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DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.1

Triangle Detection in H-Free Graphs

Authors: Amir Abboud, Ron Safier, and Nathan Wallheimer

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

Abstract

We initiate the study of combinatorial algorithms for Triangle Detection in H-free graphs. The goal is to decide if a graph that forbids a fixed pattern H as a subgraph contains a triangle, using only "combinatorial" methods that notably exclude fast matrix multiplication. Our work aims to classify which patterns admit a subcubic speedup, working towards a dichotomy theorem. On the lower bound side, we show that if H is not 3-colorable or contains more than one triangle, the complexity of the problem remains unchanged, and no combinatorial speedup is likely possible. On the upper bound side, we develop an embedding approach that results in a strongly subcubic, combinatorial algorithm for a rich class of "embeddable" patterns. Specifically, for an embeddable pattern of size k, our algorithm runs in Õ(n^{3-1/(2^{k-3)}}) time, where Õ(⋅) hides poly-logarithmic factors. This algorithm also extends to listing all the triangles within the same time bound. We supplement this main result with two generalizations: - A generalization to patterns that are embeddable up to a single obstacle that arises from a triangle in the pattern. This completes our classification for small patterns, yielding a dichotomy theorem for all patterns of size up to eight. - An H-sensitive algorithm for embeddable patterns, which runs faster when the number of copies of H is significantly smaller than the maximum possible Ω(n^{k}). Finally, we focus on the special case of odd cycles. We present specialized Triangle Detection algorithms that are very efficient: - A combinatorial algorithm for C_{2k+1}-free graphs that runs in Õ(m+n^{1+2/k}) time for every k ≥ 2, where m is the number of edges in the graph. - A combinatorial C₅-sensitive algorithm that runs in Õ(n² + n^{4/3} t^{1/3}) time, where t is the number of 5-cycles in the graph.

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Amir Abboud, Ron Safier, and Nathan Wallheimer. Triangle Detection in H-Free Graphs. In 17th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2026). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 362, pp. 1:1-1:19, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)

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@InProceedings{abboud_et_al:LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.1,
  author =	{Abboud, Amir and Safier, Ron and Wallheimer, Nathan},
  title =	{{Triangle Detection in H-Free Graphs}},
  booktitle =	{17th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2026)},
  pages =	{1:1--1:19},
  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.2026.1},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-252885},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.1},
  annote =	{Keywords: fine-grained complexity, triangle detection, H-free graphs}
}

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DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.FSTTCS.2023.25

Listing 4-Cycles

Authors: Amir Abboud, Seri Khoury, Oree Leibowitz, and Ron Safier

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 284, 43rd IARCS Annual Conference on Foundations of Software Technology and Theoretical Computer Science (FSTTCS 2023)

Abstract

We study the fine-grained complexity of listing all 4-cycles in a graph on n nodes, m edges, and t such 4-cycles. The main result is an Õ(min(n²,m^{4/3})+t) upper bound, which is best-possible up to log factors unless the long-standing O(min(n²,m^{4/3})) upper bound for detecting a 4-cycle can be broken. Moreover, it almost-matches recent 3-SUM-based lower bounds for the problem by Abboud, Bringmann, and Fischer (STOC 2023) and independently by Jin and Xu (STOC 2023). Notably, our result separates 4-cycle listing from the closely related triangle listing for which higher conditional lower bounds exist, and rule out such a "detection plus t" bound. We also show by simple arguments that our bound cannot be extended to mild generalizations of the problem such as reporting all pairs of nodes that participate in a 4-cycle. [Independent work: Jin and Xu [Ce Jin and Yinzhan Xu, 2023] also present an algorithm with the same time bound.]

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Amir Abboud, Seri Khoury, Oree Leibowitz, and Ron Safier. Listing 4-Cycles. In 43rd IARCS Annual Conference on Foundations of Software Technology and Theoretical Computer Science (FSTTCS 2023). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 284, pp. 25:1-25:16, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2023)

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@InProceedings{abboud_et_al:LIPIcs.FSTTCS.2023.25,
  author =	{Abboud, Amir and Khoury, Seri and Leibowitz, Oree and Safier, Ron},
  title =	{{Listing 4-Cycles}},
  booktitle =	{43rd IARCS Annual Conference on Foundations of Software Technology and Theoretical Computer Science (FSTTCS 2023)},
  pages =	{25:1--25:16},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-304-1},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2023},
  volume =	{284},
  editor =	{Bouyer, Patricia and Srinivasan, Srikanth},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.FSTTCS.2023.25},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-193985},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.FSTTCS.2023.25},
  annote =	{Keywords: Graph algorithms, cycles listing, subgraph detection, fine-grained complexity}
}

Document

DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.ESA.2023.3

Can You Solve Closest String Faster Than Exhaustive Search?

Authors: Amir Abboud, Nick Fischer, Elazar Goldenberg, Karthik C. S., and Ron Safier

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

Abstract

We study the fundamental problem of finding the best string to represent a given set, in the form of the Closest String problem: Given a set X ⊆ Σ^d of n strings, find the string x^* minimizing the radius of the smallest Hamming ball around x^* that encloses all the strings in X. In this paper, we investigate whether the Closest String problem admits algorithms that are faster than the trivial exhaustive search algorithm. We obtain the following results for the two natural versions of the problem: - In the continuous Closest String problem, the goal is to find the solution string x^* anywhere in Σ^d. For binary strings, the exhaustive search algorithm runs in time O(2^d poly(nd)) and we prove that it cannot be improved to time O(2^{(1-ε) d} poly(nd)), for any ε > 0, unless the Strong Exponential Time Hypothesis fails. - In the discrete Closest String problem, x^* is required to be in the input set X. While this problem is clearly in polynomial time, its fine-grained complexity has been pinpointed to be quadratic time n^{2 ± o(1)} whenever the dimension is ω(log n) < d < n^o(1). We complement this known hardness result with new algorithms, proving essentially that whenever d falls out of this hard range, the discrete Closest String problem can be solved faster than exhaustive search. In the small-d regime, our algorithm is based on a novel application of the inclusion-exclusion principle. Interestingly, all of our results apply (and some are even stronger) to the natural dual of the Closest String problem, called the Remotest String problem, where the task is to find a string maximizing the Hamming distance to all the strings in X.

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Amir Abboud, Nick Fischer, Elazar Goldenberg, Karthik C. S., and Ron Safier. Can You Solve Closest String Faster Than Exhaustive Search?. In 31st Annual European Symposium on Algorithms (ESA 2023). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 274, pp. 3:1-3:17, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2023)

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@InProceedings{abboud_et_al:LIPIcs.ESA.2023.3,
  author =	{Abboud, Amir and Fischer, Nick and Goldenberg, Elazar and Karthik C. S. and Safier, Ron},
  title =	{{Can You Solve Closest String Faster Than Exhaustive Search?}},
  booktitle =	{31st Annual European Symposium on Algorithms (ESA 2023)},
  pages =	{3:1--3:17},
  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.2023.3},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-186566},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ESA.2023.3},
  annote =	{Keywords: Closest string, fine-grained complexity, SETH, inclusion-exclusion}
}

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Documents authored by Safier, Ron

Triangle Detection in H-Free Graphs

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Listing 4-Cycles

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Can You Solve Closest String Faster Than Exhaustive Search?

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