20 Search Results for "Wieder, Udi"

Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.30
New Bounds for Circular Trace Reconstruction

Authors: Arnav Burudgunte, Paul Valiant, and Hongao Wang

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

Abstract
The "trace reconstruction" problem asks, given an unknown binary string x and a channel that repeatedly returns "traces" of x with each bit randomly deleted with some probability p, how many traces are needed to recover x? There is an exponential gap between the best known upper and lower bounds for this problem. Many variants of the model have been introduced in hopes of motivating or revealing new approaches to narrow this gap. We study the variant of circular trace reconstruction introduced by Narayanan and Ren (ITCS 2021), in which traces undergo a random cyclic shift in addition to random deletions. We show an improved lower bound of Ω̃(n⁵) for circular trace reconstruction. This contrasts with the (previously) best known lower bounds of Ω̃(n³) in the circular case and Ω̃(n^{3/2}) in the linear case. Our bound shows the indistinguishability of traces from two sparse strings x,y that each have a constant number of nonzeros. Can this technique be extended significantly? How hard is it to reconstruct a sparse string x under a cyclic deletion channel? We resolve these questions by showing, using Fourier techniques, that Õ(n⁶) traces suffice for reconstructing any constant-sparse string in a circular deletion channel, in contrast to the best known upper bound of exp(Õ(n^{1/3})) for general strings in the circular deletion channel. This shows that new algorithms or new lower bounds must focus on non-constant-sparse strings.
Cite as

Arnav Burudgunte, Paul Valiant, and Hongao Wang. New Bounds for Circular Trace Reconstruction. In 17th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2026). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 362, pp. 30:1-30:23, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)

Copy BibTex To Clipboard

@InProceedings{burudgunte_et_al:LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.30,
  author =	{Burudgunte, Arnav and Valiant, Paul and Wang, Hongao},
  title =	{{New Bounds for Circular Trace Reconstruction}},
  booktitle =	{17th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2026)},
  pages =	{30:1--30:23},
  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.2026.30},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-253176},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.30},
  annote =	{Keywords: Trace reconstruction, algorithmic statistics, Fourier analysis}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.OPODIS.2025.30
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)

Copy BibTex To Clipboard

@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
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.ESA.2025.39
Going Beyond Surfaces in Diameter Approximation

Authors: Michał Włodarczyk

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

Abstract
Calculating the diameter of an undirected graph requires quadratic running time under the Strong Exponential Time Hypothesis and this barrier works even against any approximation better than 3/2. For planar graphs with positive edge weights, there are known (1+ε)-approximation algorithms with running time poly(1/ε, log n)⋅ n. However, these algorithms rely on shortest path separators and this technique falls short to yield efficient algorithms beyond graphs of bounded genus. In this work we depart from embedding-based arguments and obtain diameter approximations relying on VC set systems and the local treewidth property. We present two orthogonal extensions of the planar case by giving (1+ε)-approximation algorithms with the following running times: - 𝒪_h((1/ε)^𝒪(h) ⋅ nlog² n)-time algorithm for graphs excluding an apex graph of size h as a minor, - 𝒪_d((1/ε)^𝒪(d) ⋅ nlog² n)-time algorithm for the class of d-apex graphs. As a stepping stone, we obtain efficient (1+ε)-approximate distance oracles for graphs excluding an apex graph of size h as a minor. Our oracle has preprocessing time 𝒪_h((1/ε)⁸⋅ nlog nlog W) and query time 𝒪_h((1/ε)²⋅log n log W), where W is the metric stretch. Such oracles have been so far only known for bounded genus graphs. All our algorithms are deterministic.
Cite as

Michał Włodarczyk. Going Beyond Surfaces in Diameter Approximation. In 33rd Annual European Symposium on Algorithms (ESA 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 351, pp. 39:1-39:19, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

Copy BibTex To Clipboard

@InProceedings{wlodarczyk:LIPIcs.ESA.2025.39,
  author =	{W{\l}odarczyk, Micha{\l}},
  title =	{{Going Beyond Surfaces in Diameter Approximation}},
  booktitle =	{33rd Annual European Symposium on Algorithms (ESA 2025)},
  pages =	{39:1--39:19},
  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.2025.39},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-245076},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ESA.2025.39},
  annote =	{Keywords: diameter, approximation, distance oracles, graph minors, treewidth}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.ESA.2025.85
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)

Copy BibTex To Clipboard

@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
RANDOM
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.APPROX/RANDOM.2025.35
Fooling Near-Maximal Decision Trees

Authors: William M. Hoza and Zelin Lv

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

Abstract
For any constant α > 0, we construct an explicit pseudorandom generator (PRG) that fools n-variate decision trees of size m with error ε and seed length (1 + α) ⋅ log₂ m + O(log(1/ε) + log log n). For context, one can achieve seed length (2 + o(1)) ⋅ log₂ m + O(log(1/ε) + log log n) using well-known constructions and analyses of small-bias distributions, but such a seed length is trivial when m ≥ 2^{n/2}. Our approach is to develop a new variant of the classic concept of almost k-wise independence, which might be of independent interest. We say that a distribution X over {0, 1}ⁿ is k-wise ε-probably uniform if every Boolean function f that depends on only k variables satisfies 𝔼[f(X)] ≥ (1 - ε) ⋅ 𝔼[f]. We show how to sample a k-wise ε-probably uniform distribution using a seed of length (1 + α) ⋅ k + O(log(1/ε) + log log n). Meanwhile, we also show how to construct a set H ⊆ 𝔽₂ⁿ such that every feasible system of k linear equations in n variables over 𝔽₂ has a solution in H. The cardinality of H and the time complexity of enumerating H are at most 2^{k + o(k) + polylog n}, whereas small-bias distributions would give a bound of 2^{2k + O(log(n/k))}. By combining our new constructions with work by Chen and Kabanets (TCS 2016), we obtain nontrivial PRGs and hitting sets for linear-size Boolean circuits. Specifically, we get an explicit PRG with seed length (1 - Ω(1)) ⋅ n that fools circuits of size 2.99 ⋅ n over the U₂ basis, and we get a hitting set with time complexity 2^{(1 - Ω(1)) ⋅ n} for circuits of size 2.49 ⋅ n over the B₂ basis.
Cite as

William M. Hoza and Zelin Lv. Fooling Near-Maximal Decision Trees. In Approximation, Randomization, and Combinatorial Optimization. Algorithms and Techniques (APPROX/RANDOM 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 353, pp. 35:1-35:24, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

Copy BibTex To Clipboard

@InProceedings{hoza_et_al:LIPIcs.APPROX/RANDOM.2025.35,
  author =	{Hoza, William M. and Lv, Zelin},
  title =	{{Fooling Near-Maximal Decision Trees}},
  booktitle =	{Approximation, Randomization, and Combinatorial Optimization. Algorithms and Techniques (APPROX/RANDOM 2025)},
  pages =	{35:1--35:24},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-397-3},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{353},
  editor =	{Ene, Alina and Chattopadhyay, Eshan},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.APPROX/RANDOM.2025.35},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-244019},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.APPROX/RANDOM.2025.35},
  annote =	{Keywords: almost k-wise independence, decision trees, pseudorandom generators}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.CCC.2025.19
Characterizing the Distinguishability of Product Distributions Through Multicalibration

Authors: Cassandra Marcussen, Aaron Putterman, and Salil Vadhan

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

Abstract
Given a sequence of samples x_1, … , x_k promised to be drawn from one of two distributions X₀, X₁, a well-studied problem in statistics is to decide which distribution the samples are from. Information theoretically, the maximum advantage in distinguishing the two distributions given k samples is captured by the total variation distance between X₀^{⊗k} and X₁^{⊗k}. However, when we restrict our attention to efficient distinguishers (i.e., small circuits) of these two distributions, exactly characterizing the ability to distinguish X₀^{⊗k} and X₁^{⊗k} is more involved and less understood. In this work, we give a general way to reduce bounds on the computational indistinguishability of X₀ and X₁ to bounds on the information-theoretic indistinguishability of some specific, related variables X̃₀ and X̃₁. As a consequence, we prove a new, tight characterization of the number of samples k needed to efficiently distinguish X₀^{⊗k} and X₁^{⊗k} with constant advantage as k = Θ(d_H^{-2}(X̃₀, X̃₁)), which is the inverse of the squared Hellinger distance d_H between two distributions X̃₀ and X̃₁ that are computationally indistinguishable from X₀ and X₁. Likewise, our framework can be used to re-derive a result of Halevi and Rabin (TCC 2008) and Geier (TCC 2022), proving nearly-tight bounds on how computational indistinguishability scales with the number of samples for arbitrary product distributions. At the heart of our work is the use of the Multicalibration Theorem (Hébert-Johnson, Kim, Reingold, Rothblum 2018) in a way inspired by recent work of Casacuberta, Dwork, and Vadhan (STOC 2024). Multicalibration allows us to relate the computational indistinguishability of X₀, X₁ to the statistical indistinguishability of X̃₀, X̃₁ (for lower bounds on k) and construct explicit circuits to distinguish between X̃₀, X̃₁ and consequently X₀, X₁ (for upper bounds on k).
Cite as

Cassandra Marcussen, Aaron Putterman, and Salil Vadhan. Characterizing the Distinguishability of Product Distributions Through Multicalibration. In 40th Computational Complexity Conference (CCC 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 339, pp. 19:1-19:19, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

Copy BibTex To Clipboard

@InProceedings{marcussen_et_al:LIPIcs.CCC.2025.19,
  author =	{Marcussen, Cassandra and Putterman, Aaron and Vadhan, Salil},
  title =	{{Characterizing the Distinguishability of Product Distributions Through Multicalibration}},
  booktitle =	{40th Computational Complexity Conference (CCC 2025)},
  pages =	{19:1--19:19},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-379-9},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{339},
  editor =	{Srinivasan, Srikanth},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.CCC.2025.19},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-237130},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.CCC.2025.19},
  annote =	{Keywords: Multicalibration, computational distinguishability}
}
Document
Track A: Algorithms, Complexity and Games
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.ICALP.2025.3
Near-Optimal Trace Reconstruction for Mildly Separated Strings

Authors: Anders Aamand, Allen Liu, and Shyam Narayanan

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

Abstract
In the trace reconstruction problem our goal is to learn an unknown string x ∈ {0,1}ⁿ given independent traces of x. A trace is obtained by independently deleting each bit of x with some probability δ and concatenating the remaining bits. It is a major open question whether the trace reconstruction problem can be solved with a polynomial number of traces when the deletion probability δ is constant. The best known upper bound and lower bounds are respectively exp(Õ(n^{1/5})) [Zachary Chase, 2021a] and ̃ Ω(n^{3/2}) [Zachary Chase, 2021b]. Our main result is that if the string x is mildly separated, meaning that the number of zeros between any two ones in x is at least polylog n, and if δ is a sufficiently small constant, then the trace reconstruction problem can be solved with O(n log n) traces and in polynomial time.
Cite as

Anders Aamand, Allen Liu, and Shyam Narayanan. Near-Optimal Trace Reconstruction for Mildly Separated Strings. In 52nd International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming (ICALP 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 334, pp. 3:1-3:20, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

Copy BibTex To Clipboard

@InProceedings{aamand_et_al:LIPIcs.ICALP.2025.3,
  author =	{Aamand, Anders and Liu, Allen and Narayanan, Shyam},
  title =	{{Near-Optimal Trace Reconstruction for Mildly Separated Strings}},
  booktitle =	{52nd International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming (ICALP 2025)},
  pages =	{3:1--3:20},
  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.2025.3},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-233801},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ICALP.2025.3},
  annote =	{Keywords: Trace Reconstruction, deletion channel, sample complexity}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.FORC.2025.7
Kernel Multiaccuracy

Authors: Carol Xuan Long, Wael Alghamdi, Alexander Glynn, Yixuan Wu, and Flavio P. Calmon

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

Abstract
Predefined demographic groups often overlook the subpopulations most impacted by model errors, leading to a growing emphasis on data-driven methods that pinpoint where models underperform. The emerging field of multi-group fairness addresses this by ensuring models perform well across a wide range of group-defining functions, rather than relying on fixed demographic categories. We demonstrate that recently introduced notions of multi-group fairness can be equivalently formulated as integral probability metrics (IPM). IPMs are the common information-theoretic tool that underlie definitions such as multiaccuracy, multicalibration, and outcome indistinguishably. For multiaccuracy, this connection leads to a simple, yet powerful procedure for achieving multiaccuracy with respect to an infinite-dimensional class of functions defined by a reproducing kernel Hilbert space (RKHS): first perform a kernel regression of a model’s errors, then subtract the resulting function from a model’s predictions. We combine these results to develop a post-processing method that improves multiaccuracy with respect to bounded-norm functions in an RKHS, enjoys provable performance guarantees, and, in binary classification benchmarks, achieves favorable multiaccuracy relative to competing methods.
Cite as

Carol Xuan Long, Wael Alghamdi, Alexander Glynn, Yixuan Wu, and Flavio P. Calmon. Kernel Multiaccuracy. In 6th Symposium on Foundations of Responsible Computing (FORC 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 329, pp. 7:1-7:23, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

Copy BibTex To Clipboard

@InProceedings{long_et_al:LIPIcs.FORC.2025.7,
  author =	{Long, Carol Xuan and Alghamdi, Wael and Glynn, Alexander and Wu, Yixuan and Calmon, Flavio P.},
  title =	{{Kernel Multiaccuracy}},
  booktitle =	{6th Symposium on Foundations of Responsible Computing (FORC 2025)},
  pages =	{7:1--7:23},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-367-6},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{329},
  editor =	{Bun, Mark},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.FORC.2025.7},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-231341},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.FORC.2025.7},
  annote =	{Keywords: algorithmic fairness, integral probability metrics, information theory}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.FORC.2025.16
Smooth Calibration and Decision Making

Authors: Jason Hartline, Yifan Wu, and Yunran Yang

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

Abstract
Calibration requires predictor outputs to be consistent with their Bayesian posteriors. For machine learning predictors that do not distinguish between small perturbations, calibration errors are continuous in predictions, e.g. smooth calibration error [Foster and Hart, 2018], distance to calibration [Błasiok et al., 2023]. On the contrary, decision-makers who use predictions make optimal decisions discontinuously in probabilistic space, experiencing loss from miscalibration discontinuously. Calibration errors for decision-making are thus discontinuous, e.g., Expected Calibration Error [Foster and Vohra, 1997], and Calibration Decision Loss [Hu and Wu, 2024]. Thus, predictors with a low calibration error for machine learning may suffer a high calibration error for decision-making, i.e. they may not be trustworthy for decision-makers optimizing assuming their predictions are correct. It is natural to ask if post-processing a predictor with a low calibration error for machine learning is without loss to achieve a low calibration error for decision-making. In our paper, we show post-processing an online predictor with ε distance to calibration achieves O(√{ε}) ECE and CDL, which is asymptotically optimal. The post-processing algorithm adds noise to make predictions differentially private. The optimal bound from low distance to calibration predictors from post-processing is non-optimal compared with existing online calibration algorithms that directly optimize for ECE and CDL.
Cite as

Jason Hartline, Yifan Wu, and Yunran Yang. Smooth Calibration and Decision Making. In 6th Symposium on Foundations of Responsible Computing (FORC 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 329, pp. 16:1-16:26, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

Copy BibTex To Clipboard

@InProceedings{hartline_et_al:LIPIcs.FORC.2025.16,
  author =	{Hartline, Jason and Wu, Yifan and Yang, Yunran},
  title =	{{Smooth Calibration and Decision Making}},
  booktitle =	{6th Symposium on Foundations of Responsible Computing (FORC 2025)},
  pages =	{16:1--16:26},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-367-6},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{329},
  editor =	{Bun, Mark},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.FORC.2025.16},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-231438},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.FORC.2025.16},
  annote =	{Keywords: Calibration, calibration errors, decision making, differential privacy}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.FORC.2025.14
Model Ensembling for Constrained Optimization

Authors: Ira Globus Harris, Varun Gupta, Michael Kearns, and Aaron Roth

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

Abstract
Many instances of decision making under objective uncertainty can be decomposed into two steps: predicting the objective function and then optimizing for the best feasible action under the estimate of the objective vector. We study the problem of ensembling models for optimization of uncertain linear objectives under arbitrary constraints. We imagine we are given a collection of predictive models mapping a feature space to multi-dimensional real-valued predictions, which form the coefficients of a linear objective that we would like to optimize. We give two ensembling methods that can provably result in transparent decisions that strictly improve on all initial policies. The first method operates in the "white box" setting in which we have access to the underlying prediction models and the second in the "black box" setting in which we only have access to the induced decisions (in the downstream optimization problem) of the constituent models, but not their underlying point predictions. They are transparent or trustworthy in the sense that the user can reliably predict long-term ensemble rewards even if the instance by instance predictions are imperfect.
Cite as

Ira Globus Harris, Varun Gupta, Michael Kearns, and Aaron Roth. Model Ensembling for Constrained Optimization. In 6th Symposium on Foundations of Responsible Computing (FORC 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 329, pp. 14:1-14:17, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

Copy BibTex To Clipboard

@InProceedings{globusharris_et_al:LIPIcs.FORC.2025.14,
  author =	{Globus Harris, Ira and Gupta, Varun and Kearns, Michael and Roth, Aaron},
  title =	{{Model Ensembling for Constrained Optimization}},
  booktitle =	{6th Symposium on Foundations of Responsible Computing (FORC 2025)},
  pages =	{14:1--14:17},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-367-6},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{329},
  editor =	{Bun, Mark},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.FORC.2025.14},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-231412},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.FORC.2025.14},
  annote =	{Keywords: model ensembling, trustworthy AI, decision-making under uncertainty}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.FORC.2025.19
Mapping the Tradeoffs and Limitations of Algorithmic Fairness

Authors: Etam Benger and Katrina Ligett

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

Abstract
Sufficiency and separation are two fundamental criteria in classification fairness. For binary classifiers, these concepts correspond to subgroup calibration and equalized odds, respectively, and are known to be incompatible except in trivial cases. In this work, we explore a relaxation of these criteria based on f-divergences between distributions - essentially the same relaxation studied in the literature on approximate multicalibration - analyze their relationships, and derive implications for fair representations and downstream uses (post-processing) of representations. We show that when a protected attribute is determinable from features present in the data, the (relaxed) criteria of sufficiency and separation exhibit a tradeoff, forming a convex Pareto frontier. Moreover, we prove that when a protected attribute is not fully encoded in the data, achieving full sufficiency may be impossible. This finding not only strengthens the case against "fairness through unawareness" but also highlights an important caveat for work on (multi-)calibration.
Cite as

Etam Benger and Katrina Ligett. Mapping the Tradeoffs and Limitations of Algorithmic Fairness. In 6th Symposium on Foundations of Responsible Computing (FORC 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 329, pp. 19:1-19:20, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

Copy BibTex To Clipboard

@InProceedings{benger_et_al:LIPIcs.FORC.2025.19,
  author =	{Benger, Etam and Ligett, Katrina},
  title =	{{Mapping the Tradeoffs and Limitations of Algorithmic Fairness}},
  booktitle =	{6th Symposium on Foundations of Responsible Computing (FORC 2025)},
  pages =	{19:1--19:20},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-367-6},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{329},
  editor =	{Bun, Mark},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.FORC.2025.19},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-231465},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.FORC.2025.19},
  annote =	{Keywords: Algorithmic fairness, information theory, sufficiency-separation tradeoff}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.FORC.2025.22
When Does a Predictor Know Its Own Loss?

Authors: Aravind Gollakota, Parikshit Gopalan, Aayush Karan, Charlotte Peale, and Udi Wieder

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

Abstract
Given a predictor and a loss function, how well can we predict the loss that the predictor will incur on an input? This is the problem of loss prediction, a key computational task associated with uncertainty estimation for a predictor. In a classification setting, a predictor will typically predict a distribution over labels and hence have its own estimate of the loss that it will incur, given by the entropy of the predicted distribution. Should we trust this estimate? In other words, when does the predictor know what it knows and what it does not know? In this work we study the theoretical foundations of loss prediction. Our main contribution is to establish tight connections between nontrivial loss prediction and certain forms of multicalibration [Ursula Hébert-Johnson et al., 2018], a multigroup fairness notion that asks for calibrated predictions across computationally identifiable subgroups. Formally, we show that a loss predictor that is able to improve on the self-estimate of a predictor yields a witness to a failure of multicalibration, and vice versa. This has the implication that nontrivial loss prediction is in effect no easier or harder than auditing for multicalibration. We support our theoretical results with experiments that show a robust positive correlation between the multicalibration error of a predictor and the efficacy of training a loss predictor.
Cite as

Aravind Gollakota, Parikshit Gopalan, Aayush Karan, Charlotte Peale, and Udi Wieder. When Does a Predictor Know Its Own Loss?. In 6th Symposium on Foundations of Responsible Computing (FORC 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 329, pp. 22:1-22:22, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

Copy BibTex To Clipboard

@InProceedings{gollakota_et_al:LIPIcs.FORC.2025.22,
  author =	{Gollakota, Aravind and Gopalan, Parikshit and Karan, Aayush and Peale, Charlotte and Wieder, Udi},
  title =	{{When Does a Predictor Know Its Own Loss?}},
  booktitle =	{6th Symposium on Foundations of Responsible Computing (FORC 2025)},
  pages =	{22:1--22:22},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-367-6},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{329},
  editor =	{Bun, Mark},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.FORC.2025.22},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-231490},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.FORC.2025.22},
  annote =	{Keywords: loss prediction, multicalibration, active learning, algorithmic fairness, calibration, predictive uncertainty, uncertainty estimation, machine learning theory}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.SAND.2025.4
On b-Matching and Fully-Dynamic Maximum k-Edge Coloring

Authors: Antoine El-Hayek, Kathrin Hanauer, and Monika Henzinger

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 330, 4th Symposium on Algorithmic Foundations of Dynamic Networks (SAND 2025)

Abstract
Given a graph G that undergoes a sequence of edge insertions and deletions, we study the Maximum k-Edge Coloring problem (MkEC): Having access to k different colors, color as many edges of G as possible such that no two adjacent edges share the same color. While this problem is different from simply maintaining a b-matching with b = k, the two problems are related. However, maximum b-matching can be solved efficiently in the static setting, whereas MkEC is NP-hard and even APX-hard for k ≥ 2. We present new results on both problems: For b-matching, we show a new integrality gap result and we adapt Wajc’s matching sparsification scheme [David Wajc, 2020] for the case where b is a constant. Using these as basis, we give three new algorithms for the dynamic MkEC problem: Our MatchO algorithm builds on the dynamic (2+ε)-approximation algorithm of Bhattacharya, Gupta, and Mohan [Sayan Bhattacharya et al., 2017] for b-matching and achieves a (2+ε)(k+1)/k-approximation in O(poly(log n, ε^-1)) update time against an oblivious adversary. Our MatchA algorithm builds on the dynamic (7+ε)-approximation algorithm by Bhattacharya, Henzinger, and Italiano [Sayan Bhattacharya et al., 2015] for fractional b-matching and achieves a (7+ε)(3k+3)/(3k-1)-approximation in O(poly(log n, ε^-1)) update time against an adaptive adversary. Moreover, our reductions use the dynamic b-matching algorithm as a black box, so any future improvement in the approximation ratio for dynamic b-matching will automatically translate into a better approximation ratio for our algorithms. Finally, we present a greedy algorithm with O(Δ+k) update time, which guarantees a 2.16 approximation factor.
Cite as

Antoine El-Hayek, Kathrin Hanauer, and Monika Henzinger. On b-Matching and Fully-Dynamic Maximum k-Edge Coloring. In 4th Symposium on Algorithmic Foundations of Dynamic Networks (SAND 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 330, pp. 4:1-4:23, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

Copy BibTex To Clipboard

@InProceedings{elhayek_et_al:LIPIcs.SAND.2025.4,
  author =	{El-Hayek, Antoine and Hanauer, Kathrin and Henzinger, Monika},
  title =	{{On b-Matching and Fully-Dynamic Maximum k-Edge Coloring}},
  booktitle =	{4th Symposium on Algorithmic Foundations of Dynamic Networks (SAND 2025)},
  pages =	{4:1--4:23},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-368-3},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{330},
  editor =	{Meeks, Kitty and Scheideler, Christian},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.SAND.2025.4},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-230571},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.SAND.2025.4},
  annote =	{Keywords: dynamic algorithm, graph algorithm, matching, b-matching, edge coloring}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.OPODIS.2024.24
Hash & Adjust: Competitive Demand-Aware Consistent Hashing

Authors: Arash Pourdamghani, Chen Avin, Robert Sama, Maryam Shiran, and Stefan Schmid

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 324, 28th International Conference on Principles of Distributed Systems (OPODIS 2024)

Abstract
Distributed systems often serve dynamic workloads and resource demands evolve over time. Such a temporal behavior stands in contrast to the static and demand-oblivious nature of most data structures used by these systems. In this paper, we are particularly interested in consistent hashing, a fundamental building block in many large distributed systems. Our work is motivated by the hypothesis that a more adaptive approach to consistent hashing can leverage structure in the demand, and hence improve storage utilization and reduce access time. We initiate the study of demand-aware consistent hashing. Our main contribution is H&A, a constant-competitive online algorithm (i.e., it comes with provable performance guarantees over time). H&A is demand-aware and optimizes its internal structure to enable faster access times, while offering a high utilization of storage. We further evaluate H&A empirically.
Cite as

Arash Pourdamghani, Chen Avin, Robert Sama, Maryam Shiran, and Stefan Schmid. Hash & Adjust: Competitive Demand-Aware Consistent Hashing. In 28th International Conference on Principles of Distributed Systems (OPODIS 2024). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 324, pp. 24:1-24:23, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2024)

Copy BibTex To Clipboard

@InProceedings{pourdamghani_et_al:LIPIcs.OPODIS.2024.24,
  author =	{Pourdamghani, Arash and Avin, Chen and Sama, Robert and Shiran, Maryam and Schmid, Stefan},
  title =	{{Hash \& Adjust: Competitive Demand-Aware Consistent Hashing}},
  booktitle =	{28th International Conference on Principles of Distributed Systems (OPODIS 2024)},
  pages =	{24:1--24:23},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-360-7},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{324},
  editor =	{Bonomi, Silvia and Galletta, Letterio and Rivi\`{e}re, Etienne and Schiavoni, Valerio},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.OPODIS.2024.24},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-225607},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.OPODIS.2024.24},
  annote =	{Keywords: Consistent hashing, demand-awareness, online algorithms}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.OPODIS.2024.8
Optimal Multilevel Slashing for Blockchains

Authors: Kenan Wood, Hammurabi Mendes, and Jonad Pulaj

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 324, 28th International Conference on Principles of Distributed Systems (OPODIS 2024)

Abstract
We present the notion of multilevel slashing, where proof-of-stake blockchain validators can obtain gradual levels of assurance that a certain block is bound to be finalized in a global consensus procedure, unless an increasing and optimally large number of Byzantine processes have their staked assets slashed - that is, deducted - due to provably incorrect behavior. Our construction is a highly parameterized generalization of combinatorial intersection systems based on finite projective spaces, with asymptotic high availability and optimal slashing properties. Even under weak conditions, we show that our construction has asymptotically optimal slashing properties with respect to message complexity and validator load; this result also illustrates a fundamental trade off between message complexity, load, and slashing. In addition, we show that any intersection system whose ground elements are disjoint subsets of nodes (e.g. "committees" in committee-based consensus protocols) has asymptotic high availability under similarly weak conditions. Finally, our multilevel construction gives the flexibility to blockchain validators to decide how many "levels" of finalization assurance they wish to obtain. This functionality can be seen either as (i) a form of an early, slashing-based block finalization; or (ii) a service to support reorg tolerance.
Cite as

Kenan Wood, Hammurabi Mendes, and Jonad Pulaj. Optimal Multilevel Slashing for Blockchains. In 28th International Conference on Principles of Distributed Systems (OPODIS 2024). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 324, pp. 8:1-8:18, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2024)

Copy BibTex To Clipboard

@InProceedings{wood_et_al:LIPIcs.OPODIS.2024.8,
  author =	{Wood, Kenan and Mendes, Hammurabi and Pulaj, Jonad},
  title =	{{Optimal Multilevel Slashing for Blockchains}},
  booktitle =	{28th International Conference on Principles of Distributed Systems (OPODIS 2024)},
  pages =	{8:1--8:18},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-360-7},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{324},
  editor =	{Bonomi, Silvia and Galletta, Letterio and Rivi\`{e}re, Etienne and Schiavoni, Valerio},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.OPODIS.2024.8},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-225445},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.OPODIS.2024.8},
  annote =	{Keywords: Blockchains, Finality, Slashablility, Committees, Availability}
}
  • Refine by Type
  • 20 Document/PDF
  • 15 Document/HTML

  • Refine by Publication Year
  • 2 2026
  • 13 2025
  • 1 2023
  • 1 2022
  • 2 2020
  • Show More...

  • Refine by Author
  • 5 Wieder, Udi
  • 4 Gopalan, Parikshit
  • 2 Reingold, Omer
  • 1 Aamand, Anders
  • 1 Abraham, Ittai
  • Show More...

  • Refine by Series/Journal
  • 20 LIPIcs

  • Refine by Classification
  • 3 Theory of computation → Machine learning theory
  • 2 Mathematics of computing → Information theory
  • 2 Theory of computation → Data structures design and analysis
  • 2 Theory of computation → Graph algorithms analysis
  • 1 Computing methodologies → Distributed algorithms
  • Show More...

  • Refine by Keyword
  • 2 algorithmic fairness
  • 2 information theory
  • 1 Algorithmic Fairness
  • 1 Algorithmic fairness
  • 1 Algorithms
  • Show More...

Any Issues?
X

Feedback on the Current Page

CAPTCHA

Thanks for your feedback!

Feedback submitted to Dagstuhl Publishing

Could not send message

Please try again later or send an E-mail
© 2023-2026 Schloss Dagstuhl – LZI GmbH Schloss Dagstuhl – LZI GmbH About DROPS Imprint Privacy Contact