23 Search Results for "Kiefer, Sandra"

Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.CSL.2026.7
Bridging Weighted First Order Model Counting and Graph Polynomials

Authors: Qipeng Kuang, Ondřej Kuželka, Yuanhong Wang, and Yuyi Wang

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 363, 34th EACSL Annual Conference on Computer Science Logic (CSL 2026)

Abstract
The Weighted First-Order Model Counting Problem (WFOMC) asks to compute the weighted sum of models of a given first-order logic sentence over a given domain. It can be solved in time polynomial in the domain size for sentences from the two-variable fragment with counting quantifiers, known as C^2. This polynomial-time complexity is known to be retained when extending C^2 by one of the following axioms: linear order axiom, tree axiom, forest axiom, directed acyclic graph axiom or connectedness axiom. An interesting question remains as to which other axioms can be added to the first-order sentences in this way. We provide a new perspective on this problem by associating WFOMC with graph polynomials. Using WFOMC, we define Weak Connectedness Polynomial and Strong Connectedness Polynomials for first-order logic sentences. It turns out that these polynomials have the following interesting properties. First, they can be computed in polynomial time in the domain size for sentences from C^2. Second, we can use them to solve WFOMC with all of the existing axioms known to be tractable as well as with new ones such as bipartiteness, strong connectedness, having k connected components, etc. Third, the well-known Tutte polynomial can be recovered as a special case of the Weak Connectedness Polynomial, and the Strict and Non-Strict Directed Chromatic Polynomials can be recovered from the Strong Connectedness Polynomials.
Cite as

Qipeng Kuang, Ondřej Kuželka, Yuanhong Wang, and Yuyi Wang. Bridging Weighted First Order Model Counting and Graph Polynomials. In 34th EACSL Annual Conference on Computer Science Logic (CSL 2026). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 363, pp. 7:1-7:23, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)

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@InProceedings{kuang_et_al:LIPIcs.CSL.2026.7,
  author =	{Kuang, Qipeng and Ku\v{z}elka, Ond\v{r}ej and Wang, Yuanhong and Wang, Yuyi},
  title =	{{Bridging Weighted First Order Model Counting and Graph Polynomials}},
  booktitle =	{34th EACSL Annual Conference on Computer Science Logic (CSL 2026)},
  pages =	{7:1--7:23},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-411-6},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2026},
  volume =	{363},
  editor =	{Guerrini, Stefano and K\"{o}nig, Barbara},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.CSL.2026.7},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-254316},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.CSL.2026.7},
  annote =	{Keywords: Weighted First-Order Model Counting, Axiom, Enumerative Combinatorics, Tutte Polynomial}
}
Document
Invited Talk
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.CSL.2026.2
The Logic Behind Colour Refinement (Invited Talk)

Authors: Sandra Kiefer

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 363, 34th EACSL Annual Conference on Computer Science Logic (CSL 2026)

Abstract
Colour Refinement is a combinatorial algorithm that computes a vertex colouring for an input graph to reveal its structural properties. Each iteration of the algorithm refines the current colouring by assessing local information. More precisely, the new colour of a vertex is determined by its current colour and the multiset of colours in its neighbourhood. This refinement procedure continues until it reaches a stable partition of the vertex set into colour classes. On the practical side, the algorithm admits fast implementations. Because the final colouring is isomorphism-invariant, executing the algorithm on two graphs in parallel can be used to demonstrate that they are not isomorphic. From a theoretical perspective, the algorithm is arguably the most straightforward combinatorial approach to detecting asymmetries - specifically for distinguishing vertices that do not belong to the same orbit of the automorphism group of the graph. Its numerous connections to other areas in computer science stand as evidence of its robustness and naturalness and make it a fascinating object of research. Among the most elegant connections is the link to counting logic. Colour Refinement assigns distinct final colours to two vertices in a graph if and only if there is a formula in the two-variable fragment C² of the logic C that distinguishes them, meaning that the formula holds for precisely one of the two vertices. In fact, the vertex colours translate directly into logical formulas with one free variable. As a consequence, Colour Refinement distinguishes two graphs if and only if there is a C²-sentence that distinguishes them. This correspondence extends to higher dimensions: the k-variable fragment C^k of C corresponds to the (k-1)-dimensional extension of Colour Refinement, the (k-1)-dimensional Weisfeiler-Leman algorithm. This algorithm computes a unique colouring for a graph G if and only if G is definable in C^k, i.e. there is a sentence in C^k whose only models are G and its isomorphic copies. As a matter of fact, the link to the logic C goes even deeper: the number of Colour Refinement iterations required to compute distinct colours corresponds exactly to the quantifier depth of a distinguishing formula. Since the iterations induce a sequence of strictly nested vertex partitions, the process must terminate after at most n-1 rounds, where n is the number of vertices. Consequently, the value n-1 serves as a trivial upper bound on both the number of iterations and the quantifier depth required to distinguish any two (distinguishable) vertices in C². My talk provides an introduction to the link between the Colour Refinement procedure and the logic C². We revisit a simple characterisation of their expressivity on graphs and on general relational structures. The characterisation implies that the definability of a graph in C² can be checked very efficiently. We then discuss tight lower bounds on the quantifier depth of C²-formulas required to distinguish vertices. Through a thorough analysis of computational data from Colour Refinement executions, we constructed infinite families of graphs that witness those bounds. We finish with a presentation of a recent purely theoretical reverse-engineering approach to finding long-refinement graphs and a classification of all such graphs with small (or, equivalently, large) degrees. The talk is based on the collaborations[Sandra Kiefer and T. Devini de Mel, 2026; Kiefer and McKay, 2020; Sandra Kiefer et al., 2022] and unpublished work.
Cite as

Sandra Kiefer. The Logic Behind Colour Refinement (Invited Talk). In 34th EACSL Annual Conference on Computer Science Logic (CSL 2026). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 363, pp. 2:1-2:2, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)

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@InProceedings{kiefer:LIPIcs.CSL.2026.2,
  author =	{Kiefer, Sandra},
  title =	{{The Logic Behind Colour Refinement}},
  booktitle =	{34th EACSL Annual Conference on Computer Science Logic (CSL 2026)},
  pages =	{2:1--2:2},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-411-6},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2026},
  volume =	{363},
  editor =	{Guerrini, Stefano and K\"{o}nig, Barbara},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.CSL.2026.2},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-254263},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.CSL.2026.2},
  annote =	{Keywords: Colour Refinement, counting logic, Weisfeiler-Leman algorithm, variable width, quantifier depth}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.46
Symmetric Algebraic Circuits and Homomorphism Polynomials

Authors: Anuj Dawar, Benedikt Pago, and Tim Seppelt

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

Abstract
The central open question of algebraic complexity is whether VP ≠ VNP, which is saying that the permanent cannot be represented by families of polynomial-size algebraic circuits. For symmetric algebraic circuits, this has been confirmed by Dawar and Wilsenach (2020), who showed exponential lower bounds on the size of symmetric circuits for the permanent. In this work, we set out to develop a more general symmetric algebraic complexity theory. Our main result is that a family of symmetric polynomials admits small symmetric circuits if and only if they can be written as a linear combination of homomorphism counting polynomials of graphs of bounded treewidth. We also establish a relationship between the symmetric complexity of subgraph counting polynomials and the vertex cover number of the pattern graph. As a concrete example, we examine the symmetric complexity of immanant families (a generalisation of the determinant and permanent) and show that a known conditional dichotomy due to Curticapean (2021) holds unconditionally in the symmetric setting.
Cite as

Anuj Dawar, Benedikt Pago, and Tim Seppelt. Symmetric Algebraic Circuits and Homomorphism Polynomials. In 17th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2026). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 362, pp. 46:1-46:15, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)

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@InProceedings{dawar_et_al:LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.46,
  author =	{Dawar, Anuj and Pago, Benedikt and Seppelt, Tim},
  title =	{{Symmetric Algebraic Circuits and Homomorphism Polynomials}},
  booktitle =	{17th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2026)},
  pages =	{46:1--46:15},
  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.2026.46},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-253330},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.46},
  annote =	{Keywords: algebraic complexity, finite model theory, symmetric circuits, homomorphism counting, graph homomorphism, treewidth, counting width, first-order logic with counting quantifiers}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.FSTTCS.2025.26
Characterizing NC¹ with Typed Monoids

Authors: Anuj Dawar and Aidan T. Evans

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

Abstract
Krebs et al. (2007) gave a characterization of the complexity class TC⁰ as the class of languages recognized by a certain class of typed monoids. The notion of typed monoid was introduced to extend methods of algebraic automata theory to infinite monoids and hence characterize classes beyond the regular languages. We advance this line of work beyond TC⁰ by giving a characterization of NC¹. This is obtained by first showing that NC¹ can be defined as the languages expressible in an extension of first-order logic using only unary quantifiers over regular languages. The expressibility result is a consequence of a general result showing that finite monoid multiplication quantifiers of higher dimension can be replaced with unary quantifiers in the context of interpretations over strings, which also answers a question of Lautemann et al. (2001). We estblish this collapse result for a much more general class of interpretations using results on interpretations due to Bojańczyk et al. (2019), which may be of independent interest.
Cite as

Anuj Dawar and Aidan T. Evans. Characterizing NC¹ with Typed Monoids. 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. 26:1-26:19, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

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@InProceedings{dawar_et_al:LIPIcs.FSTTCS.2025.26,
  author =	{Dawar, Anuj and Evans, Aidan T.},
  title =	{{Characterizing NC¹ with Typed Monoids}},
  booktitle =	{45th IARCS Annual Conference on Foundations of Software Technology and Theoretical Computer Science (FSTTCS 2025)},
  pages =	{26:1--26:19},
  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.2025.26},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-251070},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.FSTTCS.2025.26},
  annote =	{Keywords: algebraic automata theory, circuit complexity, descriptive complexity, typed monoids, semigroups, generalized quantifiers}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.MFCS.2025.50
Lexicographic Transductions of Finite Words

Authors: Emmanuel Filiot, Nathan Lhote, and Pierre-Alain Reynier

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

Abstract
Regular transductions over finite words have linear input-to-output growth. This class of transductions enjoys many characterizations, such as transductions computable by two-way transducers as well as transductions definable in MSO (in the sense of Courcelle). Recently, regular transductions have been extended by Bojańczyk to polyregular transductions, which have polynomial growth, and are characterized by pebble transducers and MSO interpretations. Another class of interest is that of transductions defined by streaming string transducers or marble transducers, which have exponential growth and are incomparable with polyregular transductions. In this paper, we consider MSO set interpretations (MSOSI) over finite words, that were introduced by Colcombet and Loeding. MSOSI are a natural candidate for the class of "regular transductions with exponential growth", and are rather well behaved. However, MSOSI for now lacks two desirable properties that regular and polyregular transductions have. The first property is to have an automata description. This property is closely related to a second property, that of being regularity preserving, meaning preserving regular languages under inverse image. We first show that if MSOSI are (effectively) regularity preserving then any automatic ω-word has a decidable MSO theory, an almost 20 years old conjecture of Bárány. Our main contribution is the introduction of a class of transductions of exponential growth, which we call lexicographic transductions. We provide three different presentations for this class: first, as the closure of simple transductions (recognizable transductions) under a single operator called maplex; second, as a syntactic fragment of MSOSI (but the regular languages are given by automata instead of formulas); and third, we give an automaton based model called nested marble transducers, which generalize both marble transducers and pebble transducers. We show that this class enjoys many nice properties including being regularity preserving.
Cite as

Emmanuel Filiot, Nathan Lhote, and Pierre-Alain Reynier. Lexicographic Transductions of Finite Words. In 50th International Symposium on Mathematical Foundations of Computer Science (MFCS 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 345, pp. 50:1-50:18, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

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@InProceedings{filiot_et_al:LIPIcs.MFCS.2025.50,
  author =	{Filiot, Emmanuel and Lhote, Nathan and Reynier, Pierre-Alain},
  title =	{{Lexicographic Transductions of Finite Words}},
  booktitle =	{50th International Symposium on Mathematical Foundations of Computer Science (MFCS 2025)},
  pages =	{50:1--50:18},
  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.2025.50},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-241572},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.MFCS.2025.50},
  annote =	{Keywords: Transducers, Automata, MSO, Logical interpretations, Automatic structures}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.MFCS.2025.88
Color Refinement for Relational Structures

Authors: Benjamin Scheidt and Nicole Schweikardt

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

Abstract
Color Refinement, also known as Naive Vertex Classification, is a classical method to distinguish graphs by iteratively computing a coloring of their vertices. While it is traditionally used as an imperfect way to test for isomorphism, the algorithm has permeated many other, seemingly unrelated, areas of computer science. The method is algorithmically simple, and it has a well-understood distinguishing power: it has been logically characterized by Immerman and Lander (1990) and Cai, Fürer, Immerman (1992), who showed that it distinguishes precisely those graphs that can be distinguished by a sentence of first-order logic with counting quantifiers and only two variables. A combinatorial characterization was given by Dvořák (2010), who showed that it distinguishes precisely those graphs that differ in the number of homomorphisms from some tree. In this paper, we introduce Relational Color Refinement (RCR, for short), a generalization of the Color Refinement method from graphs to arbitrary relational structures, whose distinguishing power admits the equivalent combinatorial and logical characterizations as Color Refinement has on graphs: we show that RCR distinguishes precisely those structures that differ in the number of homomorphisms from an acyclic connected relational structure. Further, we show that RCR distinguishes precisely those structures that are distinguished by a sentence of the guarded fragment of first-order logic with counting quantifiers. Additionally, we show that for every fixed finite relational signature, RCR can be implemented to run on structures of that signature in time O(N⋅log N), where N denotes the number of tuples present in the structure.
Cite as

Benjamin Scheidt and Nicole Schweikardt. Color Refinement for Relational Structures. In 50th International Symposium on Mathematical Foundations of Computer Science (MFCS 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 345, pp. 88:1-88:19, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

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@InProceedings{scheidt_et_al:LIPIcs.MFCS.2025.88,
  author =	{Scheidt, Benjamin and Schweikardt, Nicole},
  title =	{{Color Refinement for Relational Structures}},
  booktitle =	{50th International Symposium on Mathematical Foundations of Computer Science (MFCS 2025)},
  pages =	{88:1--88:19},
  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.2025.88},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-241958},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.MFCS.2025.88},
  annote =	{Keywords: color refinement, counting logics, homomorphism counts, homomorphism indistinguishability, guarded logics, pebble games, relational structures, alpha-acyclicity, join-trees}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.MFCS.2025.40
Symmetric Proofs in the Ideal Proof System

Authors: Anuj Dawar, Erich Grädel, Leon Kullmann, and Benedikt Pago

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

Abstract
We consider the Ideal Proof System (IPS) introduced by Grochow and Pitassi and pose the question of which tautologies admit symmetric proofs, and of what complexity. The symmetry requirement in proofs is inspired by recent work establishing lower bounds in other symmetric models of computation. We link the existence of symmetric IPS proofs to the expressive power of logics such as fixed-point logic with counting and Choiceless Polynomial Time, specifically regarding the graph isomorphism problem. We identify relationships and tradeoffs between the symmetry of proofs and other parameters of IPS proofs such as size, degree and linearity. We study these on a number of standard families of tautologies from proof complexity and finite model theory such as the pigeonhole principle, the subset sum problem and the Cai-Fürer-Immerman graphs, exhibiting non-trivial upper bounds on the size of symmetric IPS proofs.
Cite as

Anuj Dawar, Erich Grädel, Leon Kullmann, and Benedikt Pago. Symmetric Proofs in the Ideal Proof System. In 50th International Symposium on Mathematical Foundations of Computer Science (MFCS 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 345, pp. 40:1-40:18, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

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@InProceedings{dawar_et_al:LIPIcs.MFCS.2025.40,
  author =	{Dawar, Anuj and Gr\"{a}del, Erich and Kullmann, Leon and Pago, Benedikt},
  title =	{{Symmetric Proofs in the Ideal Proof System}},
  booktitle =	{50th International Symposium on Mathematical Foundations of Computer Science (MFCS 2025)},
  pages =	{40:1--40:18},
  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.2025.40},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-241477},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.MFCS.2025.40},
  annote =	{Keywords: proof complexity, algebraic complexity, descriptive complexity, symmetric circuits, graph isomorphism}
}
Document
Track A: Algorithms, Complexity and Games
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.ICALP.2025.129
An Upper Bound on the Weisfeiler-Leman Dimension

Authors: Thomas Schneider and Pascal Schweitzer

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

Abstract
The Weisfeiler-Leman (WL) algorithms form a family of incomplete approaches to the graph isomorphism problem. They recently found various applications in algorithmic group theory and machine learning. In fact, the algorithms form a parameterized family: for each k ∈ ℕ there is a corresponding k-dimensional algorithm WLk. The algorithms become increasingly powerful with increasing dimension, but at the same time the running time increases. The WL-dimension of a graph G is the smallest k ∈ ℕ for which WLk correctly decides isomorphism between G and every other graph. In some sense, the WL-dimension measures how difficult it is to test isomorphism of one graph to others using a fairly general class of combinatorial algorithms. Nowadays, it is a standard measure in descriptive complexity theory for the structural complexity of a graph. We prove that the WL-dimension of a graph on n vertices is at most 3/20 ⋅ n + o(n) = 0.15 ⋅ n + o(n). Reducing the question to coherent configurations, the proof develops various techniques to analyze their structure. This includes sufficient conditions under which a fiber can be restored uniquely up to isomorphism if it is removed, a recursive proof exploiting a degree reduction and treewidth bounds, as well as an exhaustive analysis of interspaces involving small fibers. As a base case, we also analyze the dimension of coherent configurations with small fiber size and thereby graphs with small color class size.
Cite as

Thomas Schneider and Pascal Schweitzer. An Upper Bound on the Weisfeiler-Leman Dimension. In 52nd International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming (ICALP 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 334, pp. 129:1-129:18, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

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@InProceedings{schneider_et_al:LIPIcs.ICALP.2025.129,
  author =	{Schneider, Thomas and Schweitzer, Pascal},
  title =	{{An Upper Bound on the Weisfeiler-Leman Dimension}},
  booktitle =	{52nd International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming (ICALP 2025)},
  pages =	{129:1--129:18},
  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.2025.129},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-235065},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ICALP.2025.129},
  annote =	{Keywords: Weisfeiler-Leman dimension, descriptive complexity, coherent configurations}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.STACS.2025.69
A Dichotomy Theorem for Ordinal Ranks in MSO

Authors: Damian Niwiński, Paweł Parys, and Michał Skrzypczak

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 327, 42nd International Symposium on Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science (STACS 2025)

Abstract
We focus on formulae ∃X.φ(Y, X) of monadic second-order logic over the full binary tree, such that the witness X is a well-founded set. The ordinal rank rank(X) < ω₁ of such a set X measures its depth and branching structure. We search for the least upper bound for these ranks, and discover the following dichotomy depending on the formula φ. Let η_φ be the minimal ordinal such that, whenever an instance Y satisfies the formula, there is a witness X with rank(X) ≤ η_φ. Then η_φ is either strictly smaller than ω² or it reaches the maximal possible value ω₁. Moreover, it is decidable which of the cases holds. The result has potential for applications in a variety of ordinal-related problems, in particular it entails a result about the closure ordinal of a fixed-point formula.
Cite as

Damian Niwiński, Paweł Parys, and Michał Skrzypczak. A Dichotomy Theorem for Ordinal Ranks in MSO. In 42nd International Symposium on Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science (STACS 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 327, pp. 69:1-69:18, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

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@InProceedings{niwinski_et_al:LIPIcs.STACS.2025.69,
  author =	{Niwi\'{n}ski, Damian and Parys, Pawe{\l} and Skrzypczak, Micha{\l}},
  title =	{{A Dichotomy Theorem for Ordinal Ranks in MSO}},
  booktitle =	{42nd International Symposium on Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science (STACS 2025)},
  pages =	{69:1--69:18},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-365-2},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{327},
  editor =	{Beyersdorff, Olaf and Pilipczuk, Micha{\l} and Pimentel, Elaine 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.2025.69},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-228942},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.STACS.2025.69},
  annote =	{Keywords: dichotomy result, limit ordinal, countable ordinals, nondeterministic tree automata}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.STACS.2025.75
Canonical Labeling of Sparse Random Graphs

Authors: Oleg Verbitsky and Maksim Zhukovskii

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 327, 42nd International Symposium on Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science (STACS 2025)

Abstract
We show that if p = O(1/n), then the Erdős-Rényi random graph G(n,p) with high probability admits a canonical labeling computable in time O(nlog n). Combined with the previous results on the canonization of random graphs, this implies that G(n,p) with high probability admits a polynomial-time canonical labeling whatever the edge probability function p. Our algorithm combines the standard color refinement routine with simple post-processing based on the classical linear-time tree canonization. Noteworthy, our analysis of how well color refinement performs in this setting allows us to complete the description of the automorphism group of the 2-core of G(n,p).
Cite as

Oleg Verbitsky and Maksim Zhukovskii. Canonical Labeling of Sparse Random Graphs. In 42nd International Symposium on Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science (STACS 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 327, pp. 75:1-75:20, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

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@InProceedings{verbitsky_et_al:LIPIcs.STACS.2025.75,
  author =	{Verbitsky, Oleg and Zhukovskii, Maksim},
  title =	{{Canonical Labeling of Sparse Random Graphs}},
  booktitle =	{42nd International Symposium on Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science (STACS 2025)},
  pages =	{75:1--75:20},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-365-2},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{327},
  editor =	{Beyersdorff, Olaf and Pilipczuk, Micha{\l} and Pimentel, Elaine 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.2025.75},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-229003},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.STACS.2025.75},
  annote =	{Keywords: Graph isomorphism, random graphs, canonical labeling, color refinement}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.STACS.2025.67
Commutative ℕ-Rational Series of Polynomial Growth

Authors: Aliaume Lopez

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 327, 42nd International Symposium on Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science (STACS 2025)

Abstract
This paper studies which functions computed by ℤ-weighted automata can be realised by ℕ-weighted automata, under two extra assumptions: commutativity (the order of letters in the input does not matter) and polynomial growth (the output of the function is bounded by a polynomial in the size of the input). We leverage this effective characterization to decide whether a function computed by a commutative ℕ-weighted automaton of polynomial growth is star-free, a notion borrowed from the theory of regular languages that has been the subject of many investigations in the context of string-to-string functions during the last decade.
Cite as

Aliaume Lopez. Commutative ℕ-Rational Series of Polynomial Growth. In 42nd International Symposium on Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science (STACS 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 327, pp. 67:1-67:16, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

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@InProceedings{lopez:LIPIcs.STACS.2025.67,
  author =	{Lopez, Aliaume},
  title =	{{Commutative \mathbb{N}-Rational Series of Polynomial Growth}},
  booktitle =	{42nd International Symposium on Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science (STACS 2025)},
  pages =	{67:1--67:16},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-365-2},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{327},
  editor =	{Beyersdorff, Olaf and Pilipczuk, Micha{\l} and Pimentel, Elaine 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.2025.67},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-228924},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.STACS.2025.67},
  annote =	{Keywords: Rational series, weighted automata, polyregular function, commutative}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.CSL.2025.13
Computational Complexity of the Weisfeiler-Leman Dimension

Authors: Moritz Lichter, Simon Raßmann, and Pascal Schweitzer

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 326, 33rd EACSL Annual Conference on Computer Science Logic (CSL 2025)

Abstract
The Weisfeiler-Leman dimension of a graph G is the least number k such that the k-dimensional Weisfeiler-Leman algorithm distinguishes G from every other non-isomorphic graph, or equivalently, the least k such that G is definable in (k+1)-variable first-order logic with counting. The dimension is a standard measure of the descriptive or structural complexity of a graph and recently finds various applications in particular in the context of machine learning. This paper studies the complexity of computing the Weisfeiler-Leman dimension. We observe that deciding whether the Weisfeiler-Leman dimension of G is at most k is NP-hard, even if G is restricted to have 4-bounded color classes. For each fixed k ≥ 2, we give a polynomial-time algorithm that decides whether the Weisfeiler-Leman dimension of a given graph with 5-bounded color classes is at most k. Moreover, we show that for these bounds on the color classes, this is optimal because the problem is PTIME-hard under logspace-uniform AC_0-reductions. Furthermore, for each larger bound c on the color classes and each fixed k ≥ 2, we provide a polynomial-time decision algorithm for the abelian case, that is, for structures of which each color class has an abelian automorphism group. While the graph classes we consider may seem quite restrictive, graphs with 4-bounded abelian colors include CFI-graphs and multipedes, which form the basis of almost all known hard instances and lower bounds related to the Weisfeiler-Leman algorithm.
Cite as

Moritz Lichter, Simon Raßmann, and Pascal Schweitzer. Computational Complexity of the Weisfeiler-Leman Dimension. In 33rd EACSL Annual Conference on Computer Science Logic (CSL 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 326, pp. 13:1-13:22, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

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@InProceedings{lichter_et_al:LIPIcs.CSL.2025.13,
  author =	{Lichter, Moritz and Ra{\ss}mann, Simon and Schweitzer, Pascal},
  title =	{{Computational Complexity of the Weisfeiler-Leman Dimension}},
  booktitle =	{33rd EACSL Annual Conference on Computer Science Logic (CSL 2025)},
  pages =	{13:1--13:22},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-362-1},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{326},
  editor =	{Endrullis, J\"{o}rg and Schmitz, Sylvain},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.CSL.2025.13},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-227707},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.CSL.2025.13},
  annote =	{Keywords: Weisfeiler-Leman algorithm, dimension, complexity, coherent configurations}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.CSL.2025.14
Finite Variable Counting Logics with Restricted Requantification

Authors: Simon Raßmann, Georg Schindling, and Pascal Schweitzer

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 326, 33rd EACSL Annual Conference on Computer Science Logic (CSL 2025)

Abstract
Counting logics with a bounded number of variables form one of the central concepts in descriptive complexity theory. Although they restrict the number of variables that a formula can contain, the variables can be nested within scopes of quantified occurrences of themselves. In other words, the variables can be requantified. We study the fragments obtained from counting logics by restricting requantification for some but not necessarily all the variables. Similar to the logics without limitation on requantification, we develop tools to investigate the restricted variants. Specifically, we introduce a bijective pebble game in which certain pebbles can only be placed once and for all, and a corresponding two-parametric family of Weisfeiler-Leman algorithms. We show close correspondences between the three concepts. By using a suitable cops-and-robber game and adaptations of the Cai-Fürer-Immerman construction, we completely clarify the relative expressive power of the new logics. We show that the restriction of requantification has beneficial algorithmic implications in terms of graph identification. Indeed, we argue that with regard to space complexity, non-requantifiable variables only incur an additive polynomial factor when testing for equivalence. In contrast, for all we know, requantifiable variables incur a multiplicative linear factor. Finally, we observe that graphs of bounded tree-depth and 3-connected planar graphs can be identified using no, respectively, only a very limited number of requantifiable variables.
Cite as

Simon Raßmann, Georg Schindling, and Pascal Schweitzer. Finite Variable Counting Logics with Restricted Requantification. In 33rd EACSL Annual Conference on Computer Science Logic (CSL 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 326, pp. 14:1-14:23, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

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@InProceedings{ramann_et_al:LIPIcs.CSL.2025.14,
  author =	{Ra{\ss}mann, Simon and Schindling, Georg and Schweitzer, Pascal},
  title =	{{Finite Variable Counting Logics with Restricted Requantification}},
  booktitle =	{33rd EACSL Annual Conference on Computer Science Logic (CSL 2025)},
  pages =	{14:1--14:23},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-362-1},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{326},
  editor =	{Endrullis, J\"{o}rg and Schmitz, Sylvain},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.CSL.2025.14},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-227716},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.CSL.2025.14},
  annote =	{Keywords: Requantification, Finite variable counting logics, Weisfeiler-Leman algorithm}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.CSL.2025.26
The Complexity of Deciding Characteristic Formulae in Van Glabbeek’s Branching-Time Spectrum

Authors: Luca Aceto, Antonis Achilleos, Aggeliki Chalki, and Anna Ingólfsdóttir

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 326, 33rd EACSL Annual Conference on Computer Science Logic (CSL 2025)

Abstract
Characteristic formulae give a complete logical description of the behaviour of processes modulo some chosen notion of behavioural semantics. They allow one to reduce equivalence or preorder checking to model checking, and are exactly the formulae in the modal logics characterizing classic behavioural equivalences and preorders for which model checking can be reduced to equivalence or preorder checking. This paper studies the complexity of determining whether a formula is characteristic for some process in each of the logics providing modal characterizations of the simulation-based semantics in van Glabbeek’s branching-time spectrum. Since characteristic formulae in each of those logics are exactly the satisfiable and prime ones, this article presents complexity results for the satisfiability and primality problems, and investigates the boundary between modal logics for which those problems can be solved in polynomial time and those for which they become computationally hard. Amongst other contributions, this article also studies the complexity of constructing characteristic formulae in the modal logics characterizing simulation-based semantics, both when such formulae are presented in explicit form and via systems of equations.
Cite as

Luca Aceto, Antonis Achilleos, Aggeliki Chalki, and Anna Ingólfsdóttir. The Complexity of Deciding Characteristic Formulae in Van Glabbeek’s Branching-Time Spectrum. In 33rd EACSL Annual Conference on Computer Science Logic (CSL 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 326, pp. 26:1-26:18, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

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@InProceedings{aceto_et_al:LIPIcs.CSL.2025.26,
  author =	{Aceto, Luca and Achilleos, Antonis and Chalki, Aggeliki and Ing\'{o}lfsd\'{o}ttir, Anna},
  title =	{{The Complexity of Deciding Characteristic Formulae in Van Glabbeek’s Branching-Time Spectrum}},
  booktitle =	{33rd EACSL Annual Conference on Computer Science Logic (CSL 2025)},
  pages =	{26:1--26:18},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-362-1},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{326},
  editor =	{Endrullis, J\"{o}rg and Schmitz, Sylvain},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.CSL.2025.26},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-227836},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.CSL.2025.26},
  annote =	{Keywords: Characteristic formulae, prime formulae, bisimulation, simulation relations, modal logics, complexity theory, satisfiability}
}
Document
Track B: Automata, Logic, Semantics, and Theory of Programming
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.ICALP.2024.156
Verification of Population Protocols with Unordered Data

Authors: Steffen van Bergerem, Roland Guttenberg, Sandra Kiefer, Corto Mascle, Nicolas Waldburger, and Chana Weil-Kennedy

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 297, 51st International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming (ICALP 2024)

Abstract
Population protocols are a well-studied model of distributed computation in which a group of anonymous finite-state agents communicates via pairwise interactions. Together they decide whether their initial configuration, i. e., the initial distribution of agents in the states, satisfies a property. As an extension in order to express properties of multisets over an infinite data domain, Blondin and Ladouceur (ICALP'23) introduced population protocols with unordered data (PPUD). In PPUD, each agent carries a fixed data value, and the interactions between agents depend on whether their data are equal or not. Blondin and Ladouceur also identified the interesting subclass of immediate observation PPUD (IOPPUD), where in every transition one of the two agents remains passive and does not move, and they characterised its expressive power. We study the decidability and complexity of formally verifying these protocols. The main verification problem for population protocols is well-specification, that is, checking whether the given PPUD computes some function. We show that well-specification is undecidable in general. By contrast, for IOPPUD, we exhibit a large yet natural class of problems, which includes well-specification among other classic problems, and establish that these problems are in ExpSpace. We also provide a lower complexity bound, namely coNExpTime-hardness.
Cite as

Steffen van Bergerem, Roland Guttenberg, Sandra Kiefer, Corto Mascle, Nicolas Waldburger, and Chana Weil-Kennedy. Verification of Population Protocols with Unordered Data. In 51st International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming (ICALP 2024). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 297, pp. 156:1-156:20, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2024)

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@InProceedings{vanbergerem_et_al:LIPIcs.ICALP.2024.156,
  author =	{van Bergerem, Steffen and Guttenberg, Roland and Kiefer, Sandra and Mascle, Corto and Waldburger, Nicolas and Weil-Kennedy, Chana},
  title =	{{Verification of Population Protocols with Unordered Data}},
  booktitle =	{51st International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming (ICALP 2024)},
  pages =	{156:1--156:20},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-322-5},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2024},
  volume =	{297},
  editor =	{Bringmann, Karl and Grohe, Martin and Puppis, Gabriele and Svensson, Ola},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.ICALP.2024.156},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-202993},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ICALP.2024.156},
  annote =	{Keywords: Population protocols, Parameterized verification, Distributed computing, Well-specification}
}
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