DROPS

Volume

LIPIcs, Volume 164

36th International Symposium on Computational Geometry (SoCG 2020)

SoCG 2020, June 23-26, 2020, Zürich, Switzerland

Editors: Sergio Cabello and Danny Z. Chen

Document

DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.STACS.2026.50

A Polynomial Kernel for Face Cover on Non-Embedded Planar Graphs

Authors: Thekla Hamm, Sukanya Pandey, and Krisztina Szilágyi

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

Abstract

Given a planar graph, a subset of its vertices called terminals, and k ∈ ℕ, the Face Cover Number problem asks whether the terminals lie on the boundaries of at most k faces of some embedding of the input graph. When a plane graph is given in the input, the problem is known to have a polynomial kernel [Valentin Garnero et al., 2017]. In this paper, we present the first polynomial kernel for Face Cover Number when the input is a planar graph (without a fixed embedding). Our approach overcomes the challenge of not having a predefined set of face boundaries by building a kernel bottom-up on an SPR-tree while preserving the essential properties of the face cover along the way.

Cite as

Thekla Hamm, Sukanya Pandey, and Krisztina Szilágyi. A Polynomial Kernel for Face Cover on Non-Embedded Planar Graphs. In 43rd International Symposium on Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science (STACS 2026). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 364, pp. 50:1-50:18, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)

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@InProceedings{hamm_et_al:LIPIcs.STACS.2026.50,
  author =	{Hamm, Thekla and Pandey, Sukanya and Szil\'{a}gyi, Krisztina},
  title =	{{A Polynomial Kernel for Face Cover on Non-Embedded Planar Graphs}},
  booktitle =	{43rd International Symposium on Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science (STACS 2026)},
  pages =	{50:1--50:18},
  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.2026.50},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-255392},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.STACS.2026.50},
  annote =	{Keywords: Kernelization, Planar Graphs, SPQR-tree}
}

Document

DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.40

A Simple and Robust Protocol for Distributed Counting

Authors: Edith Cohen, Moshe Shechner, and Uri Stemmer

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

Abstract

We revisit the distributed counting problem, where a server must continuously approximate the total number of events occurring across k sites while minimizing communication. The communication complexity of this problem is known to be Θ(k/(ε)log N) for deterministic protocols. Huang, Yi, and Zhang (2012) showed that randomization can reduce this to Θ((√k)/ε log N), but their analysis is restricted to the oblivious setting, where the stream of events is independent of the protocol’s outputs. Xiong, Zhu, and Huang (2023) presented a robust protocol for distributed counting that removes the oblivious assumption. However, their communication complexity is suboptimal by a polylog(k) factor and their protocol is substantially more complex than the oblivious protocol of Huang et al. (2012). This left open a natural question: could it be that the simple protocol of Huang et al. (2012) is already robust? We resolve this question with two main contributions. First, we show that the protocol of Huang et al. (2012) is itself not robust by constructing an explicit adaptive attack that forces it to lose its accuracy. Second, we present a new, surprisingly simple, robust protocol for distributed counting that achieves the optimal communication complexity of O((√k)/ε log N). Our protocol is simpler than that of Xiong et al. (2023), perhaps even simpler than that of Huang et al. (2012), and is the first to match the optimal oblivious complexity in the adaptive setting.

Cite as

Edith Cohen, Moshe Shechner, and Uri Stemmer. A Simple and Robust Protocol for Distributed Counting. In 17th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2026). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 362, pp. 40:1-40:24, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)

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@InProceedings{cohen_et_al:LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.40,
  author =	{Cohen, Edith and Shechner, Moshe and Stemmer, Uri},
  title =	{{A Simple and Robust Protocol for Distributed Counting}},
  booktitle =	{17th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2026)},
  pages =	{40:1--40:24},
  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.2026.40},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-253272},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.40},
  annote =	{Keywords: Distributed Streaming, Adversarial Streaming}
}

Document

DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.31

Delaunay Triangulations with Predictions

Authors: Sergio Cabello, Timothy M. Chan, and Panos Giannopoulos

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

Abstract

We investigate algorithms with predictions in computational geometry, specifically focusing on the basic problem of computing 2D Delaunay triangulations. Given a set P of n points in the plane and a triangulation G that serves as a "prediction" of the Delaunay triangulation, we would like to use G to compute the correct Delaunay triangulation DT(P) more quickly when G is "close" to DT(P). We obtain a variety of results of this type, under different deterministic and probabilistic settings, including the following: 1) Define D to be the number of edges in G that are not in DT(P). We present a deterministic algorithm to compute DT(P) from G in O(n + Dlog³ n) time, and a randomized algorithm in O(n+Dlog n) expected time, the latter of which is optimal in terms of D. 2) Let R be a random subset of the edges of DT(P), where each edge is chosen independently with probability ρ. Suppose G is any triangulation of P that contains R. We present an algorithm to compute DT(P) from G in O(nlog log n + nlog(1/ρ)) time with high probability. 3) Define d_{vio} to be the maximum number of points of P strictly inside the circumcircle of a triangle in G (the number is 0 if G is equal to DT(P)). We present a deterministic algorithm to compute DT(P) from G in O(nlog^*n + nlog d_{vio}) time. We also obtain results in similar settings for related problems such as 2D Euclidean minimum spanning trees, and hope that our work will open up a fruitful line of future research.

Cite as

Sergio Cabello, Timothy M. Chan, and Panos Giannopoulos. Delaunay Triangulations with Predictions. In 17th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2026). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 362, pp. 31:1-31:23, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)

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@InProceedings{cabello_et_al:LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.31,
  author =	{Cabello, Sergio and Chan, Timothy M. and Giannopoulos, Panos},
  title =	{{Delaunay Triangulations with Predictions}},
  booktitle =	{17th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2026)},
  pages =	{31:1--31:23},
  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.2026.31},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-253186},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.31},
  annote =	{Keywords: Delaunay Triangulation, Minimum Spanning Tree, Algorithms with Predictions}
}

Document

DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.36

Beyond 2-Edge-Connectivity: Algorithms and Impossibility for Content-Oblivious Leader Election

Authors: Yi-Jun Chang, Lyuting Chen, and Haoran Zhou

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

Abstract

The content-oblivious model, introduced by Censor-Hillel, Cohen, Gelles, and Sela (PODC 2022; Distributed Computing 2023), captures an extremely weak form of communication where nodes can only send asynchronous, content-less pulses. They showed that in 2-edge-connected networks, any distributed algorithm can be simulated in the content-oblivious model, provided that a unique leader is designated a priori. Subsequent works of Frei, Gelles, Ghazy, and Nolin (DISC 2024) and Chalopin et al. (DISC 2025) developed content-oblivious leader election algorithms, first for unoriented rings and then for general 2-edge-connected graphs. These results establish that all graph problems are solvable in content-oblivious, 2-edge-connected networks. Much less is known about networks that are not 2-edge-connected. Censor-Hillel, Cohen, Gelles, and Sela showed that no non-constant function f(x,y) can be computed correctly by two parties using content-oblivious communication over a single edge, where one party holds x and the other holds y. This seemingly ruled out many natural graph problems on non-2-edge-connected graphs. In this work, we show that, with the knowledge of network topology G, leader election is possible in a wide range of graphs. Our main contributions are as follows: Impossibility: Graphs symmetric about an edge admit no randomized terminating leader election algorithm, even when nodes have unique identifiers and full knowledge of G. Leader election algorithms: Trees that are not symmetric about any edge admit a quiescently terminating leader election algorithm with topology knowledge, even in anonymous networks, using O(n²) messages, where n is the number of nodes. Moreover, even-diameter trees admit a terminating leader election given only the knowledge of the network diameter D = 2r, with message complexity O(nr). Necessity of topology knowledge: In the family of graphs 𝒢 = {P₃, P₅}, both the 3-path P₃ and the 5-path P₅ admit a quiescently terminating leader election if nodes know the topology exactly. However, if nodes only know that the underlying topology belongs to 𝒢, then terminating leader election is impossible.

Cite as

Yi-Jun Chang, Lyuting Chen, and Haoran Zhou. Beyond 2-Edge-Connectivity: Algorithms and Impossibility for Content-Oblivious Leader Election. In 17th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2026). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 362, pp. 36:1-36:23, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)

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@InProceedings{chang_et_al:LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.36,
  author =	{Chang, Yi-Jun and Chen, Lyuting and Zhou, Haoran},
  title =	{{Beyond 2-Edge-Connectivity: Algorithms and Impossibility for Content-Oblivious Leader Election}},
  booktitle =	{17th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2026)},
  pages =	{36:1--36:23},
  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.2026.36},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-253239},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.36},
  annote =	{Keywords: Asynchronous model, fault tolerance, quiescent termination}
}

Document

DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.94

Smoothed Analysis of Online Metric Matching with a Single Sample: Beyond Metric Distortion

Authors: Yingxi Li, Ellen Vitercik, and Mingwei Yang

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

Abstract

In the online metric matching problem, n servers and n requests lie in a metric space. Servers are available upfront, and requests arrive sequentially. An arriving request must be matched immediately and irrevocably to an available server, incurring a cost equal to their distance. The goal is to minimize the total matching cost. We study this problem in [0, 1]^d with the Euclidean metric, when servers are adversarial and requests are independently drawn from distinct distributions that satisfy a mild smoothness condition. Our main result is an O(1)-competitive algorithm for d ≠ 2 that requires no distributional knowledge, relying only on a single sample from each request distribution. To our knowledge, this is the first algorithm to achieve an o(log n) competitive ratio for non-trivial metrics beyond the i.i.d. setting. Our approach bypasses the Ω(log n) barrier introduced by probabilistic metric embeddings: instead of analyzing the embedding distortion and the algorithm separately, we directly bound the cost of the algorithm on the target metric space of a simple deterministic embedding. We then combine this analysis with lower bounds on the offline optimum for Euclidean metrics, derived via majorization arguments, to obtain our guarantees.

Cite as

Yingxi Li, Ellen Vitercik, and Mingwei Yang. Smoothed Analysis of Online Metric Matching with a Single Sample: Beyond Metric Distortion. In 17th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2026). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 362, pp. 94:1-94:23, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)

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@InProceedings{li_et_al:LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.94,
  author =	{Li, Yingxi and Vitercik, Ellen and Yang, Mingwei},
  title =	{{Smoothed Analysis of Online Metric Matching with a Single Sample: Beyond Metric Distortion}},
  booktitle =	{17th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2026)},
  pages =	{94:1--94:23},
  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.2026.94},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-253815},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.94},
  annote =	{Keywords: Online algorithm, Metric matching, Competitive analysis, Smoothed analysis}
}

Document

DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.IPEC.2025.8

Binary k-Center with Missing Entries: Structure Leads to Tractability

Authors: Tobias Friedrich, Kirill Simonov, and Farehe Soheil

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 358, 20th International Symposium on Parameterized and Exact Computation (IPEC 2025)

Abstract

k-Center clustering is a fundamental classification problem, where the task is to categorize the given collection of entities into k clusters and come up with a representative for each cluster, so that the maximum distance between an entity and its representative is minimized. In this work, we focus on the setting where the entities are represented by binary vectors with missing entries, which model incomplete categorical data. This version of the problem has wide applications, from predictive analytics to bioinformatics. Our main finding is that the problem, which is notoriously hard from the classical complexity viewpoint, becomes tractable as soon as the known entries are sparse and exhibit a certain structure. Formally, we show fixed-parameter tractable algorithms for the parameters vertex cover, fracture number, and treewidth of the row-column graph, which encodes the positions of the known entries of the matrix. Additionally, we tie the complexity of the 1-cluster variant of the problem, which is famous under the name Closest String, to the complexity of solving integer linear programs with few constraints. This implies, in particular, that improving upon the running times of our algorithms would lead to more efficient algorithms for integer linear programming in general.

Cite as

Tobias Friedrich, Kirill Simonov, and Farehe Soheil. Binary k-Center with Missing Entries: Structure Leads to Tractability. In 20th International Symposium on Parameterized and Exact Computation (IPEC 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 358, pp. 8:1-8:19, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

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@InProceedings{friedrich_et_al:LIPIcs.IPEC.2025.8,
  author =	{Friedrich, Tobias and Simonov, Kirill and Soheil, Farehe},
  title =	{{Binary k-Center with Missing Entries: Structure Leads to Tractability}},
  booktitle =	{20th International Symposium on Parameterized and Exact Computation (IPEC 2025)},
  pages =	{8:1--8:19},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-407-9},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{358},
  editor =	{Agrawal, Akanksha and van Leeuwen, Erik Jan},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.IPEC.2025.8},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-251403},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.IPEC.2025.8},
  annote =	{Keywords: Clustering, Missing Entries, k-Center, Parameterized Algorithms}
}

Document

DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.IPEC.2025.16

Designing Compact ILPs via Fast Witness Verification

Authors: Michał Włodarczyk

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 358, 20th International Symposium on Parameterized and Exact Computation (IPEC 2025)

Abstract

The standard formalization of preprocessing in parameterized complexity is given by kernelization. In this work, we depart from this paradigm and study a different type of preprocessing for problems without polynomial kernels, still aiming at producing instances that are easily solvable in practice. Specifically, we ask for which parameterized problems an instance (I,k) can be reduced in polynomial time to an integer linear program (ILP) with poly(k) constraints. We show that this property coincides with the parameterized complexity class WK[1], previously studied in the context of Turing kernelization lower bounds. In turn, the class WK[1] enjoys an elegant characterization in terms of witness verification protocols: a yes-instance should admit a witness of size poly(k) that can be verified in time poly(k). By combining known data structures with new ideas, we design such protocols for several problems, such as r-Way Cut, Vertex Multiway Cut, Steiner Tree, and Minimum Common String Partition, thus showing that they can be modeled by compact ILPs. We also present explicit ILP and MILP formulations for Weighted Vertex Cover on graphs with small (unweighted) vertex cover number. We believe that these results will provide a background for a systematic study of ILP-oriented preprocessing procedures for parameterized problems.

Cite as

Michał Włodarczyk. Designing Compact ILPs via Fast Witness Verification. In 20th International Symposium on Parameterized and Exact Computation (IPEC 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 358, pp. 16:1-16:18, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

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@InProceedings{wlodarczyk:LIPIcs.IPEC.2025.16,
  author =	{W{\l}odarczyk, Micha{\l}},
  title =	{{Designing Compact ILPs via Fast Witness Verification}},
  booktitle =	{20th International Symposium on Parameterized and Exact Computation (IPEC 2025)},
  pages =	{16:1--16:18},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-407-9},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{358},
  editor =	{Agrawal, Akanksha and van Leeuwen, Erik Jan},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.IPEC.2025.16},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-251481},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.IPEC.2025.16},
  annote =	{Keywords: integer programming, kernelization, nondeterminism, multiway cut}
}

Document

DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.FSTTCS.2025.17

Cutoff for the Swendsen–Wang Dynamics on the Complete Graph

Authors: Antonio Blanca and Zhezheng Song

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 360, 45th IARCS Annual Conference on Foundations of Software Technology and Theoretical Computer Science (FSTTCS 2025)

Abstract

We study the speed of convergence of the Swendsen-Wang (SW) dynamics for the q-state ferromagnetic Potts model on the n-vertex complete graph, known as the mean-field model. The SW dynamics was introduced as an attractive alternative to the local Glauber dynamics, often offering faster convergence rates to stationarity in a variety of settings. A series of works have characterized the asymptotic behavior of the speed of convergence of the mean-field SW dynamics for all q ≥ 2 and all values of the inverse temperature parameter β > 0. In particular, it is known that when β > q the mixing time of the SW dynamics is Θ(log n). We strengthen this result by showing that for all β > q, there exists a constant c(β,q) > 0 such that the mixing time of the SW dynamics is c(β,q) log n + Θ(1). This implies that the mean-field SW dynamics exhibits the cutoff phenomenon in this temperature regime, demonstrating that this Markov chain undergoes a sharp transition from "far from stationarity" to "well-mixed" within a narrow Θ(1) time window. The presence of cutoff is algorithmically significant, as simulating the chain for fewer steps than its mixing time could lead to highly biased samples.

Cite as

Antonio Blanca and Zhezheng Song. Cutoff for the Swendsen–Wang Dynamics on the Complete Graph. In 45th IARCS Annual Conference on Foundations of Software Technology and Theoretical Computer Science (FSTTCS 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 360, pp. 17:1-17:21, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

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@InProceedings{blanca_et_al:LIPIcs.FSTTCS.2025.17,
  author =	{Blanca, Antonio and Song, Zhezheng},
  title =	{{Cutoff for the Swendsen–Wang Dynamics on the Complete Graph}},
  booktitle =	{45th IARCS Annual Conference on Foundations of Software Technology and Theoretical Computer Science (FSTTCS 2025)},
  pages =	{17:1--17:21},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-406-2},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{360},
  editor =	{Aiswarya, C. and Mehta, Ruta and Roy, Subhajit},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.FSTTCS.2025.17},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-250987},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.FSTTCS.2025.17},
  annote =	{Keywords: Markov chains, mixing times, cutoff phenomenon, Potts model, mean-field}
}

Document

DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.ISAAC.2025.12

Star-Based Separators for Intersection Graphs of c-Colored Pseudo-Segments

Authors: Mark de Berg, Bart M. P. Jansen, and Jeroen S. K. Lamme

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

Abstract

The Planar Separator Theorem, which states that any planar graph 𝒢 has a separator consisting of O(√n) nodes whose removal partitions 𝒢 into components of size at most 2n/3, is a widely used tool to obtain fast algorithms on planar graphs. Intersection graphs of disks, which generalize planar graphs, do not admit such separators. It has recently been shown that disk graphs do admit so-called clique-based separators that consist of O(√n) cliques. This result has been generalized to intersection graphs of various other types of disk-like objects. Unfortunately, segment intersection graphs do not admit small clique-based separators, because they can contain arbitrarily large bicliques. This is true even in the simple case of axis-aligned segments. In this paper we therefore introduce biclique-based separators (and, in particular, star-based separators), which are separators consisting of a small number of bicliques (or stars). We prove that any c-oriented set of n segments in the plane, where c is a constant, admits a star-based separator consisting of O(√n) stars. In fact, our result is more general, as it applies to any set of n pseudo-segments that is partitioned into c subsets such that the pseudo-segments in the same subset are pairwise disjoint. We extend our result to intersection graphs of c-oriented polygons. These results immediately lead to an almost-exact distance oracle for such intersection graphs, which has O(n√n) storage and O(√n) query time, and that can report the hop-distance between any two query nodes in the intersection graph with an additive error of at most 2. This is the first distance oracle for such types of intersection graphs that has subquadratic storage and sublinear query time and that only has an additive error.

Cite as

Mark de Berg, Bart M. P. Jansen, and Jeroen S. K. Lamme. Star-Based Separators for Intersection Graphs of c-Colored Pseudo-Segments. In 36th International Symposium on Algorithms and Computation (ISAAC 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 359, pp. 12:1-12:16, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

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@InProceedings{deberg_et_al:LIPIcs.ISAAC.2025.12,
  author =	{de Berg, Mark and Jansen, Bart M. P. and Lamme, Jeroen S. K.},
  title =	{{Star-Based Separators for Intersection Graphs of c-Colored Pseudo-Segments}},
  booktitle =	{36th International Symposium on Algorithms and Computation (ISAAC 2025)},
  pages =	{12:1--12:16},
  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.2025.12},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-249207},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ISAAC.2025.12},
  annote =	{Keywords: Computational geometry, intersection graphs, biclique-based separators, distance oracles}
}

Document

DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.DISC.2025.35

PIPQ: Strict Insert-Optimized Concurrent Priority Queue

Authors: Olivia Grimes, Ahmed Hassan, Panagiota Fatourou, and Roberto Palmieri

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 356, 39th International Symposium on Distributed Computing (DISC 2025)

Abstract

This paper presents PIPQ, a strict and linearizable concurrent priority queue whose design differs from existing solutions in literature because it focuses on enabling parallelism of insert operations as opposed to accelerating delete-min operations, as traditionally done. In a nutshell, PIPQ’s structure includes two levels: the worker level and the leader level. The worker level provides per-thread data structures enabling fast and parallel insertions. The leader level contains the highest priority elements in the priority queue and can thus serve delete-min operations. Our evaluation, which includes an exploration of different data access patterns, operation mixes, runtime settings, and an integration into a graph-based application, shows that PIPQ outperforms competitors in a variety of cases, especially with insert-dominant workloads.

Cite as

Olivia Grimes, Ahmed Hassan, Panagiota Fatourou, and Roberto Palmieri. PIPQ: Strict Insert-Optimized Concurrent Priority Queue. In 39th International Symposium on Distributed Computing (DISC 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 356, pp. 35:1-35:23, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

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@InProceedings{grimes_et_al:LIPIcs.DISC.2025.35,
  author =	{Grimes, Olivia and Hassan, Ahmed and Fatourou, Panagiota and Palmieri, Roberto},
  title =	{{PIPQ: Strict Insert-Optimized Concurrent Priority Queue}},
  booktitle =	{39th International Symposium on Distributed Computing (DISC 2025)},
  pages =	{35:1--35:23},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-402-4},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{356},
  editor =	{Kowalski, Dariusz R.},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.DISC.2025.35},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-248525},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.DISC.2025.35},
  annote =	{Keywords: Priority Queue, Concurrent Data Structures, Synchronization}
}

Document

DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.DISC.2025.21

Content-Oblivious Leader Election in 2-Edge-Connected Networks

Authors: Jérémie Chalopin, Yi-Jun Chang, Lyuting Chen, Giuseppe A. Di Luna, and Haoran Zhou

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 356, 39th International Symposium on Distributed Computing (DISC 2025)

Abstract

Censor-Hillel, Cohen, Gelles, and Sela (PODC 2022 & Distributed Computing 2023) studied fully-defective asynchronous networks, where communication channels may arbitrarily corrupt messages. The model is equivalent to content-oblivious computation, where nodes communicate solely via pulses. They showed that if the network is 2-edge-connected, then any algorithm for a noiseless setting can be simulated in the fully-defective setting; otherwise, no non-trivial computation is possible in the fully-defective setting. However, their simulation requires a predesignated leader, which they conjectured to be necessary for any non-trivial content-oblivious task. Recently, Frei, Gelles, Ghazy, and Nolin (DISC 2024) refuted this conjecture for the special case of oriented ring topology. They designed two asynchronous content-oblivious leader election algorithms with message complexity O(n ⋅ ID_{max}), where n is the number of nodes and ID_{max} is the maximum ID. The first algorithm stabilizes in unoriented rings without termination detection. The second algorithm quiescently terminates in oriented rings, thus enabling the execution of the simulation algorithm after leader election. In this work, we present two results: General 2-edge-connected topologies: First, we show an asynchronous content-oblivious leader election algorithm that quiescently terminates in any 2-edge-connected network with message complexity O(m ⋅ N ⋅ ID_{min}), where m is the number of edges, N is a known upper bound on the number of nodes, and ID_{min} is the smallest ID. Combined with the above simulation, this result shows that whenever a size bound N is known, any noiseless algorithm can be simulated in the fully-defective model without a preselected leader, fully refuting the conjecture. Unoriented rings: We then show that the knowledge of N can be dropped in unoriented ring topologies by presenting a quiescently terminating election algorithm with message complexity O(n ⋅ ID_{max}) that matches the previous bound. Consequently, this result constitutes a strict improvement over the previous state of the art and shows that, on rings, fully-defective and noiseless communication are computationally equivalent, with no additional assumptions.

Cite as

Jérémie Chalopin, Yi-Jun Chang, Lyuting Chen, Giuseppe A. Di Luna, and Haoran Zhou. Content-Oblivious Leader Election in 2-Edge-Connected Networks. In 39th International Symposium on Distributed Computing (DISC 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 356, pp. 21:1-21:22, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

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@InProceedings{chalopin_et_al:LIPIcs.DISC.2025.21,
  author =	{Chalopin, J\'{e}r\'{e}mie and Chang, Yi-Jun and Chen, Lyuting and Di Luna, Giuseppe A. and Zhou, Haoran},
  title =	{{Content-Oblivious Leader Election in 2-Edge-Connected Networks}},
  booktitle =	{39th International Symposium on Distributed Computing (DISC 2025)},
  pages =	{21:1--21:22},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-402-4},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{356},
  editor =	{Kowalski, Dariusz R.},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.DISC.2025.21},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-248385},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.DISC.2025.21},
  annote =	{Keywords: Asynchronous model, fault tolerance, quiescent termination}
}

Document

DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.ESA.2025.74

Core-Sparse Monge Matrix Multiplication: Improved Algorithm and Applications

Authors: Paweł Gawrychowski, Egor Gorbachev, and Tomasz Kociumaka

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

Abstract

Min-plus matrix multiplication is a fundamental tool for designing algorithms operating on distances in graphs and different problems solvable by dynamic programming. We know that, assuming the APSP hypothesis, no subcubic-time algorithm exists for the case of general matrices. However, in many applications the matrices admit certain structural properties that can be used to design faster algorithms. For example, when considering a planar graph, one often works with a Monge matrix A, meaning that the density matrix A^◻ has non-negative entries, that is, A^◻_{i,j} := A_{i+1,j} + A_{i,j+1} - A_{i,j} -A_{i+1,j+1} ≥ 0. The min-plus product of two n×n Monge matrices can be computed in 𝒪(n²) time using the famous SMAWK algorithm. In applications such as longest common subsequence, edit distance, and longest increasing subsequence, the matrices are even more structured, as observed by Tiskin [J. Discrete Algorithms, 2008]: they are (or can be converted to) simple unit-Monge matrices, meaning that the density matrix is a permutation matrix and, furthermore, the first column and the last row of the matrix consist of only zeroes. Such matrices admit an implicit representation of size 𝒪(n) and, as shown by Tiskin [SODA 2010 & Algorithmica, 2015], their min-plus product can be computed in 𝒪(nlog n) time. Russo [SPIRE 2010 & Theor. Comput. Sci., 2012] identified a general structural property of matrices that admit such efficient representation and min-plus multiplication algorithms: the core size δ, defined as the number of non-zero entries in the density matrices of the input and output matrices. He provided an adaptive implementation of the SMAWK algorithm that runs in 𝒪((n+δ)log³ n) or 𝒪((n+δ)log² n) time (depending on the representation of the input matrices). In this work, we further investigate the core size as the parameter that enables efficient min-plus matrix multiplication. On the combinatorial side, we provide a (linear) bound on the core size of the product matrix in terms of the core sizes of the input matrices. On the algorithmic side, we generalize Tiskin’s algorithm (but, arguably, with a more elementary analysis) to solve the core-sparse Monge matrix multiplication problem in 𝒪(n+δlog δ) ⊆ 𝒪(n + δ log n) time, matching the complexity for simple unit-Monge matrices. As witnessed by the recent work of Gorbachev and Kociumaka [STOC'25] for edit distance with integer weights, our generalization opens up the possibility of speed-ups for weighted sequence alignment problems. Furthermore, our multiplication algorithm is also capable of producing an efficient data structure for recovering the witness for any given entry of the output matrix. This allows us, for example, to preprocess an integer array of size n in Õ(n) time so that the longest increasing subsequence of any sub-array can be reconstructed in Õ(𝓁) time, where 𝓁 is the length of the reported subsequence. In comparison, Karthik C. S. and Rahul [arXiv, 2024] recently achieved 𝒪(𝓁+n^{1/2}polylog n)-time reporting after 𝒪(n^{3/2}polylog n)-time preprocessing.

Cite as

Paweł Gawrychowski, Egor Gorbachev, and Tomasz Kociumaka. Core-Sparse Monge Matrix Multiplication: Improved Algorithm and Applications. In 33rd Annual European Symposium on Algorithms (ESA 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 351, pp. 74:1-74:17, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

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@InProceedings{gawrychowski_et_al:LIPIcs.ESA.2025.74,
  author =	{Gawrychowski, Pawe{\l} and Gorbachev, Egor and Kociumaka, Tomasz},
  title =	{{Core-Sparse Monge Matrix Multiplication: Improved Algorithm and Applications}},
  booktitle =	{33rd Annual European Symposium on Algorithms (ESA 2025)},
  pages =	{74:1--74:17},
  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.2025.74},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-245427},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ESA.2025.74},
  annote =	{Keywords: Min-plus matrix multiplication, Monge matrix, longest increasing subsequence}
}

Document

DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.ESA.2025.62

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)

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@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

DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.ESA.2025.111

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)

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@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}
}

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