18 Search Results for "Vöcking, Berthold"


Document
Threshold-Driven Streaming Graph: Expansion and Rumor Spreading

Authors: Flora Angileri, Andrea Clementi, Emanuele Natale, Michele Salvi, and Isabella Ziccardi

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


Abstract
A randomized distributed algorithm called RAES was introduced in [Becchetti et al., 2020] to extract a bounded-degree expander from a dense n-vertex expander graph G = (V, E). The algorithm relies on a simple threshold-based procedure. A key assumption in [Becchetti et al., 2020] is that the input graph G is static - i.e., both its vertex set V and edge set E remain unchanged throughout the process - while the analysis of raes in dynamic models is left as a major open question. In this work, we investigate the behavior of RAES under a dynamic graph model induced by a streaming node-churn process (also known as the sliding window model), where, at each discrete round, a new node joins the graph and the oldest node departs. This process yields a bounded-degree dynamic graph 𝒢 = {G_t = (V_t, E_t) : t ∈ ℕ} that captures essential characteristics of peer-to-peer networks - specifically, node churn and threshold on the number of connections each node can manage. We prove that every snapshot G_t in the dynamic graph sequence has good expansion properties with high probability. Furthermore, we leverage this property to establish a logarithmic upper bound on the completion time of the well-known PUSH and PULL rumor spreading protocols over the dynamic graph 𝒢.

Cite as

Flora Angileri, Andrea Clementi, Emanuele Natale, Michele Salvi, and Isabella Ziccardi. Threshold-Driven Streaming Graph: Expansion and Rumor Spreading. In 43rd International Symposium on Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science (STACS 2026). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 364, pp. 6:1-6:21, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)


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@InProceedings{angileri_et_al:LIPIcs.STACS.2026.6,
  author =	{Angileri, Flora and Clementi, Andrea and Natale, Emanuele and Salvi, Michele and Ziccardi, Isabella},
  title =	{{Threshold-Driven Streaming Graph: Expansion and Rumor Spreading}},
  booktitle =	{43rd International Symposium on Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science (STACS 2026)},
  pages =	{6:1--6:21},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-412-3},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2026},
  volume =	{364},
  editor =	{Mahajan, Meena and Manea, Florin and McIver, Annabelle and Thắng, Nguy\~{ê}n Kim},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.STACS.2026.6},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-254957},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.STACS.2026.6},
  annote =	{Keywords: Distributed Algorithms, Randomized Algorithms, Dynamic Random Graphs, Graph Expansion, Rumor Spreading}
}
Document
Byzantine-Tolerant Phase Clock

Authors: Costas Busch, Paweł Garncarek, and Dariusz R. Kowalski

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 361, 29th International Conference on Principles of Distributed Systems (OPODIS 2025)


Abstract
A phase clock is a basic synchronization mechanism that keeps distributed nodes closely synchronized to execute the same phase of a distributed algorithm. A phase clock is typically implemented with a local logical counter that keeps track of the current phase count. Phase clocks are particularly useful in population protocols for implementing leader election and majority selection. We study phase clocks that tolerate Byzantine faults. We show that there is a phase clock that tolerates up to f < n/3 faulty nodes, where n is the number of nodes, such that the gap of the local counter values is O(n²log n). The gap can be further lowered to O(log n) when f ≤ n/8. We also show that if f > n/3, then the gap grows to infinity as time increases. While analyzing phase clock we introduce novel techniques and bounds for balls into bins processes, which might be of independent interest. Using the phase clock, we obtain a majority selection population protocol that tolerates up to f faults and decides on the majority value in O(log² n) parallel time using poly-log states per node.

Cite as

Costas Busch, Paweł Garncarek, and Dariusz R. Kowalski. Byzantine-Tolerant Phase Clock. In 29th International Conference on Principles of Distributed Systems (OPODIS 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 361, pp. 30:1-30:19, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)


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@InProceedings{busch_et_al:LIPIcs.OPODIS.2025.30,
  author =	{Busch, Costas and Garncarek, Pawe{\l} and Kowalski, Dariusz R.},
  title =	{{Byzantine-Tolerant Phase Clock}},
  booktitle =	{29th International Conference on Principles of Distributed Systems (OPODIS 2025)},
  pages =	{30:1--30:19},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-409-3},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2026},
  volume =	{361},
  editor =	{Arusoaie, Andrei and Onica, Emanuel and Spear, Michael and Tucci-Piergiovanni, Sara},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.OPODIS.2025.30},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-252036},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.OPODIS.2025.30},
  annote =	{Keywords: phase clock, Byzantine nodes, population protocols, balls into bins}
}
Document
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
Optimistic Message Dissemination

Authors: Chen-Da Liu-Zhang, Christian Matt, and Søren Eller Thomsen

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 354, 7th Conference on Advances in Financial Technologies (AFT 2025)


Abstract
Message dissemination is a fundamental building block in distributed systems and guarantees that any message sent eventually reaches all parties. State of the art provably secure protocols for disseminating messages have a per-party communication complexity that is linear in the inverse of the fraction of parties that are guaranteed to be honest in the worst case. Unfortunately, this per-party communication complexity arises even in cases where the actual fraction of parties that behave honestly is close to 1. In this paper, we propose an optimistic message dissemination protocol that adopts to the actual conditions in which it is deployed, with optimal worst-case per-party communication complexity. Our protocol cuts the complexity of prior provably secure protocols for 49% worst-case corruption almost in half under optimistic conditions and allows practitioners to combine efficient heuristics with secure fallback mechanisms.

Cite as

Chen-Da Liu-Zhang, Christian Matt, and Søren Eller Thomsen. Optimistic Message Dissemination. In 7th Conference on Advances in Financial Technologies (AFT 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 354, pp. 14:1-14:24, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)


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@InProceedings{liuzhang_et_al:LIPIcs.AFT.2025.14,
  author =	{Liu-Zhang, Chen-Da and Matt, Christian and Thomsen, S{\o}ren Eller},
  title =	{{Optimistic Message Dissemination}},
  booktitle =	{7th Conference on Advances in Financial Technologies (AFT 2025)},
  pages =	{14:1--14:24},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-400-0},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{354},
  editor =	{Avarikioti, Zeta and Christin, Nicolas},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.AFT.2025.14},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-247332},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.AFT.2025.14},
  annote =	{Keywords: flooding, message dissemination, optimistic}
}
Document
Beating Competitive Ratio 4 for Graphic Matroid Secretary

Authors: Kiarash Banihashem, MohammadTaghi Hajiaghayi, Dariusz R. Kowalski, Piotr Krysta, Danny Mittal, and Jan Olkowski

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


Abstract
One of the classic problems in online decision-making is the secretary problem, where the goal is to hire the best secretary out of n rankable applicants or, in a natural extension, to maximize the probability of selecting the largest number from a sequence arriving in random order. Many works have considered generalizations of this problem where one can accept multiple values subject to a combinatorial constraint. The seminal work of Babaioff, Immorlica, Kempe, and Kleinberg (SODA'07, JACM'18) proposed the matroid secretary conjecture, suggesting that there exists an O(1)-competitive algorithm for the matroid constraint, and many works since have attempted to obtain algorithms for both general matroids and specific classes of matroids. The ultimate goal of these results is to obtain an e-competitive algorithm, and the strong matroid secretary conjecture states that this is possible for general matroids. One of the most important classes of matroids is the graphic matroid, where a set of edges in a graph is deemed independent if it contains no cycle. Given the rich combinatorial structure of graphs, obtaining algorithms for these matroids is often seen as a good first step towards solving the problem for general matroids. For matroid secretary, Babaioff et al. (SODA'07, JACM'18) first studied graphic matroid case and obtained a 16-competitive algorithm. Subsequent works have improved the competitive ratio, most recently to 4 by Soto, Turkieltaub, and Verdugo (SODA'18). In this paper, we break the 4-competitive barrier for the problem, obtaining a new algorithm with a competitive ratio of 3.95. For the special case of simple graphs (i.e., graphs that do not contain parallel edges) we further improve this to 3.77. Intuitively, solving the problem for simple graphs is easier as they do not contain cycles of length two. A natural question that arises is whether we can obtain a ratio arbitrarily close to e by assuming the graph has a large enough girth. We answer this question affirmatively, proving that one can obtain a competitive ratio arbitrarily close to e even for constant values of girth, providing further evidence for the strong matroid secretary conjecture. We further show that this bound is tight: for any constant g, one cannot obtain a competitive ratio better than e even if we assume that the input graph has girth at least g. To our knowledge, such a bound was not previously known even for simple graphs.

Cite as

Kiarash Banihashem, MohammadTaghi Hajiaghayi, Dariusz R. Kowalski, Piotr Krysta, Danny Mittal, and Jan Olkowski. Beating Competitive Ratio 4 for Graphic Matroid Secretary. In 33rd Annual European Symposium on Algorithms (ESA 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 351, pp. 52:1-52:16, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)


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@InProceedings{banihashem_et_al:LIPIcs.ESA.2025.52,
  author =	{Banihashem, Kiarash and Hajiaghayi, MohammadTaghi and Kowalski, Dariusz R. and Krysta, Piotr and Mittal, Danny and Olkowski, Jan},
  title =	{{Beating Competitive Ratio 4 for Graphic Matroid Secretary}},
  booktitle =	{33rd Annual European Symposium on Algorithms (ESA 2025)},
  pages =	{52:1--52:16},
  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.2025.52},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-245205},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ESA.2025.52},
  annote =	{Keywords: online algorithms, graphic matroids, secretary problem}
}
Document
Smoothed Analysis of Online Metric Problems

Authors: Christian Coester and Jack Umenberger

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


Abstract
We study three classical online problems - k-server, k-taxi, and chasing size k sets - through a lens of smoothed analysis. Our setting allows request locations to be adversarial up to small perturbations, interpolating between worst-case and average-case models. Specifically, we show that if the metric space is contained in a ball in any normed space and requests are drawn from distributions whose density functions are upper bounded by 1/σ times the uniform density over the ball, then all three problems admit polylog(k/σ)-competitive algorithms. Our approach is simple: it reduces smoothed instances to fully adversarial instances on finite metrics and leverages existing algorithms in a black-box manner. We also provide a lower bound showing that no algorithm can achieve a competitive ratio sub-polylogarithmic in k/σ, matching our upper bounds up to the exponent of the polylogarithm. In contrast, the best known competitive ratios for these problems in the fully adversarial setting are 2k-1, ∞ and Θ(k²), respectively.

Cite as

Christian Coester and Jack Umenberger. Smoothed Analysis of Online Metric Problems. In 33rd Annual European Symposium on Algorithms (ESA 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 351, pp. 115:1-115:14, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)


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@InProceedings{coester_et_al:LIPIcs.ESA.2025.115,
  author =	{Coester, Christian and Umenberger, Jack},
  title =	{{Smoothed Analysis of Online Metric Problems}},
  booktitle =	{33rd Annual European Symposium on Algorithms (ESA 2025)},
  pages =	{115:1--115:14},
  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.2025.115},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-245847},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ESA.2025.115},
  annote =	{Keywords: Online Algorithms, Competitive Analysis, Smoothed Analysis, k-server, k-taxi, Metrical Service Systems}
}
Document
Parameterized Algorithms for Computing Pareto Sets

Authors: Joshua Marc Könen, Heiko Röglin, and Tarek Stuck

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


Abstract
The problem of computing the set of Pareto-optimal solutions has been studied for a variety of multiobjective optimization problems. For many such problems, algorithms are known that compute the Pareto set in (weak) output-polynomial time. These algorithms are often based on dynamic programming and by weak output-polynomial time, we mean that the running time depends polynomially on the size of the Pareto set but also on the sizes of the Pareto sets of the subproblems that occur in the dynamic program. For some problems, like the multiobjective minimum spanning tree problem, such algorithms are not known to exist and for other problems, like multiobjective versions of many NP-hard problems, such algorithms cannot exist, unless 𝒫 = 𝒩𝒫. Dynamic programming over tree decompositions is a common technique in parameterized algorithms. In this paper, we study whether this technique can also be applied to compute Pareto sets of multiobjective optimization problems. We first derive an algorithm to compute the Pareto set for the multicriteria s-t cut problem and show how this result can be applied to a polygon aggregation problem arising in cartography that has recently been introduced by Rottmann et al. (GIScience 2021). We also show how to apply these techniques to also compute the Pareto set of the multiobjective minimum spanning tree problem and for the multiobjective TSP. The running time of our algorithms is O(f(w)⋅poly(n,p_{max})), where f is some function in the treewidth w, n is the input size, and p_{max} is an upper bound on the size of the Pareto sets of the subproblems that occur in the dynamic program. Finally, we present an experimental evaluation of computing Pareto sets on real-world instances of polygon aggregation problems. For this matter we devised a task-specific data structure that allows for efficient storage and modification of large sets of Pareto-optimal solutions. Throughout the implementation process, we incorporated several improved strategies and heuristics that significantly reduced both runtime and memory usage, enabling us to solve instances with treewidth of up to 22 within reasonable amount of time. Moreover, we conducted a preprocessing study to compare different tree decompositions in terms of their estimated overall runtime.

Cite as

Joshua Marc Könen, Heiko Röglin, and Tarek Stuck. Parameterized Algorithms for Computing Pareto Sets. In 33rd Annual European Symposium on Algorithms (ESA 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 351, pp. 105:1-105:15, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)


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@InProceedings{konen_et_al:LIPIcs.ESA.2025.105,
  author =	{K\"{o}nen, Joshua Marc and R\"{o}glin, Heiko and Stuck, Tarek},
  title =	{{Parameterized Algorithms for Computing Pareto Sets}},
  booktitle =	{33rd Annual European Symposium on Algorithms (ESA 2025)},
  pages =	{105:1--105:15},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-395-9},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{351},
  editor =	{Benoit, Anne and Kaplan, Haim and Wild, Sebastian and Herman, Grzegorz},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.ESA.2025.105},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-245749},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ESA.2025.105},
  annote =	{Keywords: parameterized algorithms, treewidth, multicriteria optimization problems, multicriteria MST, multicriteria TSP, polygon aggregation}
}
Document
A Simple yet Exact Analysis of the MultiQueue

Authors: Stefan Walzer and Marvin Williams

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


Abstract
The MultiQueue is a relaxed concurrent priority queue consisting of n internal priority queues, where an insertion uses a random queue and a deletion considers two random queues and deletes the minimum from the one with the smaller minimum. The rank error of the deletion is the number of smaller elements in the MultiQueue. Alistarh et al. [Alistarh et al., 2017] have demonstrated in a sophisticated potential argument that the expected rank error remains bounded by 𝒪(n) over long sequences of deletions. In this paper we present a simpler analysis by identifying the stable distribution of an underlying Markov chain and with it the long-term distribution of the rank error exactly. Simple calculations then reveal the expected long-term rank error to be (5/6)n-1+1/(6n). Our arguments generalize to deletion schemes where the probability to delete from a given queue depends only on the rank of the queue. Specifically, this includes deleting from the best of c randomly selected queues for any c > 1.

Cite as

Stefan Walzer and Marvin Williams. A Simple yet Exact Analysis of the MultiQueue. In 33rd Annual European Symposium on Algorithms (ESA 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 351, pp. 85:1-85:14, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)


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@InProceedings{walzer_et_al:LIPIcs.ESA.2025.85,
  author =	{Walzer, Stefan and Williams, Marvin},
  title =	{{A Simple yet Exact Analysis of the MultiQueue}},
  booktitle =	{33rd Annual European Symposium on Algorithms (ESA 2025)},
  pages =	{85:1--85:14},
  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.2025.85},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-245533},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ESA.2025.85},
  annote =	{Keywords: MultiQueue, concurrent data structure, stochastic process, Markov chain}
}
Document
Online Knapsack Problems with Estimates

Authors: Jakub Balabán, Matthias Gehnen, Henri Lotze, Finn Seesemann, and Moritz Stocker

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


Abstract
Imagine you are a computer scientist who enjoys attending conferences or workshops within the year. Sadly, your travel budget is limited, so you must select a subset of events you can travel to. When you are aware of all possible events and their costs at the beginning of the year, you can select the subset of the possible events that maximizes your happiness and is within your budget. On the other hand, if you are blind about the options, you will likely have a hard time when trying to decide if you want to register somewhere or not, and will likely regret decisions you made in the future. These scenarios can be modeled by knapsack variants, either by an offline or an online problem. However, both scenarios are somewhat unrealistic: Usually, you will not know the exact costs of each workshop at the beginning of the year. The online version, however, is too pessimistic, as you might already know which options there are and how much they cost roughly. At some point, you have to decide whether to register for some workshop, but then you are aware of the conference fee and the flight and hotel prices. We model this problem within the setting of online knapsack problems with estimates: in the beginning, you receive a list of potential items with their estimated size as well as the accuracy of the estimates. Then, the items are revealed one by one in an online fashion with their actual size, and you need to decide whether to take one or not. In this article, we show a best-possible algorithm for each estimate accuracy δ (i.e., when each actual item size can deviate by ± δ from the announced size) for both the simple knapsack (also known as subset sum problem) and the simple knapsack with removability.

Cite as

Jakub Balabán, Matthias Gehnen, Henri Lotze, Finn Seesemann, and Moritz Stocker. Online Knapsack Problems with Estimates. In 50th International Symposium on Mathematical Foundations of Computer Science (MFCS 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 345, pp. 12:1-12:19, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)


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@InProceedings{balaban_et_al:LIPIcs.MFCS.2025.12,
  author =	{Balab\'{a}n, Jakub and Gehnen, Matthias and Lotze, Henri and Seesemann, Finn and Stocker, Moritz},
  title =	{{Online Knapsack Problems with Estimates}},
  booktitle =	{50th International Symposium on Mathematical Foundations of Computer Science (MFCS 2025)},
  pages =	{12:1--12:19},
  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.2025.12},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-241190},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.MFCS.2025.12},
  annote =	{Keywords: Knapsack, Online Knapsack, Removability, Estimate, Prediction}
}
Document
On the Performance of Mildly Greedy Players in k-Coloring Games

Authors: Vittorio Bilò, Andrea D'Ascenzo, Mattia D'Emidio, and Giuseppe F. Italiano

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


Abstract
We study the performance of mildly greedy players in k-coloring games, a relevant subclass of anti-coordination games. A mildly greedy player is a selfish agent who is willing to deviate from a certain strategy profile only if her payoff improves by a factor of more than ε, for some given ε ≥ 0. In presence of mildly greedy players, stability is captured by the concept of (1+ε)-approximate Nash equilibrium. In this paper, we first show that, for any k-coloring game, the (1+ε)-approximate price of anarchy, i.e., the price of anarchy of (1+ε)-approximate pure Nash equilibria, is at least (k-1)/((k-1)ε +k), and that this bound is tight for any ε ≥ 0. Then, we evaluate the approximation ratio of the solutions achieved after a (1 + ϵ)-approximate one-round walk starting from any initial strategy profile, where a (1 + ϵ)-approximate one-round walk is a sequence of (1 + ε)-approximate best-responses, one for each player. We provide a lower bound of min{(k-2)/k, (k-1)/((k-1)ε+k)} on this ratio, for any ε ≥ 0 and k ≥ 5; for the cases of k = 3 and k = 4, we give finer bounds depending on ε. Our work generalizes the results known for cut games, the special case of k-coloring games restricted to k = 2.

Cite as

Vittorio Bilò, Andrea D'Ascenzo, Mattia D'Emidio, and Giuseppe F. Italiano. On the Performance of Mildly Greedy Players in k-Coloring Games. In 50th International Symposium on Mathematical Foundations of Computer Science (MFCS 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 345, pp. 21:1-21:19, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)


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@InProceedings{bilo_et_al:LIPIcs.MFCS.2025.21,
  author =	{Bil\`{o}, Vittorio and D'Ascenzo, Andrea and D'Emidio, Mattia and Italiano, Giuseppe F.},
  title =	{{On the Performance of Mildly Greedy Players in k-Coloring Games}},
  booktitle =	{50th International Symposium on Mathematical Foundations of Computer Science (MFCS 2025)},
  pages =	{21:1--21:19},
  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.2025.21},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-241287},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.MFCS.2025.21},
  annote =	{Keywords: Coloring games, (Approximate) Nash Equilibria, Price of Anarchy}
}
Document
Counting Locally Optimal Tours in the TSP

Authors: Bodo Manthey and Jesse van Rhijn

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


Abstract
We show that the problem of counting 2-optimal tours in instances of the Travelling Salesperson Problem (TSP) on complete graphs is #P-complete. In addition, we show that the expected number of 2-optimal tours in random instances of the TSP on complete graphs is O(1.2098ⁿ √{n!}). Based on numerical experiments, we conjecture that the true bound is at most O(√{n!}), which is approximately the square root of the total number of tours.

Cite as

Bodo Manthey and Jesse van Rhijn. Counting Locally Optimal Tours in the TSP. In 50th International Symposium on Mathematical Foundations of Computer Science (MFCS 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 345, pp. 73:1-73:17, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)


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@InProceedings{manthey_et_al:LIPIcs.MFCS.2025.73,
  author =	{Manthey, Bodo and van Rhijn, Jesse},
  title =	{{Counting Locally Optimal Tours in the TSP}},
  booktitle =	{50th International Symposium on Mathematical Foundations of Computer Science (MFCS 2025)},
  pages =	{73:1--73:17},
  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.2025.73},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-241807},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.MFCS.2025.73},
  annote =	{Keywords: Travelling salesman problem, probabilistic analysis, local search, heuristics, 2-opt}
}
Document
Track A: Algorithms, Complexity and Games
Near-Optimal Directed Low-Diameter Decompositions

Authors: Karl Bringmann, Nick Fischer, Bernhard Haeupler, and Rustam Latypov

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


Abstract
Low Diameter Decompositions (LDDs) are invaluable tools in the design of combinatorial graph algorithms. While historically they have been applied mainly to undirected graphs, in the recent breakthrough for the negative-length Single Source Shortest Path problem, Bernstein, Nanongkai, and Wulff-Nilsen [FOCS '22] extended the use of LDDs to directed graphs for the first time. Specifically, their LDD deletes each edge with probability at most O(1/D ⋅ log²n), while ensuring that each strongly connected component in the remaining graph has a (weak) diameter of at most D. In this work, we make further advancements in the study of directed LDDs. We reveal a natural and intuitive (in hindsight) connection to Expander Decompositions, and leveraging this connection along with additional techniques, we establish the existence of an LDD with an edge-cutting probability of O(1/D ⋅ log n log log n). This improves the previous bound by nearly a logarithmic factor and closely approaches the lower bound of Ω(1/D ⋅ log n). With significantly more technical effort, we also develop two efficient algorithms for computing our LDDs: a deterministic algorithm that runs in time Õ(m poly(D)) and a randomized algorithm that runs in near-linear time Õ(m). We believe that our work provides a solid conceptual and technical foundation for future research relying on directed LDDs, which will undoubtedly follow soon.

Cite as

Karl Bringmann, Nick Fischer, Bernhard Haeupler, and Rustam Latypov. Near-Optimal Directed Low-Diameter Decompositions. In 52nd International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming (ICALP 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 334, pp. 35:1-35:18, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)


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@InProceedings{bringmann_et_al:LIPIcs.ICALP.2025.35,
  author =	{Bringmann, Karl and Fischer, Nick and Haeupler, Bernhard and Latypov, Rustam},
  title =	{{Near-Optimal Directed Low-Diameter Decompositions}},
  booktitle =	{52nd International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming (ICALP 2025)},
  pages =	{35:1--35:18},
  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.2025.35},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-234125},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ICALP.2025.35},
  annote =	{Keywords: Low Diameter Decompositions, Expander Decompositions, Directed Graphs}
}
Document
A Bicriterion Concentration Inequality and Prophet Inequalities for k-Fold Matroid Unions

Authors: Noga Alon, Nick Gravin, Tristan Pollner, Aviad Rubinstein, Hongao Wang, S. Matthew Weinberg, and Qianfan Zhang

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


Abstract
We investigate prophet inequalities with competitive ratios approaching 1, seeking to generalize k-uniform matroids. We first show that large girth does not suffice: for all k, there exists a matroid of girth ≥ k and a prophet inequality instance on that matroid whose optimal competitive ratio is 1/2. Next, we show k-fold matroid unions do suffice: we provide a prophet inequality with competitive ratio 1-O(√{(log k)/k}) for any k-fold matroid union. Our prophet inequality follows from an online contention resolution scheme. The key technical ingredient in our online contention resolution scheme is a novel bicriterion concentration inequality for arbitrary monotone 1-Lipschitz functions over independent items which may be of independent interest. Applied to our particular setting, our bicriterion concentration inequality yields "Chernoff-strength" concentration for a 1-Lipschitz function that is not (approximately) self-bounding.

Cite as

Noga Alon, Nick Gravin, Tristan Pollner, Aviad Rubinstein, Hongao Wang, S. Matthew Weinberg, and Qianfan Zhang. A Bicriterion Concentration Inequality and Prophet Inequalities for k-Fold Matroid Unions. In 16th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 325, pp. 4:1-4:22, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)


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@InProceedings{alon_et_al:LIPIcs.ITCS.2025.4,
  author =	{Alon, Noga and Gravin, Nick and Pollner, Tristan and Rubinstein, Aviad and Wang, Hongao and Weinberg, S. Matthew and Zhang, Qianfan},
  title =	{{A Bicriterion Concentration Inequality and Prophet Inequalities for k-Fold Matroid Unions}},
  booktitle =	{16th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2025)},
  pages =	{4:1--4:22},
  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.2025.4},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-226329},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2025.4},
  annote =	{Keywords: Prophet Inequalities, Online Contention Resolution Schemes, Concentration Inequalities}
}
Document
Distributed and Parallel Low-Diameter Decompositions for Arbitrary and Restricted Graphs

Authors: Jinfeng Dou, Thorsten Götte, Henning Hillebrandt, Christian Scheideler, and Julian Werthmann

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


Abstract
We consider the distributed and parallel construction of low-diameter decompositions with strong diameter. We present algorithms for arbitrary undirected, weighted graphs and also for undirected, weighted graphs that can be separated through k ∈ Õ(1) shortest paths. This class of graphs includes planar graphs, graphs of bounded treewidth, and graphs that exclude a fixed minor K_r. Our algorithms work in the PRAM, CONGEST, and the novel HYBRID communication model and are competitive in all relevant parameters. Given 𝒟 > 0, our low-diameter decomposition algorithm divides the graph into connected clusters of strong diameter 𝒟. For an arbitrary graph, an edge e ∈ E of length 𝓁_e is cut between two clusters with probability O(𝓁_e⋅log(n)/𝒟). If the graph can be separated by k ∈ Õ(1) paths, the probability improves to O(𝓁_e⋅log(log n)/𝒟). In either case, the decompositions can be computed in Õ(1) depth and Õ(m) work in the PRAM and Õ(1) time in the HYBRID model. In CONGEST, the runtimes are Õ(HD + √n) and Õ(HD) respectively. All these results hold w.h.p. Broadly speaking, we present distributed and parallel implementations of sequential divide-and-conquer algorithms where we replace exact shortest paths with approximate shortest paths. In contrast to exact paths, these can be efficiently computed in the distributed and parallel setting [STOC '22]. Further, and perhaps more importantly, we show that instead of explicitly computing vertex-separators to enable efficient parallelization of these algorithms, it suffices to sample a few random paths of bounded length and the nodes close to them. Thereby, we do not require complex embeddings whose implementation is unknown in the distributed and parallel setting.

Cite as

Jinfeng Dou, Thorsten Götte, Henning Hillebrandt, Christian Scheideler, and Julian Werthmann. Distributed and Parallel Low-Diameter Decompositions for Arbitrary and Restricted Graphs. In 16th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 325, pp. 45:1-45:26, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)


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@InProceedings{dou_et_al:LIPIcs.ITCS.2025.45,
  author =	{Dou, Jinfeng and G\"{o}tte, Thorsten and Hillebrandt, Henning and Scheideler, Christian and Werthmann, Julian},
  title =	{{Distributed and Parallel Low-Diameter Decompositions for Arbitrary and Restricted Graphs}},
  booktitle =	{16th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2025)},
  pages =	{45:1--45:26},
  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.2025.45},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-226734},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2025.45},
  annote =	{Keywords: Distributed Graph Algorithms, Network Decomposition, Excluded Minor}
}
Document
Electronic Markets and Auctions (Dagstuhl Seminar 13461)

Authors: Yishay Mansour, Benny Moldovanu, Noam Nisan, and Berthold Vöcking

Published in: Dagstuhl Reports, Volume 3, Issue 11 (2014)


Abstract
The main goal of this workshop was to study topics related to electronic markets and auctions both from the computational perspective and from a game-theoretic and economic one. From the computer science perspective, with the advent of the Internet, there has been a significant amount of work in Algorithmic Game Theory focusing on computational aspects of electronic markets and on algorithmic aspects of mechanism design. Economics have been traditionally interested in markets in general and designing efficient markets mechanisms (such as auctions) in particular. The recent emergence of electronic markets and auctions has only reemphasized the importance of this topic.

Cite as

Yishay Mansour, Benny Moldovanu, Noam Nisan, and Berthold Vöcking. Electronic Markets and Auctions (Dagstuhl Seminar 13461). In Dagstuhl Reports, Volume 3, Issue 11, pp. 58-78, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2014)


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@Article{mansour_et_al:DagRep.3.11.58,
  author =	{Mansour, Yishay and Moldovanu, Benny and Nisan, Noam and V\"{o}cking, Berthold},
  title =	{{Electronic Markets and Auctions (Dagstuhl Seminar 13461)}},
  pages =	{58--78},
  journal =	{Dagstuhl Reports},
  ISSN =	{2192-5283},
  year =	{2014},
  volume =	{3},
  number =	{11},
  editor =	{Mansour, Yishay and Moldovanu, Benny and Nisan, Noam and V\"{o}cking, Berthold},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/DagRep.3.11.58},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-44379},
  doi =		{10.4230/DagRep.3.11.58},
  annote =	{Keywords: Algorithmic game theory, mechanism design, economics, electronic markets}
}
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