x)}|x⟩. Quantum advantage in testing from data. For monotonicity, symmetry, and triangle-freeness, we show passive quantum testers are unboundedly or super-polynomially better than their classical passive testing counterparts. They are competitive with classic query-based testers in each case. Inadequacy of Fourier sampling. Our new testers use techniques beyond quantum Fourier sampling, and it turns out this is necessary: we show a certain class of bent functions can be tested from 𝒪(1) function states but has a sample complexity lower bound of 2^{Ω(n)} for any tester relying exclusively on Fourier and classical samples. Classical queries vs. quantum data. Our passive quantum testers are competitive with classical query-based testers, but this isn't universal: we exhibit a testing problem that can be solved from 𝒪(1) classical queries but requires Ω(2^{n/2}) function state copies. The Forrelation problem provides a separation of the same magnitude in the opposite direction, so we conclude that quantum data and classical queries are "maximally incomparable" resources for testing. Towards lower bounds. We also begin the study of lower bounds for testing from quantum data. For quantum monotonicity testing, we prove that the ensembles of [Goldreich et al., 2000; Black, 2024], which give exponential lower bounds for classical sample-based testing, do not yield any nontrivial lower bounds for testing from quantum data. New insights specific to quantum data will be required for proving copy complexity lower bounds for testing in this model.

Cite as

Matthias C. Caro, Preksha Naik, and Joseph Slote. Testing Classical Properties from Quantum Data. In 17th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2026). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 362, pp. 34:1-34:26, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)

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@InProceedings{caro_et_al:LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.34,
  author =	{Caro, Matthias C. and Naik, Preksha and Slote, Joseph},
  title =	{{Testing Classical Properties from Quantum Data}},
  booktitle =	{17th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2026)},
  pages =	{34:1--34:26},
  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.2026.34},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-253213},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.34},
  annote =	{Keywords: Quantum Property Testing, Quantum Data, Boolean Functions}
}

Document

DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.ESA.2025.14

Testing Sumsets Is Hard

Authors: Xi Chen, Shivam Nadimpalli, Tim Randolph, Rocco A. Servedio, and Or Zamir

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

Abstract

A subset S of the Boolean hypercube 𝔽₂ⁿ is a sumset if S = {a + b : a, b ∈ A} for some A ⊆ 𝔽₂ⁿ. Sumsets are central objects of study in additive combinatorics, where they play a role in several of the field’s most important results. We prove a lower bound of Ω(2^{n/2}) for the number of queries needed to test whether a Boolean function f:𝔽₂ⁿ → {0,1} is the indicator function of a sumset, ruling out an efficient testing algorithm for sumsets. Our lower bound for testing sumsets follows from sharp bounds on the related problem of shift testing, which may be of independent interest. We also give a near-optimal {2^{n/2} ⋅ poly(n)}-query algorithm for a smoothed analysis formulation of the sumset refutation problem. Finally, we include a simple proof that the number of different sumsets in 𝔽₂ⁿ is 2^{(1±o(1))2^{n-1}}.

Cite as

Xi Chen, Shivam Nadimpalli, Tim Randolph, Rocco A. Servedio, and Or Zamir. Testing Sumsets Is Hard. In 33rd Annual European Symposium on Algorithms (ESA 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 351, pp. 14:1-14:16, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

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@InProceedings{chen_et_al:LIPIcs.ESA.2025.14,
  author =	{Chen, Xi and Nadimpalli, Shivam and Randolph, Tim and Servedio, Rocco A. and Zamir, Or},
  title =	{{Testing Sumsets Is Hard}},
  booktitle =	{33rd Annual European Symposium on Algorithms (ESA 2025)},
  pages =	{14:1--14:16},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-395-9},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{351},
  editor =	{Benoit, Anne and Kaplan, Haim and Wild, Sebastian and Herman, Grzegorz},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.ESA.2025.14},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-244822},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ESA.2025.14},
  annote =	{Keywords: Sumsets, additive combinatorics, property testing, Boolean functions}
}

Document

RANDOM

DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.APPROX/RANDOM.2025.42

On the Spectral Expansion of Monotone Subsets of the Hypercube

Authors: Yumou Fei and Renato Ferreira Pinto Jr.

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

Abstract

We study the spectral gap of subgraphs of the hypercube induced by monotone subsets of vertices. For a monotone subset A ⊆ {0,1}ⁿ of density μ(A), the previous best lower bound on the spectral gap, due to Cohen [Cohen, 2016], was γ ≳ μ(A)/n², improving upon the earlier bound γ ≳ μ(A)²/n² established by Ding and Mossel [Ding and Mossel, 2014]. In this paper, we prove the optimal lower bound γ ≳ μ(A)/n. As a corollary, we improve the mixing time upper bound of the random walk on constant-density monotone sets from O(n³), as shown by Ding and Mossel, to O(n²). Along the way, we develop two new inequalities that may be of independent interest: (1) a directed L²-Poincaré inequality on the hypercube, and (2) an "approximate" FKG inequality for monotone sets.

Cite as

Yumou Fei and Renato Ferreira Pinto Jr.. On the Spectral Expansion of Monotone Subsets of the Hypercube. In Approximation, Randomization, and Combinatorial Optimization. Algorithms and Techniques (APPROX/RANDOM 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 353, pp. 42:1-42:24, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

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@InProceedings{fei_et_al:LIPIcs.APPROX/RANDOM.2025.42,
  author =	{Fei, Yumou and Ferreira Pinto Jr., Renato},
  title =	{{On the Spectral Expansion of Monotone Subsets of the Hypercube}},
  booktitle =	{Approximation, Randomization, and Combinatorial Optimization. Algorithms and Techniques (APPROX/RANDOM 2025)},
  pages =	{42:1--42:24},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-397-3},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{353},
  editor =	{Ene, Alina and Chattopadhyay, Eshan},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.APPROX/RANDOM.2025.42},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-244081},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.APPROX/RANDOM.2025.42},
  annote =	{Keywords: Random walks, mixing time, FKG inequality, Poincar\'{e} inequality, directed isoperimetry}
}

Document

APPROX

DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.APPROX/RANDOM.2025.18

A Randomized Rounding Approach for DAG Edge Deletion

Authors: Sina Kalantarzadeh, Nathan Klein, and Victor Reis

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

Abstract

In the DAG Edge Deletion problem, we are given an edge-weighted directed acyclic graph and a parameter k, and the goal is to delete the minimum weight set of edges so that the resulting graph has no paths of length k. This problem, which has applications to scheduling, was introduced in 2015 by Kenkre, Pandit, Purohit, and Saket. They gave a k-approximation and showed that it is UGC-Hard to approximate better than ⌊0.5k⌋ for any constant k ≥ 4 using a work of Svensson from 2012. The approximation ratio was improved to 2/3(k+1) by Klein and Wexler in 2016. In this work, we introduce a randomized rounding framework based on distributions over vertex labels in [0,1]. The most natural distribution is to sample labels independently from the uniform distribution over [0,1]. We show this leads to a (2-√2)(k+1) ≈ 0.585(k+1)-approximation. By using a modified (but still independent) label distribution, we obtain a 0.549(k+1)-approximation for the problem, as well as show that no independent distribution over labels can improve our analysis to below 0.542(k+1). Finally, we show a 0.5(k+1)-approximation for bipartite graphs and for instances with structured LP solutions. Whether this ratio can be obtained in general is open.

Cite as

Sina Kalantarzadeh, Nathan Klein, and Victor Reis. A Randomized Rounding Approach for DAG Edge Deletion. In Approximation, Randomization, and Combinatorial Optimization. Algorithms and Techniques (APPROX/RANDOM 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 353, pp. 18:1-18:13, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

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@InProceedings{kalantarzadeh_et_al:LIPIcs.APPROX/RANDOM.2025.18,
  author =	{Kalantarzadeh, Sina and Klein, Nathan and Reis, Victor},
  title =	{{A Randomized Rounding Approach for DAG Edge Deletion}},
  booktitle =	{Approximation, Randomization, and Combinatorial Optimization. Algorithms and Techniques (APPROX/RANDOM 2025)},
  pages =	{18:1--18:13},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-397-3},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{353},
  editor =	{Ene, Alina and Chattopadhyay, Eshan},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.APPROX/RANDOM.2025.18},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-243840},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.APPROX/RANDOM.2025.18},
  annote =	{Keywords: Approximation Algorithms, Randomized Algorithms, Linear Programming, Graph Algorithms, Scheduling}
}

Document

DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.MFCS.2025.37

New Hardness Results for Low-Rank Matrix Completion

Authors: Dror Chawin and Ishay Haviv

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

Abstract

The low-rank matrix completion problem asks whether a given real matrix with missing values can be completed so that the resulting matrix has low rank or is close to a low-rank matrix. The completed matrix is often required to satisfy additional structural constraints, such as positive semi-definiteness or a bounded infinity norm. The problem arises in various research fields, including machine learning, statistics, and theoretical computer science, and has broad real-world applications. This paper presents new NP-hardness results for low-rank matrix completion problems. We show that for every sufficiently large integer d and any real number ε ∈ [2^{-O(d)},1/7], given a partial matrix A with exposed values of magnitude at most 1 that admits a positive semi-definite completion of rank d, it is NP-hard to find a positive semi-definite matrix that agrees with each given value of A up to an additive error of at most ε, even when the rank is allowed to exceed d by a multiplicative factor of O (1/(ε²⋅log(1/ε))). This strengthens a result of Hardt, Meka, Raghavendra, and Weitz (COLT, 2014), which applies to multiplicative factors smaller than 2 and to ε that decays polynomially in d. We establish similar NP-hardness results for the case where the completed matrix is constrained to have a bounded infinity norm (rather than be positive semi-definite), for which all previous hardness results rely on complexity assumptions related to the Unique Games Conjecture. Our proofs involve a novel notion of nearly orthonormal representations of graphs, the concept of line digraphs, and bounds on the rank of perturbed identity matrices.

Cite as

Dror Chawin and Ishay Haviv. New Hardness Results for Low-Rank Matrix Completion. In 50th International Symposium on Mathematical Foundations of Computer Science (MFCS 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 345, pp. 37:1-37:18, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

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@InProceedings{chawin_et_al:LIPIcs.MFCS.2025.37,
  author =	{Chawin, Dror and Haviv, Ishay},
  title =	{{New Hardness Results for Low-Rank Matrix Completion}},
  booktitle =	{50th International Symposium on Mathematical Foundations of Computer Science (MFCS 2025)},
  pages =	{37:1--37:18},
  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.2025.37},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-241448},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.MFCS.2025.37},
  annote =	{Keywords: hardness of approximation, low-rank matrix completion, graph coloring}
}

Document

DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.CCC.2025.27

New Codes on High Dimensional Expanders

Authors: Irit Dinur, Siqi Liu, and Rachel Yun Zhang

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 339, 40th Computational Complexity Conference (CCC 2025)

Abstract

We describe a new parameterized family of symmetric error-correcting codes with low-density parity-check matrices (LDPC). Our codes can be described in two seemingly different ways. First, in relation to Reed-Muller codes: our codes are functions on a subset of the points in 𝔽ⁿ whose restrictions to a prescribed set of affine lines has low degree. Alternatively, they are Tanner codes on high dimensional expanders, where the coordinates of the codeword correspond to triangles of a 2-dimensional expander, such that around every edge the local view forms a Reed-Solomon codeword. For some range of parameters our codes are provably locally testable, and their dimension is some fixed power of the block length. For another range of parameters our codes have distance and dimension that are both linear in the block length, but we do not know if they are locally testable. The codes also have the multiplication property: the coordinate-wise product of two codewords is a codeword in a related code. The definition of the codes relies on the construction of a specific family of simplicial complexes which is a slight variant on the coset complexes of Kaufman and Oppenheim. We show a novel way to embed the triangles of these complexes into 𝔽ⁿ, with the property that links of edges embed as affine lines in 𝔽ⁿ. We rely on this embedding to lower bound the rate of these codes in a way that avoids constraint-counting and thereby achieves non-trivial rate even when the local codes themselves have arbitrarily small rate, and in particular below 1/2.

Cite as

Irit Dinur, Siqi Liu, and Rachel Yun Zhang. New Codes on High Dimensional Expanders. In 40th Computational Complexity Conference (CCC 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 339, pp. 27:1-27:42, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

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@InProceedings{dinur_et_al:LIPIcs.CCC.2025.27,
  author =	{Dinur, Irit and Liu, Siqi and Zhang, Rachel Yun},
  title =	{{New Codes on High Dimensional Expanders}},
  booktitle =	{40th Computational Complexity Conference (CCC 2025)},
  pages =	{27:1--27:42},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-379-9},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{339},
  editor =	{Srinivasan, Srikanth},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.CCC.2025.27},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-237217},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.CCC.2025.27},
  annote =	{Keywords: error correcting codes, high dimensional expanders, multiplication property}
}

Document

Track A: Algorithms, Complexity and Games

DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.ICALP.2025.52

Relative-Error Testing of Conjunctions and Decision Lists

Authors: Xi Chen, William Pires, Toniann Pitassi, and Rocco A. Servedio

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

Abstract

We study the relative-error property testing model for Boolean functions that was recently introduced in the work of [X. Chen et al., 2025]. In relative-error testing, the testing algorithm gets uniform random satisfying assignments as well as black-box queries to f, and it must accept f with high probability whenever f has the property that is being tested and reject any f that is relative-error far from having the property. Here the relative-error distance from f to a function g is measured with respect to |f^{-1}(1)| rather than with respect to the entire domain size 2ⁿ as in the Hamming distance measure that is used in the standard model; thus, unlike the standard model, relative-error testing allows us to study the testability of sparse Boolean functions that have few satisfying assignments. It was shown in [X. Chen et al., 2025] that relative-error testing is at least as difficult as standard-model property testing, but for many natural and important Boolean function classes the precise relationship between the two notions is unknown. In this paper we consider the well-studied and fundamental properties of being a conjunction and being a decision list. In the relative-error setting, we give an efficient one-sided error tester for conjunctions with running time and query complexity O(1/ε). Secondly, we give a two-sided relative-error Õ(1/ε) tester for decision lists, matching the query complexity of the state-of-the-art algorithm in the standard model [Nader H. Bshouty, 2020; I. Diakonikolas et al., 2007].

Cite as

Xi Chen, William Pires, Toniann Pitassi, and Rocco A. Servedio. Relative-Error Testing of Conjunctions and Decision Lists. In 52nd International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming (ICALP 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 334, pp. 52:1-52:18, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

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@InProceedings{chen_et_al:LIPIcs.ICALP.2025.52,
  author =	{Chen, Xi and Pires, William and Pitassi, Toniann and Servedio, Rocco A.},
  title =	{{Relative-Error Testing of Conjunctions and Decision Lists}},
  booktitle =	{52nd International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming (ICALP 2025)},
  pages =	{52:1--52:18},
  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.2025.52},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-234291},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ICALP.2025.52},
  annote =	{Keywords: Property Testing, Relative Error}
}

Document

Invited Talk

DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.ICALP.2025.2

Let’s Try to Be More Tolerant: On Tolerant Property Testing and Distance Approximation (Invited Talk)

Authors: Dana Ron

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

Abstract

This short paper accompanies an invited talk given at ICALP2025. It is an informal, high-level presentation of tolerant testing and distance approximation. It includes some general results as well as a few specific ones, with the aim of providing a taste of this research direction within the area of sublinear algorithms.

Cite as

Dana Ron. Let’s Try to Be More Tolerant: On Tolerant Property Testing and Distance Approximation (Invited Talk). In 52nd International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming (ICALP 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 334, pp. 2:1-2:10, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

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@InProceedings{ron:LIPIcs.ICALP.2025.2,
  author =	{Ron, Dana},
  title =	{{Let’s Try to Be More Tolerant: On Tolerant Property Testing and Distance Approximation}},
  booktitle =	{52nd International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming (ICALP 2025)},
  pages =	{2:1--2:10},
  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.2025.2},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-233798},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ICALP.2025.2},
  annote =	{Keywords: Sublinear Algorithms, Tolerant Property Testing, Distance Approximation}
}

Document

Track A: Algorithms, Complexity and Games

DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.ICALP.2025.38

Optimal Inapproximability of Promise Equations over Finite Groups

Authors: Silvia Butti, Alberto Larrauri, and Stanislav Živný

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

Abstract

A celebrated result of Håstad established that, for any constant ε > 0, it is NP-hard to find an assignment satisfying a (1/|G|+ε)-fraction of the constraints of a given 3-LIN instance over an Abelian group G even if one is promised that an assignment satisfying a (1-ε)-fraction of the constraints exists. Engebretsen, Holmerin, and Russell showed the same result for 3-LIN instances over any finite (not necessarily Abelian) group. In other words, for almost-satisfiable instances of 3-LIN the random assignment achieves an optimal approximation guarantee. We prove that the random assignment algorithm is still best possible under a stronger promise that the 3-LIN instance is almost satisfiable over an arbitrarily more restrictive group.

Cite as

Silvia Butti, Alberto Larrauri, and Stanislav Živný. Optimal Inapproximability of Promise Equations over Finite Groups. In 52nd International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming (ICALP 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 334, pp. 38:1-38:14, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

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@InProceedings{butti_et_al:LIPIcs.ICALP.2025.38,
  author =	{Butti, Silvia and Larrauri, Alberto and \v{Z}ivn\'{y}, Stanislav},
  title =	{{Optimal Inapproximability of Promise Equations over Finite Groups}},
  booktitle =	{52nd International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming (ICALP 2025)},
  pages =	{38:1--38:14},
  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.2025.38},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-234150},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ICALP.2025.38},
  annote =	{Keywords: promise constraint satisfaction, approximation, linear equations}
}

Document

DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.SoCG.2025.62

On Approximability of 𝓁₂² Min-Sum Clustering

Authors: Karthik C. S., Euiwoong Lee, Yuval Rabani, Chris Schwiegelshohn, and Samson Zhou

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 332, 41st International Symposium on Computational Geometry (SoCG 2025)

Abstract

The 𝓁₂² min-sum k-clustering problem is to partition an input set into clusters C_1,…,C_k to minimize ∑_{i=1}^k ∑_{p,q ∈ C_i} ‖p-q‖₂². Although 𝓁₂² min-sum k-clustering is NP-hard, it is not known whether it is NP-hard to approximate 𝓁₂² min-sum k-clustering beyond a certain factor. In this paper, we give the first hardness-of-approximation result for the 𝓁₂² min-sum k-clustering problem. We show that it is NP-hard to approximate the objective to a factor better than 1.056 and moreover, assuming a balanced variant of the Johnson Coverage Hypothesis, it is NP-hard to approximate the objective to a factor better than 1.327. We then complement our hardness result by giving a fast PTAS for 𝓁₂² min-sum k-clustering. Specifically, our algorithm runs in time O(n^{1+o(1)}d⋅ 2^{(k/ε)^O(1)}), which is the first nearly linear time algorithm for this problem. We also consider a learning-augmented setting, where the algorithm has access to an oracle that outputs a label i ∈ [k] for input point, thereby implicitly partitioning the input dataset into k clusters that induce an approximately optimal solution, up to some amount of adversarial error α ∈ [0,1/2). We give a polynomial-time algorithm that outputs a (1+γα)/(1-α)²-approximation to 𝓁₂² min-sum k-clustering, for a fixed constant γ > 0.

Cite as

Karthik C. S., Euiwoong Lee, Yuval Rabani, Chris Schwiegelshohn, and Samson Zhou. On Approximability of 𝓁₂² Min-Sum Clustering. In 41st International Symposium on Computational Geometry (SoCG 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 332, pp. 62:1-62:18, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

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@InProceedings{karthikc.s._et_al:LIPIcs.SoCG.2025.62,
  author =	{Karthik C. S. and Lee, Euiwoong and Rabani, Yuval and Schwiegelshohn, Chris and Zhou, Samson},
  title =	{{On Approximability of 𝓁₂² Min-Sum Clustering}},
  booktitle =	{41st International Symposium on Computational Geometry (SoCG 2025)},
  pages =	{62:1--62:18},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-370-6},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{332},
  editor =	{Aichholzer, Oswin and Wang, Haitao},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.SoCG.2025.62},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-232142},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.SoCG.2025.62},
  annote =	{Keywords: Clustering, hardness of approximation, polynomial-time approximation schemes, learning-augmented algorithms}
}

Document

DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.SoCG.2025.24

An 11/6-Approximation Algorithm for Vertex Cover on String Graphs

Authors: Édouard Bonnet and Paweł Rzążewski

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 332, 41st International Symposium on Computational Geometry (SoCG 2025)

Abstract

We present a 1.8334-approximation algorithm for Vertex Cover on string graphs given with a representation, which takes polynomial time in the size of the representation; the exact approximation factor is 11/6. Recently, the barrier of 2 was broken by Lokshtanov, Panolan, Saurabh, Xue, and Zehavi [SoGC '24] with a 1.9999-approximation algorithm. Thus we increase by three orders of magnitude the distance of the approximation ratio to the trivial bound of 2. Our algorithm is very simple. The intricacies reside in its analysis, where we mainly establish that string graphs without odd cycles of length at most 11 are 8-colorable. Previously, Chudnovsky, Scott, and Seymour [JCTB '21] showed that string graphs without odd cycles of length at most 7 are 80-colorable, and string graphs without odd cycles of length at most 5 have bounded chromatic number.

Cite as

Édouard Bonnet and Paweł Rzążewski. An 11/6-Approximation Algorithm for Vertex Cover on String Graphs. In 41st International Symposium on Computational Geometry (SoCG 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 332, pp. 24:1-24:15, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

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@InProceedings{bonnet_et_al:LIPIcs.SoCG.2025.24,
  author =	{Bonnet, \'{E}douard and Rz\k{a}\.{z}ewski, Pawe{\l}},
  title =	{{An 11/6-Approximation Algorithm for Vertex Cover on String Graphs}},
  booktitle =	{41st International Symposium on Computational Geometry (SoCG 2025)},
  pages =	{24:1--24:15},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-370-6},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{332},
  editor =	{Aichholzer, Oswin and Wang, Haitao},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.SoCG.2025.24},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-231764},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.SoCG.2025.24},
  annote =	{Keywords: Approximation algorithms, string graphs, Vertex Cover, Coloring, odd girth}
}

Document

DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.FORC.2025.4

Hardness and Approximation Algorithms for Balanced Districting Problems

Authors: Prathamesh Dharangutte, Jie Gao, Shang-En Huang, and Fang-Yi Yu

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 329, 6th Symposium on Foundations of Responsible Computing (FORC 2025)

Abstract

We introduce and study the problem of balanced districting, where given an undirected graph with vertices carrying two types of weights (different population, resource types, etc) the goal is to maximize the total weights covered in vertex disjoint districts such that each district is a star or (in general) a connected induced subgraph with the two weights to be balanced. This problem is strongly motivated by political redistricting, where contiguity, population balance, and compactness are essential. We provide hardness and approximation algorithms for this problem. In particular, we show NP-hardness for an approximation better than n^{1/2-δ} for any constant δ > 0 in general graphs even when the districts are star graphs, as well as NP-hardness on complete graphs, tree graphs, planar graphs and other restricted settings. On the other hand, we develop an algorithm for balanced star districting that gives an O(√n)-approximation on any graph (which is basically tight considering matching hardness of approximation results), an O(log n) approximation on planar graphs with extensions to minor-free graphs. Our algorithm uses a modified Whack-a-Mole algorithm [Bhattacharya, Kiss, and Saranurak, SODA 2023] to find a sparse solution of a fractional packing linear program (despite exponentially many variables) which requires a new design of a separation oracle specific for our balanced districting problem. To turn the fractional solution to a feasible integer solution, we adopt the randomized rounding algorithm by [Chan and Har-Peled, SoCG 2009]. To get a good approximation ratio of the rounding procedure, a crucial element in the analysis is the balanced scattering separators for planar graphs and minor-free graphs - separators that can be partitioned into a small number of k-hop independent sets for some constant k - which may find independent interest in solving other packing style problems. Further, our algorithm is versatile - the very same algorithm can be analyzed in different ways on various graph classes, which leads to class-dependent approximation ratios. We also provide a FPTAS algorithm for complete graphs and tree graphs, as well as greedy algorithms and approximation ratios when the district cardinality is bounded, the graph has bounded degree or the weights are binary. We refer the readers to the full version of the paper for complete set of results and proofs.

Cite as

Prathamesh Dharangutte, Jie Gao, Shang-En Huang, and Fang-Yi Yu. Hardness and Approximation Algorithms for Balanced Districting Problems. In 6th Symposium on Foundations of Responsible Computing (FORC 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 329, pp. 4:1-4:24, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

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@InProceedings{dharangutte_et_al:LIPIcs.FORC.2025.4,
  author =	{Dharangutte, Prathamesh and Gao, Jie and Huang, Shang-En and Yu, Fang-Yi},
  title =	{{Hardness and Approximation Algorithms for Balanced Districting Problems}},
  booktitle =	{6th Symposium on Foundations of Responsible Computing (FORC 2025)},
  pages =	{4:1--4:24},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-367-6},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{329},
  editor =	{Bun, Mark},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.FORC.2025.4},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-231310},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.FORC.2025.4},
  annote =	{Keywords: Approximation algorithms, algorithmic fairness}
}

Document

DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2025.34

Directed Hypercube Routing, a Generalized Lehman-Ron Theorem, and Monotonicity Testing

Authors: Deeparnab Chakrabarty and C. Seshadhri

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 325, 16th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2025)

Abstract

Motivated by applications to monotonicity testing, Lehman and Ron (JCTA, 2001) proved the existence of a collection of vertex disjoint paths between comparable sub-level sets in the directed hypercube. The main technical contribution of this paper is a new proof method that yields a generalization of their theorem: we prove the existence of two edge-disjoint collections of vertex disjoint paths. Our main conceptual contributions are conjectures on directed hypercube flows with simultaneous vertex and edge capacities of which our generalized Lehman-Ron theorem is a special case. We show that these conjectures imply directed isoperimetric theorems, and in particular, the robust directed Talagrand inequality due to Khot, Minzer, and Safra (SIAM J. on Comp, 2018). These isoperimetric inequalities, that relate the directed surface area (of a set in the hypercube) to its distance to monotonicity, have been crucial in obtaining the best monotonicity testers for Boolean functions. We believe our conjectures pave the way towards combinatorial proofs of these directed isoperimetry theorems.

Cite as

Deeparnab Chakrabarty and C. Seshadhri. Directed Hypercube Routing, a Generalized Lehman-Ron Theorem, and Monotonicity Testing. In 16th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 325, pp. 34:1-34:15, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

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@InProceedings{chakrabarty_et_al:LIPIcs.ITCS.2025.34,
  author =	{Chakrabarty, Deeparnab and Seshadhri, C.},
  title =	{{Directed Hypercube Routing, a Generalized Lehman-Ron Theorem, and Monotonicity Testing}},
  booktitle =	{16th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2025)},
  pages =	{34:1--34:15},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-361-4},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{325},
  editor =	{Meka, Raghu},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2025.34},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-226623},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2025.34},
  annote =	{Keywords: Monotonicity testing, isoperimetric inequalities, hypercube routing}
}

Document

DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2025.70

Facility Location on High-Dimensional Euclidean Spaces

Authors: Euiwoong Lee and Kijun Shin

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 325, 16th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2025)

Abstract

Recent years have seen great progress in the approximability of fundamental clustering and facility location problems on high-dimensional Euclidean spaces, including k-Means and k-Median. While they admit strictly better approximation ratios than their general metric versions, their approximation ratios are still higher than the hardness ratios for general metrics, leaving the possibility that the ultimate optimal approximation ratios will be the same between Euclidean and general metrics. Moreover, such an improved algorithm for Euclidean spaces is not known for Uncapaciated Facility Location (UFL), another fundamental problem in the area. In this paper, we prove that for any γ ≥ 1.6774 there exists ε > 0 such that Euclidean UFL admits a (γ, 1 + 2e^{-γ} - ε)-bifactor approximation algorithm, improving the result of Byrka and Aardal [Byrka and Aardal, 2010]. Together with the (γ, 1 + 2e^{-γ}) NP-hardness in general metrics, it shows the first separation between general and Euclidean metrics for the aforementioned basic problems. We also present an (α_Li - ε)-(unifactor) approximation algorithm for UFL for some ε > 0 in Euclidean spaces, where α_Li ≈ 1.488 is the best-known approximation ratio for UFL by Li [Li, 2013].

Cite as

Euiwoong Lee and Kijun Shin. Facility Location on High-Dimensional Euclidean Spaces. In 16th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 325, pp. 70:1-70:21, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

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@InProceedings{lee_et_al:LIPIcs.ITCS.2025.70,
  author =	{Lee, Euiwoong and Shin, Kijun},
  title =	{{Facility Location on High-Dimensional Euclidean Spaces}},
  booktitle =	{16th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2025)},
  pages =	{70:1--70:21},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-361-4},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{325},
  editor =	{Meka, Raghu},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2025.70},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-226982},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2025.70},
  annote =	{Keywords: Approximation Algorithms, Clustering, Facility Location}
}

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