38 Search Results for "Lynch, Jayson"


Document
Tetris Is Hard with Just One Piece Type

Authors: MIT Hardness Group, Josh Brunner, Erik D. Demaine, Della Hendrickson, and Jeffery Li

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 366, 13th International Conference on Fun with Algorithms (FUN 2026)


Abstract
We analyze the computational complexity of Tetris clearing (determining whether the player can clear an initial board using a given sequence of pieces) and survival (determining whether the player can avoid losing before placing all the given pieces in an initial board) when restricted to a single polyomino piece type. We prove, for any tetromino piece type P except for O, the NP-hardness of Tetris clearing and survival under the standard Super Rotation System (SRS), even when the input sequence consists of only a specified number of P pieces. These surprising results disprove a 23-year-old conjecture on the computational complexity of Tetris with only I pieces (although our result is only for a specific rotation system). As a corollary, we prove the NP-hardness of Tetris clearing when the sequence of pieces has to be able to be generated from a 7k-bag randomizer for any positive integer k ≥ 1. On the positive side, we give polynomial-time algorithms for Tetris clearing and survival when the input sequence consists of only dominoes, assuming a particular rotation model, solving a version of a 9-year-old open problem. Along the way, we give polynomial-time algorithms for Tetris clearing and survival with 1 × k pieces (for any fixed k), provided the top k-1 rows are initially empty, showing that our I NP-hardness result needs to have filled cells in the top three rows.

Cite as

MIT Hardness Group, Josh Brunner, Erik D. Demaine, Della Hendrickson, and Jeffery Li. Tetris Is Hard with Just One Piece Type. In 13th International Conference on Fun with Algorithms (FUN 2026). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 366, pp. 32:1-32:22, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)


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@InProceedings{mithardnessgroup_et_al:LIPIcs.FUN.2026.32,
  author =	{MIT Hardness Group and Brunner, Josh and Demaine, Erik D. and Hendrickson, Della and Li, Jeffery},
  title =	{{Tetris Is Hard with Just One Piece Type}},
  booktitle =	{13th International Conference on Fun with Algorithms (FUN 2026)},
  pages =	{32:1--32:22},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-417-8},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2026},
  volume =	{366},
  editor =	{Iacono, John},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.FUN.2026.32},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-257515},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.FUN.2026.32},
  annote =	{Keywords: complexity, hardness, video games, counting}
}
Document
2D Minimal Graph Rigidity is in NC for One-Crossing-Minor-Free Graphs

Authors: Rohit Gurjar, Kilian Rothmund, and Thomas Thierauf

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


Abstract
Minimally rigid graphs can be decided and embedded in the plane efficiently, i.e. in polynomial time. There is also an efficient randomized parallel algorithm, i.e. in RNC. We present an NC-algorithm to decide whether one-crossing-minor-free graphs are minimally rigid. In the special case of K_{3,3}-free graphs, we also compute an infinitesimally rigid embedding in NC.

Cite as

Rohit Gurjar, Kilian Rothmund, and Thomas Thierauf. 2D Minimal Graph Rigidity is in NC for One-Crossing-Minor-Free Graphs. In 43rd International Symposium on Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science (STACS 2026). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 364, pp. 49:1-49:22, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)


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@InProceedings{gurjar_et_al:LIPIcs.STACS.2026.49,
  author =	{Gurjar, Rohit and Rothmund, Kilian and Thierauf, Thomas},
  title =	{{2D Minimal Graph Rigidity is in NC for One-Crossing-Minor-Free Graphs}},
  booktitle =	{43rd International Symposium on Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science (STACS 2026)},
  pages =	{49:1--49:22},
  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.2026.49},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-255385},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.STACS.2026.49},
  annote =	{Keywords: Graph Rigidity, Parallel Algorithms, Polynomial Identity Testing, Derandomization}
}
Document
Dudeney’s Dissection Is Optimal

Authors: Erik D. Demaine, Tonan Kamata, and Ryuhei Uehara

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


Abstract
In 1907, Henry Ernest Dudeney posed a puzzle: "cut any equilateral triangle ... into as few pieces as possible that will fit together and form a perfect square" (without overlap, via translation and rotation). Four weeks later, Dudeney demonstrated a beautiful four-piece solution, which today remains perhaps the most famous example of dissection. In this paper (over a century later), we finally solve Dudeney’s puzzle, by proving that the equilateral triangle and square have no common dissection with three or fewer polygonal pieces. We reduce the problem to the analysis of discrete graph structures representing the correspondence between the edges and the vertices of the pieces forming each polygon.

Cite as

Erik D. Demaine, Tonan Kamata, and Ryuhei Uehara. Dudeney’s Dissection Is Optimal. In 17th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2026). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 362, pp. 47:1-47:22, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)


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@InProceedings{demaine_et_al:LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.47,
  author =	{Demaine, Erik D. and Kamata, Tonan and Uehara, Ryuhei},
  title =	{{Dudeney’s Dissection Is Optimal}},
  booktitle =	{17th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2026)},
  pages =	{47:1--47:22},
  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.2026.47},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-253345},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.47},
  annote =	{Keywords: Geometric Dissection, Dudeney Dissection, Dissection with Fewest Pieces}
}
Document
General Computation Using Slidable Tiles with Deterministic Global Forces

Authors: Alberto Avila-Jimenez, David Barreda, Sarah-Laurie Evans, Austin Luchsinger, Aiden Massie, Robert Schweller, Evan Tomai, and Tim Wylie

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


Abstract
We study the computational power of the Full-Tilt model of motion planning, where slidable polyominos are moved maximally around a board by way of a sequence of directional "tilts." We focus on the deterministic scenario in which the tilts constitute a repeated clockwise rotation. We show that general-purpose computation is possible within this framework by providing a direct and efficient simulation of space-bounded Turing machines in which one computational step of the machine is simulated per O(1) rotations. We further show that the initial tape of the machine can be programmed by an initial tilt-sequence preceding the rotations. This result immediately implies new PSPACE-completeness results for the well-studied problems of occupancy (deciding if a given board location can be occupied by a tile), vacancy (deciding if a location can be emptied), relocation (deciding if a tile can be moved from one location to another), and reconfiguration (can a given board configuration be reconfigured into a second given configuration) that hold even for deterministically repeating tilt cycles such as rotations. All of our PSPACE-completeness results hold even when there is only a single domino in the system beyond singleton tiles. Following, we show that these results work in the Single-Step tilt model for larger constant cycles. We then investigate computational efficiency by showing a modification to implement a two-tape Turing machine in the Full-Tilt model and Systolic Arrays in the Single-Step model. Finally, we show a cyclic implementation for tilt-efficient Threshold Circuits.

Cite as

Alberto Avila-Jimenez, David Barreda, Sarah-Laurie Evans, Austin Luchsinger, Aiden Massie, Robert Schweller, Evan Tomai, and Tim Wylie. General Computation Using Slidable Tiles with Deterministic Global Forces. In 17th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2026). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 362, pp. 14:1-14:25, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)


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@InProceedings{avilajimenez_et_al:LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.14,
  author =	{Avila-Jimenez, Alberto and Barreda, David and Evans, Sarah-Laurie and Luchsinger, Austin and Massie, Aiden and Schweller, Robert and Tomai, Evan and Wylie, Tim},
  title =	{{General Computation Using Slidable Tiles with Deterministic Global Forces}},
  booktitle =	{17th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2026)},
  pages =	{14:1--14:25},
  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.2026.14},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-253019},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.14},
  annote =	{Keywords: motion planning, global control, external forces, deterministic computation, occupancy, vacancy}
}
Document
How Pinball Wizards Simulate a Turing Machine

Authors: Rosemary U. Adejoh, Andreas Jakoby, Sneha Mohanty, and Christian Schindelhauer

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


Abstract
We introduce and investigate the computational complexity of a novel physical problem known as the Pinball Wizard problem. It involves an idealized pinball moving through a maze composed of one-way gates (outswing doors), plane walls, parabolic walls, moving plane walls, and bumpers that cause acceleration or deceleration. Given the initial position and velocity of the pinball, the task is to decide whether it will hit a specified target point. By simulating a two-stack pushdown automaton, we show that the problem is Turing-complete - even in two-dimensional space. In our construction, each step of the automaton corresponds to a constant number of reflections. Thus, deciding the Pinball Wizard problem is at least as hard as the Halting problem. Furthermore, our construction allows bumpers to be replaced with moving walls. In this case, even a ball moving at constant speed - a so-called ray particle - can be used, demonstrating that the Ray Particle Tracing problem is also Turing-complete.

Cite as

Rosemary U. Adejoh, Andreas Jakoby, Sneha Mohanty, and Christian Schindelhauer. How Pinball Wizards Simulate a Turing Machine. 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. 4:1-4:18, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)


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@InProceedings{adejoh_et_al:LIPIcs.FSTTCS.2025.4,
  author =	{Adejoh, Rosemary U. and Jakoby, Andreas and Mohanty, Sneha and Schindelhauer, Christian},
  title =	{{How Pinball Wizards Simulate a Turing Machine}},
  booktitle =	{45th IARCS Annual Conference on Foundations of Software Technology and Theoretical Computer Science (FSTTCS 2025)},
  pages =	{4:1--4:18},
  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.2025.4},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-250832},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.FSTTCS.2025.4},
  annote =	{Keywords: Pinball Wizard problem, Halting problem, Turing-complete}
}
Document
Constrained Flips in Plane Spanning Trees

Authors: Oswin Aichholzer, Joseph Dorfer, and Birgit Vogtenhuber

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 357, 33rd International Symposium on Graph Drawing and Network Visualization (GD 2025)


Abstract
A flip in a plane spanning tree T is the operation of removing one edge from T and adding another edge such that the resulting structure is again a plane spanning tree. For trees on a set of points in convex position we study two classic types of constrained flips: (1) Compatible flips are flips in which the removed and inserted edge do not cross each other. We relevantly improve the previous upper bound of 2n-O(√n) on the diameter of the compatible flip graph to (5n/3)-O(1), by this matching the upper bound for unrestricted flips by Bjerkevik, Kleist, Ueckerdt, and Vogtenhuber [SODA 2025] up to an additive constant of 1. We further show that no shortest compatible flip sequence removes an edge that is already in its target position. Using this so-called happy edge property, we derive a fixed-parameter tractable algorithm to compute the shortest compatible flip sequence between two given trees. (2) Rotations are flips in which the removed and inserted edge share a common vertex. Besides showing that the happy edge property does not hold for rotations, we improve the previous upper bound of 2n-O(1) for the diameter of the rotation graph to (7n/4)-O(1).

Cite as

Oswin Aichholzer, Joseph Dorfer, and Birgit Vogtenhuber. Constrained Flips in Plane Spanning Trees. In 33rd International Symposium on Graph Drawing and Network Visualization (GD 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 357, pp. 5:1-5:18, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)


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@InProceedings{aichholzer_et_al:LIPIcs.GD.2025.5,
  author =	{Aichholzer, Oswin and Dorfer, Joseph and Vogtenhuber, Birgit},
  title =	{{Constrained Flips in Plane Spanning Trees}},
  booktitle =	{33rd International Symposium on Graph Drawing and Network Visualization (GD 2025)},
  pages =	{5:1--5:18},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-403-1},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{357},
  editor =	{Dujmovi\'{c}, Vida and Montecchiani, Fabrizio},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.GD.2025.5},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-249913},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.GD.2025.5},
  annote =	{Keywords: Non-crossing spanning trees, Flip Graphs, Diameter, Complexity, Happy edges}
}
Document
Poster Abstract
Reconfigurations of Plane Caterpillars and Paths (Poster Abstract)

Authors: Todor Antić, Guillermo Gamboa Quintero, and Jelena Glišić

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 357, 33rd International Symposium on Graph Drawing and Network Visualization (GD 2025)


Abstract
Let S be a point set in the plane, and let 𝒫(S) and 𝒞(S) be the sets of all plane spanning paths and caterpillars on S. We study reconfiguration operations on 𝒫(S) and 𝒞(S). In particular, we prove that all of the commonly studied reconfigurations on plane spanning trees still yield connected reconfiguration graphs for caterpillars when S is in convex position. If S is in general position, we show that the rotation, compatible flip and flip graphs of 𝒞(S) are connected while the slide graph is sometimes disconnected, but always has a component of size 1/4(3ⁿ-1). We then study sizes of connected components in reconfiguration graphs of plane spanning paths. In this direction, we show that no component of size at most 7 can exist in the flip graph on 𝒫(S).

Cite as

Todor Antić, Guillermo Gamboa Quintero, and Jelena Glišić. Reconfigurations of Plane Caterpillars and Paths (Poster Abstract). In 33rd International Symposium on Graph Drawing and Network Visualization (GD 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 357, pp. 47:1-47:5, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)


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@InProceedings{antic_et_al:LIPIcs.GD.2025.47,
  author =	{Anti\'{c}, Todor and Gamboa Quintero, Guillermo and Gli\v{s}i\'{c}, Jelena},
  title =	{{Reconfigurations of Plane Caterpillars and Paths}},
  booktitle =	{33rd International Symposium on Graph Drawing and Network Visualization (GD 2025)},
  pages =	{47:1--47:5},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-403-1},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{357},
  editor =	{Dujmovi\'{c}, Vida and Montecchiani, Fabrizio},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.GD.2025.47},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-250337},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.GD.2025.47},
  annote =	{Keywords: reconfiguration graph, caterpillar, path, geometric graph}
}
Document
Internally-Convex Drawings of Outerplanar Graphs in Small Area

Authors: Michael A. Bekos, Giordano Da Lozzo, Fabrizio Frati, Giuseppe Liotta, and Antonios Symvonis

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 357, 33rd International Symposium on Graph Drawing and Network Visualization (GD 2025)


Abstract
A well-known result by Kant [Algorithmica, 1996] implies that n-vertex outerplane graphs admit embedding-preserving planar straight-line grid drawings where the internal faces are convex polygons in O(n²) area. In this paper, we present an algorithm to compute such drawings in O(n¹·⁵) area. We also consider outerplanar drawings in which the internal faces are required to be strictly-convex polygons. In this setting, we consider outerplanar graphs whose weak dual is a path and give a drawing algorithm that achieves Θ(nk²) area, where k is the maximum size of an internal facial cycle.

Cite as

Michael A. Bekos, Giordano Da Lozzo, Fabrizio Frati, Giuseppe Liotta, and Antonios Symvonis. Internally-Convex Drawings of Outerplanar Graphs in Small Area. In 33rd International Symposium on Graph Drawing and Network Visualization (GD 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 357, pp. 18:1-18:17, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)


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@InProceedings{bekos_et_al:LIPIcs.GD.2025.18,
  author =	{Bekos, Michael A. and Da Lozzo, Giordano and Frati, Fabrizio and Liotta, Giuseppe and Symvonis, Antonios},
  title =	{{Internally-Convex Drawings of Outerplanar Graphs in Small Area}},
  booktitle =	{33rd International Symposium on Graph Drawing and Network Visualization (GD 2025)},
  pages =	{18:1--18:17},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-403-1},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{357},
  editor =	{Dujmovi\'{c}, Vida and Montecchiani, Fabrizio},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.GD.2025.18},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-250042},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.GD.2025.18},
  annote =	{Keywords: Grid drawings, convexity, area bounds, outerplanar graphs}
}
Document
Improved Hardness-Of-Approximation for Token-Swapping

Authors: Sam Hiken and Nicole Wein

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


Abstract
We study the token swapping problem, in which we are given a graph with an initial assignment of one distinct token to each vertex, and a final desired assignment (again with one token per vertex). The goal is to find the minimum length sequence of swaps of adjacent tokens required to get from the initial to the final assignment. The token swapping problem is known to be NP-complete. It is also known to have a polynomial-time 4-approximation algorithm. From the hardness-of-approximation side, it is known to be NP-hard to approximate with a ratio better than 1001/1000. Our main result is an improvement of the approximation ratio of the lower bound: We show that it is NP-hard to approximate with ratio better than 14/13. We then turn our attention to the 0/1-weighted version, in which every token has a weight of either 0 or 1, and the cost of a swap is the sum of the weights of the two participating tokens. Unlike standard token swapping, no constant-factor approximation is known for this version, and we provide an explanation. We prove that 0/1-weighted token swapping is NP-hard to approximate with ratio better than (1-ε) ln(n) for any constant ε > 0. Lastly, we prove two barrier results for the standard (unweighted) token swapping problem. We show that one cannot beat the current best known approximation ratio of 4 using a large class of algorithms which includes all known algorithms, nor can one beat it using a common analysis framework.

Cite as

Sam Hiken and Nicole Wein. Improved Hardness-Of-Approximation for Token-Swapping. In 33rd Annual European Symposium on Algorithms (ESA 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 351, pp. 57:1-57:16, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)


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@InProceedings{hiken_et_al:LIPIcs.ESA.2025.57,
  author =	{Hiken, Sam and Wein, Nicole},
  title =	{{Improved Hardness-Of-Approximation for Token-Swapping}},
  booktitle =	{33rd Annual European Symposium on Algorithms (ESA 2025)},
  pages =	{57:1--57:16},
  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.2025.57},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-245251},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ESA.2025.57},
  annote =	{Keywords: algorithms, token-swapping, hardness-of-approximation, lower-bounds}
}
Document
Sliding Squares in Parallel

Authors: Hugo A. Akitaya, Sándor P. Fekete, Peter Kramer, Saba Molaei, Christian Rieck, Frederick Stock, and Tobias Wallner

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


Abstract
We consider algorithmic problems motivated by modular robotic reconfiguration in the sliding square model, in which we are given n square-shaped modules in a (labeled or unlabeled) start configuration and need to find a schedule of sliding moves to transform it into a desired goal configuration, maintaining connectivity of the configuration at all times. Recent work has aimed at minimizing the total number of moves, resulting in fully sequential schedules that can perform reconfiguration in 𝒪(n²) moves, or 𝒪(nP) for arrangements of bounding box perimeter size P. We provide first results in the sliding square model that exploit parallel motion, performing reconfiguration in worst-case optimal makespan of 𝒪(P). We also provide tight bounds on the complexity of the problem by showing that even deciding the possibility of reconfiguration within makespan 1 is NP-complete in the unlabeled case. In the labeled variant, we note that deciding the same for makespan 2 is NP-complete, while makespan 1 is straightforward.

Cite as

Hugo A. Akitaya, Sándor P. Fekete, Peter Kramer, Saba Molaei, Christian Rieck, Frederick Stock, and Tobias Wallner. Sliding Squares in Parallel. In 33rd Annual European Symposium on Algorithms (ESA 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 351, pp. 28:1-28:17, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)


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@InProceedings{a.akitaya_et_al:LIPIcs.ESA.2025.28,
  author =	{A. Akitaya, Hugo and Fekete, S\'{a}ndor P. and Kramer, Peter and Molaei, Saba and Rieck, Christian and Stock, Frederick and Wallner, Tobias},
  title =	{{Sliding Squares in Parallel}},
  booktitle =	{33rd Annual European Symposium on Algorithms (ESA 2025)},
  pages =	{28:1--28:17},
  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.2025.28},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-244961},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ESA.2025.28},
  annote =	{Keywords: Sliding squares, parallel motion, reconfigurability, motion planning, multi-agent path finding, makespan, swarm robotics, computational geometry}
}
Document
Separating Two Points with Obstacles in the Plane: Improved Upper and Lower Bounds

Authors: Jack Spalding-Jamieson and Anurag Murty Naredla

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


Abstract
Given two points in the plane, and a set of "obstacles" given as curves through the plane with assigned weights, we consider the point-separation problem, which asks for a minimum-weight subset of the obstacles separating the two points. A few computational models for this problem have been previously studied. We give a unified approach to this problem in all models via a reduction to a particular shortest-path problem, and obtain improved running times in essentially all cases. In addition, we also give fine-grained lower bounds for many cases.

Cite as

Jack Spalding-Jamieson and Anurag Murty Naredla. Separating Two Points with Obstacles in the Plane: Improved Upper and Lower Bounds. In 33rd Annual European Symposium on Algorithms (ESA 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 351, pp. 90:1-90:18, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)


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@InProceedings{spaldingjamieson_et_al:LIPIcs.ESA.2025.90,
  author =	{Spalding-Jamieson, Jack and Naredla, Anurag Murty},
  title =	{{Separating Two Points with Obstacles in the Plane: Improved Upper and Lower Bounds}},
  booktitle =	{33rd Annual European Symposium on Algorithms (ESA 2025)},
  pages =	{90:1--90:18},
  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.2025.90},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-245598},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ESA.2025.90},
  annote =	{Keywords: obstacle separation, point separation, geometric intersection graph, Z₂-homology, fine-grained lower bounds}
}
Document
On the I/O Complexity of the Cocke-Younger-Kasami Algorithm and of a Family of Related Dynamic Programming Algorithms

Authors: Lorenzo De Stefani and Vedant Gupta

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 349, 19th International Symposium on Algorithms and Data Structures (WADS 2025)


Abstract
Asymptotically tight lower bounds are derived for the Input/Output (I/O) complexity of a class of dynamic programming algorithms, including matrix chain multiplication, optimal polygon triangulation, and the construction of optimal binary search trees. Assuming no recomputation of intermediate values, we establish an Ω(n³/(√M B)) I/O lower bound, where n denotes the size of the input and M denotes the size of the available fast memory (cache). When recomputation is allowed, we show that the same bound holds for M < cn, where c is a positive constant. In the case where M ≥ 2n, we show an Ω(n/B) I/O lower bound. We also discuss algorithms for which the number of executed I/O operations matches asymptotically each of the presented lower bounds, which are thus asymptotically tight. Additionally, we refine our general method to obtain a lower bound for the I/O complexity of the Cocke-Younger-Kasami algorithm, where the size of the grammar impacts the I/O complexity. An upper bound with asymptotically matching performance in many cases is also provided.

Cite as

Lorenzo De Stefani and Vedant Gupta. On the I/O Complexity of the Cocke-Younger-Kasami Algorithm and of a Family of Related Dynamic Programming Algorithms. In 19th International Symposium on Algorithms and Data Structures (WADS 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 349, pp. 49:1-49:24, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)


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@InProceedings{destefani_et_al:LIPIcs.WADS.2025.49,
  author =	{De Stefani, Lorenzo and Gupta, Vedant},
  title =	{{On the I/O Complexity of the Cocke-Younger-Kasami Algorithm and of a Family of Related Dynamic Programming Algorithms}},
  booktitle =	{19th International Symposium on Algorithms and Data Structures (WADS 2025)},
  pages =	{49:1--49:24},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-398-0},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{349},
  editor =	{Morin, Pat and Oh, Eunjin},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.WADS.2025.49},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-242800},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.WADS.2025.49},
  annote =	{Keywords: I/O complexity, Dynamic Programming Algorithms, Lower Bounds, Recomputation, Cocke-Younger-Kasami}
}
Document
Algorithmic Hardness of the Partition Function for Nucleic Acid Strands

Authors: Gwendal Ducloz, Ahmed Shalaby, and Damien Woods

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 347, 31st International Conference on DNA Computing and Molecular Programming (DNA 31) (2025)


Abstract
To understand and engineer biological and artificial nucleic acid systems, algorithms are employed for prediction of secondary structures at thermodynamic equilibrium. Dynamic programming algorithms are used to compute the most favoured, or Minimum Free Energy (MFE), structure, and the Partition Function (PF) - a tool for assigning a probability to any structure. However, in some situations, such as when there are large numbers of strands, or pseudoknotted systems, NP-hardness results show that such algorithms are unlikely, but only for MFE. Curiously, algorithmic hardness results were not shown for PF, leaving two open questions on the complexity of PF for multiple strands and single strands with pseudoknots. The challenge is that while the MFE problem cares only about one, or a few structures, PF is a summation over the entire secondary structure space, giving theorists the vibe that computing PF should not only be as hard as MFE, but should be even harder. We answer both questions. First, we show that computing PF is #P-hard for systems with an unbounded number of strands, answering a question of Condon Hajiaghayi, and Thachuk [DNA27]. Second, for even a single strand, but allowing pseudoknots, we find that PF is #P-hard. Our proof relies on a novel magnification trick that leads to a tightly-woven set of reductions between five key thermodynamic problems: MFE, PF, their decision versions, and #SSEL that counts structures of a given energy. Our reductions show these five problems are fundamentally related for any energy model amenable to magnification. That general classification clarifies the mathematical landscape of nucleic acid energy models and yields several open questions.

Cite as

Gwendal Ducloz, Ahmed Shalaby, and Damien Woods. Algorithmic Hardness of the Partition Function for Nucleic Acid Strands. In 31st International Conference on DNA Computing and Molecular Programming (DNA 31). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 347, pp. 1:1-1:23, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)


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@InProceedings{ducloz_et_al:LIPIcs.DNA.31.1,
  author =	{Ducloz, Gwendal and Shalaby, Ahmed and Woods, Damien},
  title =	{{Algorithmic Hardness of the Partition Function for Nucleic Acid Strands}},
  booktitle =	{31st International Conference on DNA Computing and Molecular Programming (DNA 31)},
  pages =	{1:1--1:23},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-399-7},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{347},
  editor =	{Schaeffer, Josie and Zhang, Fei},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.DNA.31.1},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-238504},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.DNA.31.1},
  annote =	{Keywords: Partition function, minimum free energy, nucleic acid, DNA, RNA, secondary structure, computational complexity, #P-hardness}
}
Document
Track A: Algorithms, Complexity and Games
Drainability and Fillability of Polyominoes in Diverse Models of Global Control

Authors: Sándor P. Fekete, Peter Kramer, Jan-Marc Reinhardt, Christian Rieck, and Christian Scheffer

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


Abstract
Tilt models offer intuitive and clean definitions of complex systems in which particles are influenced by global control commands. Despite a wide range of applications, there has been almost no theoretical investigation into the associated issues of filling and draining geometric environments. This is partly because a globally controlled system (i.e., passive matter) exhibits highly complex behavior that cannot be locally restricted. Thus, there is a strong need for theoretical studies that investigate these models both (1) in terms of relative power to each other, and (2) from a complexity theory perspective. In this work, we provide (1) general tools for comparing and contrasting different models of global control, and (2) both complexity and algorithmic results on filling and draining.

Cite as

Sándor P. Fekete, Peter Kramer, Jan-Marc Reinhardt, Christian Rieck, and Christian Scheffer. Drainability and Fillability of Polyominoes in Diverse Models of Global Control. In 52nd International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming (ICALP 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 334, pp. 74:1-74:19, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)


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@InProceedings{fekete_et_al:LIPIcs.ICALP.2025.74,
  author =	{Fekete, S\'{a}ndor P. and Kramer, Peter and Reinhardt, Jan-Marc and Rieck, Christian and Scheffer, Christian},
  title =	{{Drainability and Fillability of Polyominoes in Diverse Models of Global Control}},
  booktitle =	{52nd International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming (ICALP 2025)},
  pages =	{74:1--74:19},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-372-0},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{334},
  editor =	{Censor-Hillel, Keren and Grandoni, Fabrizio and Ouaknine, Jo\"{e}l and Puppis, Gabriele},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.ICALP.2025.74},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-234518},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ICALP.2025.74},
  annote =	{Keywords: Global control, full Tilt, single Tilt, Fillability, Drainability, Polyominoes, Complexity}
}
Document
Media Exposition
Finding Shortest Reconfiguration Sequences for Modular Robots (Media Exposition)

Authors: UML Modular Robotics Group, Hugo A. Akitaya, Andrew Clements, Sam Downey, Jonathan Eisenbies, Soham Samanta, Gabriel Shahrouzi, and Frederick Stock

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 332, 41st International Symposium on Computational Geometry (SoCG 2025)


Abstract
This paper introduces a set of tools built to help researchers design algorithms for modular robots. These tools can brute force solutions to specific reconfigurations, visualize movements of modular robots, and can be used to design specific configurations of robots. Multiple models of modular robots are supported, and can be added by users.

Cite as

UML Modular Robotics Group, Hugo A. Akitaya, Andrew Clements, Sam Downey, Jonathan Eisenbies, Soham Samanta, Gabriel Shahrouzi, and Frederick Stock. Finding Shortest Reconfiguration Sequences for Modular Robots (Media Exposition). In 41st International Symposium on Computational Geometry (SoCG 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 332, pp. 85:1-85:5, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)


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@InProceedings{umlmodularroboticsgroup_et_al:LIPIcs.SoCG.2025.85,
  author =	{UML Modular Robotics Group and A. Akitaya, Hugo and Clements, Andrew and Downey, Sam and Eisenbies, Jonathan and Samanta, Soham and Shahrouzi, Gabriel and Stock, Frederick},
  title =	{{Finding Shortest Reconfiguration Sequences for Modular Robots}},
  booktitle =	{41st International Symposium on Computational Geometry (SoCG 2025)},
  pages =	{85:1--85:5},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-370-6},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{332},
  editor =	{Aichholzer, Oswin and Wang, Haitao},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.SoCG.2025.85},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-232371},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.SoCG.2025.85},
  annote =	{Keywords: modular reconfigurable robots, sliding cube model, reconfiguration}
}
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