34 Search Results for "Backurs, Arturs"


Document
On the Complexity of Language Membership for Probabilistic Words

Authors: Antoine Amarilli, Mikaël Monet, Paul Raphaël, and Sylvain Salvati

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


Abstract
We study the membership problem to context-free languages L (CFLs) on probabilistic words, that specify for each position a probability distribution on the letters (assuming independence across positions). Our task is to compute, given a probabilistic word, what is the probability that a word drawn according to the distribution belongs to L. This problem generalizes the problem of counting how many words of length n belong to L, or of counting how many completions of a partial word belong to L. We show that this problem is in polynomial time for unambiguous context-free languages (uCFLs), but can be #P-hard already for unions of two linear uCFLs. More generally, we show that the problem is in polynomial time for so-called poly-slicewise-unambiguous languages, where given a length n we can tractably compute an uCFL for the words of length n in the language. This class includes some inherently ambiguous languages, and implies the tractability of bounded CFLs and of languages recognized by unambiguous polynomial-time counter automata; but we show that the problem can be #P-hard for nondeterministic counter automata, even for Parikh automata with a single counter. We then introduce classes of circuits from knowledge compilation which we use for tractable counting, and show that this covers the tractability of poly-slicewise-unambiguous languages and of some CFLs that are not poly-slicewise-unambiguous. Extending these circuits with negation further allows us to show tractability for the language of primitive words, and for the language of concatenations of two palindromes. We finally show the conditional undecidability of the meta-problem that asks, given a CFG, whether the probabilistic membership problem for that CFG is tractable or #P-hard.

Cite as

Antoine Amarilli, Mikaël Monet, Paul Raphaël, and Sylvain Salvati. On the Complexity of Language Membership for Probabilistic Words. In 43rd International Symposium on Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science (STACS 2026). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 364, pp. 5:1-5:21, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)


Copy BibTex To Clipboard

@InProceedings{amarilli_et_al:LIPIcs.STACS.2026.5,
  author =	{Amarilli, Antoine and Monet, Mika\"{e}l and Rapha\"{e}l, Paul and Salvati, Sylvain},
  title =	{{On the Complexity of Language Membership for Probabilistic Words}},
  booktitle =	{43rd International Symposium on Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science (STACS 2026)},
  pages =	{5:1--5:21},
  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.2026.5},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-254943},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.STACS.2026.5},
  annote =	{Keywords: Automaton, probabilistic words, context-free grammar, membership problem}
}
Document
Mind the Gap. Doubling Constant Parametrization of Weighted Problems: TSP, Max-Cut, and More

Authors: Mihail Stoian

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


Abstract
Despite much research, hard weighted problems still resist super-polynomial improvements over their textbook solution. On the other hand, the unweighted versions of these problems have recently witnessed the sought-after speedups. Currently, the only way to repurpose the algorithm of the unweighted version for the weighted version is to employ a polynomial embedding of the input weights. This, however, introduces a pseudo-polynomial factor into the running time, which becomes impractical for arbitrarily weighted instances. In this paper, we introduce a new way to repurpose the algorithm of the unweighted problem. Specifically, we show that the time complexity of several well-known NP-hard problems operating over the (min, +) and (max, +) semirings, such as TSP, Weighted Max-Cut, and Edge-Weighted k-Clique, is proportional to that of their unweighted versions when the set of input weights has small doubling. We achieve this by a meta-algorithm that converts the input weights into polynomially bounded integers using the recent constructive Freiman’s theorem by Randolph and Węgrzycki [ESA 2024] before applying the polynomial embedding.

Cite as

Mihail Stoian. Mind the Gap. Doubling Constant Parametrization of Weighted Problems: TSP, Max-Cut, and More. In 43rd International Symposium on Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science (STACS 2026). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 364, pp. 79:1-79:19, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)


Copy BibTex To Clipboard

@InProceedings{stoian:LIPIcs.STACS.2026.79,
  author =	{Stoian, Mihail},
  title =	{{Mind the Gap. Doubling Constant Parametrization of Weighted Problems: TSP, Max-Cut, and More}},
  booktitle =	{43rd International Symposium on Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science (STACS 2026)},
  pages =	{79:1--79:19},
  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.2026.79},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-255680},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.STACS.2026.79},
  annote =	{Keywords: doubling constant parametrization, weighted problems, traveling salesman, weighted max-cut, edge-weighted k-clique}
}
Document
Small Space Encoding and Recognition of k-Palindromic Prefixes

Authors: Gabriel Bathie, Jonas Ellert, and Tatiana Starikovskaya

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 359, 36th International Symposium on Algorithms and Computation (ISAAC 2025)


Abstract
Palindromes are non-empty strings that read the same forward and backward. We study the problem of recognizing so-called k-palindromic strings, which can be represented as the concatenation of exactly k palindromes. [Rubinchik and Shur, MFCS 2020] showed that the problem is solvable in linear space and time. We present a read-only algorithm that recognizes all k-palindromic prefixes of a string T of length n in O(n ⋅ 6^{k²} ⋅ log^k n) time and O(6^{k²} ⋅ log^k n) space. As a corollary, we also obtain a read-only algorithm for computing the palindromic length of T, i.e., the smallest k such that T is k-palindromic, in O(n ⋅ 6^{k²} ⋅ log^⌈k/2⌉ n) time and O(6^{k²} ⋅ log^⌈k/2⌉ n) space.

Cite as

Gabriel Bathie, Jonas Ellert, and Tatiana Starikovskaya. Small Space Encoding and Recognition of k-Palindromic Prefixes. In 36th International Symposium on Algorithms and Computation (ISAAC 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 359, pp. 9:1-9:16, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)


Copy BibTex To Clipboard

@InProceedings{bathie_et_al:LIPIcs.ISAAC.2025.9,
  author =	{Bathie, Gabriel and Ellert, Jonas and Starikovskaya, Tatiana},
  title =	{{Small Space Encoding and Recognition of k-Palindromic Prefixes}},
  booktitle =	{36th International Symposium on Algorithms and Computation (ISAAC 2025)},
  pages =	{9:1--9:16},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-408-6},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{359},
  editor =	{Chen, Ho-Lin and Hon, Wing-Kai and Tsai, Meng-Tsung},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.ISAAC.2025.9},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-249178},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ISAAC.2025.9},
  annote =	{Keywords: palindromic length, read-only algorithms, palindromes}
}
Document
Quantum Approximate k-Minimum Finding

Authors: Minbo Gao, Zhengfeng Ji, and Qisheng Wang

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


Abstract
Quantum k-minimum finding is a fundamental subroutine with numerous applications in combinatorial problems and machine learning. Previous approaches typically assume oracle access to exact function values, making it challenging to integrate this subroutine with other quantum algorithms. In this paper, we propose an (almost) optimal quantum k-minimum finding algorithm that works with approximate values for all k ≥ 1, extending a result of van Apeldoorn, Gilyén, Gribling, and de Wolf (FOCS 2017) for k = 1. As practical applications, we present efficient quantum algorithms for identifying the k smallest expectation values among multiple observables and for determining the k lowest ground state energies of a Hamiltonian with a known eigenbasis.

Cite as

Minbo Gao, Zhengfeng Ji, and Qisheng Wang. Quantum Approximate k-Minimum Finding. In 33rd Annual European Symposium on Algorithms (ESA 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 351, pp. 51:1-51:15, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)


Copy BibTex To Clipboard

@InProceedings{gao_et_al:LIPIcs.ESA.2025.51,
  author =	{Gao, Minbo and Ji, Zhengfeng and Wang, Qisheng},
  title =	{{Quantum Approximate k-Minimum Finding}},
  booktitle =	{33rd Annual European Symposium on Algorithms (ESA 2025)},
  pages =	{51:1--51:15},
  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.2025.51},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-245192},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ESA.2025.51},
  annote =	{Keywords: Quantum Computing, Quantum Algorithms, Quantum Minimum Finding}
}
Document
Faster Algorithm for Bounded Tree Edit Distance in the Low-Distance Regime

Authors: Tomasz Kociumaka and Ali Shahali

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


Abstract
The tree edit distance is a natural dissimilarity measure between rooted ordered trees whose nodes are labeled over an alphabet Σ. It is defined as the minimum number of node edits - insertions, deletions, and relabelings - required to transform one tree into the other. The weighted variant assigns costs ≥ 1 to edits (based on node labels), minimizing total cost rather than edit count. The unweighted tree edit distance between two trees of total size n can be computed in 𝒪(n^{2.6857}) time; in contrast, determining the weighted tree edit distance is fine-grained equivalent to the All-Pairs Shortest Paths (APSP) problem and requires n³/2^Ω(√{log n}) time [Nogler, Polak, Saha, Vassilevska Williams, Xu, Ye; STOC'25]. These impractical super-quadratic times for large, similar trees motivate the bounded version, parameterizing runtime by the distance k to enable faster algorithms for k ≪ n. Prior algorithms for bounded unweighted edit distance achieve 𝒪(nk²log n) [Akmal & Jin; ICALP’21] and 𝒪(n + k⁷log k) [Das, Gilbert, Hajiaghayi, Kociumaka, Saha; STOC'23]. For weighted, only 𝒪(n + k^{15}) is known [Das, Gilbert, Hajiaghayi, Kociumaka, Saha; STOC'23]. We present an 𝒪(n + k⁶ log k)-time algorithm for bounded tree edit distance in both weighted/unweighted settings. First, we devise a simpler weighted 𝒪(nk² log n)-time algorithm. Next, we exploit periodic structures in input trees via an optimized universal kernel: modifying prior 𝒪(n)-time 𝒪(k⁵)-size kernels to generate such structured instances, enabling efficient analysis.

Cite as

Tomasz Kociumaka and Ali Shahali. Faster Algorithm for Bounded Tree Edit Distance in the Low-Distance Regime. In 33rd Annual European Symposium on Algorithms (ESA 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 351, pp. 94:1-94:16, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)


Copy BibTex To Clipboard

@InProceedings{kociumaka_et_al:LIPIcs.ESA.2025.94,
  author =	{Kociumaka, Tomasz and Shahali, Ali},
  title =	{{Faster Algorithm for Bounded Tree Edit Distance in the Low-Distance Regime}},
  booktitle =	{33rd Annual European Symposium on Algorithms (ESA 2025)},
  pages =	{94:1--94:16},
  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.2025.94},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-245634},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ESA.2025.94},
  annote =	{Keywords: tree edit distance, edit distance, kernelization, dynamic programming}
}
Document
Fine-Grained Classification of Detecting Dominating Patterns

Authors: Jonathan Dransfeld, Marvin Künnemann, and Mirza Redzic

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


Abstract
We consider the following generalization of dominating sets: Let G be a host graph and P be a pattern graph P. A dominating P-pattern in G is a subset S of vertices in G that (1) forms a dominating set in G and (2) induces a subgraph isomorphic to P. The graph theory literature studies the properties of dominating P-patterns for various patterns P, including cliques, matchings, independent sets, cycles and paths. Previous work (Kunnemann, Redzic 2024) obtains algorithms and conditional lower bounds for detecting dominating P-patterns particularly for P being a k-clique, a k-independent set and a k-matching. Their results give conditionally tight lower bounds if k is sufficiently large (where the bound depends the matrix multiplication exponent ω). We ask: Can we obtain a classification of the fine-grained complexity for all patterns P? Indeed, we define a graph parameter ρ(P) such that if ω = 2, then (n^ρ(P) m^{(|V(P)|-ρ(P))/2})^{1±o(1)} is the optimal running time assuming the Orthogonal Vectors Hypothesis, for all patterns P except the triangle K₃. Here, the host graph G has n vertices and m = Θ(n^α) edges, where 1 ≤ α ≤ 2. The parameter ρ(P) is closely related (but sometimes different) to a parameter δ(P) = max_{S ⊆ V(P)} |S|-|N(S)| studied in (Alon 1981) to tightly quantify the maximum number of occurrences of induced subgraphs isomorphic to P. Our results stand in contrast to the lack of a full fine-grained classification of detecting an arbitrary (not necessarily dominating) induced P-pattern.

Cite as

Jonathan Dransfeld, Marvin Künnemann, and Mirza Redzic. Fine-Grained Classification of Detecting Dominating Patterns. In 33rd Annual European Symposium on Algorithms (ESA 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 351, pp. 98:1-98:15, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)


Copy BibTex To Clipboard

@InProceedings{dransfeld_et_al:LIPIcs.ESA.2025.98,
  author =	{Dransfeld, Jonathan and K\"{u}nnemann, Marvin and Redzic, Mirza},
  title =	{{Fine-Grained Classification of Detecting Dominating Patterns}},
  booktitle =	{33rd Annual European Symposium on Algorithms (ESA 2025)},
  pages =	{98:1--98:15},
  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.2025.98},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-245679},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ESA.2025.98},
  annote =	{Keywords: fine-grained complexity theory, domination in graphs, subgraph isomorphism, classification theorem, parameterized algorithms}
}
Document
Polynomial-Time Constant-Approximation for Fair Sum-Of-Radii Clustering

Authors: Sina Bagheri Nezhad, Sayan Bandyapadhyay, and Tianzhi Chen

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


Abstract
In a seminal work, Chierichetti et al. [Chierichetti et al., 2017] introduced the (t,k)-fair clustering problem: Given a set of red points and a set of blue points in a metric space, a clustering is called fair if the number of red points in each cluster is at most t times and at least 1/t times the number of blue points in that cluster. The goal is to compute a fair clustering with at most k clusters that optimizes certain objective function. Considering this problem, they designed a polynomial-time O(1)- and O(t)-approximation for the k-center and the k-median objective, respectively. Recently, Carta et al. [Carta et al., 2024] studied this problem with the sum-of-radii objective and obtained a (6+ε)-approximation with running time O((k log_{1+ε}(k/ε))^k n^O(1)), i.e., fixed-parameter tractable in k. Here n is the input size. In this work, we design the first polynomial-time O(1)-approximation for (t,k)-fair clustering with the sum-of-radii objective, improving the result of Carta et al. Our result places sum-of-radii in the same group of objectives as k-center, that admit polynomial-time O(1)-approximations. This result also implies a polynomial-time O(1)-approximation for the Euclidean version of the problem, for which an f(k)⋅n^O(1)-time (1+ε)-approximation was known due to Drexler et al. [Drexler et al., 2023]. Here f is an exponential function of k. We are also able to extend our result to any arbitrary 𝓁 ≥ 2 number of colors when t = 1. This matches known results for the k-center and k-median objectives in this case. The significant disparity of sum-of-radii compared to k-center and k-median presents several complex challenges, all of which we successfully overcome in our work. Our main contribution is a novel cluster-merging-based analysis technique for sum-of-radii that helps us achieve the constant-approximation bounds.

Cite as

Sina Bagheri Nezhad, Sayan Bandyapadhyay, and Tianzhi Chen. Polynomial-Time Constant-Approximation for Fair Sum-Of-Radii Clustering. In 33rd Annual European Symposium on Algorithms (ESA 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 351, pp. 62:1-62:16, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)


Copy BibTex To Clipboard

@InProceedings{bagherinezhad_et_al:LIPIcs.ESA.2025.62,
  author =	{Bagheri Nezhad, Sina and Bandyapadhyay, Sayan and Chen, Tianzhi},
  title =	{{Polynomial-Time Constant-Approximation for Fair Sum-Of-Radii Clustering}},
  booktitle =	{33rd Annual European Symposium on Algorithms (ESA 2025)},
  pages =	{62:1--62:16},
  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.2025.62},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-245309},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ESA.2025.62},
  annote =	{Keywords: fair clustering, sum-of-radii clustering, approximation algorithms}
}
Document
Hardness of Median and Center in the Ulam Metric

Authors: Nick Fischer, Elazar Goldenberg, Mursalin Habib, and Karthik C. S.

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


Abstract
The classical rank aggregation problem seeks to combine a set X of n permutations into a single representative "consensus" permutation. In this paper, we investigate two fundamental rank aggregation tasks under the well-studied Ulam metric: computing a median permutation (which minimizes the sum of Ulam distances to X) and computing a center permutation (which minimizes the maximum Ulam distance to X) in two settings. - Continuous Setting: In the continuous setting, the median/center is allowed to be any permutation. It is known that computing a center in the Ulam metric is NP-hard and we add to this by showing that computing a median is NP-hard as well via a simple reduction from the Max-Cut problem. While this result may not be unexpected, it had remained elusive until now and confirms a speculation by Chakraborty, Das, and Krauthgamer [SODA '21]. - Discrete Setting: In the discrete setting, the median/center must be a permutation from the input set. We fully resolve the fine-grained complexity of the discrete median and discrete center problems under the Ulam metric, proving that the naive Õ(n² L)-time algorithm (where L is the length of the permutation) is conditionally optimal. This resolves an open problem raised by Abboud, Bateni, Cohen-Addad, Karthik C. S., and Seddighin [APPROX '23]. Our reductions are inspired by the known fine-grained lower bounds for similarity measures, but we face and overcome several new highly technical challenges.

Cite as

Nick Fischer, Elazar Goldenberg, Mursalin Habib, and Karthik C. S.. Hardness of Median and Center in the Ulam Metric. In 33rd Annual European Symposium on Algorithms (ESA 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 351, pp. 111:1-111:17, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)


Copy BibTex To Clipboard

@InProceedings{fischer_et_al:LIPIcs.ESA.2025.111,
  author =	{Fischer, Nick and Goldenberg, Elazar and Habib, Mursalin and Karthik C. S.},
  title =	{{Hardness of Median and Center in the Ulam Metric}},
  booktitle =	{33rd Annual European Symposium on Algorithms (ESA 2025)},
  pages =	{111:1--111:17},
  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.2025.111},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-245809},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ESA.2025.111},
  annote =	{Keywords: Ulam distance, median, center, rank aggregation, fine-grained complexity}
}
Document
Bounded Weighted Edit Distance: Dynamic Algorithms and Matching Lower Bounds

Authors: Itai Boneh, Egor Gorbachev, and Tomasz Kociumaka

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


Abstract
The edit distance ed(X,Y) of two strings X,Y ∈ Σ^* is the minimum number of character edits (insertions, deletions, and substitutions) needed to transform X into Y. Its weighted counterpart ed^w(X,Y) minimizes the total cost of edits, where the costs of individual edits, depending on the edit type and the characters involved, are specified using a function w, normalized so that each edit costs at least one. The textbook dynamic-programming procedure, given strings X,Y ∈ Σ^{≤ n} and oracle access to w, computes ed^w(X,Y) in 𝒪(n²) time. Nevertheless, one can achieve better running times if the computed distance, denoted k, is small: 𝒪(n+k²) for unit weights [Landau and Vishkin; JCSS'88] and Õ(n+√{nk³}) for arbitrary weights [Cassis, Kociumaka, Wellnitz; FOCS'23]. In this paper, we study the dynamic version of the weighted edit distance problem, where the goal is to maintain ed^w(X,Y) for strings X,Y ∈ Σ^{≤ n} that change over time, with each update specified as an edit in X or Y. Very recently, Gorbachev and Kociumaka [STOC'25] showed that the unweighted distance ed(X,Y) can be maintained in Õ(k) time per update after Õ(n+k²)-time preprocessing; here, k denotes the current value of ed(X,Y). Their algorithm generalizes to small integer weights, but the underlying approach is incompatible with large weights. Our main result is a dynamic algorithm that maintains ed^w(X,Y) in Õ(k^{3-γ}) time per update after Õ(nk^γ)-time preprocessing. Here, γ ∈ [0,1] is a real trade-off parameter and k ≥ 1 is an integer threshold fixed at preprocessing time, with ∞ returned whenever ed^w(X,Y) > k. We complement our algorithm with conditional lower bounds showing fine-grained optimality of our trade-off for γ ∈ [0.5,1) and justifying our choice to fix k. We also generalize our solution to a much more robust setting while preserving the fine-grained optimal trade-off. Our full algorithm maintains X ∈ Σ^{≤ n} subject not only to character edits but also substring deletions and copy-pastes, each supported in Õ(k²) time. Instead of dynamically maintaining Y, it answers queries that, given any string Y specified through a sequence of 𝒪(k) arbitrary edits transforming X into Y, in Õ(k^{3-γ}) time compute ed^w(X,Y) or report that ed^w(X,Y) > k.

Cite as

Itai Boneh, Egor Gorbachev, and Tomasz Kociumaka. Bounded Weighted Edit Distance: Dynamic Algorithms and Matching Lower Bounds. In 33rd Annual European Symposium on Algorithms (ESA 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 351, pp. 45:1-45:16, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)


Copy BibTex To Clipboard

@InProceedings{boneh_et_al:LIPIcs.ESA.2025.45,
  author =	{Boneh, Itai and Gorbachev, Egor and Kociumaka, Tomasz},
  title =	{{Bounded Weighted Edit Distance: Dynamic Algorithms and Matching Lower Bounds}},
  booktitle =	{33rd Annual European Symposium on Algorithms (ESA 2025)},
  pages =	{45:1--45:16},
  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.2025.45},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-245139},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ESA.2025.45},
  annote =	{Keywords: Edit distance, dynamic algorithms, conditional lower bounds}
}
Document
(Multivariate) k-SUM as Barrier to Succinct Computation

Authors: Geri Gokaj, Marvin Künnemann, Sabine Storandt, and Carina Truschel

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


Abstract
How does the time complexity of a problem change when the input is given succinctly rather than explicitly? We study this question for several geometric problems defined on a set X of N points in ℤ^d. As succinct representation, we choose a sumset (or Minkowski sum) representation: Instead of receiving X explicitly, we are given sets A,B of n points that define X as A+B = {a+b∣ a ∈ A,b ∈ B}. We investigate the fine-grained complexity of this succinct version for several Õ(N)-time computable geometric primitives. Remarkably, we can tie their complexity tightly to the complexity of corresponding k-SUM problems. Specifically, we introduce as All-ints 3-SUM(n,n,k) the following multivariate, multi-output variant of 3-SUM: given sets A,B of size n and set C of size k, determine for all c ∈ C whether there are a ∈ A and b ∈ B with a+b = c. We obtain the following results: 1) Succinct closest L_∞-pair requires time N^{1-o(1)} under the 3-SUM hypothesis, while succinct furthest L_∞-pair can be solved in time Õ(n). 2) Succinct bichromatic closest L_∞-Pair requires time N^{1-o(1)} iff the 4-SUM hypothesis holds. 3) The following problems are fine-grained equivalent to All-ints 3-SUM(n,n,k): succinct skyline computation in 2D with output size k and succinct batched orthogonal range search with k given ranges. This establishes conditionally tight Õ(min{nk, N})-time algorithms for these problems. We obtain further connections with All-ints 3-SUM(n,n,k) for succinctly computing independent sets in unit interval graphs. Thus, (Multivariate) k-SUM problems precisely capture the barrier for enabling sumset-succinct computation for various geometric primitives.

Cite as

Geri Gokaj, Marvin Künnemann, Sabine Storandt, and Carina Truschel. (Multivariate) k-SUM as Barrier to Succinct Computation. In 33rd Annual European Symposium on Algorithms (ESA 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 351, pp. 42:1-42:19, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)


Copy BibTex To Clipboard

@InProceedings{gokaj_et_al:LIPIcs.ESA.2025.42,
  author =	{Gokaj, Geri and K\"{u}nnemann, Marvin and Storandt, Sabine and Truschel, Carina},
  title =	{{(Multivariate) k-SUM as Barrier to Succinct Computation}},
  booktitle =	{33rd Annual European Symposium on Algorithms (ESA 2025)},
  pages =	{42:1--42:19},
  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.2025.42},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-245101},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ESA.2025.42},
  annote =	{Keywords: Fine-grained complexity theory, sumsets, additive combinatorics, succinct inputs, computational geometry}
}
Document
Linear Time Subsequence and Supersequence Regex Matching

Authors: Antoine Amarilli, Florin Manea, Tina Ringleb, and Markus L. Schmid

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 345, 50th International Symposium on Mathematical Foundations of Computer Science (MFCS 2025)


Abstract
It is well-known that checking whether a given string w matches a given regular expression r can be done in quadratic time O(|w|⋅ |r|) and that this cannot be improved to a truly subquadratic running time of O((|w|⋅ |r|)^{1-ε}) assuming the strong exponential time hypothesis (SETH). We study a different matching paradigm where we ask instead whether w has a subsequence that matches r, and show that regex matching in this sense can be solved in linear time O(|w| + |r|). Further, the same holds if we ask for a supersequence. We show that the quantitative variants where we want to compute a longest or shortest subsequence or supersequence of w that matches r can be solved in O(|w|⋅ |r|), i. e., asymptotically no worse than classical regex matching; and we show that O(|w| + |r|) is conditionally not possible for these problems. We also investigate these questions with respect to other natural string relations like the infix, prefix, left-extension or extension relation instead of the subsequence and supersequence relation. We further study the complexity of the universal problem where we ask if all subsequences (or supersequences, infixes, prefixes, left-extensions or extensions) of an input string satisfy a given regular expression.

Cite as

Antoine Amarilli, Florin Manea, Tina Ringleb, and Markus L. Schmid. Linear Time Subsequence and Supersequence Regex Matching. In 50th International Symposium on Mathematical Foundations of Computer Science (MFCS 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 345, pp. 9:1-9:19, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)


Copy BibTex To Clipboard

@InProceedings{amarilli_et_al:LIPIcs.MFCS.2025.9,
  author =	{Amarilli, Antoine and Manea, Florin and Ringleb, Tina and Schmid, Markus L.},
  title =	{{Linear Time Subsequence and Supersequence Regex Matching}},
  booktitle =	{50th International Symposium on Mathematical Foundations of Computer Science (MFCS 2025)},
  pages =	{9:1--9:19},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-388-1},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{345},
  editor =	{Gawrychowski, Pawe{\l} and Mazowiecki, Filip and Skrzypczak, Micha{\l}},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.MFCS.2025.9},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-241162},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.MFCS.2025.9},
  annote =	{Keywords: subsequence, supersequence, regular language, regular expression, automata}
}
Document
Efficient Matching of Some Fundamental Regular Expressions with Backreferences

Authors: Taisei Nogami and Tachio Terauchi

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 345, 50th International Symposium on Mathematical Foundations of Computer Science (MFCS 2025)


Abstract
Regular expression matching is of practical importance due to its widespread use in real-world applications. In practical use, regular expressions are often used with real-world extensions. Accordingly, the matching problem of regular expressions with real-world extensions has been actively studied in recent years, yielding steady progress. However, backreference, a popular extension supported by most modern programming languages such as Java, Python, JavaScript and others in their standard libraries for string processing, is an exception to this positive trend. In fact, it is known that the matching problem of regular expressions with backreferences (rewbs) is theoretically hard and the existence of an asymptotically fast matching algorithm for arbitrary rewbs seems unlikely. Even among currently known partial solutions, the balance between efficiency and generality remains unsatisfactory. To bridge this gap, we present an efficient matching algorithm for rewbs of the form e_0 (e)_1 e_1 \1 e_2 where e_0, e, e_1, e_2 are pure regular expressions, which are fundamental and frequently used in practical applications. It runs in quadratic time with respect to the input string length, substantially improving the best-known cubic time complexity for these rewbs. Our algorithm combines ideas from both stringology and automata theory in a novel way. We leverage two techniques from automata theory, injection and summarization, to simultaneously examine matches whose backreferenced substrings are either a fixed right-maximal repeat or its extendable prefixes, which are concepts from stringology. By further utilizing a subtle property of extendable prefixes, our algorithm correctly decides the matching problem while achieving the quadratic-time complexity.

Cite as

Taisei Nogami and Tachio Terauchi. Efficient Matching of Some Fundamental Regular Expressions with Backreferences. In 50th International Symposium on Mathematical Foundations of Computer Science (MFCS 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 345, pp. 81:1-81:19, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)


Copy BibTex To Clipboard

@InProceedings{nogami_et_al:LIPIcs.MFCS.2025.81,
  author =	{Nogami, Taisei and Terauchi, Tachio},
  title =	{{Efficient Matching of Some Fundamental Regular Expressions with Backreferences}},
  booktitle =	{50th International Symposium on Mathematical Foundations of Computer Science (MFCS 2025)},
  pages =	{81:1--81:19},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-388-1},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{345},
  editor =	{Gawrychowski, Pawe{\l} and Mazowiecki, Filip and Skrzypczak, Micha{\l}},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.MFCS.2025.81},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-241886},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.MFCS.2025.81},
  annote =	{Keywords: Regular expressions, Backreferences, Regex matching, NFA simulation, Suffix arrays, Right-maximal repeats}
}
Document
Shortest Paths in Multimode Graphs

Authors: Yael Kirkpatrick and Virginia Vassilevska Williams

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 345, 50th International Symposium on Mathematical Foundations of Computer Science (MFCS 2025)


Abstract
In this work we study shortest path problems in multimode graphs, a generalization of the min-distance measure introduced by Abboud, Vassilevska W. and Wang in [SODA'16]. A multimode shortest path is the shortest path using one of multiple "modes" of transportation that cannot be combined. This represents real-world scenarios where different modes are not combinable, such as flights operated by different airline alliances. The problem arises naturally in machine learning in the context of learning with multiple embedding. More precisely, a k-multimode graph is a collection of k graphs on the same vertex set and the k-mode distance between two vertices is defined as the minimum among the distances computed in each individual graph. We focus on approximating fundamental graph parameters on these graphs, specifically diameter and radius. In undirected multimode graphs we first show an elegant linear time 3-approximation algorithm for 2-mode diameter. We then extend this idea into a general subroutine that can be used as a part of any α-approximation, and use it to construct a 2 and 2.5 approximation algorithm for 2-mode diameter. For undirected radius, we introduce a general scheme that can compute a 3-approximation of the k-mode radius for any k and runs in near linear time in the case of k = O(1). In the directed case we establish an equivalence between approximating 2-mode diameter on DAGs and approximating the min-diameter, while for general graphs we develop novel techniques and provide a linear time algorithm to determine whether the diameter is finite. We also develop many conditional fine-grained lower bounds for various multimode diameter and radius approximation problems. We are able to show that many of our algorithms are tight under popular fine-grained complexity hypotheses, including our linear time 3-approximation for 3-mode undirected diameter and radius. As part of this effort we propose the first extension to the Hitting Set Hypothesis [SODA'16], which we call the 𝓁-Hitting Set Hypothesis. We use this hypothesis to prove the first parameterized lower bound tradeoff for radius approximation algorithms.

Cite as

Yael Kirkpatrick and Virginia Vassilevska Williams. Shortest Paths in Multimode Graphs. In 50th International Symposium on Mathematical Foundations of Computer Science (MFCS 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 345, pp. 63:1-63:16, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)


Copy BibTex To Clipboard

@InProceedings{kirkpatrick_et_al:LIPIcs.MFCS.2025.63,
  author =	{Kirkpatrick, Yael and Vassilevska Williams, Virginia},
  title =	{{Shortest Paths in Multimode Graphs}},
  booktitle =	{50th International Symposium on Mathematical Foundations of Computer Science (MFCS 2025)},
  pages =	{63:1--63:16},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-388-1},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{345},
  editor =	{Gawrychowski, Pawe{\l} and Mazowiecki, Filip and Skrzypczak, Micha{\l}},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.MFCS.2025.63},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-241703},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.MFCS.2025.63},
  annote =	{Keywords: Graph Algorithms, Shortest Paths, Diameter, Radius, Fine-Grained Complexity}
}
Document
Linear-Space Subquadratic-Time String Alignment Algorithm for Arbitrary Scoring Matrices

Authors: Ryosuke Yamano and Tetsuo Shibuya

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 344, 25th International Conference on Algorithms for Bioinformatics (WABI 2025)


Abstract
Theoretically, the fastest algorithm by Crochemore et al. for computing the alignment of two given strings of size n over a constant alphabet takes O(n²/log n) time. The algorithm uses Lempel–Ziv parsing to divide the dynamic programming matrix into blocks and utilizes the repetitive structure. It is the only previously known subquadratic-time algorithm that can handle scoring matrices of arbitrary weights. However, this algorithm takes O(n²/log n) space, and reducing the space while preserving the time complexity has been an open problem for more than 20 years. We present a solution to this issue by achieving an O(n) space algorithm that maintains O(n²/log n) time. The classical refinement by Hirschberg reduces the space complexity of the textbook O(n²) algorithm to O(n) while preserving the quadratic time. However, applying this technique to the algorithm of Crochemore et al. has been considered challenging because their method requires O(n² / log n) space even when computing only the alignment score. Our modification enables the application of Hirschberg’s refinement, allowing traceback computation in O(n) space while preserving the O(n² / log n) overall time complexity. Our algorithm can be applied to both global and local string alignment problems.

Cite as

Ryosuke Yamano and Tetsuo Shibuya. Linear-Space Subquadratic-Time String Alignment Algorithm for Arbitrary Scoring Matrices. In 25th International Conference on Algorithms for Bioinformatics (WABI 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 344, pp. 21:1-21:14, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)


Copy BibTex To Clipboard

@InProceedings{yamano_et_al:LIPIcs.WABI.2025.21,
  author =	{Yamano, Ryosuke and Shibuya, Tetsuo},
  title =	{{Linear-Space Subquadratic-Time String Alignment Algorithm for Arbitrary Scoring Matrices}},
  booktitle =	{25th International Conference on Algorithms for Bioinformatics (WABI 2025)},
  pages =	{21:1--21:14},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-386-7},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{344},
  editor =	{Brejov\'{a}, Bro\v{n}a and Patro, Rob},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.WABI.2025.21},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-239479},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.WABI.2025.21},
  annote =	{Keywords: String alignment, dynamic programming, linear space algorithms}
}
Document
Research
Conditional Lower Bounds for String Matching in Labelled Graphs

Authors: Massimo Equi

Published in: OASIcs, Volume 132, From Strings to Graphs, and Back Again: A Festschrift for Roberto Grossi's 60th Birthday (2025)


Abstract
The problem of String Matching in Labelled Graphs (SMLG) is one possible generalization of the classic problem of finding a string inside another of greater length. In its most general form, SMLG asks to find a match for a string into a graph, which can be directed or undirected. As for string matching, many different variations are possible. For example, the match could be exact or approximate, and the match could lie on a path or a walk. Some of these variations easily fall into the NP-hard realm, while other variants are solvable in polynomial time. For the latter ones, fine-grained complexity has been a game changer in proving quadratic conditional lower bounds, allowing to finally close the gap with those upper bounds that remained unmatched for almost two decades. If the match is allowed to be approximate, SMLG enjoys the same conditional quadratic lower bounds shown for example for edit distance (Backurs and Indyk, STOC '15). The case that really requires ad hoc conditional lower bounds is the one of finding an exact match that lies on a walk. In this work, we focus on explaining various conditional lower bounds for this version of SMLG, with the goal of giving an overall perspective that could help understand which aspects of the problem make it quadratic. We will introduce the reader to the field of fine-grained complexity and show how it can successfully provide the exact type of lower bounds needed for polynomial problems such as SMLG.

Cite as

Massimo Equi. Conditional Lower Bounds for String Matching in Labelled Graphs. In From Strings to Graphs, and Back Again: A Festschrift for Roberto Grossi's 60th Birthday. Open Access Series in Informatics (OASIcs), Volume 132, pp. 7:1-7:13, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)


Copy BibTex To Clipboard

@InProceedings{equi:OASIcs.Grossi.7,
  author =	{Equi, Massimo},
  title =	{{Conditional Lower Bounds for String Matching in Labelled Graphs}},
  booktitle =	{From Strings to Graphs, and Back Again: A Festschrift for Roberto Grossi's 60th Birthday},
  pages =	{7:1--7:13},
  series =	{Open Access Series in Informatics (OASIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-391-1},
  ISSN =	{2190-6807},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{132},
  editor =	{Conte, Alessio and Marino, Andrea and Rosone, Giovanna and Vitter, Jeffrey Scott},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/OASIcs.Grossi.7},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-238063},
  doi =		{10.4230/OASIcs.Grossi.7},
  annote =	{Keywords: conditional lower bounds, strong exponential time hypothesis, fine-grained complexity, string matching, graphs}
}
  • Refine by Type
  • 34 Document/PDF
  • 25 Document/HTML

  • Refine by Publication Year
  • 2 2026
  • 23 2025
  • 1 2021
  • 1 2020
  • 3 2019
  • Show More...

  • Refine by Author
  • 6 Backurs, Arturs
  • 4 Künnemann, Marvin
  • 2 Amarilli, Antoine
  • 2 Bille, Philip
  • 2 Fischer, Nick
  • Show More...

  • Refine by Series/Journal
  • 32 LIPIcs
  • 2 OASIcs

  • Refine by Classification
  • 8 Theory of computation → Pattern matching
  • 6 Theory of computation → Problems, reductions and completeness
  • 5 Theory of computation → Graph algorithms analysis
  • 3 Theory of computation → Computational geometry
  • 3 Theory of computation → Design and analysis of algorithms
  • Show More...

  • Refine by Keyword
  • 4 fine-grained complexity
  • 3 Fine-Grained Complexity
  • 3 fine-grained complexity theory
  • 2 Hardness in P
  • 2 Quantum Algorithms
  • Show More...

Any Issues?
X

Feedback on the Current Page

CAPTCHA

Thanks for your feedback!

Feedback submitted to Dagstuhl Publishing

Could not send message

Please try again later or send an E-mail