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DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.LICS.2026.20

On the Computational Power of Extensional ESO

Authors: Manuel Bodirsky and Santiago Guzmán-Pro

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 380, 41st Annual Symposium on Logic in Computer Science (LICS 2026)

Abstract

Extensional ESO is a fragment of existential second-order logic (ESO) that captures the following family of problems. Given a fixed ESO sentence Ψ and an input structure A the task is to decide whether there is an extension B of A that satisfies the first-order part of Ψ, i.e., a structure B such that R^A ⊆ R^B for every existentially quantified predicate R of Ψ, and R^A = R^B for every non-quantified predicate R of Ψ. In particular, extensional ESO describes all pre-coloured finite-domain constraint satisfaction problems (CSPs). In this paper we study the computational power of extensional ESO; we ask, for which problems in NP is there a polynomial-time equivalent problem in extensional ESO? One of our main results states that extensional ESO has the same computational power as hereditary first-order logic. We also characterize the computational power of the fragment of extensional ESO with monotone universal first-order part in terms of finitely bounded CSPs. These results suggest a rich computational power of this logic, and we conjecture that extensional ESO captures NP-intermediate problems. We further support this conjecture by showing that extensional ESO can express current candidate NP-intermediate problems such as Graph Isomorphism, and Monotone Dualization (up to polynomial-time equivalence). On the other hand, another main result proves that extensional ESO does not have the full computational power of NP: there are problems in NP that are not polynomial-time equivalent to a problem in extensional ESP (unless E=NE).

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Manuel Bodirsky and Santiago Guzmán-Pro. On the Computational Power of Extensional ESO. In 41st Annual Symposium on Logic in Computer Science (LICS 2026). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 380, pp. 20:1-20:26, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)

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@InProceedings{bodirsky_et_al:LIPIcs.LICS.2026.20,
  author =	{Bodirsky, Manuel and Guzm\'{a}n-Pro, Santiago},
  title =	{{On the Computational Power of Extensional ESO}},
  booktitle =	{41st Annual Symposium on Logic in Computer Science (LICS 2026)},
  pages =	{20:1--20:26},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-434-5},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2026},
  volume =	{380},
  editor =	{Faggian, Claudia and Katoen, Joost-Pieter},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.LICS.2026.20},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-268073},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.LICS.2026.20},
  annote =	{Keywords: Existential second-order logic, constraint satisfaction problem, complexity classification, Hereditary first-order logic, NP-intermediate problems}
}

Document

DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.CSL.2026.6

Hereditary First-Order Logic: the Tractable Quantifier Prefix Classes

Authors: Manuel Bodirsky and Santiago Guzmán-Pro

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 363, 34th EACSL Annual Conference on Computer Science Logic (CSL 2026)

Abstract

Many computational problems can be modelled as the class of all finite structures A that satisfy a fixed first-order sentence ϕ hereditarily, i.e., we require that every (induced) substructure of A satisfies ϕ. We call the corresponding computational problem the hereditary model checking problem for ϕ, and denote it by Her(ϕ). We present a complete description of the quantifier prefixes for ϕ such that Her(ϕ) is in P; we show that for every other quantifier prefix there exists a formula ϕ with this prefix such that Her(ϕ) is coNP-complete. Specifically, we show that if Q is of the form ∀*∃∀* or of the form ∀*∃*, then Her(ϕ) can be solved in polynomial time whenever the quantifier prefix of ϕ is Q. Otherwise, Q contains ∃∃∀ or ∃∀∃ as a subword, and in this case, there is a first-order formula ϕ whose quantifier prefix is Q and Her(ϕ) is coNP-complete. Moreover, we show that there is no algorithm that decides for a given first-order formula ϕ whether Her(ϕ) is in P (unless P=NP).

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Manuel Bodirsky and Santiago Guzmán-Pro. Hereditary First-Order Logic: the Tractable Quantifier Prefix Classes. In 34th EACSL Annual Conference on Computer Science Logic (CSL 2026). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 363, pp. 6:1-6:20, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)

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@InProceedings{bodirsky_et_al:LIPIcs.CSL.2026.6,
  author =	{Bodirsky, Manuel and Guzm\'{a}n-Pro, Santiago},
  title =	{{Hereditary First-Order Logic: the Tractable Quantifier Prefix Classes}},
  booktitle =	{34th EACSL Annual Conference on Computer Science Logic (CSL 2026)},
  pages =	{6:1--6:20},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-411-6},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2026},
  volume =	{363},
  editor =	{Guerrini, Stefano and K\"{o}nig, Barbara},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.CSL.2026.6},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-254308},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.CSL.2026.6},
  annote =	{Keywords: Quantifier prefix, first-order Logic, Computational Complexity, Polynomial-time algorithm, coNP-completeness}
}

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Track B: Automata, Logic, Semantics, and Theory of Programming

DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.ICALP.2025.158

Restricted CSPs and F-Free Digraph Algorithmics

Authors: Santiago Guzmán-Pro and Barnaby Martin

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

Abstract

In recent years, much attention has been placed on the complexity of graph homomorphism problems when the input is restricted to ℙ_k-free and ℙ_k-subgraph-free graphs. We consider the directed version of this research line, by addressing the question is it true that digraph homomorphism problems CSP(H) have a P versus NP-complete dichotomy when the input is restricted to ℙ→_k-free (resp. ℙ→_k-subgraph-free) digraphs? Our main contribution in this direction shows that if CSP(H) is NP-complete, then there is a positive integer N such that CSP(H) remains NP-hard even for ℙ→_N-subgraph-free digraphs. Moreover, CSP(H) becomes polynomial-time solvable for ℙ→_{N-1}-subgraph-free acyclic digraphs. We then verify the questions above for digraphs on three vertices and a family of smooth tournaments. We prove these results by establishing a connection between F-(subgraph)-free algorithmics and constraint satisfaction theory. On the way, we introduce restricted CSPs, i.e., problems of the form CSP(H) restricted to yes-instances of CSP(H') - these were called restricted homomorphism problems by Hell and Nešetřil. Another main result of this paper presents a P versus NP-complete dichotomy for these problems. Moreover, this complexity dichotomy is accompanied by an algebraic dichotomy in the spirit of the finite domain CSP dichotomy.

Cite as

Santiago Guzmán-Pro and Barnaby Martin. Restricted CSPs and F-Free Digraph Algorithmics. In 52nd International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming (ICALP 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 334, pp. 158:1-158:21, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

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@InProceedings{guzmanpro_et_al:LIPIcs.ICALP.2025.158,
  author =	{Guzm\'{a}n-Pro, Santiago and Martin, Barnaby},
  title =	{{Restricted CSPs and F-Free Digraph Algorithmics}},
  booktitle =	{52nd International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming (ICALP 2025)},
  pages =	{158:1--158:21},
  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.2025.158},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-235352},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ICALP.2025.158},
  annote =	{Keywords: Digraph homomorphisms, constraint satisfaction problems, subgraph-free algorithmics}
}

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Documents authored by Guzmán-Pro, Santiago

On the Computational Power of Extensional ESO

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Hereditary First-Order Logic: the Tractable Quantifier Prefix Classes

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Restricted CSPs and F-Free Digraph Algorithmics

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