11 Search Results for "Acharya, Jayadev"


Document
Protecting the Undeleted in Machine Unlearning

Authors: Aloni Cohen, Refael Kohen, Kobbi Nissim, and Uri Stemmer

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 368, 7th Symposium on Foundations of Responsible Computing (FORC 2026)


Abstract
Machine unlearning aims to remove specific data points from a trained model, often striving to emulate "perfect retraining", i.e., producing the model that would have been obtained had the deleted data never been included. We demonstrate that this approach, and security definitions that enable it, carry significant privacy risks for the remaining (undeleted) data points. We present a reconstruction attack showing that for certain tasks, which can be computed securely without deletions, a mechanism adhering to perfect retraining allows an adversary controlling merely ω(1) data points to reconstruct almost the entire dataset simply by issuing deletion requests. We survey existing definitions for machine unlearning, showing they are either susceptible to such attacks or too restrictive to support basic functionalities like exact summation. To address this problem, we propose a new security definition that specifically safeguards undeleted data against leakage caused by the deletion of other points. We show that our definition permits several essential functionalities, such as bulletin boards, summations, and statistical learning.

Cite as

Aloni Cohen, Refael Kohen, Kobbi Nissim, and Uri Stemmer. Protecting the Undeleted in Machine Unlearning. In 7th Symposium on Foundations of Responsible Computing (FORC 2026). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 368, pp. 17:1-17:18, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)


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@InProceedings{cohen_et_al:LIPIcs.FORC.2026.17,
  author =	{Cohen, Aloni and Kohen, Refael and Nissim, Kobbi and Stemmer, Uri},
  title =	{{Protecting the Undeleted in Machine Unlearning}},
  booktitle =	{7th Symposium on Foundations of Responsible Computing (FORC 2026)},
  pages =	{17:1--17:18},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-419-2},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2026},
  volume =	{368},
  editor =	{Lin, Huijia (Rachel)},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.FORC.2026.17},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-259901},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.FORC.2026.17},
  annote =	{Keywords: Unlearning, data deletion, privacy}
}
Document
Computational Hardness of Estimating Quantum Entropies via Binary Entropy Bounds

Authors: Yupan Liu

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 364, 43rd International Symposium on Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science (STACS 2026)


Abstract
We investigate the computational hardness of estimating the quantum α-Rényi entropy S^𝚁_α(ρ) = (ln Tr(ρ^α))/(1-α) and the quantum q-Tsallis entropy S^𝚃_q(ρ) = (1-Tr(ρ^q))/(q-1), both converging to the von Neumann entropy as the order approaches 1. The promise problems Quantum α-Rényi Entropy Approximation (RényiQEA_α) and Quantum q-Tsallis Entropy Approximation (TsallisQEA_q) ask whether S^𝚁_α(ρ) or S^𝚃_q(ρ), respectively, is at least τ_Y or at most τ_N, where τ_Y - τ_N is typically a positive constant. Previous hardness results cover only the von Neumann entropy (order 1) and some cases of the quantum q-Tsallis entropy, while existing approaches do not readily extend to other orders. We establish that for all positive real orders, the rank-2 variants Rank2RényiQEA_α and Rank2TsallisQEA_q are BQP-hard. Combined with prior (rank-dependent) quantum query algorithms in Wang, Guan, Liu, Zhang, and Ying (TIT 2024), Wang, Zhang, and Li (TIT 2024), and Liu and Wang (SODA 2025), our results imply: - For all real order α > 0 and 0 < q ≤ 1, LowRankRényiQEA_α and LowRankTsallisQEA_q are BQP-complete, where both are restricted versions of RényiQEA_α and TsallisQEA_q with ρ of polynomial rank. - For all real order q > 1, TsallisQEA_q is BQP-complete. Our hardness results stem from reductions based on new inequalities relating the α-Rényi or q-Tsallis binary entropies of different orders, where the reductions differ substantially from previous approaches, and the inequalities are also of independent interest.

Cite as

Yupan Liu. Computational Hardness of Estimating Quantum Entropies via Binary Entropy Bounds. In 43rd International Symposium on Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science (STACS 2026). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 364, pp. 66:1-66:23, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)


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@InProceedings{liu:LIPIcs.STACS.2026.66,
  author =	{Liu, Yupan},
  title =	{{Computational Hardness of Estimating Quantum Entropies via Binary Entropy Bounds}},
  booktitle =	{43rd International Symposium on Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science (STACS 2026)},
  pages =	{66:1--66:23},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-412-3},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2026},
  volume =	{364},
  editor =	{Mahajan, Meena and Manea, Florin and McIver, Annabelle and Thắng, Nguy\~{ê}n Kim},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.STACS.2026.66},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-255550},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.STACS.2026.66},
  annote =	{Keywords: computational hardness, quantum state testing, quantum R\'{e}nyi entropy, quantum Tsallis entropy, von Neumann entropy}
}
Document
Uniformity Testing Under User-Level Local Privacy

Authors: Clément L. Canonne, Abigail Gentle, and Vikrant Singhal

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


Abstract
We initiate the study of distribution testing under user-level local differential privacy, where each of n users contributes m samples from the unknown underlying distribution. This setting, albeit very natural, is significantly more challenging than the usual locally private setting, as for the same parameter ε the privacy guarantee must now apply to a full batch of m data points. While some recent work considers distribution learning in this user-level setting, nothing was known for even the most fundamental testing task, uniformity testing (and its generalization, identity testing). We address this gap, by providing (nearly) sample-optimal user-level LDP algorithms for uniformity and identity testing. Motivated by practical considerations, our main focus is on the private-coin, symmetric setting, which does not require users to share a common random seed nor to have been assigned a globally unique identifier.

Cite as

Clément L. Canonne, Abigail Gentle, and Vikrant Singhal. Uniformity Testing Under User-Level Local Privacy. In 17th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2026). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 362, pp. 33:1-33:24, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)


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@InProceedings{canonne_et_al:LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.33,
  author =	{Canonne, Cl\'{e}ment L. and Gentle, Abigail and Singhal, Vikrant},
  title =	{{Uniformity Testing Under User-Level Local Privacy}},
  booktitle =	{17th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2026)},
  pages =	{33:1--33:24},
  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.2026.33},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-253201},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.33},
  annote =	{Keywords: Differential Privacy, Local Differential Privacy, Uniformity Testing, Identity Testing, Hypothesis Testing, User-Level Differential Privacy, Person-Level Differential Privacy}
}
Document
Interactive Proofs for Distribution Testing with Conditional Oracles

Authors: Ari Biswas, Mark Bun, Clément L. Canonne, and Satchit Sivakumar

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


Abstract
We revisit the framework of interactive proofs for distribution testing, first introduced by Chiesa and Gur (ITCS 2018), which has recently experienced a surge in interest, accompanied by notable progress (e.g., Herman and Rothblum, STOC 2022, FOCS 2023; Herman, RANDOM 2024). In this model, a data-poor verifier determines whether a probability distribution has a property of interest by interacting with an all-powerful, data-rich but untrusted prover bent on convincing them that it has the property. While prior work gave sample-, time-, and communication-efficient protocols for testing and estimating a range of distribution properties, they all suffer from an inherent issue: for most interesting properties of distributions over a domain of size N, the verifier must draw at least Ω(√N) samples of its own. While sublinear in N, this is still prohibitive for large domains encountered in practice. In this work, we circumvent this limitation by augmenting the verifier with the ability to perform an exponentially smaller number of more powerful (but reasonable) pairwise conditional queries, effectively enabling them to perform "local comparison checks" of the prover’s claims. We systematically investigate the landscape of interactive proofs in this new setting, giving poly-logarithmic query and sample protocols for (tolerantly) testing all label-invariant properties, thus demonstrating exponential savings without compromising on communication, for this large and fundamental class of testing tasks.

Cite as

Ari Biswas, Mark Bun, Clément L. Canonne, and Satchit Sivakumar. Interactive Proofs for Distribution Testing with Conditional Oracles. In 17th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2026). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 362, pp. 18:1-18:13, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)


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@InProceedings{biswas_et_al:LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.18,
  author =	{Biswas, Ari and Bun, Mark and Canonne, Cl\'{e}ment L. and Sivakumar, Satchit},
  title =	{{Interactive Proofs for Distribution Testing with Conditional Oracles}},
  booktitle =	{17th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2026)},
  pages =	{18:1--18:13},
  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.2026.18},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-253059},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.18},
  annote =	{Keywords: Distribution Testing, Interactive Proofs}
}
Document
On Estimating the Quantum 𝓁_α Distance

Authors: Yupan Liu and Qisheng Wang

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 351, 33rd Annual European Symposium on Algorithms (ESA 2025)


Abstract
We study the computational complexity of estimating the quantum 𝓁_α distance T_α(ρ₀,ρ₁), defined via the Schatten α-norm ‖A‖_α := tr(|A|^α)^{1/α}, given poly(n)-size state-preparation circuits of n-qubit quantum states ρ₀ and ρ₁. This quantity serves as a lower bound on the trace distance for α > 1. For any constant α > 1, we develop an efficient rank-independent quantum estimator for T_α(ρ₀,ρ₁) with time complexity poly(n), achieving an exponential speedup over the prior best results of exp(n) due to Wang, Guan, Liu, Zhang, and Ying (IEEE Trans. Inf. Theory 2024). Our improvement leverages efficiently computable uniform polynomial approximations of signed positive power functions within quantum singular value transformation, thereby eliminating the dependence on the rank of the states. Our quantum algorithm reveals a dichotomy in the computational complexity of the Quantum State Distinguishability Problem with Schatten α-norm (QSD_α), which involves deciding whether T_α(ρ₀,ρ₁) is at least 2/5 or at most 1/5. This dichotomy arises between the cases of constant α > 1 and α = 1: - For any 1+Ω(1) ≤ α ≤ O(1), QSD_α is BQP-complete. - For any 1 ≤ α ≤ 1+1/n, QSD_α is QSZK-complete, implying that no efficient quantum estimator for T_α(ρ₀,ρ₁) exists unless BQP = QSZK. The hardness results follow from reductions based on new rank-dependent inequalities for the quantum 𝓁_α distance with 1 ≤ α ≤ ∞, which are of independent interest.

Cite as

Yupan Liu and Qisheng Wang. On Estimating the Quantum 𝓁_α Distance. In 33rd Annual European Symposium on Algorithms (ESA 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 351, pp. 106:1-106:19, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)


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@InProceedings{liu_et_al:LIPIcs.ESA.2025.106,
  author =	{Liu, Yupan and Wang, Qisheng},
  title =	{{On Estimating the Quantum 𝓁\underline\alpha Distance}},
  booktitle =	{33rd Annual European Symposium on Algorithms (ESA 2025)},
  pages =	{106:1--106:19},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-395-9},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{351},
  editor =	{Benoit, Anne and Kaplan, Haim and Wild, Sebastian 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.2025.106},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-245758},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ESA.2025.106},
  annote =	{Keywords: quantum algorithms, quantum state testing, trace distance, Schatten norm}
}
Document
Uniformity Testing When You Have the Source Code

Authors: Clément L. Canonne, Robin Kothari, and Ryan O'Donnell

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 350, 20th Conference on the Theory of Quantum Computation, Communication and Cryptography (TQC 2025)


Abstract
We study quantum algorithms for verifying properties of the output probability distribution of a classical or quantum circuit, given access to the source code that generates the distribution. We consider the basic task of uniformity testing, which is to decide if the output distribution is uniform on [d] or ε-far from uniform in total variation distance. More generally, we consider identity testing, which is the task of deciding if the output distribution equals a known hypothesis distribution, or is ε-far from it. For both problems, the previous best known upper bound was O(min{d^{1/3}/ε²,d^{1/2}/ε}). Here we improve the upper bound to O(min{d^{1/3}/ε^{4/3}, d^{1/2}/ε}), which we conjecture is optimal.

Cite as

Clément L. Canonne, Robin Kothari, and Ryan O'Donnell. Uniformity Testing When You Have the Source Code. In 20th Conference on the Theory of Quantum Computation, Communication and Cryptography (TQC 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 350, pp. 7:1-7:20, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)


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@InProceedings{canonne_et_al:LIPIcs.TQC.2025.7,
  author =	{Canonne, Cl\'{e}ment L. and Kothari, Robin and O'Donnell, Ryan},
  title =	{{Uniformity Testing When You Have the Source Code}},
  booktitle =	{20th Conference on the Theory of Quantum Computation, Communication and Cryptography (TQC 2025)},
  pages =	{7:1--7:20},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-392-8},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{350},
  editor =	{Fefferman, Bill},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.TQC.2025.7},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-240561},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.TQC.2025.7},
  annote =	{Keywords: distribution testing, uniformity testing, quantum algorithms}
}
Document
Track A: Algorithms, Complexity and Games
Shared Randomness Helps with Local Distributed Problems

Authors: Alkida Balliu, Mohsen Ghaffari, Fabian Kuhn, Augusto Modanese, Dennis Olivetti, Mikaël Rabie, Jukka Suomela, and Jara Uitto

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


Abstract
By prior work, we have many wonderful results related to distributed graph algorithms for problems that can be defined with local constraints; the formal framework used in prior work is locally checkable labeling problems (LCLs), introduced by Naor and Stockmeyer in the 1990s. It is known, for example, that if we have a deterministic algorithm that solves an LCL in o(log n) rounds, we can speed it up to O(log^* n) rounds, and if we have a randomized algorithm that solves an LCL in O(log^* n) rounds, we can derandomize it for free. It is also known that randomness helps with some LCL problems: there are LCL problems with randomized complexity Θ(log log n) and deterministic complexity Θ(log n). However, so far there have not been any LCL problems in which the use of shared randomness has been necessary; in all prior algorithms it has been enough that the nodes have access to their own private sources of randomness. Could it be the case that shared randomness never helps with LCLs? Could we have a general technique that takes any distributed graph algorithm for any LCL that uses shared randomness, and turns it into an equally fast algorithm where private randomness is enough? In this work we show that the answer is no. We present an LCL problem Π such that the round complexity of Π is Ω(√n) in the usual randomized LOCAL model (with private randomness), but if the nodes have access to a source of shared randomness, then the complexity drops to O(log n). As corollaries, we also resolve several other open questions related to the landscape of distributed computing in the context of LCL problems. In particular, problem Π demonstrates that distributed quantum algorithms for LCL problems strictly benefit from a shared quantum state. Problem Π also gives a separation between finitely dependent distributions and non-signaling distributions.

Cite as

Alkida Balliu, Mohsen Ghaffari, Fabian Kuhn, Augusto Modanese, Dennis Olivetti, Mikaël Rabie, Jukka Suomela, and Jara Uitto. Shared Randomness Helps with Local Distributed Problems. In 52nd International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming (ICALP 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 334, pp. 16:1-16:18, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)


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@InProceedings{balliu_et_al:LIPIcs.ICALP.2025.16,
  author =	{Balliu, Alkida and Ghaffari, Mohsen and Kuhn, Fabian and Modanese, Augusto and Olivetti, Dennis and Rabie, Mika\"{e}l and Suomela, Jukka and Uitto, Jara},
  title =	{{Shared Randomness Helps with Local Distributed Problems}},
  booktitle =	{52nd International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming (ICALP 2025)},
  pages =	{16:1--16:18},
  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.2025.16},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-233931},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ICALP.2025.16},
  annote =	{Keywords: Distributed computing, locally checkable labelings, shared randomness}
}
Document
Track A: Algorithms, Complexity and Games
Minimizing Recourse in an Adaptive Balls and Bins Game

Authors: Adi Fine, Haim Kaplan, and Uri Stemmer

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


Abstract
We consider a simple load-balancing game between an algorithm and an adaptive adversary. In a simplified version of this game, the adversary observes the assignment of jobs to machines and selects a machine to kill. The algorithm must then restart the jobs from the failed machine on other machines. The adversary repeats this process, observing the new assignment and eliminating another machine, and so on. The adversary aims to force the algorithm to perform many restarts, while we seek a robust algorithm that minimizes restarts regardless of the adversary’s strategy. This game was recently introduced by Bhattacharya et al. for designing a 3-spanner with low recourse against an adaptive adversary. We prove that a simple algorithm, which assigns each job to a randomly chosen live bin, incurs O(n log n) recourse against an adaptive adversary. This enables us to construct a much simpler 3-spanner with a recourse that is smaller by a factor of O(log² n) compared to the previous construction, without increasing the update time or the size of the spanner. This motivates a careful examination of the range of attacks an adaptive adversary can deploy against simple algorithms before resorting to more complex ones. As our case study demonstrates, this attack space may not be as large as it initially appears, enabling the development of robust algorithms that are both simpler and easier to analyze.

Cite as

Adi Fine, Haim Kaplan, and Uri Stemmer. Minimizing Recourse in an Adaptive Balls and Bins Game. In 52nd International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming (ICALP 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 334, pp. 77:1-77:19, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)


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@InProceedings{fine_et_al:LIPIcs.ICALP.2025.77,
  author =	{Fine, Adi and Kaplan, Haim and Stemmer, Uri},
  title =	{{Minimizing Recourse in an Adaptive Balls and Bins Game}},
  booktitle =	{52nd International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming (ICALP 2025)},
  pages =	{77:1--77:19},
  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.2025.77},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-234544},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ICALP.2025.77},
  annote =	{Keywords: Adaptive adversary, load-balancing game, balls-and-bins, randomized algorithms, dynamic 3-spanner, dynamic graph algorithms, adversarial robustness}
}
Document
Locally Private Histograms in All Privacy Regimes

Authors: Clément L. Canonne and Abigail Gentle

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 325, 16th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2025)


Abstract
Frequency estimation, a.k.a. histograms, is a workhorse of data analysis, and as such has been thoroughly studied under differentially privacy. In particular, computing histograms in the local model of privacy has been the focus of a fruitful recent line of work, and various algorithms have been proposed, achieving the order-optimal 𝓁_∞ error in the high-privacy (small ε) regime while balancing other considerations such as time- and communication-efficiency. However, to the best of our knowledge, the picture is much less clear when it comes to the medium- or low-privacy regime (large ε), despite its increased relevance in practice. In this paper, we investigate locally private histograms, and the very related distribution learning task, in this medium-to-low privacy regime, and establish near-tight (and somewhat unexpected) bounds on the 𝓁_∞ error achievable. As a direct corollary of our results, we obtain a protocol for histograms in the shuffle model of differential privacy, with accuracy matching previous algorithms but significantly better message and communication complexity. Our theoretical findings emerge from a novel analysis, which appears to improve bounds across the board for the locally private histogram problem. We back our theoretical findings by an empirical comparison of existing algorithms in all privacy regimes, to assess their typical performance and behaviour beyond the worst-case setting.

Cite as

Clément L. Canonne and Abigail Gentle. Locally Private Histograms in All Privacy Regimes. In 16th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 325, pp. 25:1-25:24, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)


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@InProceedings{canonne_et_al:LIPIcs.ITCS.2025.25,
  author =	{Canonne, Cl\'{e}ment L. and Gentle, Abigail},
  title =	{{Locally Private Histograms in All Privacy Regimes}},
  booktitle =	{16th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2025)},
  pages =	{25:1--25:24},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-361-4},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{325},
  editor =	{Meka, Raghu},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2025.25},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-226532},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2025.25},
  annote =	{Keywords: Differential Privacy, Local Differential Privacy, Histograms, Frequency Estimation, Lower Bounds, Maximum Error}
}
Document
Settling the Complexity of Testing Grainedness of Distributions, and Application to Uniformity Testing in the Huge Object Model

Authors: Clément L. Canonne, Sayantan Sen, and Joy Qiping Yang

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 325, 16th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2025)


Abstract
In this work, we study the problem of testing m-grainedness of probability distributions over an n-element universe 𝒰, or, equivalently, of whether a probability distribution is induced by a multiset S ⊆ 𝒰 of size |S| = m. Recently, Goldreich and Ron (Computational Complexity, 2023) proved that Ω(n^c) samples are necessary for testing this property, for any c < 1 and m = Θ(n). They also conjectured that Ω(m/(log m)) samples are necessary for testing this property when m = Θ(n). In this work, we positively settle this conjecture. Using a known connection to the Distribution over Huge objects (DoHo) model introduced by Goldreich and Ron (TheoretiCS, 2023), we leverage our results to provide improved bounds for uniformity testing in the DoHo model.

Cite as

Clément L. Canonne, Sayantan Sen, and Joy Qiping Yang. Settling the Complexity of Testing Grainedness of Distributions, and Application to Uniformity Testing in the Huge Object Model. In 16th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 325, pp. 26:1-26:19, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)


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@InProceedings{canonne_et_al:LIPIcs.ITCS.2025.26,
  author =	{Canonne, Cl\'{e}ment L. and Sen, Sayantan and Yang, Joy Qiping},
  title =	{{Settling the Complexity of Testing Grainedness of Distributions, and Application to Uniformity Testing in the Huge Object Model}},
  booktitle =	{16th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2025)},
  pages =	{26:1--26:19},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-361-4},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{325},
  editor =	{Meka, Raghu},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2025.26},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-226543},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2025.26},
  annote =	{Keywords: Distribution testing, Uniformity testing, Huge Object Model, Lower bounds}
}
Document
A Chasm Between Identity and Equivalence Testing with Conditional Queries

Authors: Jayadev Acharya, Clément L. Canonne, and Gautam Kamath

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 40, Approximation, Randomization, and Combinatorial Optimization. Algorithms and Techniques (APPROX/RANDOM 2015)


Abstract
A recent model for property testing of probability distributions enables tremendous savings in the sample complexity of testing algorithms, by allowing them to condition the sampling on subsets of the domain. In particular, Canonne, Ron, and Servedio showed that, in this setting, testing identity of an unknown distribution D (i.e., whether D = D* for an explicitly known D*) can be done with a constant number of samples, independent of the support size n - in contrast to the required sqrt(n) in the standard sampling model. However, it was unclear whether the same held for the case of testing equivalence, where both distributions are unknown. Indeed, while Canonne, Ron, and Servedio established a polylog(n)-query upper bound for equivalence testing, very recently brought down to ~O(log(log(n))) by Falahatgar et al., whether a dependence on the domain size n is necessary was still open, and explicitly posed by Fischer at the Bertinoro Workshop on Sublinear Algorithms. In this work, we answer the question in the positive, showing that any testing algorithm for equivalence must make Omega(sqrt(log(log(n)))) queries in the conditional sampling model. Interestingly, this demonstrates an intrinsic qualitative gap between identity and equivalence testing, absent in the standard sampling model (where both problems have sampling complexity n^(Theta(1))). Turning to another question, we investigate the complexity of support size estimation. We provide a doubly-logarithmic upper bound for the adaptive version of this problem, generalizing work of Ron and Tsur to our weaker model. We also establish a logarithmic lower bound for the non-adaptive version of this problem. This latter result carries on to the related problem of non-adaptive uniformity testing, an exponential improvement over previous results that resolves an open question of Chakraborty, Fischer, Goldhirsh, and Matsliah.

Cite as

Jayadev Acharya, Clément L. Canonne, and Gautam Kamath. A Chasm Between Identity and Equivalence Testing with Conditional Queries. In Approximation, Randomization, and Combinatorial Optimization. Algorithms and Techniques (APPROX/RANDOM 2015). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 40, pp. 449-466, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2015)


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@InProceedings{acharya_et_al:LIPIcs.APPROX-RANDOM.2015.449,
  author =	{Acharya, Jayadev and Canonne, Cl\'{e}ment L. and Kamath, Gautam},
  title =	{{A Chasm Between Identity and Equivalence Testing with Conditional Queries}},
  booktitle =	{Approximation, Randomization, and Combinatorial Optimization. Algorithms and Techniques (APPROX/RANDOM 2015)},
  pages =	{449--466},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-939897-89-7},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2015},
  volume =	{40},
  editor =	{Garg, Naveen and Jansen, Klaus and Rao, Anup and Rolim, Jos\'{e} D. P.},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.APPROX-RANDOM.2015.449},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-53178},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.APPROX-RANDOM.2015.449},
  annote =	{Keywords: property testing, probability distributions, conditional samples}
}
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