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Documents authored by Carlson, Charlie

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Track A: Algorithms, Complexity and Games
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.ICALP.2024.35
A Spectral Approach to Approximately Counting Independent Sets in Dense Bipartite Graphs

Authors: Charlie Carlson, Ewan Davies, Alexandra Kolla, and Aditya Potukuchi

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 297, 51st International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming (ICALP 2024)

Abstract
We give a randomized algorithm that approximates the number of independent sets in a dense, regular bipartite graph - in the language of approximate counting, we give an FPRAS for #BIS on the class of dense, regular bipartite graphs. Efficient counting algorithms typically apply to "high-temperature" problems on bounded-degree graphs, and our contribution is a notable exception as it applies to dense graphs in a low-temperature setting. Our methods give a counting-focused complement to the long line of work in combinatorial optimization showing that CSPs such as Max-Cut and Unique Games are easy on dense graphs via spectral arguments. Our contributions include a novel extension of the method of graph containers that differs considerably from other recent low-temperature algorithms. The additional key insights come from spectral graph theory and have previously been successful in approximation algorithms. As a result, we can overcome some limitations that seem inherent to the aforementioned class of algorithms. In particular, we exploit the fact that dense, regular graphs exhibit a kind of small-set expansion (i.e., bounded threshold rank), which, via subspace enumeration, lets us enumerate small cuts efficiently.
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Charlie Carlson, Ewan Davies, Alexandra Kolla, and Aditya Potukuchi. A Spectral Approach to Approximately Counting Independent Sets in Dense Bipartite Graphs. In 51st International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming (ICALP 2024). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 297, pp. 35:1-35:18, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2024)

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@InProceedings{carlson_et_al:LIPIcs.ICALP.2024.35,
  author =	{Carlson, Charlie and Davies, Ewan and Kolla, Alexandra and Potukuchi, Aditya},
  title =	{{A Spectral Approach to Approximately Counting Independent Sets in Dense Bipartite Graphs}},
  booktitle =	{51st International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming (ICALP 2024)},
  pages =	{35:1--35:18},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-322-5},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2024},
  volume =	{297},
  editor =	{Bringmann, Karl and Grohe, Martin and Puppis, Gabriele and Svensson, Ola},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.ICALP.2024.35},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-201782},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ICALP.2024.35},
  annote =	{Keywords: approximate counting, independent sets, bipartite graphs, graph containers}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.OPODIS.2023.13
Improved Distributed Algorithms for Random Colorings

Authors: Charlie Carlson, Daniel Frishberg, and Eric Vigoda

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 286, 27th International Conference on Principles of Distributed Systems (OPODIS 2023)

Abstract
Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) algorithms are a widely-used algorithmic tool for sampling from high-dimensional distributions, a notable example is the equilibirum distribution of graphical models. The Glauber dynamics, also known as the Gibbs sampler, is the simplest example of an MCMC algorithm; the transitions of the chain update the configuration at a randomly chosen coordinate at each step. Several works have studied distributed versions of the Glauber dynamics and we extend these efforts to a more general family of Markov chains. An important combinatorial problem in the study of MCMC algorithms is random colorings. Given a graph G of maximum degree Δ and an integer k ≥ Δ+1, the goal is to generate a random proper vertex k-coloring of G. Jerrum (1995) proved that the Glauber dynamics has O(nlog{n}) mixing time when k > 2Δ. Fischer and Ghaffari (2018), and independently Feng, Hayes, and Yin (2018), presented a parallel and distributed version of the Glauber dynamics which converges in O(log{n}) rounds for k > (2+ε)Δ for any ε > 0. We improve this result to k > (11/6-δ)Δ for a fixed δ > 0. This matches the state of the art for randomly sampling colorings of general graphs in the sequential setting. Whereas previous works focused on distributed variants of the Glauber dynamics, our work presents a parallel and distributed version of the more general flip dynamics presented by Vigoda (2000) (and refined by Chen, Delcourt, Moitra, Perarnau, and Postle (2019)), which recolors local maximal two-colored components in each step.
Cite as

Charlie Carlson, Daniel Frishberg, and Eric Vigoda. Improved Distributed Algorithms for Random Colorings. In 27th International Conference on Principles of Distributed Systems (OPODIS 2023). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 286, pp. 13:1-13:18, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2024)

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@InProceedings{carlson_et_al:LIPIcs.OPODIS.2023.13,
  author =	{Carlson, Charlie and Frishberg, Daniel and Vigoda, Eric},
  title =	{{Improved Distributed Algorithms for Random Colorings}},
  booktitle =	{27th International Conference on Principles of Distributed Systems (OPODIS 2023)},
  pages =	{13:1--13:18},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-308-9},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2024},
  volume =	{286},
  editor =	{Bessani, Alysson and D\'{e}fago, Xavier and Nakamura, Junya and Wada, Koichi and Yamauchi, Yukiko},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.OPODIS.2023.13},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-195030},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.OPODIS.2023.13},
  annote =	{Keywords: Distributed Graph Algorithms, Local Algorithms, Coloring, Glauber Dynamics, Sampling, Markov Chains}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.ESA.2023.32
Approximation Algorithm for Norm Multiway Cut

Authors: Charlie Carlson, Jafar Jafarov, Konstantin Makarychev, Yury Makarychev, and Liren Shan

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 274, 31st Annual European Symposium on Algorithms (ESA 2023)

Abstract
We consider variants of the classic Multiway Cut problem. Multiway Cut asks to partition a graph G into k parts so as to separate k given terminals. Recently, Chandrasekaran and Wang (ESA 2021) introduced 𝓁_p-norm Multiway Cut, a generalization of the problem, in which the goal is to minimize the 𝓁_p norm of the edge boundaries of k parts. We provide an O(log^{1/2} nlog^{1/2+1/p} k) approximation algorithm for this problem, improving upon the approximation guarantee of O(log^{3/2} n log^{1/2} k) due to Chandrasekaran and Wang. We also introduce and study Norm Multiway Cut, a further generalization of Multiway Cut. We assume that we are given access to an oracle, which answers certain queries about the norm. We present an O(log^{1/2} n log^{7/2} k) approximation algorithm with a weaker oracle and an O(log^{1/2} n log^{5/2} k) approximation algorithm with a stronger oracle. Additionally, we show that without any oracle access, there is no n^{1/4-ε} approximation algorithm for every ε > 0 assuming the Hypergraph Dense-vs-Random Conjecture.
Cite as

Charlie Carlson, Jafar Jafarov, Konstantin Makarychev, Yury Makarychev, and Liren Shan. Approximation Algorithm for Norm Multiway Cut. In 31st Annual European Symposium on Algorithms (ESA 2023). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 274, pp. 32:1-32:14, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2023)

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@InProceedings{carlson_et_al:LIPIcs.ESA.2023.32,
  author =	{Carlson, Charlie and Jafarov, Jafar and Makarychev, Konstantin and Makarychev, Yury and Shan, Liren},
  title =	{{Approximation Algorithm for Norm Multiway Cut}},
  booktitle =	{31st Annual European Symposium on Algorithms (ESA 2023)},
  pages =	{32:1--32:14},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-295-2},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2023},
  volume =	{274},
  editor =	{G{\o}rtz, Inge Li and Farach-Colton, Martin and Puglisi, Simon J. 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.2023.32},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-186854},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ESA.2023.32},
  annote =	{Keywords: Multiway cut, Approximation algorithms}
}
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