52 Search Results for "Welzl, Emo"

Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.STACS.2026.31
Lower Bounds for Ranking-Based Pivot Rules

Authors: Yann Disser, Georg Loho, Matthew Maat, and Nils Mosis

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

Abstract
The existence of a polynomial pivot rule for the simplex method for linear programming, policy iteration for Markov decision processes, and strategy improvement for parity games each are prominent open problems in their respective fields. While numerous natural candidates for efficient rules have been eliminated, all existing lower bound constructions are tailored to individual or small sets of pivot rules. We introduce a unified framework for formalizing classes of rules according to the information about the input that they rely on. Within this framework, we show lower bounds for ranking-based classes of rules that base their decisions on orderings of the improving pivot steps induced by the underlying data. Our first result is a superpolynomial lower bound for strategy improvement, obtained via a family of sink parity games, which applies to memory-based generalizations of Bland’s rule that only access the input by comparing the ranks of improving edges in some global order. Our second result is a subexponential lower bound for policy iteration, obtained via a family of Markov decision processes, which applies to memoryless rules that only access the input by comparing improving actions according to their ranks in a global order, their reduced costs, and the associated improvements in objective value. Both results carry over to the simplex method for linear programming.
Cite as

Yann Disser, Georg Loho, Matthew Maat, and Nils Mosis. Lower Bounds for Ranking-Based Pivot Rules. In 43rd International Symposium on Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science (STACS 2026). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 364, pp. 31:1-31:19, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)

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@InProceedings{disser_et_al:LIPIcs.STACS.2026.31,
  author =	{Disser, Yann and Loho, Georg and Maat, Matthew and Mosis, Nils},
  title =	{{Lower Bounds for Ranking-Based Pivot Rules}},
  booktitle =	{43rd International Symposium on Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science (STACS 2026)},
  pages =	{31:1--31:19},
  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.2026.31},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-255207},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.STACS.2026.31},
  annote =	{Keywords: lower bounds, Markov decision processes, parity games, pivot rules, policy iteration, simplex method}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.STACS.2026.35
A Quantum Pigeonhole Principle and Two Semidefinite Relaxations of Communication Complexity

Authors: Pavel Dvořák, Bruno Loff, and Suhail Sherif

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

Abstract
We are interested in what happens when we take a Π₁ combinatorial statement, write its negation as a homogeneous quadratic feasibility problem (HQFP), and relax the problem into a positive semidefinite feasibility problem. This question is particularly interesting owing to the fact that any statement written as a PSD feasibility problem can be proven or disproven using a short proof. We investigate this for one very simple and one very complicated statement. The simple statement we look at is the pigeonhole principle. We prove that the relaxed negation of the PHP remains unsatisfiable and we thus obtain a new "quantum" pigeonhole principle (QPHP) which is a stronger statement than the vanilla PHP. It states that if we take n copies of the same state, and measure each copy using a measurement with only n-1 outcomes (the measurement can be different for different copies), then there will be an outcome j and two copies i₁, i₂ where the resulting states, obtained when the outcome is j for both copies, are not orthogonal. We then look at the statement "the deterministic communication complexity of f is ≤ k", where f could be either a function or a relation. We write this statement in two equivalent ways, using two different HQFPs. By relaxing to PSD feasibility, we increase the set of available protocols, and thus we always get a communication model which is stronger than deterministic communication complexity. An argument from proof complexity shows that any model obtained in this way will solve all Karchmer-Wigderson games efficiently. However, the argument is very indirect and does not give us an explicit protocol that solves the Karchmer-Wigderson games. We then work to find such protocols in the two communication models obtained by relaxing our two formulations. When relaxing the first of the two formulations we obtain a structured variant of the γ₂ norm. This communication model is to subunit γ₂ norm matrices like deterministic protocols are to rectangles, and so we call the protocols in this model γ₂ protocols. We show that log-inverse-discrepancy is a lower-bound for this model. We then show how to compute equality (deterministically) using O(1) bits of γ₂-communication, which implies that KW games are easy in the model. When relaxing the second of the two formulations we obtain what we call quantum lab protocols. This model happens to have a functional description, wherein Alice and Bob communicate solely via the outcomes of binary measurements of a shared quantum state (whose initial state is independent of the inputs). They are required to give the correct output with zero error probability. We use our QPHP to prove a lower-bound of n against two-round quantum lab protocols for equality. However we also show that any Boolean function f can be computed in three rounds and four measurements.
Cite as

Pavel Dvořák, Bruno Loff, and Suhail Sherif. A Quantum Pigeonhole Principle and Two Semidefinite Relaxations of Communication Complexity. In 43rd International Symposium on Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science (STACS 2026). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 364, pp. 35:1-35:20, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)

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@InProceedings{dvorak_et_al:LIPIcs.STACS.2026.35,
  author =	{Dvo\v{r}\'{a}k, Pavel and Loff, Bruno and Sherif, Suhail},
  title =	{{A Quantum Pigeonhole Principle and Two Semidefinite Relaxations of Communication Complexity}},
  booktitle =	{43rd International Symposium on Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science (STACS 2026)},
  pages =	{35:1--35:20},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-412-3},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2026},
  volume =	{364},
  editor =	{Mahajan, Meena and Manea, Florin and McIver, Annabelle and Thắng, Nguy\~{ê}n Kim},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.STACS.2026.35},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-255243},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.STACS.2026.35},
  annote =	{Keywords: Proofs, Semidefinite Programs, Quantum Pigeonhole Principle, Communication Complexity}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.STACS.2026.59
When Is Local Search Both Effective and Efficient?

Authors: Artem Kaznatcheev and Sofia Vazquez Alferez

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

Abstract
Combinatorial optimization problems implicitly define fitness landscapes that combine the numeric structure of the "fitness" function to be maximized with the combinatorial structure of which assignments are "adjacent". Local search starts at an assignment in this landscape and successively moves assignments until no further improvement is possible among the adjacent assignments. Classic analyses of local search algorithms have focused more on the question of effectiveness ("did we find a good solution?") and often implicitly assumed that there are no doubts about their efficiency ("did we find it quickly?"). But there are many reasons to doubt the efficiency of local search. Even if we focus on fitness landscapes on the hypercube that are single peaked on every subcube (known as semismooth fitness landscapes, completely unimodal pseudo-Boolean functions, or acyclic unique sink orientations) where effectiveness is obvious, many local search algorithms are known to be inefficient. Since fitness landscapes are unwieldy exponentially large objects, we focus on their polynomial-sized representations by instances of valued constraint satisfaction problems (VCSP). We define a "direction" for valued constraints such that directed VCSPs generate semismooth fitness landscapes. We call directed VCSPs oriented if they do not have any pair of variables with arcs in both directions. Since recognizing if a VCSP-instance is directed or oriented is coNP-complete, we generalized oriented VCSPs as conditionally-smooth fitness landscapes where the structural property of "conditionally-smooth" is recognizable in polynomial time for a VCSP-instance. We prove that many popular local search algorithms like random ascent, simulated annealing, history-based rules, jumping rules, and the Kernighan-Lin heuristic are very efficient on conditionally-smooth landscapes. But conditionally-smooth landscapes are still expressive enough so that other well-regarded local search algorithms like steepest ascent and random facet require a super-polynomial number of steps to find the fitness peak.
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Artem Kaznatcheev and Sofia Vazquez Alferez. When Is Local Search Both Effective and Efficient?. In 43rd International Symposium on Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science (STACS 2026). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 364, pp. 59:1-59:19, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)

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@InProceedings{kaznatcheev_et_al:LIPIcs.STACS.2026.59,
  author =	{Kaznatcheev, Artem and Vazquez Alferez, Sofia},
  title =	{{When Is Local Search Both Effective and Efficient?}},
  booktitle =	{43rd International Symposium on Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science (STACS 2026)},
  pages =	{59:1--59:19},
  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.2026.59},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-255480},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.STACS.2026.59},
  annote =	{Keywords: valued constraint satisfaction problem, local search, algorithm analysis, constraint graphs, pseudo-Boolean functions, parameterized complexity}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.IPEC.2025.5
Kernelization for H-Coloring

Authors: Yael Berkman and Ishay Haviv

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 358, 20th International Symposium on Parameterized and Exact Computation (IPEC 2025)

Abstract
For a fixed graph H, the H-Coloring problem asks whether a given graph admits an edge-preserving function from its vertex set to that of H. A seminal theorem of Hell and Nešetřil asserts that the H-Coloring problem is NP-hard whenever H is loopless and non-bipartite. A result of Jansen and Pieterse implies that for every graph H, the H-Coloring problem parameterized by the vertex cover number k admits a kernel with O(k^Δ(H)) vertices and bit-size bounded by O(k^Δ(H)⋅log k), where Δ(H) denotes the maximum degree in H. For the case where H is a complete graph on at least three vertices, this kernel size nearly matches conditional lower bounds established by Jansen and Kratsch and by Jansen and Pieterse. This paper presents new upper and lower bounds on the kernel size of H-Coloring problems parameterized by the vertex cover number. The upper bounds arise from two kernelization algorithms. The first is purely combinatorial, and its size is governed by a structural quantity of the graph H, called the non-adjacency witness number. As applications, we obtain kernels whose size is bounded by a fixed polynomial for natural classes of graphs H with unbounded maximum degree, such as planar graphs and, more broadly, graphs with bounded degeneracy. More strikingly, we show that for almost every graph H, the degree of the polynomial that bounds the size of our combinatorial kernel grows only logarithmically in Δ(H). Our second kernel leverages linear-algebraic tools and involves the notion of faithful independent representations of graphs. It strengthens the general bound from prior work and, among other applications, yields near-optimal kernels for problems concerning the dimension of orthogonal graph representations over finite fields. We complement our kernelization results with conditional lower bounds, thereby nearly settling the kernel complexity of the problem for various target graphs H.
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Yael Berkman and Ishay Haviv. Kernelization for H-Coloring. In 20th International Symposium on Parameterized and Exact Computation (IPEC 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 358, pp. 5:1-5:17, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

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@InProceedings{berkman_et_al:LIPIcs.IPEC.2025.5,
  author =	{Berkman, Yael and Haviv, Ishay},
  title =	{{Kernelization for H-Coloring}},
  booktitle =	{20th International Symposium on Parameterized and Exact Computation (IPEC 2025)},
  pages =	{5:1--5:17},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-407-9},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{358},
  editor =	{Agrawal, Akanksha and van Leeuwen, Erik Jan},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.IPEC.2025.5},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-251376},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.IPEC.2025.5},
  annote =	{Keywords: Kernelization, Graph coloring, Graph homomorphism}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.ISAAC.2025.6
A Dimension-Reducing Fréchet Simplification Oracle

Authors: Boris Aronov, Tsuri Farhana, Matthew J. Katz, and Indu Ramesh

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

Abstract
Let P be a polygonal curve with n vertices in the plane. We construct a data structure of size O(n log n) suited for simplification queries of the following kind. Given a query line 𝓁 and an integer k ≥ 1, find a curve Q on 𝓁 with at most k vertices that minimizes the discrete Fréchet distance to P, among all such curves. Using our data structure, a query can be handled in O(k² log³ n + k log⁴n) time. More generally, a geometric tree T on n vertices in the plane can be preprocessed into a near-linear-size structure so that, given a pair u, v of its vertices, a line 𝓁, and an integer k ≥ 1, one can find a curve Q on 𝓁 with at most k vertices that minimizes the discrete Fréchet distance to the path from u to v in T, in time O(k² polylog n). For the general dimension-reduction problem, where P is a curve in ℝ^d (d ≥ 3), 0 < ε₀ < 1 is a real parameter, and a query specifies a g-flat h (1 ≤ g ≤ d-1) and an integer k ≥ 1, we construct a data structure of size O(nlog n + f(ε₀) n), where f(ε₀) = (1+1/ε₀)^{(d-1)/2}, that allows us to find a curve Q on h with at most k vertices, whose discrete Fréchet distance to P is at most 1+ε₀ times the distance of Q^* to P, where Q^* is such a curve that minimizes the distance to P. The query handling time is O(f(ε₀) k² log² n).
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Boris Aronov, Tsuri Farhana, Matthew J. Katz, and Indu Ramesh. A Dimension-Reducing Fréchet Simplification Oracle. In 36th International Symposium on Algorithms and Computation (ISAAC 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 359, pp. 6:1-6:20, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

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@InProceedings{aronov_et_al:LIPIcs.ISAAC.2025.6,
  author =	{Aronov, Boris and Farhana, Tsuri and Katz, Matthew J. and Ramesh, Indu},
  title =	{{A Dimension-Reducing Fr\'{e}chet Simplification Oracle}},
  booktitle =	{36th International Symposium on Algorithms and Computation (ISAAC 2025)},
  pages =	{6:1--6:20},
  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.2025.6},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-249149},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ISAAC.2025.6},
  annote =	{Keywords: Computational geometry, discrete Fr\'{e}chet distance, curve simplification oracle, restricted minimum enclosing disk queries}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.ISAAC.2025.23
Precoloring Extension with Demands on Paths

Authors: Arun Kumar Das, Michal Opler, and Tomáš Valla

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

Abstract
Let G be a graph with a set of precolored vertices, and let us be given an integer distance parameter d and a set of integer demands d₁,… ,d_c. The Distance Precoloring Extension with Demands (DPED) problem is to compute a vertex c-coloring of G such that the following three conditions hold: (i) the resulting coloring respects the colors of the precolored vertices, (ii) the distance of two vertices of the same color is at least d, and (iii) the number of vertices colored by color i is exactly d_i. This problem is motivated by a program scheduling in commercial broadcast channels with constraints on content repetition and placement, which leads precisely to the DPED problem for paths. In this paper, we study DPED on paths and present a polynomial time exact algorithm when precolored vertices are restricted to the two ends of the path and devise an approximation algorithm for DPED with an additive approximation factor polynomially bounded by d and the number of precolored vertices. Then, we prove that the Distance Precoloring Extension problem on paths, a less restrictive version of DPED without the demand constraints, and then DPED itself, is NP-complete. Motivated by this result, we further study the parameterized complexity of DPED on paths. We establish that the DPED problem on paths is W[1]-hard when parameterized by the number of colors and the distance. On the positive side, we devise a fixed parameter tractable (FPT) algorithm for DPED on paths when the number of colors, the distance, and the number of precolored vertices are considered as the parameters. Moreover, we prove that Distance Precoloring Extension is FPT parameterized by the distance. As a byproduct, we also obtain several results for the Distance List Coloring problem on paths.
Cite as

Arun Kumar Das, Michal Opler, and Tomáš Valla. Precoloring Extension with Demands on Paths. In 36th International Symposium on Algorithms and Computation (ISAAC 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 359, pp. 23:1-23:15, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

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@InProceedings{das_et_al:LIPIcs.ISAAC.2025.23,
  author =	{Das, Arun Kumar and Opler, Michal and Valla, Tom\'{a}\v{s}},
  title =	{{Precoloring Extension with Demands on Paths}},
  booktitle =	{36th International Symposium on Algorithms and Computation (ISAAC 2025)},
  pages =	{23:1--23:15},
  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.2025.23},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-249319},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ISAAC.2025.23},
  annote =	{Keywords: precoloring extension, distance coloring, FPT, approximation algorithms}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.ISAAC.2025.13
Optimal Online Bipartite Matching in Degree-2 Graphs

Authors: Amey Bhangale, Arghya Chakraborty, and Prahladh Harsha

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

Abstract
Online bipartite matching is a classical problem in online algorithms and we know that both the deterministic fractional and randomized integral online matchings achieve the same competitive ratio of 1-1/e. In this work, we study classes of graphs where the online degree is restricted to 2. As expected, one can achieve a competitive ratio of better than 1-1/e in both the deterministic fractional and randomized integral cases, but surprisingly, these ratios are not the same. It was already known that for fractional matching, a 0.75 competitive ratio algorithm is optimal. We show that the folklore Half-Half algorithm achieves a competitive ratio of η ≈ 0.717772… and more surprisingly, show that this is optimal by giving a matching lower-bound. This yields a separation between the two problems: deterministic fractional and randomized integral, showing that it is impossible to obtain a perfect rounding scheme.
Cite as

Amey Bhangale, Arghya Chakraborty, and Prahladh Harsha. Optimal Online Bipartite Matching in Degree-2 Graphs. In 36th International Symposium on Algorithms and Computation (ISAAC 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 359, pp. 13:1-13:19, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

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@InProceedings{bhangale_et_al:LIPIcs.ISAAC.2025.13,
  author =	{Bhangale, Amey and Chakraborty, Arghya and Harsha, Prahladh},
  title =	{{Optimal Online Bipartite Matching in Degree-2 Graphs}},
  booktitle =	{36th International Symposium on Algorithms and Computation (ISAAC 2025)},
  pages =	{13:1--13:19},
  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.2025.13},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-249216},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ISAAC.2025.13},
  annote =	{Keywords: Online Algorithm, Bipartite matching}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.ESA.2025.102
A Combinatorial Proof of Universal Optimality for Computing a Planar Convex Hull

Authors: Ivor van der Hoog, Eva Rotenberg, and Daniel Rutschmann

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

Abstract
For a planar point set P, its convex hull is the smallest convex polygon that encloses all points in P. The construction of the convex hull from an array I_P containing P is a fundamental problem in computational geometry. By sorting I_P in lexicographical order, one can construct the convex hull of P in O(n log n) time which is worst-case optimal. Standard worst-case analysis, however, has been criticized as overly coarse or pessimistic, and researchers search for more refined analyses. For an algorithm A, worst-case analysis fixes n, and considers the maximum running time of A across all size-n point sets P and permutations I_P of P. Output-sensitive analysis fixes n and k, and considers the maximum running time across all size-n points sets P with k hull points and permutations I_P of P. Universal analysis provides an even stronger guarantee. It fixes a point set P and considers the maximum running time across all permutations I_P of P. Kirkpatrick, McQueen, and Seidel [SICOMP'86] consider output-sensitive analysis. If the convex hull of P contains k points, then their algorithm runs in O(n log k) time. Afshani, Barbay, Chan [FOCS'07] prove that the algorithm by Kirkpatrick, McQueen, and Seidel is also universally optimal. Their proof restricts the model of computation to any algebraic decision tree model where the test functions have at most constant degree and at most a constant number of arguments. They rely upon involved algebraic arguments to construct a lower bound for each point set P that matches the universal running time of [SICOMP'86]. We provide a different proof of universal optimality. Instead of restricting the computational model, we further specify the output. We require as output (1) the convex hull, and (2) for each internal point of P a witness for it being internal. Our argument is shorter, perhaps simpler, and applicable in more general models of computation.
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Ivor van der Hoog, Eva Rotenberg, and Daniel Rutschmann. A Combinatorial Proof of Universal Optimality for Computing a Planar Convex Hull. In 33rd Annual European Symposium on Algorithms (ESA 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 351, pp. 102:1-102:13, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

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@InProceedings{vanderhoog_et_al:LIPIcs.ESA.2025.102,
  author =	{van der Hoog, Ivor and Rotenberg, Eva and Rutschmann, Daniel},
  title =	{{A Combinatorial Proof of Universal Optimality for Computing a Planar Convex Hull}},
  booktitle =	{33rd Annual European Symposium on Algorithms (ESA 2025)},
  pages =	{102:1--102:13},
  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.2025.102},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-245715},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ESA.2025.102},
  annote =	{Keywords: Convex hull, Combinatorial proofs, Universal optimality}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.ESA.2025.114
A Deterministic Partition Tree and Applications

Authors: Haitao Wang

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

Abstract
In this paper, we present a deterministic variant of Chan’s randomized partition tree [Discret. Comput. Geom., 2012]. This result leads to numerous applications. In particular, for d-dimensional simplex range counting (for any constant d ≥ 2), we construct a data structure using O(n) space and O(n^{1+ε}) preprocessing time, such that each query can be answered in o(n^{1-1/d}) time (specifically, O(n^{1-1/d} / log^Ω(1) n) time), thereby breaking an Ω(n^{1-1/d}) lower bound known for the semigroup setting. Notably, our approach does not rely on any bit-packing techniques. We also obtain deterministic improvements for several other classical problems, including simplex range stabbing counting and reporting, segment intersection detection, counting and reporting, ray-shooting among segments, and more. Similar to Chan’s original randomized partition tree, we expect that additional applications will emerge in the future, especially in situations where deterministic results are preferred.
Cite as

Haitao Wang. A Deterministic Partition Tree and Applications. In 33rd Annual European Symposium on Algorithms (ESA 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 351, pp. 114:1-114:17, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

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@InProceedings{wang:LIPIcs.ESA.2025.114,
  author =	{Wang, Haitao},
  title =	{{A Deterministic Partition Tree and Applications}},
  booktitle =	{33rd Annual European Symposium on Algorithms (ESA 2025)},
  pages =	{114:1--114:17},
  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.2025.114},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-245836},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ESA.2025.114},
  annote =	{Keywords: partition trees, simplex range searching, segment intersection queries, ray-shootings, multi-level data structures}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.ESA.2025.40
Maximum List r-Colorable Induced Subgraphs in kP₃-Free Graphs

Authors: Esther Galby, Paloma T. Lima, Andrea Munaro, and Amir Nikabadi

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

Abstract
We show that, for every fixed positive integers r and k, Max-Weight List r-Colorable Induced Subgraph admits a polynomial-time algorithm on kP₃-free graphs. This problem is a common generalization of Max-Weight Independent Set, Odd Cycle Transversal and List r-Coloring, among others. Our result has several consequences. First, it implies that, for every fixed r ≥ 5, assuming 𝖯 ≠ NP, Max-Weight List r-Colorable Induced Subgraph is polynomial-time solvable on H-free graphs if and only if H is an induced subgraph of either kP₃ or P₅+kP₁, for some k ≥ 1. Second, it makes considerable progress toward a complexity dichotomy for Odd Cycle Transversal on H-free graphs, allowing to answer a question of Agrawal, Lima, Lokshtanov, Rzążewski, Saurabh, and Sharma [ACM Trans. Algorithms 2025]. Third, it gives a short and self-contained proof of the known result of Chudnovsky, Hajebi, and Spirkl [Combinatorica 2024] that List r-Coloring on kP₃-free graphs is polynomial-time solvable for every fixed r and k. We also consider two natural distance-d generalizations of Max-Weight Independent Set and List r-Coloring and provide polynomial-time algorithms on kP₃-free graphs for every fixed integers r, k, and d ≥ 6.
Cite as

Esther Galby, Paloma T. Lima, Andrea Munaro, and Amir Nikabadi. Maximum List r-Colorable Induced Subgraphs in kP₃-Free Graphs. In 33rd Annual European Symposium on Algorithms (ESA 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 351, pp. 40:1-40:13, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

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@InProceedings{galby_et_al:LIPIcs.ESA.2025.40,
  author =	{Galby, Esther and Lima, Paloma T. and Munaro, Andrea and Nikabadi, Amir},
  title =	{{Maximum List r-Colorable Induced Subgraphs in kP₃-Free Graphs}},
  booktitle =	{33rd Annual European Symposium on Algorithms (ESA 2025)},
  pages =	{40:1--40:13},
  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.2025.40},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-245086},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ESA.2025.40},
  annote =	{Keywords: Hereditary classes, list coloring, odd cycle transversal, independent set}
}
Document
APPROX
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.APPROX/RANDOM.2025.2
Covering Simple Orthogonal Polygons with Rectangles

Authors: Aniket Basu Roy

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

Abstract
We study the problem of Covering Orthogonal Polygons with Rectangles, focusing on three variants: covering the interior, the boundary, and the corners. While previous work provided constant-factor approximation algorithms for these problems, significant improvements had not been achieved for over two decades. The main contribution of this work is the development of a Polynomial Time Approximation Scheme (PTAS) for both the Boundary Cover and Corner Cover problems on simple polygons, using a local search algorithm. Our work advances the state of the art, improving upon the previous best-known 4-approximation for the Boundary Cover and 2-approximation for the Corner Cover problems. The technical core of our work lies in proving the existence of planar support graphs for certain geometric hypergraphs defined by the polygon and its containment-maximal rectangles. This structural insight enables the application of the local search framework to achieve the PTAS results. We also demonstrate the limitations of this approach by constructing instances where local search fails for the Interior Cover and certain dual problems, such as the Maximum Antirectangle and Hitting Set problems. Additionally, the methods yield a PTAS for a special case of the Discrete Independent Set problem for rectangles. These results not only settle longstanding open questions but also introduce new techniques that may be of independent interest within computational geometry.
Cite as

Aniket Basu Roy. Covering Simple Orthogonal Polygons with Rectangles. In Approximation, Randomization, and Combinatorial Optimization. Algorithms and Techniques (APPROX/RANDOM 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 353, pp. 2:1-2:23, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

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@InProceedings{basuroy:LIPIcs.APPROX/RANDOM.2025.2,
  author =	{Basu Roy, Aniket},
  title =	{{Covering Simple Orthogonal Polygons with Rectangles}},
  booktitle =	{Approximation, Randomization, and Combinatorial Optimization. Algorithms and Techniques (APPROX/RANDOM 2025)},
  pages =	{2:1--2:23},
  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.2025.2},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-243686},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.APPROX/RANDOM.2025.2},
  annote =	{Keywords: Polygon Covering, Approximation Algorithms, Orthogonal Polygons, Rectangles, Local Search, Planar Supports}
}
Document
APPROX
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.APPROX/RANDOM.2025.8
Multipass Linear Sketches for Geometric LP-Type Problems

Authors: N. Efe Çekirge, William Gay, and David P. Woodruff

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

Abstract
LP-type problems such as the Minimum Enclosing Ball (MEB), Linear Support Vector Machine (SVM), Linear Programming (LP), and Semidefinite Programming (SDP) are fundamental combinatorial optimization problems, with many important applications in machine learning applications such as classification, bioinformatics, and noisy learning. We study LP-type problems in several streaming and distributed big data models, giving ε-approximation linear sketching algorithms with a focus on the high accuracy regime with low dimensionality d, that is, when d < (1/ε)^0.999. Our main result is an O(ds) pass algorithm with O(s(√d/ε)^{3d/s}) ⋅ poly(d, log (1/ε)) space complexity in words, for any parameter s ∈ [1, d log (1/ε)], to solve ε-approximate LP-type problems of O(d) combinatorial and VC dimension. Notably, by taking s = d log (1/ε), we achieve space complexity polynomial in d and polylogarithmic in 1/ε, presenting exponential improvements in 1/ε over current algorithms. We complement our results by showing lower bounds of (1/ε)^Ω(d) for any 1-pass algorithm solving the (1 + ε)-approximation MEB and linear SVM problems, further motivating our multi-pass approach.
Cite as

N. Efe Çekirge, William Gay, and David P. Woodruff. Multipass Linear Sketches for Geometric LP-Type Problems. In Approximation, Randomization, and Combinatorial Optimization. Algorithms and Techniques (APPROX/RANDOM 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 353, pp. 8:1-8:25, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

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@InProceedings{cekirge_et_al:LIPIcs.APPROX/RANDOM.2025.8,
  author =	{\c{C}ekirge, N. Efe and Gay, William and Woodruff, David P.},
  title =	{{Multipass Linear Sketches for Geometric LP-Type Problems}},
  booktitle =	{Approximation, Randomization, and Combinatorial Optimization. Algorithms and Techniques (APPROX/RANDOM 2025)},
  pages =	{8:1--8:25},
  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.2025.8},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-243741},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.APPROX/RANDOM.2025.8},
  annote =	{Keywords: Streaming, sketching, LP-type problems}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.WADS.2025.11
Crossing and Independent Families Among Polygons

Authors: Anna Brötzner, Robert Ganian, Thekla Hamm, Fabian Klute, and Irene Parada

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 349, 19th International Symposium on Algorithms and Data Structures (WADS 2025)

Abstract
Given a set A of points in the plane, a family of line segments forming a matching in A is called crossing (or independent) if each pair of segments in the family intersects (or is non-intersecting, respectively). In past works, these notions have been generalized to polygons by identifying the points in A with the vertices of a given set of polygons and forbidding the line segments from intersecting or overlapping with polygon walls. In this work, we study the computational complexity of computing maximum crossing and independent families in this more general setting. As our first two results, we show that both problems are NP-hard already when the polygons are triangles. Motivated by this, we turn to parameterized algorithms. For our main algorithmic results, we consider the number of polygons on the input as the natural parameter and under this parameterization obtain a fixed-parameter algorithm for computing a largest crossing family among these polygons, and a separate XP-algorithm for computing a largest independent family that lies in one of the faces of the polygonal domain.
Cite as

Anna Brötzner, Robert Ganian, Thekla Hamm, Fabian Klute, and Irene Parada. Crossing and Independent Families Among Polygons. In 19th International Symposium on Algorithms and Data Structures (WADS 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 349, pp. 11:1-11:15, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

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@InProceedings{brotzner_et_al:LIPIcs.WADS.2025.11,
  author =	{Br\"{o}tzner, Anna and Ganian, Robert and Hamm, Thekla and Klute, Fabian and Parada, Irene},
  title =	{{Crossing and Independent Families Among Polygons}},
  booktitle =	{19th International Symposium on Algorithms and Data Structures (WADS 2025)},
  pages =	{11:1--11:15},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-398-0},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{349},
  editor =	{Morin, Pat and Oh, Eunjin},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.WADS.2025.11},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-242424},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.WADS.2025.11},
  annote =	{Keywords: crossing families, crossing-free matchings, segment intersection graphs, computational geometry, parameterized algorithms}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.MFCS.2025.33
Hitting and Covering Affine Families of Convex Polyhedra, with Applications to Robust Optimization

Authors: Jean Cardinal, Xavier Goaoc, and Sarah Wajsbrot

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

Abstract
Geometric hitting set problems, in which we seek a smallest set of points that collectively hit a given set of ranges, are ubiquitous in computational geometry. Most often, the set is discrete and is given explicitly. We propose new variants of these problems, dealing with continuous families of convex polyhedra, and show that they capture decision versions of the two-level finite adaptability problem in robust optimization. We show that these problems can be solved in strongly polynomial time when the size of the hitting/covering set and the dimension of the polyhedra and the parameter space are constant. We also show that the hitting set problem can be solved in strongly quadratic time for one-parameter families of convex polyhedra in constant dimension. This leads to new tractability results for finite adaptability that are the first ones with so-called left-hand-side uncertainty, where the underlying problem is non-linear.
Cite as

Jean Cardinal, Xavier Goaoc, and Sarah Wajsbrot. Hitting and Covering Affine Families of Convex Polyhedra, with Applications to Robust Optimization. In 50th International Symposium on Mathematical Foundations of Computer Science (MFCS 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 345, pp. 33:1-33:18, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

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@InProceedings{cardinal_et_al:LIPIcs.MFCS.2025.33,
  author =	{Cardinal, Jean and Goaoc, Xavier and Wajsbrot, Sarah},
  title =	{{Hitting and Covering Affine Families of Convex Polyhedra, with Applications to Robust Optimization}},
  booktitle =	{50th International Symposium on Mathematical Foundations of Computer Science (MFCS 2025)},
  pages =	{33:1--33:18},
  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.2025.33},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-241401},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.MFCS.2025.33},
  annote =	{Keywords: Geometric hitting set problem, Continuous families of polyhedra, Robust optimization}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.CP.2025.18
Greed Is Slow on Sparse Graphs of Oriented Valued Constraints

Authors: Artem Kaznatcheev and Sofia Vazquez Alferez

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 340, 31st International Conference on Principles and Practice of Constraint Programming (CP 2025)

Abstract
Greedy local search is especially popular for solving valued constraint satisfaction problems (VCSPs). Since any method will be slow for some VCSPs, we ask: what is the simplest VCSP on which greedy local search is slow? We construct a VCSP on 6n Boolean variables for which greedy local search takes 7(2ⁿ - 1) steps to find the unique peak. Our VCSP is simple in two ways. First, it is very sparse: its constraint graph has pathwidth 2 and maximum degree 3. This is the simplest VCSP on which some local search could be slow. Second, it is "oriented" – there is an ordering on the variables such that later variables are conditionally-independent of earlier ones. Being oriented allows many non-greedy local search methods to find the unique peak in a quadratic number of steps. Thus, we conclude that - among local search methods - greed is particularly slow.
Cite as

Artem Kaznatcheev and Sofia Vazquez Alferez. Greed Is Slow on Sparse Graphs of Oriented Valued Constraints. In 31st International Conference on Principles and Practice of Constraint Programming (CP 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 340, pp. 18:1-18:13, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

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@InProceedings{kaznatcheev_et_al:LIPIcs.CP.2025.18,
  author =	{Kaznatcheev, Artem and Vazquez Alferez, Sofia},
  title =	{{Greed Is Slow on Sparse Graphs of Oriented Valued Constraints}},
  booktitle =	{31st International Conference on Principles and Practice of Constraint Programming (CP 2025)},
  pages =	{18:1--18:13},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-380-5},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{340},
  editor =	{de la Banda, Maria Garcia},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.CP.2025.18},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-238793},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.CP.2025.18},
  annote =	{Keywords: valued constraint satisfaction problem, local search, algorithm analysis, constraint graphs}
}
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