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Documents authored by Opršal, Jakub

Document
Invited Talk
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.MFCS.2026.1
Homotopy Theory in Complexity of the Graph Homomorphism Problem (Invited Talk)

Authors: Jakub Opršal

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 386, 51st International Symposium on Mathematical Foundations of Computer Science (MFCS 2026)

Abstract
I will talk about an emerging application of homotopy theory in computational complexity of combinatorial problems, more precisely homomorphism problems. Homomorphism problems appear under many names, including constraint satisfaction problems and conjunctive database queries. A prime example of a homomorphism problem is graph colouring; by a colouring of a graph with k colours, I mean an assignment of colours to vertices under which no edge is monochromatic - this is equivalent to the existence of a homomorphism to the clique with k vertices. Graph 3-colouring is a prototypical example of an NP-complete problem. There are many variations on this problem whose complexity remains widely open. For example, although it is generally believed that colouring a 3-colourable graph with a fixed number of colours is NP-hard, only the hardness of colouring of such a graph with 5 colours is known (and shown only in 2019). I will give an overview of several related results about variations of graph colouring that share a common theme of using a method based on tools from topological combinatorics and on ideas of Lovász [J. Comb. Theory, Ser. A, 25(3):319-324, 1978].
Cite as

Jakub Opršal. Homotopy Theory in Complexity of the Graph Homomorphism Problem (Invited Talk). In 51st International Symposium on Mathematical Foundations of Computer Science (MFCS 2026). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 386, p. 1:1, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)

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@InProceedings{oprsal:LIPIcs.MFCS.2026.1,
  author =	{Opr\v{s}al, Jakub},
  title =	{{Homotopy Theory in Complexity of the Graph Homomorphism Problem}},
  booktitle =	{51st International Symposium on Mathematical Foundations of Computer Science (MFCS 2026)},
  pages =	{1:1--1:1},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-442-0},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2026},
  volume =	{386},
  editor =	{Kouck\'{y}, Michal and Petrișan, Daniela},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.MFCS.2026.1},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-273829},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.MFCS.2026.1},
  annote =	{Keywords: homomorphism problem, constraint satisfaction problem, graph colouring, topological methods}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.LICS.2026.54
A Categorical Perspective on Constraint Satisfaction: The Wonderland of Adjunctions

Authors: Maximilian Hadek, Tomáš Jakl, and Jakub Opršal

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

Abstract
The so-called algebraic approach to the constraint satisfaction problem (CSP) has been a prevalent method of the study of complexity of these problems since early 2000’s. The core of this approach is the notion of polymorphisms which determine the complexity of the problem (up to log-space reductions). In the past few years, a new, more general version of the CSP emerged, the promise constraint satisfaction problem (PCSP), and the notion of polymorphisms and most of the core theses of the algebraic approach were generalised to the promise setting. Nevertheless, recent work also suggests that insights from other fields are immensely useful in the study of PCSPs including algebraic topology. In this paper, we provide an entry point for category-theorists into the study of complexity of CSPs and PCSPs. We show that many standard CSP notions have clear and well-known categorical counterparts. For example, the algebraic structure of polymorphisms can be described as a set-functor defined as a right Kan extension. We provide purely categorical proofs of core results of the algebraic approach including a proof that the complexity only depends on the polymorphisms. Our new proofs are substantially shorter and, from the categorical perspective, cleaner than previous proofs of the same results. Moreover, as expected, they are applicable more widely. We believe that, in particular in the case of PCSPs, category theory brings insights that can help solve some of the current challenges of the field.
Cite as

Maximilian Hadek, Tomáš Jakl, and Jakub Opršal. A Categorical Perspective on Constraint Satisfaction: The Wonderland of Adjunctions. In 41st Annual Symposium on Logic in Computer Science (LICS 2026). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 380, pp. 54:1-54:27, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)

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@InProceedings{hadek_et_al:LIPIcs.LICS.2026.54,
  author =	{Hadek, Maximilian and Jakl, Tom\'{a}\v{s} and Opr\v{s}al, Jakub},
  title =	{{A Categorical Perspective on Constraint Satisfaction: The Wonderland of Adjunctions}},
  booktitle =	{41st Annual Symposium on Logic in Computer Science (LICS 2026)},
  pages =	{54:1--54:27},
  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.2026.54},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-268415},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.LICS.2026.54},
  annote =	{Keywords: constraint satisfaction problem, categorical models and logics}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.ICDT.2024.10
Right-Adjoints for Datalog Programs

Authors: Balder ten Cate, Víctor Dalmau, and Jakub Opršal

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 290, 27th International Conference on Database Theory (ICDT 2024)

Abstract
A Datalog program can be viewed as a syntactic specification of a mapping from database instances over some schema to database instances over another schema. We establish a large class of Datalog programs for which this mapping admits a (generalized) right-adjoint. We employ these results to obtain new insights into the existence of, and methods for constructing, homomorphism dualities within restricted classes of instances. From this, we derive new results regarding the existence of uniquely characterizing data examples for database queries in the presence of integrity constraints.
Cite as

Balder ten Cate, Víctor Dalmau, and Jakub Opršal. Right-Adjoints for Datalog Programs. In 27th International Conference on Database Theory (ICDT 2024). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 290, pp. 10:1-10:20, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2024)

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@InProceedings{tencate_et_al:LIPIcs.ICDT.2024.10,
  author =	{ten Cate, Balder and Dalmau, V{\'\i}ctor and Opr\v{s}al, Jakub},
  title =	{{Right-Adjoints for Datalog Programs}},
  booktitle =	{27th International Conference on Database Theory (ICDT 2024)},
  pages =	{10:1--10:20},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-312-6},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2024},
  volume =	{290},
  editor =	{Cormode, Graham and Shekelyan, Michael},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.ICDT.2024.10},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-197929},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ICDT.2024.10},
  annote =	{Keywords: Datalog, Adjoints, Homomorphism Dualities, Database Constraints, Conjunctive Queries, Data Examples}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.STACS.2024.34
Hardness of Linearly Ordered 4-Colouring of 3-Colourable 3-Uniform Hypergraphs

Authors: Marek Filakovský, Tamio-Vesa Nakajima, Jakub Opršal, Gianluca Tasinato, and Uli Wagner

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 289, 41st International Symposium on Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science (STACS 2024)

Abstract
A linearly ordered (LO) k-colouring of a hypergraph is a colouring of its vertices with colours 1, … , k such that each edge contains a unique maximal colour. Deciding whether an input hypergraph admits LO k-colouring with a fixed number of colours is NP-complete (and in the special case of graphs, LO colouring coincides with the usual graph colouring). Here, we investigate the complexity of approximating the "linearly ordered chromatic number" of a hypergraph. We prove that the following promise problem is NP-complete: Given a 3-uniform hypergraph, distinguish between the case that it is LO 3-colourable, and the case that it is not even LO 4-colourable. We prove this result by a combination of algebraic, topological, and combinatorial methods, building on and extending a topological approach for studying approximate graph colouring introduced by Krokhin, Opršal, Wrochna, and Živný (2023).
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Marek Filakovský, Tamio-Vesa Nakajima, Jakub Opršal, Gianluca Tasinato, and Uli Wagner. Hardness of Linearly Ordered 4-Colouring of 3-Colourable 3-Uniform Hypergraphs. In 41st International Symposium on Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science (STACS 2024). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 289, pp. 34:1-34:19, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2024)

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@InProceedings{filakovsky_et_al:LIPIcs.STACS.2024.34,
  author =	{Filakovsk\'{y}, Marek and Nakajima, Tamio-Vesa and Opr\v{s}al, Jakub and Tasinato, Gianluca and Wagner, Uli},
  title =	{{Hardness of Linearly Ordered 4-Colouring of 3-Colourable 3-Uniform Hypergraphs}},
  booktitle =	{41st International Symposium on Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science (STACS 2024)},
  pages =	{34:1--34:19},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-311-9},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2024},
  volume =	{289},
  editor =	{Beyersdorff, Olaf and Kant\'{e}, Mamadou Moustapha and Kupferman, Orna and Lokshtanov, Daniel},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.STACS.2024.34},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-197445},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.STACS.2024.34},
  annote =	{Keywords: constraint satisfaction problem, hypergraph colouring, promise problem, topological methods}
}
Document
APPROX
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.APPROX/RANDOM.2020.34
Revisiting Alphabet Reduction in Dinur’s PCP

Authors: Venkatesan Guruswami, Jakub Opršal, and Sai Sandeep

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 176, Approximation, Randomization, and Combinatorial Optimization. Algorithms and Techniques (APPROX/RANDOM 2020)

Abstract
Dinur’s celebrated proof of the PCP theorem alternates two main steps in several iterations: gap amplification to increase the soundness gap by a large constant factor (at the expense of much larger alphabet size), and a composition step that brings back the alphabet size to an absolute constant (at the expense of a fixed constant factor loss in the soundness gap). We note that the gap amplification can produce a Label Cover CSP. This allows us to reduce the alphabet size via a direct long-code based reduction from Label Cover to a Boolean CSP. Our composition step thus bypasses the concept of Assignment Testers from Dinur’s proof, and we believe it is more intuitive - it is just a gadget reduction. The analysis also uses only elementary facts (Parseval’s identity) about Fourier Transforms over the hypercube.
Cite as

Venkatesan Guruswami, Jakub Opršal, and Sai Sandeep. Revisiting Alphabet Reduction in Dinur’s PCP. In Approximation, Randomization, and Combinatorial Optimization. Algorithms and Techniques (APPROX/RANDOM 2020). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 176, pp. 34:1-34:14, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2020)

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@InProceedings{guruswami_et_al:LIPIcs.APPROX/RANDOM.2020.34,
  author =	{Guruswami, Venkatesan and Opr\v{s}al, Jakub and Sandeep, Sai},
  title =	{{Revisiting Alphabet Reduction in Dinur’s PCP}},
  booktitle =	{Approximation, Randomization, and Combinatorial Optimization. Algorithms and Techniques (APPROX/RANDOM 2020)},
  pages =	{34:1--34:14},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-164-1},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2020},
  volume =	{176},
  editor =	{Byrka, Jaros{\l}aw and Meka, Raghu},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.APPROX/RANDOM.2020.34},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-126372},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.APPROX/RANDOM.2020.34},
  annote =	{Keywords: PCP theorem, CSP, discrete Fourier analysis, label cover, long code}
}
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