24 Search Results for "Shapira, Michael"

Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.FORC.2026.7
When to Ask a Question: Understanding Communication Strategies in Generative AI Tools

Authors: Charlotte Park, Kate Donahue, and Manish Raghavan

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 368, 7th Symposium on Foundations of Responsible Computing (FORC 2026)

Abstract
Generative AI models differ from traditional machine learning tools in that they allow users to provide as much or as little information as they choose in their inputs. This flexibility often leads users to omit certain details, relying on the models to infer and fill in under-specified information based on distributional knowledge of user preferences. Such inferences may privilege majority viewpoints and disadvantage users with atypical preferences, raising concerns about fairness. Unlike more traditional recommender systems, LLMs can explicitly solicit more information from users through natural language. However, while directly eliciting user preferences could increase personalization and mitigate inequality, excessive querying places a burden on users who value efficiency. We develop a stylized model of user-LLM interaction and develop an objective that captures tradeoff between user burden and preference representation. Building on the observation that individual preferences are often correlated, we analyze how AI systems should balance inference and elicitation, characterizing the optimal amount of information to solicit before content generation. Ultimately, we show that information elicitation can mitigate the systematic biases of preference inference, enabling the design of generative tools that better incorporate diverse user perspectives while maintaining efficiency. We complement this theoretical analysis with an empirical evaluation illustrating the model’s predictions and exploring their practical implications.
Cite as

Charlotte Park, Kate Donahue, and Manish Raghavan. When to Ask a Question: Understanding Communication Strategies in Generative AI Tools. In 7th Symposium on Foundations of Responsible Computing (FORC 2026). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 368, pp. 7:1-7:25, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)

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@InProceedings{park_et_al:LIPIcs.FORC.2026.7,
  author =	{Park, Charlotte and Donahue, Kate and Raghavan, Manish},
  title =	{{When to Ask a Question: Understanding Communication Strategies in Generative AI Tools}},
  booktitle =	{7th Symposium on Foundations of Responsible Computing (FORC 2026)},
  pages =	{7:1--7:25},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-419-2},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2026},
  volume =	{368},
  editor =	{Lin, Huijia (Rachel)},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.FORC.2026.7},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-259782},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.FORC.2026.7},
  annote =	{Keywords: human-AI interaction, user modeling, personalization}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/DagMan.11.1.19
Conversational Agents: A Framework for Evaluation (CAFE) (Dagstuhl Perspectives Workshop 24352)

Authors: Christine Bauer, Li Chen, Nicola Ferro, Norbert Fuhr, Avishek Anand, Timo Breuer, Guglielmo Faggioli, Ophir Frieder, Hideo Joho, Jussi Karlgren, Johannes Kiesel, Bart P. Knijnenburg, Aldo Lipani, Lien Michiels, Andrea Papenmeier, Maria Soledad Pera, Mark Sanderson, Scott Sanner, Benno Stein, Johanne R. Trippas, Karin Verspoor, and Martijn C. Willemsen

Published in: Dagstuhl Manifestos, Volume 11, Issue 1 (2025)

Abstract
During the workshop, we deeply discussed what CONversational Information ACcess (CONIAC) is and its unique features, proposing a world model abstracting it, and defined the Conversational Agents Framework for Evaluation (CAFE) for the evaluation of CONIAC systems, consisting of six major components: 1) goals of the system’s stakeholders, 2) user tasks to be studied in the evaluation, 3) aspects of the users carrying out the tasks, 4) evaluation criteria to be considered, 5) evaluation methodology to be applied, and 6) measures for the quantitative criteria chosen.
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Christine Bauer, Li Chen, Nicola Ferro, Norbert Fuhr, Avishek Anand, Timo Breuer, Guglielmo Faggioli, Ophir Frieder, Hideo Joho, Jussi Karlgren, Johannes Kiesel, Bart P. Knijnenburg, Aldo Lipani, Lien Michiels, Andrea Papenmeier, Maria Soledad Pera, Mark Sanderson, Scott Sanner, Benno Stein, Johanne R. Trippas, Karin Verspoor, and Martijn C. Willemsen. Conversational Agents: A Framework for Evaluation (CAFE) (Dagstuhl Perspectives Workshop 24352). In Dagstuhl Manifestos, Volume 11, Issue 1, pp. 19-67, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

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@Article{bauer_et_al:DagMan.11.1.19,
  author =	{Bauer, Christine and Chen, Li and Ferro, Nicola and Fuhr, Norbert and Anand, Avishek and Breuer, Timo and Faggioli, Guglielmo and Frieder, Ophir and Joho, Hideo and Karlgren, Jussi and Kiesel, Johannes and Knijnenburg, Bart P. and Lipani, Aldo and Michiels, Lien and Papenmeier, Andrea and Pera, Maria Soledad and Sanderson, Mark and Sanner, Scott and Stein, Benno and Trippas, Johanne R. and Verspoor, Karin and Willemsen, Martijn C.},
  title =	{{Conversational Agents: A Framework for Evaluation (CAFE) (Dagstuhl Perspectives Workshop 24352)}},
  pages =	{19--67},
  journal =	{Dagstuhl Manifestos},
  ISSN =	{2193-2433},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{11},
  number =	{1},
  editor =	{Bauer, Christine and Chen, Li and Ferro, Nicola and Fuhr, Norbert and Anand, Avishek and Breuer, Timo and Faggioli, Guglielmo and Frieder, Ophir and Joho, Hideo and Karlgren, Jussi and Kiesel, Johannes and Knijnenburg, Bart P. and Lipani, Aldo and Michiels, Lien and Papenmeier, Andrea and Pera, Maria Soledad and Sanderson, Mark and Sanner, Scott and Stein, Benno and Trippas, Johanne R. and Verspoor, Karin and Willemsen, Martijn C.},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/DagMan.11.1.19},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-252722},
  doi =		{10.4230/DagMan.11.1.19},
  annote =	{Keywords: Conversational Agents, Evaluation, Information Access}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.ISAAC.2025.44
Approximation Schemes for k-Subset Sum Ratio and k-Way Number Partitioning Ratio

Authors: Sotiris Kanellopoulos, Giorgos Mitropoulos, Antonis Antonopoulos, Nikos Leonardos, Aris Pagourtzis, Christos Pergaminelis, Stavros Petsalakis, and Kanellos Tsitouras

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 359, 36th International Symposium on Algorithms and Computation (ISAAC 2025)

Abstract
The Subset Sum Ratio problem (SSR) asks, given a multiset A of positive integers, to find two disjoint subsets of A such that the largest-to-smallest ratio of their sums is minimized. In this paper we study the k-version of SSR, namely k-Subset Sum Ratio (k-SSR), which asks to minimize the largest-to-smallest ratio of sums of k disjoint subsets of A. We develop an approximation scheme for k-SSR running in O(n^{2k}/ε^{k-1}) time, where n = |A| and ε is the error parameter. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first FPTAS for k-SSR for fixed k > 2. We also study the k-way Number Partitioning Ratio (k-PART) problem, which differs from k-SSR in that the k subsets must constitute a partition of A; this problem in fact corresponds to the objective of minimizing the largest-to-smallest sum ratio in the family of Multiway Number Partitioning problems. We present a more involved FPTAS for k-PART, also achieving O(n^{2k}/ε^{k-1}) time complexity. Notably, k-PART is also equivalent to the Minimum Envy-Ratio problem with identical valuation functions, which has been studied in the context of fair division of indivisible goods. Thus, for the case of identical valuations, our FPTAS represents a significant improvement over the O(n^{4k²+1}/ε^{2k²}) bound obtained by Nguyen and Rothe’s FPTAS [Trung Thanh Nguyen and Jörg Rothe, 2014] for Minimum Envy-Ratio with general additive valuations. Lastly, we propose a second FPTAS for k-SSR, which employs carefully designed calls to the first one; the new scheme has a time complexity of Õ(n/ε^{3k-1}), thus being much faster when n≫ 1/ ε.
Cite as

Sotiris Kanellopoulos, Giorgos Mitropoulos, Antonis Antonopoulos, Nikos Leonardos, Aris Pagourtzis, Christos Pergaminelis, Stavros Petsalakis, and Kanellos Tsitouras. Approximation Schemes for k-Subset Sum Ratio and k-Way Number Partitioning Ratio. In 36th International Symposium on Algorithms and Computation (ISAAC 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 359, pp. 44:1-44:22, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

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@InProceedings{kanellopoulos_et_al:LIPIcs.ISAAC.2025.44,
  author =	{Kanellopoulos, Sotiris and Mitropoulos, Giorgos and Antonopoulos, Antonis and Leonardos, Nikos and Pagourtzis, Aris and Pergaminelis, Christos and Petsalakis, Stavros and Tsitouras, Kanellos},
  title =	{{Approximation Schemes for k-Subset Sum Ratio and k-Way Number Partitioning Ratio}},
  booktitle =	{36th International Symposium on Algorithms and Computation (ISAAC 2025)},
  pages =	{44:1--44:22},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-408-6},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{359},
  editor =	{Chen, Ho-Lin and Hon, Wing-Kai and Tsai, Meng-Tsung},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.ISAAC.2025.44},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-249521},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ISAAC.2025.44},
  annote =	{Keywords: Fully polynomial-time approximation schemes, Subset Sum Ratio, Number Partitioning, Fair division, Envy minimization, Pseudo-polynomial time algorithms}
}
Document
PhD Panel
DOI: 10.4230/OASIcs.DX.2025.16
Unsupervised Multimodal Learning for Fault Diagnosis and Prognosis - Application to Radiotherapy Systems (PhD Panel)

Authors: Kélian Poujade, Louise Travé-Massuyès, Jérémy Pirard, and Laure Vieillevigne

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

Abstract
Modern complex systems, such as radiotherapy machines, require robust strategies for fault detection, diagnosis, and prognosis to ensure operational continuity and patient safety. While data-driven methods have gained traction, few studies address diagnostic and prognostic tasks using multimodal operational data under unsupervised or semi-supervised learning settings. This gap is particularly critical given the scarcity of labeled failure data in real-world environments. This work aims to design a unified approach for fault detection, diagnosis, and prognosis using multimodal data in the absence of complete labeling. To this end, autoencoders (AEs) are employed due to their suitability for unsupervised and self-supervised learning, flexibility in handling heterogeneous data, and ability to construct latent representations optimized for various downstream tasks. A specific implementation based on a Long Short-Term Memory β-Variational Autoencoder (LSTM-β-VAE) was developed to detect anomalies in machine logs. This framework is applied to TomoTherapy® systems - a highly complex and under-explored use case within the radiotherapy domain. Initial results demonstrate strong anomaly detection performance on both a public benchmark dataset (HDFS) and a proprietary dataset derived from real-world TomoTherapy® machine faults. Beyond methodology, the paper includes a concise literature review of multimodal learning and data-driven diagnosis and prognosis with a focus on AEs. Based on this review, key research directions are identified for the continuation of the thesis, especially the integration of explainable AI as a means to enhance diagnosis capabilities in the absence of labeled faults.
Cite as

Kélian Poujade, Louise Travé-Massuyès, Jérémy Pirard, and Laure Vieillevigne. Unsupervised Multimodal Learning for Fault Diagnosis and Prognosis - Application to Radiotherapy Systems (PhD Panel). In 36th International Conference on Principles of Diagnosis and Resilient Systems (DX 2025). Open Access Series in Informatics (OASIcs), Volume 136, pp. 16:1-16:17, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

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@InProceedings{poujade_et_al:OASIcs.DX.2025.16,
  author =	{Poujade, K\'{e}lian and Trav\'{e}-Massuy\`{e}s, Louise and Pirard, J\'{e}r\'{e}my and Vieillevigne, Laure},
  title =	{{Unsupervised Multimodal Learning for Fault Diagnosis and Prognosis - Application to Radiotherapy Systems}},
  booktitle =	{36th International Conference on Principles of Diagnosis and Resilient Systems (DX 2025)},
  pages =	{16:1--16:17},
  series =	{Open Access Series in Informatics (OASIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-394-2},
  ISSN =	{2190-6807},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{136},
  editor =	{Quinones-Grueiro, Marcos and Biswas, Gautam and Pill, Ingo},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/OASIcs.DX.2025.16},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-248058},
  doi =		{10.4230/OASIcs.DX.2025.16},
  annote =	{Keywords: Artificial Intelligence, Diagnosis, Prognosis, Radiotherapy machines}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.DISC.2025.26
Towards Constant Time Multi-Call Rumor Spreading on Small-Set Expanders

Authors: Emilio Cruciani, Sebastian Forster, and Tijn de Vos

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 356, 39th International Symposium on Distributed Computing (DISC 2025)

Abstract
We study a multi-call variant of the classic PUSH&PULL rumor spreading process where nodes can contact k of their neighbors instead of a single one during both PUSH and PULL operations. We show that rumor spreading can be made faster at the cost of an increased amount of communication between the nodes. As a motivating example, consider the process on a complete graph of n nodes: while the standard PUSH&PULL protocol takes Θ(log n) rounds, we prove that our k-PUSH&PULL variant completes in Θ(log_{k} n) rounds, with high probability. We generalize this result in an expansion-sensitive way, as has been done for the classic PUSH&PULL protocol for different notions of expansion, e.g., conductance and vertex expansion. We consider small-set vertex expanders, graphs in which every sufficiently small subset of nodes has a large neighborhood, ensuring strong local connectivity. In particular, when the expansion parameter satisfies ϕ > 1, these graphs have a diameter of o(log n), as opposed to other standard notions of expansion. Since the graph’s diameter is a lower bound on the number of rounds required for rumor spreading, this makes small-set expanders particularly well-suited for fast information dissemination. We prove that k-PUSH&PULL takes O(log_{ϕ} n ⋅ log_{k} n) rounds in these expanders, with high probability. We complement this with a simple lower bound of Ω(log_{ϕ} n+ log_{k} n) rounds.
Cite as

Emilio Cruciani, Sebastian Forster, and Tijn de Vos. Towards Constant Time Multi-Call Rumor Spreading on Small-Set Expanders. In 39th International Symposium on Distributed Computing (DISC 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 356, pp. 26:1-26:25, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

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@InProceedings{cruciani_et_al:LIPIcs.DISC.2025.26,
  author =	{Cruciani, Emilio and Forster, Sebastian and de Vos, Tijn},
  title =	{{Towards Constant Time Multi-Call Rumor Spreading on Small-Set Expanders}},
  booktitle =	{39th International Symposium on Distributed Computing (DISC 2025)},
  pages =	{26:1--26:25},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-402-4},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{356},
  editor =	{Kowalski, Dariusz R.},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.DISC.2025.26},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-248434},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.DISC.2025.26},
  annote =	{Keywords: small set expansion, vertex expansion, rumor spreading, multi-call rumor spreading, push\&pull protocol}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.ESA.2025.91
Near-Optimal Differentially Private Graph Algorithms via the Multidimensional AboveThreshold Mechanism

Authors: Laxman Dhulipala, Monika Henzinger, George Z. Li, Quanquan C. Liu, A. R. Sricharan, and Leqi Zhu

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

Abstract
Many differentially private and classical non-private graph algorithms rely crucially on determining whether some property of each vertex meets a threshold. For example, for the k-core decomposition problem, the classic peeling algorithm iteratively removes a vertex if its induced degree falls below a threshold. The sparse vector technique (SVT) is generally used to transform non-private threshold queries into private ones with only a small additive loss in accuracy. However, a naive application of SVT in the graph setting leads to an amplification of the error by a factor of n due to composition, as SVT is applied to every vertex. In this paper, we resolve this problem by formulating a novel generalized sparse vector technique which we call the Multidimensional AboveThreshold (MAT) Mechanism which generalizes SVT (applied to vectors with one dimension) to vectors with multiple dimensions. When applied to vectors with n dimensions, we solve a number of important graph problems with better bounds than previous work. Specifically, we apply our MAT mechanism to obtain a set of improved bounds for a variety of problems including k-core decomposition, densest subgraph, low out-degree ordering, and vertex coloring. We give a tight local edge differentially private (LEDP) algorithm for k-core decomposition that results in an approximation with O(ε^{-1} log n) additive error and no multiplicative error in O(n) rounds. We also give a new (2+η)-factor multiplicative, O(ε^{-1} log n) additive error algorithm in O(log² n) rounds for any constant η > 0. Both of these results are asymptotically tight against our new lower bound of Ω(log n) for any constant-factor approximation algorithm for k-core decomposition. Our new algorithms for k-core decomposition also directly lead to new algorithms for the related problems of densest subgraph and low out-degree ordering. Finally, we give novel LEDP differentially private defective coloring algorithms that use number of colors given in terms of the arboricity of the graph.
Cite as

Laxman Dhulipala, Monika Henzinger, George Z. Li, Quanquan C. Liu, A. R. Sricharan, and Leqi Zhu. Near-Optimal Differentially Private Graph Algorithms via the Multidimensional AboveThreshold Mechanism. In 33rd Annual European Symposium on Algorithms (ESA 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 351, pp. 91:1-91:20, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

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@InProceedings{dhulipala_et_al:LIPIcs.ESA.2025.91,
  author =	{Dhulipala, Laxman and Henzinger, Monika and Li, George Z. and Liu, Quanquan C. and Sricharan, A. R. and Zhu, Leqi},
  title =	{{Near-Optimal Differentially Private Graph Algorithms via the Multidimensional AboveThreshold Mechanism}},
  booktitle =	{33rd Annual European Symposium on Algorithms (ESA 2025)},
  pages =	{91:1--91:20},
  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.2025.91},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-245601},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ESA.2025.91},
  annote =	{Keywords: differential privacy, abovethreshold, densest subgraph}
}
Document
RANDOM
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.APPROX/RANDOM.2025.32
Quantum Property Testing in Sparse Directed Graphs

Authors: Simon Apers, Frédéric Magniez, Sayantan Sen, and Dániel Szabó

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

Abstract
We initiate the study of quantum property testing in sparse directed graphs, and more particularly in the unidirectional model, where the algorithm is allowed to query only the outgoing edges of a vertex. In the classical unidirectional model, the problem of testing k-star-freeness, and more generally k-source-subgraph-freeness, is almost maximally hard for large k. We prove that this problem has almost quadratic advantage in the quantum setting. Moreover, we show that this advantage is nearly tight, by showing a quantum lower bound using the method of dual polynomials on an intermediate problem for a new, property testing version of the k-collision problem that was not studied before. To illustrate that not all problems in graph property testing admit such a quantum speedup, we consider the problem of 3-colorability in the related undirected bounded-degree model, when graphs are now undirected. This problem is maximally hard to test classically, and we show that also quantumly it requires a linear number of queries.
Cite as

Simon Apers, Frédéric Magniez, Sayantan Sen, and Dániel Szabó. Quantum Property Testing in Sparse Directed Graphs. In Approximation, Randomization, and Combinatorial Optimization. Algorithms and Techniques (APPROX/RANDOM 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 353, pp. 32:1-32:24, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

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@InProceedings{apers_et_al:LIPIcs.APPROX/RANDOM.2025.32,
  author =	{Apers, Simon and Magniez, Fr\'{e}d\'{e}ric and Sen, Sayantan and Szab\'{o}, D\'{a}niel},
  title =	{{Quantum Property Testing in Sparse Directed Graphs}},
  booktitle =	{Approximation, Randomization, and Combinatorial Optimization. Algorithms and Techniques (APPROX/RANDOM 2025)},
  pages =	{32:1--32:24},
  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.2025.32},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-243987},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.APPROX/RANDOM.2025.32},
  annote =	{Keywords: property testing, quantum computing, bounded-degree directed graphs, dual polynomial method, collision finding}
}
Document
APPROX
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.APPROX/RANDOM.2025.27
Triangles Improve 0.878 Approximation for Maxcut

Authors: Fredie George, Anand Louis, and Rameesh Paul

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

Abstract
Maxcut is a fundamental problem in graph algorithms, extensively studied for its theoretical and practical significance. The goal is to partition the vertex set of a graph G = (V, E) into disjoint subsets S and V⧵S so as to maximize the number of edges crossing the cut (S,V⧵S). The seminal work of Goemans and Williamson [Goemans and Williamson, 1995] introduced a semidefinite programming (SDP) based algorithm achieving a α_{GW} ≈ 0.87856-approximation for general graphs, guaranteed to be optimal under the Unique Games Conjecture [Khot, 2002; Khot et al., 2007]. We revisit the Goemans–Williamson SDP and prove that the standard Maxcut SDP achieves a (α_{GW} + Ω(1))-approximation whenever the input graph contains Ω(|E|) edge-disjoint triangles. Our analysis builds on classical rounding techniques studied in [Goemans and Williamson, 1995; Zwick, 1999] and introduces a refined understanding of the SDP solution structure in regimes where the previous guarantees are tight. Our result identifies a simple combinatorial property that may be satisfied by many natural graph classes. As applications, we show that unit ball graphs and graphs satisfying a spectral transitivity condition (as studied in [Gupta et al., 2016; Basu et al., 2024]) meet our structural criterion, and therefore we get better than α_{GW} approximation guarantees for them. Our algorithm runs in nearly linear time 𝒪̃(|E|), offering a more practical alternative to the PTAS of [Jansen et al., 2005] for unit ball graphs, which has exponential dependence on the approximation parameter.
Cite as

Fredie George, Anand Louis, and Rameesh Paul. Triangles Improve 0.878 Approximation for Maxcut. In Approximation, Randomization, and Combinatorial Optimization. Algorithms and Techniques (APPROX/RANDOM 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 353, pp. 27:1-27:25, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

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@InProceedings{george_et_al:LIPIcs.APPROX/RANDOM.2025.27,
  author =	{George, Fredie and Louis, Anand and Paul, Rameesh},
  title =	{{Triangles Improve 0.878 Approximation for Maxcut}},
  booktitle =	{Approximation, Randomization, and Combinatorial Optimization. Algorithms and Techniques (APPROX/RANDOM 2025)},
  pages =	{27:1--27:25},
  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.2025.27},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-243931},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.APPROX/RANDOM.2025.27},
  annote =	{Keywords: Approximation Algorithms, Maxcut, Semidefinite Programming, Edge-disjoint Triangles, Unit Ball Graphs, Spectral Triadic Graphs}
}
Document
RANDOM
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.APPROX/RANDOM.2025.66
Testing Isomorphism of Boolean Functions over Finite Abelian Groups

Authors: Swarnalipa Datta, Arijit Ghosh, Chandrima Kayal, Manaswi Paraashar, and Manmatha Roy

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

Abstract
Let f and g be Boolean functions over a finite Abelian group 𝒢, where g is fully known and f is accessible via queries; that is, given any x ∈ 𝒢, we can obtain the value f(x). We study the problem of tolerant isomorphism testing: given parameters ε ≥ 0 and τ > 0, the goal is to determine, using as few queries as possible, whether there exists an automorphism σ of 𝒢 such that the fractional Hamming distance between f∘σ and g is at most ε, or whether for every automorphism σ, the distance is at least ε + τ. We design an efficient tolerant property testing algorithm for this problem over finite Abelian groups with constant exponent. The exponent of a finite group refers to the largest order of any element in the group. The query complexity of our algorithm is polynomial in s and 1/τ, where s bounds the spectral norm of the function g, and τ is the tolerance parameter. In addition, we present an improved algorithm in the case where g is Fourier sparse, meaning that its Fourier expansion contains only a small number of nonzero coefficients. Our approach draws on key ideas from Abelian group theory and Fourier analysis, including the annihilator of a subgroup, Pontryagin duality, and a pseudo inner product defined over finite Abelian groups. We believe that these techniques will be useful more broadly in the design of property testing algorithms.
Cite as

Swarnalipa Datta, Arijit Ghosh, Chandrima Kayal, Manaswi Paraashar, and Manmatha Roy. Testing Isomorphism of Boolean Functions over Finite Abelian Groups. In Approximation, Randomization, and Combinatorial Optimization. Algorithms and Techniques (APPROX/RANDOM 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 353, pp. 66:1-66:22, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

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@InProceedings{datta_et_al:LIPIcs.APPROX/RANDOM.2025.66,
  author =	{Datta, Swarnalipa and Ghosh, Arijit and Kayal, Chandrima and Paraashar, Manaswi and Roy, Manmatha},
  title =	{{Testing Isomorphism of Boolean Functions over Finite Abelian Groups}},
  booktitle =	{Approximation, Randomization, and Combinatorial Optimization. Algorithms and Techniques (APPROX/RANDOM 2025)},
  pages =	{66:1--66:22},
  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.2025.66},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-244328},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.APPROX/RANDOM.2025.66},
  annote =	{Keywords: Analysis of Boolean functions, Abelian groups, Automorphism group, Function isomorphism, Spectral norm}
}
Document
RANDOM
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.APPROX/RANDOM.2025.61
A Fast Coloring Oracle for Average Case Hypergraphs

Authors: Cassandra Marcussen, Edward Pyne, Ronitt Rubinfeld, Asaf Shapira, and Shlomo Tauber

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

Abstract
Hypergraph 2-colorability is one of the classical NP-hard problems. Person and Schacht [SODA'09] designed a deterministic algorithm whose expected running time is polynomial over a uniformly chosen 2-colorable 3-uniform hypergraph. Lee, Molla, and Nagle recently extended this to k-uniform hypergraphs for all k ≥ 3. Both papers relied heavily on the regularity lemma, hence their analysis was involved and their running time hid tower-type constants. Our first result in this paper is a new simple and elementary deterministic 2-coloring algorithm that reproves the theorems of Person-Schacht and Lee-Molla-Nagle while avoiding the use of the regularity lemma. We also show how to turn our new algorithm into a randomized one with average expected running time of only O(n). Our second and main result gives what we consider to be the ultimate evidence of just how easy it is to find a 2-coloring of an average 2-colorable hypergraph. We define a coloring oracle to be an algorithm which, given vertex v, assigns color red/blue to v while inspecting as few edges as possible, so that the answers to any sequence of queries to the oracle are consistent with a single legal 2-coloring of the input. Surprisingly, we show that there is a coloring oracle that, on average, can answer every vertex query in time O(1).
Cite as

Cassandra Marcussen, Edward Pyne, Ronitt Rubinfeld, Asaf Shapira, and Shlomo Tauber. A Fast Coloring Oracle for Average Case Hypergraphs. In Approximation, Randomization, and Combinatorial Optimization. Algorithms and Techniques (APPROX/RANDOM 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 353, pp. 61:1-61:13, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

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@InProceedings{marcussen_et_al:LIPIcs.APPROX/RANDOM.2025.61,
  author =	{Marcussen, Cassandra and Pyne, Edward and Rubinfeld, Ronitt and Shapira, Asaf and Tauber, Shlomo},
  title =	{{A Fast Coloring Oracle for Average Case Hypergraphs}},
  booktitle =	{Approximation, Randomization, and Combinatorial Optimization. Algorithms and Techniques (APPROX/RANDOM 2025)},
  pages =	{61:1--61:13},
  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.2025.61},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-244272},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.APPROX/RANDOM.2025.61},
  annote =	{Keywords: average-case algorithms, local computation algorithms, graph coloring}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.MFCS.2025.20
Kernelization in Almost Linear Time for Clustering into Bounded Vertex Cover Components

Authors: Sriram Bhyravarapu, Pritesh Kumar, Madhumita Kundu, Shivesh K. Roy, Sahiba, and Saket Saurabh

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

Abstract
Motivated by the growing interest in graph clustering and the framework proposed during the Dagstuhl Seminar 23331, we consider a natural specialization of this general approach (as also suggested during the seminar). The seminar introduced a broad perspective on clustering, where the goal is to partition a graph into connected components (or "clusters") that satisfy simple structural integrity constraints - not necessarily limited to cliques. In our work, we focus on the case where each cluster is required to have bounded vertex cover number. Specifically, a connected component C satisfies this condition if there exists a set S ⊆ V(C) with |S| ≤ d such that C - S is an independent set. We study this within the framework of the {Vertex Deletion to d-Vertex Cover Components} ({Vertex Deletion to d-VCC}) problem: given a graph G and an integer k, the task is to determine whether there exists a vertex set S ⊆ V(G) of size at most k such that every connected component of G - S has vertex cover number at most d. We also examine the edge-deletion variant, {Edge Deletion to d-Vertex Cover Components} ({Edge Deletion to d-VCC}), where the goal is to delete at most k edges so that each connected component of the resulting graph has vertex cover number at most d. We obtain following results. 1) {Vertex Deletion to d-VCC} admits a kernel with {𝒪}(d⁶k³) vertices and {𝒪}(d⁹k⁴) edges. 2) {Edge Deletion to d-VCC}, admits a kernel with {𝒪}(d⁴k) vertices and {𝒪}(d⁵k) edges. Both of our kernelization algorithms run in time 𝒪(1.253^d ⋅ (kd)^{𝒪(1)} ⋅ n log n). It is important to note that, unless the Exponential Time Hypothesis (ETH) fails, the dependence on d cannot be improved to 2^{o(d)}, as the case k = 0 reduces to solving the classical Vertex Cover problem, which is known to require 2^{Ω(d)} time under ETH. A key ingredient in our kernelization algorithms is a structural result about the hereditary graph class 𝒢_d, consisting of graphs in which every connected component has vertex cover number at most d. We show that 𝒢_d admits a finite obstruction set (with respect to the induced subgraph relation) of size 2^{𝒪(d²)}, where each obstruction graph has at most 3d + 2 vertices. This combinatorial result may be of independent interest.
Cite as

Sriram Bhyravarapu, Pritesh Kumar, Madhumita Kundu, Shivesh K. Roy, Sahiba, and Saket Saurabh. Kernelization in Almost Linear Time for Clustering into Bounded Vertex Cover Components. In 50th International Symposium on Mathematical Foundations of Computer Science (MFCS 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 345, pp. 20:1-20:18, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

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@InProceedings{bhyravarapu_et_al:LIPIcs.MFCS.2025.20,
  author =	{Bhyravarapu, Sriram and Kumar, Pritesh and Kundu, Madhumita and Roy, Shivesh K. and Sahiba and Saurabh, Saket},
  title =	{{Kernelization in Almost Linear Time for Clustering into Bounded Vertex Cover Components}},
  booktitle =	{50th International Symposium on Mathematical Foundations of Computer Science (MFCS 2025)},
  pages =	{20:1--20:18},
  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.2025.20},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-241276},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.MFCS.2025.20},
  annote =	{Keywords: Parameterized complexity, Polynomial Kernels, Vertex Cover, Finite Forbidden Characterization}
}
Document
Track A: Algorithms, Complexity and Games
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.ICALP.2025.103
Approximating Dasgupta Cost in Sublinear Time from a Few Random Seeds

Authors: Michael Kapralov, Akash Kumar, Silvio Lattanzi, Aida Mousavifar, and Weronika Wrzos-Kaminska

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

Abstract
Testing graph cluster structure has been a central object of study in property testing since the foundational work of Goldreich and Ron [STOC'96] on expansion testing, i.e. the problem of distinguishing between a single cluster (an expander) and a graph that is far from a single cluster. More generally, a (k, ε)-clusterable graph G is a graph whose vertex set admits a partition into k induced expanders, each with outer conductance bounded by ε. A recent line of work initiated by Czumaj, Peng and Sohler [STOC'15] has shown how to test whether a graph is close to (k, ε)-clusterable, and to locally determine which cluster a given vertex belongs to with misclassification rate ≈ ε, but no sublinear time algorithms for learning the structure of inter-cluster connections are known. As a simple example, can one locally distinguish between the "cluster graph" forming a line and a clique? In this paper, we consider the problem of testing the hierarchical cluster structure of (k, ε)-clusterable graphs in sublinear time. Our measure of hierarchical clusterability is the well-established Dasgupta cost, and our main result is an algorithm that approximates Dasgupta cost of a (k, ε)-clusterable graph in sublinear time, using a small number of randomly chosen seed vertices for which cluster labels are known. Our main result is an O(√{log k}) approximation to Dasgupta cost of G in ≈ n^{1/2+O(ε)} time using ≈ n^{1/3} seeds, effectively giving a sublinear time simulation of the algorithm of Charikar and Chatziafratis [SODA'17] on clusterable graphs. To the best of our knowledge, ours is the first result on approximating the hierarchical clustering properties of such graphs in sublinear time.
Cite as

Michael Kapralov, Akash Kumar, Silvio Lattanzi, Aida Mousavifar, and Weronika Wrzos-Kaminska. Approximating Dasgupta Cost in Sublinear Time from a Few Random Seeds. In 52nd International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming (ICALP 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 334, pp. 103:1-103:19, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

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@InProceedings{kapralov_et_al:LIPIcs.ICALP.2025.103,
  author =	{Kapralov, Michael and Kumar, Akash and Lattanzi, Silvio and Mousavifar, Aida and Wrzos-Kaminska, Weronika},
  title =	{{Approximating Dasgupta Cost in Sublinear Time from a Few Random Seeds}},
  booktitle =	{52nd International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming (ICALP 2025)},
  pages =	{103:1--103:19},
  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.2025.103},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-234804},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ICALP.2025.103},
  annote =	{Keywords: Sublinear algorithms, Hierarchical Clustering, Dasgupta’s Cost}
}
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.2025.7
Parameterised Holant Problems

Authors: Panagiotis Aivasiliotis, Andreas Göbel, Marc Roth, and Johannes Schmitt

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

Abstract
We investigate the complexity of parameterised holant problems p-Holant(𝒮) for families of symmetric signatures 𝒮. The parameterised holant framework has been introduced by Curticapean in 2015 as a counter-part to the classical and well-established theory of holographic reductions and algorithms, and it constitutes an extensive family of coloured and weighted counting constraint satisfaction problems on graph-like structures, encoding as special cases various well-studied counting problems in parameterised and fine-grained complexity theory such as counting edge-colourful k-matchings, graph-factors, Eulerian orientations or, more generally, subgraphs with weighted degree constraints. We establish an exhaustive complexity trichotomy along the set of signatures 𝒮: Depending on the signatures, p-Holant(𝒮) is either 1) solvable in "FPT-near-linear time", i.e., in time f(k)⋅ 𝒪̃(|x|), or 2) solvable in "FPT-matrix-multiplication time", i.e., in time f(k)⋅ {𝒪}(n^{ω}), where n is the number of vertices of the underlying graph, but not solvable in FPT-near-linear time, unless the Triangle Conjecture fails, or 3) #W[1]-complete and no significant improvement over the naive brute force algorithm is possible unless the Exponential Time Hypothesis fails. This classification reveals a significant and surprising gap in the complexity landscape of parameterised Holants: Not only is every instance either fixed-parameter tractable or #W[1]-complete, but additionally, every FPT instance is solvable in time (at most) f(k)⋅ {𝒪}(n^{ω}). We show that there are infinitely many instances of each of the types; for example, all constant signatures yield holant problems of type (1), and the problem of counting edge-colourful k-matchings modulo p is of type (p) for p ∈ {2,3}. Finally, we also establish a complete classification for a natural uncoloured version of parameterised holant problem p-UnColHolant(𝒮), which encodes as special cases the non-coloured analogues of the aforementioned examples. We show that the complexity of p-UnColHolant(𝒮) is different: Depending on 𝒮 all instances are either solvable in FPT-near-linear time, or #W[1]-complete, that is, there are no instances of type (2).
Cite as

Panagiotis Aivasiliotis, Andreas Göbel, Marc Roth, and Johannes Schmitt. Parameterised Holant Problems. In 52nd International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming (ICALP 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 334, pp. 7:1-7:14, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

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@InProceedings{aivasiliotis_et_al:LIPIcs.ICALP.2025.7,
  author =	{Aivasiliotis, Panagiotis and G\"{o}bel, Andreas and Roth, Marc and Schmitt, Johannes},
  title =	{{Parameterised Holant Problems}},
  booktitle =	{52nd International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming (ICALP 2025)},
  pages =	{7:1--7:14},
  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.2025.7},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-233842},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ICALP.2025.7},
  annote =	{Keywords: holant problems, counting problems, parameterised algorithms, fine-grained complexity theory, homomorphisms}
}
Document
Track A: Algorithms, Complexity and Games
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.ICALP.2025.124
Subgraph Counting in Subquadratic Time for Bounded Degeneracy Graphs

Authors: Daniel Paul-Pena and C. Seshadhri

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

Abstract
We study the classic problem of subgraph counting, where we wish to determine the number of occurrences of a fixed pattern graph H in an input graph G of n vertices. Our focus is on bounded degeneracy inputs, a rich family of graph classes that also characterizes real-world massive networks. Building on the seminal techniques introduced by Chiba-Nishizeki (SICOMP 1985), a recent line of work has built subgraph counting algorithms for bounded degeneracy graphs. Assuming fine-grained complexity conjectures, there is a complete characterization of patterns H for which linear time subgraph counting is possible. For every r ≥ 6, there exists an H with r vertices that cannot be counted in linear time. In this paper, we initiate a study of subquadratic algorithms for subgraph counting on bounded degeneracy graphs. We prove that when H has at most 9 vertices, subgraph counting can be done in Õ(n^{5/3}) time. As a secondary result, we give improved algorithms for counting cycles of length at most 10. Previously, no subquadratic algorithms were known for the above problems on bounded degeneracy graphs. Our main conceptual contribution is a framework that reduces subgraph counting in bounded degeneracy graphs to counting smaller hypergraphs in arbitrary graphs. We believe that our results will help build a general theory of subgraph counting for bounded degeneracy graphs.
Cite as

Daniel Paul-Pena and C. Seshadhri. Subgraph Counting in Subquadratic Time for Bounded Degeneracy Graphs. In 52nd International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming (ICALP 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 334, pp. 124:1-124:18, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

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@InProceedings{paulpena_et_al:LIPIcs.ICALP.2025.124,
  author =	{Paul-Pena, Daniel and Seshadhri, C.},
  title =	{{Subgraph Counting in Subquadratic Time for Bounded Degeneracy Graphs}},
  booktitle =	{52nd International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming (ICALP 2025)},
  pages =	{124:1--124:18},
  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.2025.124},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-235010},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ICALP.2025.124},
  annote =	{Keywords: Homomorphism counting, Bounded degeneracy graphs, Fine-grained complexity, Subgraph counting}
}
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