204 Search Results for "Spirakis, Paul"

Volume

LIPIcs, Volume 257

2nd Symposium on Algorithmic Foundations of Dynamic Networks (SAND 2023)

SAND 2023, June 19-21, 2023, Pisa, Italy

Editors: David Doty and Paul Spirakis

Volume

LIPIcs, Volume 117

43rd International Symposium on Mathematical Foundations of Computer Science (MFCS 2018)

MFCS 2018, August 27-31, 2018, Liverpool, GB

Editors: Igor Potapov, Paul Spirakis, and James Worrell

Document
Brief Announcement
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.SAND.2026.20
Brief Announcement: Exploration of Always S-Connected Temporal Graphs

Authors: Duncan Adamson and Paul G Spirakis

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 373, 5th Symposium on Algorithmic Foundations of Dynamic Networks (SAND 2026)

Abstract
Temporal graphs are a generalisation of (static) graphs, defined by a sequence of snapshots, each a static graph defined over a common set of vertices. Exploration problems are one of the most fundamental and most heavily studied problems on temporal graphs, asking if a set of m agents can visit every vertex in the graph, with each agent only allowed to traverse a single edge per snapshot. In this paper, we introduce and study always S-connected temporal graphs, a generalisation of always-connected temporal graphs where, rather than forming a single connected component in each snapshot, we have at most |S| components, each defined by the connection to at least one vertex in the set S. We use the model of always S-connected temporal graphs to study subgraphs of always-connected temporal graphs, with motivation coming from networks with a small number of "choke-points", such as rail networks, where all external traffic into a subnetwork comes from a limited number of external connections. We show that an always S-connected temporal graph with m = |S| and an average degree of Δ can be explored by m agents in O(n^{3/2} m³ Δ^{3/2} log^{3/2}(n)) snapshots, and, using this result as a subroutine, we show that any always-connected temporal graph with treewidth at most k can be explored by a single agent in O(n^{4/3} k^{11/2} log^{5/2}(n)) snapshots.
Cite as

Duncan Adamson and Paul G Spirakis. Brief Announcement: Exploration of Always S-Connected Temporal Graphs. In 5th Symposium on Algorithmic Foundations of Dynamic Networks (SAND 2026). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 373, pp. 20:1-20:6, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)

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@InProceedings{adamson_et_al:LIPIcs.SAND.2026.20,
  author =	{Adamson, Duncan and Spirakis, Paul G},
  title =	{{Brief Announcement: Exploration of Always S-Connected Temporal Graphs}},
  booktitle =	{5th Symposium on Algorithmic Foundations of Dynamic Networks (SAND 2026)},
  pages =	{20:1--20:6},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-427-7},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2026},
  volume =	{373},
  editor =	{Mertzios, George B. and Richa, Andr\'{e}a W.},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.SAND.2026.20},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-262542},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.SAND.2026.20},
  annote =	{Keywords: Temporal Graphs, Graph Exploration, Treewidth}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.SEA.2026.15
Computational Generation of Substrate-Specific Molecular Cages

Authors: Noé Demange, Yann Strozecki, and Sandrine Vial

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 371, 24th International Symposium on Experimental Algorithms (SEA 2026)

Abstract
In this paper, we propose a method to build molecular cages designed to capture a specific substrate. We model a cage as a graph of atoms with coordinates in space, and several constraints on their edges (degree, length and angle). We use a simple method to place binding patterns which are able to interact with certain parts of the substrate. We then propose an algorithm which considers all possible ways of connecting these binding patterns and try to construct the smallest possible molecular paths realizing these connections. We investigate many variants of our method in order to obtain the most efficient algorithm, able to build cages of more than a hundred atoms.
Cite as

Noé Demange, Yann Strozecki, and Sandrine Vial. Computational Generation of Substrate-Specific Molecular Cages. In 24th International Symposium on Experimental Algorithms (SEA 2026). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 371, pp. 15:1-15:21, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)

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@InProceedings{demange_et_al:LIPIcs.SEA.2026.15,
  author =	{Demange, No\'{e} and Strozecki, Yann and Vial, Sandrine},
  title =	{{Computational Generation of Substrate-Specific Molecular Cages}},
  booktitle =	{24th International Symposium on Experimental Algorithms (SEA 2026)},
  pages =	{15:1--15:21},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-422-2},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2026},
  volume =	{371},
  editor =	{Aum\"{u}ller, Martin and Finocchi, Irene},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.SEA.2026.15},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-260191},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.SEA.2026.15},
  annote =	{Keywords: Enumeration, Molecular Cage, Cheminformatics, Geometric Algorithms, Experimental Algorithms}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.SEA.2026.19
Breaking 2-Cores for Invertible Bloom Lookup Tables by Structure Prediction

Authors: Vojtěch Gaďurek and Pavel Veselý

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 371, 24th International Symposium on Experimental Algorithms (SEA 2026)

Abstract
Invertible Bloom Lookup Tables (IBLTs) provide a highly space-efficient way to reconstruct small sets resulting from a large number of insertions and deletions of elements, such as in streaming or distributed computation of the symmetric difference of similar sets. The set recovery process succeeds if the IBLT size is at least 1.22 times the size of the encoded set; otherwise, a 2-core occurs with high probability in the corresponding random hypergraph. However, the sets in practice often exhibit structure that allows for performance beyond worst-case bounds. Here, we demonstrate that structured sets - such as the k-mers in the symmetric difference of two closely related genomes - can be recovered with an IBLT of significantly smaller size. We achieve this by employing structure-aware predictors to break the 2-core whenever the recovery process gets stuck. Importantly, this approach modifies only the decoding procedure, leaving the IBLT data structure unchanged. We prove that even a weak matching-based predictor enables the recovery of 27% more elements than the nominal IBLT size. Equipped with simple predictors for k-mers of genomic datasets, we demonstrate that recovering a symmetric difference with high probability can be done with an IBLT of size only 66% of the encoded set size for k = 31, improving the space efficiency by almost a factor of two. Moreover, we design an improved method for k-mers with large k that combines subsampling with nearly perfect prediction via fingerprinting and achieves a scaling property, requiring only O(M log M) bits for recovering M k-mers, instead of Θ(k⋅M) bits of the standard IBLT. Overall, our results highlight the possibility of significant space-efficiency improvements for IBLTs on datasets with predictable structure.
Cite as

Vojtěch Gaďurek and Pavel Veselý. Breaking 2-Cores for Invertible Bloom Lookup Tables by Structure Prediction. In 24th International Symposium on Experimental Algorithms (SEA 2026). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 371, pp. 19:1-19:24, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)

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@InProceedings{gadurek_et_al:LIPIcs.SEA.2026.19,
  author =	{Ga\v{d}urek, Vojt\v{e}ch and Vesel\'{y}, Pavel},
  title =	{{Breaking 2-Cores for Invertible Bloom Lookup Tables by Structure Prediction}},
  booktitle =	{24th International Symposium on Experimental Algorithms (SEA 2026)},
  pages =	{19:1--19:24},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-422-2},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2026},
  volume =	{371},
  editor =	{Aum\"{u}ller, Martin and Finocchi, Irene},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.SEA.2026.19},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-260237},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.SEA.2026.19},
  annote =	{Keywords: Invertible Bloom Lookup Table, symmetric difference, k-mer sets}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.SWAT.2026.22
Search-Space Reduction for Boolean MinCSPs via Essential Constraints

Authors: Bart M. P. Jansen and Ruben F. A. Verhaegh

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 370, 20th Scandinavian Symposium on Algorithm Theory (SWAT 2026)

Abstract
For a fixed set ℱ of Boolean constraint types, a MinCSP(ℱ)-instance consists of a formula F that applies m constraints from ℱ to a set of n Boolean variables. The goal is to remove a minimum subset of constraint applications from F to make the remaining formula satisfiable. Previous work characterized how the choice of ℱ affects its polynomial-time solvability and approximability. We extend a recently introduced preprocessing framework for graph problems to the problem above. Rephrased in the context of CSPs, this framework defines a constraint application from a given formula F as c-essential if it is contained in all c-approximate solutions to F. Being able to efficiently detect these essential parts of a solution reduces the search space of any follow-up FPT algorithms parameterized by the solution size and yields an immediate asymptotic improvement to the runtime of such algorithms. In this work, we present a dichotomy theorem that distinguishes constraint sets ℱ for which c_ℱ-essential constraint applications can be detected efficiently for some c_{ℱ} ∈ 𝒪(1), from those for which this task is intractable under established complexity-theoretic conjectures. Our results show that for any set ℱ of bijunctive constraints, there is a polynomial-time algorithm that detects 𝒪(1)-essential constraint applications. This contrasts the fact that constant-factor approximating a bijunctive MinCSP(ℱ)-problem is intractable under the Unique Games Conjecture.
Cite as

Bart M. P. Jansen and Ruben F. A. Verhaegh. Search-Space Reduction for Boolean MinCSPs via Essential Constraints. In 20th Scandinavian Symposium on Algorithm Theory (SWAT 2026). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 370, pp. 22:1-22:17, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)

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@InProceedings{jansen_et_al:LIPIcs.SWAT.2026.22,
  author =	{Jansen, Bart M. P. and Verhaegh, Ruben F. A.},
  title =	{{Search-Space Reduction for Boolean MinCSPs via Essential Constraints}},
  booktitle =	{20th Scandinavian Symposium on Algorithm Theory (SWAT 2026)},
  pages =	{22:1--22:17},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-421-5},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2026},
  volume =	{370},
  editor =	{Fraigniaud, Pierre},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.SWAT.2026.22},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-260586},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.SWAT.2026.22},
  annote =	{Keywords: fixed-parameter tractability, constraint satisfaction problems}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.SWAT.2026.26
On the Parameterized Complexity of Min-Sum-Radii

Authors: Pankaj Kumar, Haiko Müller, Sebastian Ordyniak, and Melanie Schmidt

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 370, 20th Scandinavian Symposium on Algorithm Theory (SWAT 2026)

Abstract
In the Min-Sum-Radii (MSR) clustering problem, we are given a finite set X of n points in a metric space. The objective is to find at most k clusters centered at a subset of these points such that every point of X is assigned to one of the clusters, minimizing the sum of the radii of the clusters. The problem is known to be NP-hard even on metrics induced by weighted planar graphs and metrics with constant doubling dimension, as shown by Gibson et al. (SWAT 2008). In this work, we investigate the parameterized complexity of MSR on metrics induced by undirected graphs. We distinguish between weighted graph metrics (with positive edge weights) and unweighted graph metrics (where all edges have unit weight). Weighted Graph Metrics. We show that MSR is W[1]-hard on metrics induced by weighted bipartite graphs, when parameterized by the combined parameter k the number of clusters and Δ the cost of the clustering. We then investigate the structural parameterized complexity of the problem. Drexler et al. [doi:10.48550/arXiv.2310.02130] showed that the MSR problem admits an XP algorithm on metrics induced by weighted graphs when parameterized by treewidth, and asked whether this can be improved to fixed-parameter tractability. We first answer their question in the negative, and more strongly show that MSR stays W[1]-hard on metrics induced by undirected weighted bipartite graphs when parameterized by the vertex cover number plus k. We then turn our attention to parameters for dense graphs and show that MSR remains W[1]-hard when parameterized by k+Δ even on cliques and complete bipartite graphs. On the positive side, we employ the known XP algorithm parameterized by treewidth, to show that the MSR problem is FPT when parameterized by the parameter treewidth plus Δ. Together, these results provide a complete picture of the parameterized complexity of MSR with respect to any combination of parameters k, Δ, as well as structural parameters for sparse graphs above vertex cover and known parameters for dense graphs (such as neighborhood diversity and modular width). Unweighted Graph Metrics. The story is rather different for unweighted graphs, since it is a long standing open question whether MSR on metrics induced by undirected graphs is solvable in polynomial-time. Although we cannot answer this question, we provide classical and parameterized hardness results for two very closely related problems, namely Exact-MSR (MSR and one wants to find exactly k clusters) and Allowed-Centers-MSR (MSR with an additional set of allowed cluster centers). We also show that MSR as well as these two problems are fixed-parameter tractable parameterized by the treedepth of the input graph.
Cite as

Pankaj Kumar, Haiko Müller, Sebastian Ordyniak, and Melanie Schmidt. On the Parameterized Complexity of Min-Sum-Radii. In 20th Scandinavian Symposium on Algorithm Theory (SWAT 2026). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 370, pp. 26:1-26:18, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)

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@InProceedings{kumar_et_al:LIPIcs.SWAT.2026.26,
  author =	{Kumar, Pankaj and M\"{u}ller, Haiko and Ordyniak, Sebastian and Schmidt, Melanie},
  title =	{{On the Parameterized Complexity of Min-Sum-Radii}},
  booktitle =	{20th Scandinavian Symposium on Algorithm Theory (SWAT 2026)},
  pages =	{26:1--26:18},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-421-5},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2026},
  volume =	{370},
  editor =	{Fraigniaud, Pierre},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.SWAT.2026.26},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-260623},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.SWAT.2026.26},
  annote =	{Keywords: Parameterized complexity, Min-Sum-Radii clustering}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.SoCG.2026.43
Unlabeled Multi-Robot Motion Planning with Improved Separation Trade-Offs

Authors: Tsuri Farhana, Omrit Filtser, and Shalev Goldshtein

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

Abstract
We study unlabeled multi-robot motion planning for unit-disk robots in a polygonal environment. Although the problem is hard in general, polynomial-time solutions exist under appropriate separation assumptions on start and target positions. Solovey et al. (RSS'15) provide a near-optimal solution assuming that start/target positions must have pairwise distance at least 4, and at least √5≈2.236 from obstacles. This raises the question of whether polynomial-time algorithms can be obtained in even more densely packed environments. In this paper we present a generalized algorithm that achieve different trade-offs on the robots-separation and obstacles-separation bounds, all significantly improving upon the state of the art. Specifically, we obtain polynomial-time constant-approximation algorithms to minimize the total path length when (i) the robots-separation is 2 2/3 and the obstacles-separation is 1 2/3, or (ii) the robots-separation is ≈3.291 and the obstacles-separation ≈1.354. Additionally, we introduce a different strategy yielding a polynomial-time solution when the robots-separation is only 2, and the obstacles-separation is 3. Finally, we show that without any robots-separation assumption, obstacles-separation of at least 1.5 may be necessary for a solution to exist.
Cite as

Tsuri Farhana, Omrit Filtser, and Shalev Goldshtein. Unlabeled Multi-Robot Motion Planning with Improved Separation Trade-Offs. In 42nd International Symposium on Computational Geometry (SoCG 2026). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 367, pp. 43:1-43:16, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)

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@InProceedings{farhana_et_al:LIPIcs.SoCG.2026.43,
  author =	{Farhana, Tsuri and Filtser, Omrit and Goldshtein, Shalev},
  title =	{{Unlabeled Multi-Robot Motion Planning with Improved Separation Trade-Offs}},
  booktitle =	{42nd International Symposium on Computational Geometry (SoCG 2026)},
  pages =	{43:1--43:16},
  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.2026.43},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-258495},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.SoCG.2026.43},
  annote =	{Keywords: multi-robot motion planning}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.FUN.2026.11
An Almost-Optimal Upper Bound on the Push Number of the Torus Puzzle

Authors: Matteo Caporrella and Stefano Leucci

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

Abstract
We study the Torus Puzzle, a solitaire game in which the elements of an input m × n matrix need to be rearranged into a target configuration via a sequence of unit rotations (i.e., circular shifts) of rows and/or columns. Amano et al. proposed a more permissive variant of the above puzzle, where each row and column rotation can shift the involved elements by any amount of positions. The number of rotations needed to solve the original and the permissive variants of the puzzle are respectively known as the push number and the drag number, where the latter is always smaller than or equal to the former and admits an existential lower bound of Ω(mn). While this lower bound is matched by an O(mn) upper bound, the push number is not so well understood. Indeed, to the best of our knowledge, only an O(mn ⋅ max{m, n}) upper bound is currently known. In this paper, we provide an algorithm that solves the Torus Puzzle using O(mn ⋅ log max {m, n}) unit rotations in a model that is more restricted than that of the original puzzle. This implies a corresponding upper bound on the push number and reduces the gap between the known upper and lower bounds from Θ(max{m,n}) to Θ(log max{m, n}).
Cite as

Matteo Caporrella and Stefano Leucci. An Almost-Optimal Upper Bound on the Push Number of the Torus Puzzle. In 13th International Conference on Fun with Algorithms (FUN 2026). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 366, pp. 11:1-11:21, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)

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@InProceedings{caporrella_et_al:LIPIcs.FUN.2026.11,
  author =	{Caporrella, Matteo and Leucci, Stefano},
  title =	{{An Almost-Optimal Upper Bound on the Push Number of the Torus Puzzle}},
  booktitle =	{13th International Conference on Fun with Algorithms (FUN 2026)},
  pages =	{11:1--11:21},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-417-8},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2026},
  volume =	{366},
  editor =	{Iacono, John},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.FUN.2026.11},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-257307},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.FUN.2026.11},
  annote =	{Keywords: Torus puzzle, Push number, Permutation puzzles}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.FUN.2026.29
Finding Shortest Walks in Kuru Kuru Kururin

Authors: Mickaël Laurent and Maher Mallem

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

Abstract
This paper serves as a celebration of the twenty-fifth anniversary of Kuru Kuru Kururin. Although this video game is presented as a collection of two-dimensional puzzles based on rotation, it naturally invites players to complete its levels as quickly as possible. This has led to a surprisingly rich and challenging playing field to finding foremost temporal walks. In this work, we tackle this problem both in theory and in practice. First, we introduce a model for the game and provide an in-depth complexity analysis. Most notably, we show how each gameplay mechanic independently brings a layer of NP-hardness and/or co-NP-hardness. We also provide a pseudo-polynomial time algorithm for the general problem and identify several cases which can be solved in polynomial time. Along the way, we discuss connections to the more established framework of temporal graphs, both in the point model and the interval model. Then, we propose simple and flexible algorithmic techniques to reduce state space and guide the search, offering trade-offs between precision and computation speed in practice. These techniques were implemented and tested using a full recreation of the game physics and the levels from the original game. We demonstrate the efficiency of our framework in several settings - with or without taking damage, with or without unintended game mechanics - and relate empirical struggles which we encountered in practice to our complexity analysis. Our implementation is open source and fully available online, offering a novel and amusing setting to benchmark shortest path algorithms.
Cite as

Mickaël Laurent and Maher Mallem. Finding Shortest Walks in Kuru Kuru Kururin. In 13th International Conference on Fun with Algorithms (FUN 2026). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 366, pp. 29:1-29:20, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)

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@InProceedings{laurent_et_al:LIPIcs.FUN.2026.29,
  author =	{Laurent, Micka\"{e}l and Mallem, Maher},
  title =	{{Finding Shortest Walks in Kuru Kuru Kururin}},
  booktitle =	{13th International Conference on Fun with Algorithms (FUN 2026)},
  pages =	{29:1--29:20},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-417-8},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2026},
  volume =	{366},
  editor =	{Iacono, John},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.FUN.2026.29},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-257480},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.FUN.2026.29},
  annote =	{Keywords: Shortest path, Complexity}
}
Document
Invited Talk
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.STACS.2026.1
Query Languages for Machine-Learning Models (Invited Talk)

Authors: Martin Grohe

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

Abstract
In my invited talk and this accompanying paper, I discuss two logics for weighted finite structures: first-order logic with summation (FO(SUM)) and its recursive extension IFP(SUM). These logics originate from foundational work by Grädel, Gurevich, and Meer in the 1990s. In recent joint work with Standke, Steegmans, and Van den Bussche, we have investigated these logics as query languages for machine learning models, specifically neural networks, which are naturally represented as weighted graphs. I present illustrative examples of queries to neural networks that can be expressed in these logics and discuss fundamental results on their expressiveness and computational complexity.
Cite as

Martin Grohe. Query Languages for Machine-Learning Models (Invited Talk). In 43rd International Symposium on Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science (STACS 2026). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 364, pp. 1:1-1:18, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)

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@InProceedings{grohe:LIPIcs.STACS.2026.1,
  author =	{Grohe, Martin},
  title =	{{Query Languages for Machine-Learning Models}},
  booktitle =	{43rd International Symposium on Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science (STACS 2026)},
  pages =	{1:1--1:18},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-412-3},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2026},
  volume =	{364},
  editor =	{Mahajan, Meena and Manea, Florin and McIver, Annabelle and Thắng, Nguy\~{ê}n Kim},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.STACS.2026.1},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-254904},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.STACS.2026.1},
  annote =	{Keywords: Expressive power of query languages, fixed-point logics, weighted structures, neural networks, explainable AI}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.STACS.2026.24
Foremost, Fastest, Shortest: Temporal Graph Realization Under Various Path Metrics

Authors: Justine Cauvi, Nils Morawietz, and Laurent Viennot

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

Abstract
In this work, we follow the current trend on temporal graph realization, where one is given a property P and the goal is to determine whether there is a temporal graph, that is, a graph where the edge set changes over time, with property P. We consider the problems where the given property P is a prescribed matrix for the duration, length, or earliest arrival time of pairwise temporal paths. This means that we are given a matrix D and ask whether there is a temporal graph such that for any ordered pair of vertices (s,t), D_{s,t} equals the duration (length, or earliest arrival time, respectively) of any temporal path from s to t minimizing that specific temporal path metric. For shortest and earliest arrival temporal paths, we are the first to consider these problems as far as we know. We analyze these problems for many settings such as: strict and non-strict paths, periodic and non-periodic temporal graphs, and limited number of labels per edge (limited number of occurrences per edge over time). In contrast to all other path metrics, we show that for the earliest arrival times, we can achieve polynomial-time algorithms in periodic and non-periodic temporal graphs and for strict and and non-strict paths. However, the problem becomes NP-hard when the matrix does not contain a single integer but a set or range of possible allowed values. As we show, the problem can still be solved efficiently in this scenario, when the number of entries with more than one value is small, that is, we develop an FPT-algorithm for the number of such entries. For the setting of fastest paths, we achieve new hardness results that answers an open question by Klobas, Mertzios, Molter, and Spirakis [Theor. Comput. Sci. '25] about the parameterized complexity of the problem with respect to the vertex cover number and significantly improves over a previous hardness result for the feedback vertex set number. When considering shortest paths, we show that the periodic versions are polynomial-time solvable whereas the non-periodic versions become NP-hard.
Cite as

Justine Cauvi, Nils Morawietz, and Laurent Viennot. Foremost, Fastest, Shortest: Temporal Graph Realization Under Various Path Metrics. In 43rd International Symposium on Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science (STACS 2026). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 364, pp. 24:1-24:19, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)

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@InProceedings{cauvi_et_al:LIPIcs.STACS.2026.24,
  author =	{Cauvi, Justine and Morawietz, Nils and Viennot, Laurent},
  title =	{{Foremost, Fastest, Shortest: Temporal Graph Realization Under Various Path Metrics}},
  booktitle =	{43rd International Symposium on Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science (STACS 2026)},
  pages =	{24:1--24:19},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-412-3},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2026},
  volume =	{364},
  editor =	{Mahajan, Meena and Manea, Florin and McIver, Annabelle and Thắng, Nguy\~{ê}n Kim},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.STACS.2026.24},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-255139},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.STACS.2026.24},
  annote =	{Keywords: network design, temporal paths, foremost paths, fastest paths, shortest paths, non-strict paths, periodic temporal graphs}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.STACS.2026.58
A Polylogarithmic Competitive Algorithm for Stochastic Online Sorting and TSP

Authors: Andreas Kalavas, Charalampos Platanos, and Thanos Tolias

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

Abstract
In Online Sorting, an array of n initially empty cells is given. At each time step t, an element x_t ∈ [0,1] arrives and must be irrevocably placed in an empty cell without knowledge of future arrivals. We aim to minimize the sum of absolute differences between pairs of elements placed in consecutive array cells, seeking an online placement strategy that results in a final array close to a sorted one. An interesting multidimensional generalization, referred to as the Online Traveling Salesperson Problem, arises when the request sequence consists of points in the d-dimensional unit cube and the objective is to minimize the sum of Euclidean distances between points in consecutive cells. Motivated by the recent work of (Abrahamsen, Bercea, Beretta, Klausen and Kozma; ESA 2024), we consider the stochastic version of Online Sorting (resp. Online TSP), where each element (resp. point) x_t is an i.i.d. sample from the uniform distribution on [0, 1] (resp. [0,1]^d). By carefully decomposing the request sequence into a hierarchy of balls-into-bins instances, where the balls to bins ratio is large enough so that bin occupancy is sharply concentrated around its mean and small enough so that we can efficiently deal with the elements placed in the same bin, we obtain an online algorithm that approximates the optimal cost within a factor of O(log² n) with high probability. Our result comprises an exponential improvement over the previously best known competitive ratio of Õ(n^{1/4}) for Stochastic Online Sorting due to (Abrahamsen et al.; ESA 2024) and O(√n) for (adversarial) Online TSP due to (Bertram, ESA 2025).
Cite as

Andreas Kalavas, Charalampos Platanos, and Thanos Tolias. A Polylogarithmic Competitive Algorithm for Stochastic Online Sorting and TSP. In 43rd International Symposium on Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science (STACS 2026). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 364, pp. 58:1-58:17, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)

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@InProceedings{kalavas_et_al:LIPIcs.STACS.2026.58,
  author =	{Kalavas, Andreas and Platanos, Charalampos and Tolias, Thanos},
  title =	{{A Polylogarithmic Competitive Algorithm for Stochastic Online Sorting and TSP}},
  booktitle =	{43rd International Symposium on Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science (STACS 2026)},
  pages =	{58:1--58:17},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-412-3},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2026},
  volume =	{364},
  editor =	{Mahajan, Meena and Manea, Florin and McIver, Annabelle and Thắng, Nguy\~{ê}n Kim},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.STACS.2026.58},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-255473},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.STACS.2026.58},
  annote =	{Keywords: sorting, online algorithm, balls-into-bins, TSP}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.3
Linear Matroid Intersection Is in Catalytic Logspace

Authors: Aryan Agarwala, Yaroslav Alekseev, and Antoine Vinciguerra

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

Abstract
Linear matroid intersection is an important problem in combinatorial optimization. Given two linear matroids over the same ground set, the linear matroid intersection problem asks you to find a common independent set of maximum size. The deep interest in linear matroid intersection is due to the fact that it generalises many classical problems in theoretical computer science, such as bipartite matching, edge disjoint spanning trees, rainbow spanning tree, and many more. We study this problem in the model of catalytic computation: space-bounded machines are granted access to catalytic space, which is additional working memory that is full with arbitrary data that must be preserved at the end of its computation. Although linear matroid intersection has had a polynomial time algorithm for over 50 years, it remains an important open problem to show that linear matroid intersection belongs to any well studied subclass of {P}. We address this problem for the class catalytic logspace (CL) with a polynomial time bound (CLP). Recently, Agarwala and Mertz (2025) showed that bipartite maximum matching can be computed in the class CLP ⊆ {P}. This was the first subclass of {P} shown to contain bipartite matching, and additionally the first problem outside TC¹ shown to be contained in CL. We significantly improve the result of Agarwala and Mertz by showing that linear matroid intersection can be computed in CLP.
Cite as

Aryan Agarwala, Yaroslav Alekseev, and Antoine Vinciguerra. Linear Matroid Intersection Is in Catalytic Logspace. In 17th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2026). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 362, pp. 3:1-3:23, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)

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@InProceedings{agarwala_et_al:LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.3,
  author =	{Agarwala, Aryan and Alekseev, Yaroslav and Vinciguerra, Antoine},
  title =	{{Linear Matroid Intersection Is in Catalytic Logspace}},
  booktitle =	{17th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2026)},
  pages =	{3:1--3:23},
  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.2026.3},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-252908},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.3},
  annote =	{Keywords: Catalytic Computing, Computational Complexity, Matroid Theory, Algorithms}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.66
A Parameterized-Complexity Framework for Finding Local Optima

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

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

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

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

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@InProceedings{ganian_et_al:LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.66,
  author =	{Ganian, Robert and Hoang, Hung P. and Komusiewicz, Christian and Morawietz, Nils},
  title =	{{A Parameterized-Complexity Framework for Finding Local Optima}},
  booktitle =	{17th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2026)},
  pages =	{66:1--66:20},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-410-9},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2026},
  volume =	{362},
  editor =	{Saraf, Shubhangi},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.66},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-253532},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.66},
  annote =	{Keywords: Local Search, Parameterized Complexity, PLS}
}
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