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Documents authored by Balaji, Nikhil

Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.STACS.2020.37
Near-Optimal Complexity Bounds for Fragments of the Skolem Problem

Authors: S. Akshay, Nikhil Balaji, Aniket Murhekar, Rohith Varma, and Nikhil Vyas

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 154, 37th International Symposium on Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science (STACS 2020)

Abstract
Given a linear recurrence sequence (LRS), specified using the initial conditions and the recurrence relation, the Skolem problem asks if zero ever occurs in the infinite sequence generated by the LRS. Despite active research over last few decades, its decidability is known only for a few restricted subclasses, by either restricting the order of the LRS (upto 4) or by restricting the structure of the LRS (e.g., roots of its characteristic polynomial). In this paper, we identify a subclass of LRS of arbitrary order for which the Skolem problem is easy, namely LRS all of whose characteristic roots are (possibly complex) roots of real algebraic numbers, i.e., roots satisfying x^d = r for r real algebraic. We show that for this subclass, the Skolem problem can be solved in NP^RP. As a byproduct, we implicitly obtain effective bounds on the zero set of the LRS for this subclass. While prior works in this area often exploit deep results from algebraic and transcendental number theory to get such effective results, our techniques are primarily algorithmic and use linear algebra and Galois theory. We also complement our upper bounds with a NP lower bound for the Skolem problem via a new direct reduction from 3-CNF-SAT, matching the best known lower bounds.
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S. Akshay, Nikhil Balaji, Aniket Murhekar, Rohith Varma, and Nikhil Vyas. Near-Optimal Complexity Bounds for Fragments of the Skolem Problem. In 37th International Symposium on Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science (STACS 2020). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 154, pp. 37:1-37:18, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2020)

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@InProceedings{akshay_et_al:LIPIcs.STACS.2020.37,
  author =	{Akshay, S. and Balaji, Nikhil and Murhekar, Aniket and Varma, Rohith and Vyas, Nikhil},
  title =	{{Near-Optimal Complexity Bounds for Fragments of the Skolem Problem}},
  booktitle =	{37th International Symposium on Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science (STACS 2020)},
  pages =	{37:1--37:18},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-140-5},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2020},
  volume =	{154},
  editor =	{Paul, Christophe and Bl\"{a}ser, Markus},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.STACS.2020.37},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-118982},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.STACS.2020.37},
  annote =	{Keywords: Linear Recurrences, Skolem problem, NP-completeness, Weighted automata}
}
Document
Track B: Automata, Logic, Semantics, and Theory of Programming
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.ICALP.2019.102
On the Complexity of Value Iteration (Track B: Automata, Logic, Semantics, and Theory of Programming)

Authors: Nikhil Balaji, Stefan Kiefer, Petr Novotný, Guillermo A. Pérez, and Mahsa Shirmohammadi

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 132, 46th International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming (ICALP 2019)

Abstract
Value iteration is a fundamental algorithm for solving Markov Decision Processes (MDPs). It computes the maximal n-step payoff by iterating n times a recurrence equation which is naturally associated to the MDP. At the same time, value iteration provides a policy for the MDP that is optimal on a given finite horizon n. In this paper, we settle the computational complexity of value iteration. We show that, given a horizon n in binary and an MDP, computing an optimal policy is EXPTIME-complete, thus resolving an open problem that goes back to the seminal 1987 paper on the complexity of MDPs by Papadimitriou and Tsitsiklis. To obtain this main result, we develop several stepping stones that yield results of an independent interest. For instance, we show that it is EXPTIME-complete to compute the n-fold iteration (with n in binary) of a function given by a straight-line program over the integers with max and + as operators. We also provide new complexity results for the bounded halting problem in linear-update counter machines.
Cite as

Nikhil Balaji, Stefan Kiefer, Petr Novotný, Guillermo A. Pérez, and Mahsa Shirmohammadi. On the Complexity of Value Iteration (Track B: Automata, Logic, Semantics, and Theory of Programming). In 46th International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming (ICALP 2019). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 132, pp. 102:1-102:15, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2019)

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@InProceedings{balaji_et_al:LIPIcs.ICALP.2019.102,
  author =	{Balaji, Nikhil and Kiefer, Stefan and Novotn\'{y}, Petr and P\'{e}rez, Guillermo A. and Shirmohammadi, Mahsa},
  title =	{{On the Complexity of Value Iteration}},
  booktitle =	{46th International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming (ICALP 2019)},
  pages =	{102:1--102:15},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-109-2},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2019},
  volume =	{132},
  editor =	{Baier, Christel and Chatzigiannakis, Ioannis and Flocchini, Paola and Leonardi, Stefano},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.ICALP.2019.102},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-106782},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ICALP.2019.102},
  annote =	{Keywords: Markov decision processes, Value iteration, Formal verification}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.MFCS.2017.78
Complexity of Restricted Variants of Skolem and Related Problems

Authors: Akshay S., Nikhil Balaji, and Nikhil Vyas

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 83, 42nd International Symposium on Mathematical Foundations of Computer Science (MFCS 2017)

Abstract
Given a linear recurrence sequence (LRS), the Skolem problem, asks whether it ever becomes zero. The decidability of this problem has been open for several decades. Currently decidability is known only for LRS of order upto 4. For arbitrary orders (i.e., number of terms the n-th depends on), the only known complexity result is NP-hardness by a result of Blondel and Portier from 2002. In this paper, we give a different proof of this hardness result, which is arguably simpler and pinpoints the source of hardness. To demonstrate this, we identify a subclass of LRS for which the Skolem problem is in fact NP-complete. We show the generic nature of our lower-bound technique by adapting it to show stronger lower bounds of a related problem that encompasses many known decision problems on linear recurrent sequences.
Cite as

Akshay S., Nikhil Balaji, and Nikhil Vyas. Complexity of Restricted Variants of Skolem and Related Problems. In 42nd International Symposium on Mathematical Foundations of Computer Science (MFCS 2017). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 83, pp. 78:1-78:14, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2017)

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@InProceedings{s._et_al:LIPIcs.MFCS.2017.78,
  author =	{S., Akshay and Balaji, Nikhil and Vyas, Nikhil},
  title =	{{Complexity of Restricted Variants of Skolem and Related Problems}},
  booktitle =	{42nd International Symposium on Mathematical Foundations of Computer Science (MFCS 2017)},
  pages =	{78:1--78:14},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-046-0},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2017},
  volume =	{83},
  editor =	{Larsen, Kim G. and Bodlaender, Hans L. and Raskin, Jean-Francois},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.MFCS.2017.78},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-81306},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.MFCS.2017.78},
  annote =	{Keywords: Linear recurrence sequences, Skolem problem, NP-completeness, Program termination}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.MFCS.2016.17
Graph Properties in Node-Query Setting: Effect of Breaking Symmetry

Authors: Nikhil Balaji, Samir Datta, Raghav Kulkarni, and Supartha Podder

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 58, 41st International Symposium on Mathematical Foundations of Computer Science (MFCS 2016)

Abstract
The query complexity of graph properties is well-studied when queries are on the edges. We investigate the same when queries are on the nodes. In this setting a graph G = (V,E) on n vertices and a property P are given. A black-box access to an unknown subset S of V is provided via queries of the form "Does i belong to S?". We are interested in the minimum number of queries needed in the worst case in order to determine whether G[S] - the subgraph of G induced on S - satisfies P. Our primary motivation to study this model comes from the fact that it allows us to initiate a systematic study of breaking symmetry in the context of query complexity of graph properties. In particular, we focus on the hereditary graph properties - properties that are closed under deletion of vertices as well as edges. The famous Evasiveness Conjecture asserts that even with a minimal symmetry assumption on G, namely that of vertex-transitivity, the query complexity for any hereditary graph property in our setting is the worst possible, i.e., n. We show that in the absence of any symmetry on G it can fall as low as O(n^{1/(d + 1)}) where d denotes the minimum possible degree of a minimal forbidden sub-graph for P. In particular, every hereditary property benefits at least quadratically. The main question left open is: Can it go exponentially low for some hereditary property? We show that the answer is no for any hereditary property with finitely many forbidden subgraphs by exhibiting a bound of Omega(n^{1/k}) for a constant k depending only on the property. For general ones we rule out the possibility of the query complexity falling down to constant by showing Omega(log(n)*log(log(n))) bound. Interestingly, our lower bound proofs rely on the famous Sunflower Lemma due to Erdos and Rado.
Cite as

Nikhil Balaji, Samir Datta, Raghav Kulkarni, and Supartha Podder. Graph Properties in Node-Query Setting: Effect of Breaking Symmetry. In 41st International Symposium on Mathematical Foundations of Computer Science (MFCS 2016). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 58, pp. 17:1-17:14, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2016)

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@InProceedings{balaji_et_al:LIPIcs.MFCS.2016.17,
  author =	{Balaji, Nikhil and Datta, Samir and Kulkarni, Raghav and Podder, Supartha},
  title =	{{Graph Properties in Node-Query Setting: Effect of Breaking Symmetry}},
  booktitle =	{41st International Symposium on Mathematical Foundations of Computer Science (MFCS 2016)},
  pages =	{17:1--17:14},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-016-3},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2016},
  volume =	{58},
  editor =	{Faliszewski, Piotr and Muscholl, Anca and Niedermeier, Rolf},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.MFCS.2016.17},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-64329},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.MFCS.2016.17},
  annote =	{Keywords: query complexity, graph properties, symmetry and computation, forbidden subgraph}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.FSTTCS.2015.246
Counting Euler Tours in Undirected Bounded Treewidth Graphs

Authors: Nikhil Balaji, Samir Datta, and Venkatesh Ganesan

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 45, 35th IARCS Annual Conference on Foundations of Software Technology and Theoretical Computer Science (FSTTCS 2015)

Abstract
We show that counting Euler tours in undirected bounded tree-width graphs is tractable even in parallel - by proving a GapL upper bound. This is in stark contrast to #P-completeness of the same problem in general graphs. Our main technical contribution is to show how (an instance of) dynamic programming on bounded clique-width graphs can be performed efficiently in parallel. Thus we show that the sequential result of Espelage, Gurski and Wanke for efficiently computing Hamiltonian paths in bounded clique-width graphs can be adapted in the parallel setting to count the number of Hamiltonian paths which in turn is a tool for counting the number of Euler tours in bounded tree-width graphs. Our technique also yields parallel algorithms for counting longest paths and bipartite perfect matchings in bounded-clique width graphs. While establishing that counting Euler tours in bounded tree-width graphs can be computed by non-uniform monotone arithmetic circuits of polynomial degree (which characterize #SAC^1) is relatively easy, establishing a uniform #SAC^1 bound needs a careful use of polynomial interpolation.
Cite as

Nikhil Balaji, Samir Datta, and Venkatesh Ganesan. Counting Euler Tours in Undirected Bounded Treewidth Graphs. In 35th IARCS Annual Conference on Foundations of Software Technology and Theoretical Computer Science (FSTTCS 2015). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 45, pp. 246-260, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2015)

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@InProceedings{balaji_et_al:LIPIcs.FSTTCS.2015.246,
  author =	{Balaji, Nikhil and Datta, Samir and Ganesan, Venkatesh},
  title =	{{Counting Euler Tours in Undirected Bounded Treewidth Graphs}},
  booktitle =	{35th IARCS Annual Conference on Foundations of Software Technology and Theoretical Computer Science (FSTTCS 2015)},
  pages =	{246--260},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-939897-97-2},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2015},
  volume =	{45},
  editor =	{Harsha, Prahladh and Ramalingam, G.},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.FSTTCS.2015.246},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-56493},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.FSTTCS.2015.246},
  annote =	{Keywords: Euler Tours, Bounded Treewidth, Bounded clique-width, Hamiltonian cycles, Parallel algorithms}
}
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