177 Search Results for "O’Donnell, Ryan"

Volume

LIPIcs, Volume 79

32nd Computational Complexity Conference (CCC 2017)

CCC 2017, July 6-9, 2017, Riga, Latvia

Editors: Ryan O'Donnell

Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.STACS.2026.79
Mind the Gap. Doubling Constant Parametrization of Weighted Problems: TSP, Max-Cut, and More

Authors: Mihail Stoian

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

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

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

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@InProceedings{stoian:LIPIcs.STACS.2026.79,
  author =	{Stoian, Mihail},
  title =	{{Mind the Gap. Doubling Constant Parametrization of Weighted Problems: TSP, Max-Cut, and More}},
  booktitle =	{43rd International Symposium on Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science (STACS 2026)},
  pages =	{79:1--79:19},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-412-3},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2026},
  volume =	{364},
  editor =	{Mahajan, Meena and Manea, Florin and McIver, Annabelle and Thắng, Nguy\~{ê}n Kim},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.STACS.2026.79},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-255680},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.STACS.2026.79},
  annote =	{Keywords: doubling constant parametrization, weighted problems, traveling salesman, weighted max-cut, edge-weighted k-clique}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.STACS.2026.23
Simple Circuit Extensions for XOR in PTIME

Authors: Marco Carmosino, Ngu Dang, and Tim Jackman

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

Abstract
The Minimum Circuit Size Problem for Partial Functions (MCSP^*) is hard assuming the Exponential Time Hypothesis (ETH) (Ilango, 2020). This breakthrough result leveraged a characterization of the optimal {∧, ∨, ¬} circuits for n-bit OR (OR_n) and a reduction from the partial f-Simple Extension Problem where f = OR_n. It remains open to extend that reduction to show ETH-hardness of total MCSP. However, Ilango observed that the total f-Simple Extension Problem is easy whenever f is computed by read-once formulas (like OR_n). Therefore, extending Ilango’s proof to total MCSP would require replacing OR_n with a more complex but similarly well-understood Boolean function. This work shows that the f-Simple Extension problem remains easy when f is the next natural candidate: XOR_n. We first develop a fixed-parameter tractable algorithm for the f-Simple Extension Problem that is efficient whenever the optimal circuits for f are (1) linear in size, (2) polynomially "few" and efficiently enumerable in the truth-table size (up to isomorphism and permutation of inputs), and (3) all have constant bounded fan-out. XOR_n satisfies all three of these conditions. When ¬ gates count towards circuit size, optimal XOR_n circuits are binary trees of n-1 subcircuits computing (¬)XOR₂ (Kombarov, 2011). We extend this characterization when ¬ gates do not contribute the circuit size. Thus, the XOR-Simple Extension Problem is in polynomial time under both measures of circuit complexity. We conclude by discussing conjectures about the complexity of the f-Simple Extension problem for each explicit function f with known and unrestricted circuit lower bounds over the DeMorgan basis. Examining the conditions under which our Simple Extension Solver is efficient, we argue that multiplexer functions (MUX) are the most promising candidate for ETH-hardness of a Simple Extension Problem, towards proving ETH-hardness of total MCSP.
Cite as

Marco Carmosino, Ngu Dang, and Tim Jackman. Simple Circuit Extensions for XOR in PTIME. In 43rd International Symposium on Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science (STACS 2026). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 364, pp. 23:1-23:20, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)

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@InProceedings{carmosino_et_al:LIPIcs.STACS.2026.23,
  author =	{Carmosino, Marco and Dang, Ngu and Jackman, Tim},
  title =	{{Simple Circuit Extensions for XOR in PTIME}},
  booktitle =	{43rd International Symposium on Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science (STACS 2026)},
  pages =	{23:1--23:20},
  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.2026.23},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-255127},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.STACS.2026.23},
  annote =	{Keywords: Minimum Circuit Size Problem, Circuit Lower Bounds, Exponential Time Hypothesis}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.STACS.2026.30
Spectral Norm, Economical Sieve, and Linear Invariance Testing of Boolean Functions

Authors: Swarnalipa Datta, Arijit Ghosh, Chandrima Kayal, Manaswi Paraashar, and Manmatha Roy

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

Abstract
Given Boolean functions f, g : 𝔽₂ⁿ → {-1,+1}, we say they are linearly isomorphic if there exists A ∈ GL_n(𝔽₂) such that f(x) = g(Ax) for all x. We study this problem in the tolerant property testing framework under the known-unknown model, where g is given explicitly and f is accessible only via oracle queries, meaning the algorithm may adaptively request the value of f(x) for inputs x ∈ 𝔽₂ⁿ of its choice. Given parameters ε ≥ 0 and ω > 0, the goal is to distinguish whether there exists A ∈ GL_n(𝔽₂) such that the normalized Hamming distance between f and g(Ax) is at most ε, or whether for every A ∈ GL_n(𝔽₂) the distance is at least ε+ω. Our main result is a tolerant tester making Õ ((m/ω) ⁴) queries to f, where m is an upper bound on the spectral norm of g, improving the previous Õ ((m/ω) ^{24}) bound of Wimmer and Yoshida. We complement this with a nearly matching lower bound of Ω(m²) for constant ω (for example, ω = 1/4), improving the prior Ω(log m) lower bound of Grigorescu, Wimmer and Xie. A key technical ingredient on the algorithmic side is a query-efficient local list corrector. For the lower bound, we give a reduction from communication complexity using a novel subclass of Maiorana-McFarland functions from symmetric-key cryptography.
Cite as

Swarnalipa Datta, Arijit Ghosh, Chandrima Kayal, Manaswi Paraashar, and Manmatha Roy. Spectral Norm, Economical Sieve, and Linear Invariance Testing of Boolean Functions. In 43rd International Symposium on Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science (STACS 2026). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 364, pp. 30:1-30:21, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)

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@InProceedings{datta_et_al:LIPIcs.STACS.2026.30,
  author =	{Datta, Swarnalipa and Ghosh, Arijit and Kayal, Chandrima and Paraashar, Manaswi and Roy, Manmatha},
  title =	{{Spectral Norm, Economical Sieve, and Linear Invariance Testing of Boolean Functions}},
  booktitle =	{43rd International Symposium on Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science (STACS 2026)},
  pages =	{30:1--30:21},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-412-3},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2026},
  volume =	{364},
  editor =	{Mahajan, Meena and Manea, Florin and McIver, Annabelle and Thắng, Nguy\~{ê}n Kim},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.STACS.2026.30},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-255194},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.STACS.2026.30},
  annote =	{Keywords: Boolean Function, Isomorphism of Boolean Function, Fourier Analysis, Sublinear Algorithm, Property Testing}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.STACS.2026.66
Computational Hardness of Estimating Quantum Entropies via Binary Entropy Bounds

Authors: Yupan Liu

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

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

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

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@InProceedings{liu:LIPIcs.STACS.2026.66,
  author =	{Liu, Yupan},
  title =	{{Computational Hardness of Estimating Quantum Entropies via Binary Entropy Bounds}},
  booktitle =	{43rd International Symposium on Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science (STACS 2026)},
  pages =	{66:1--66:23},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-412-3},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2026},
  volume =	{364},
  editor =	{Mahajan, Meena and Manea, Florin and McIver, Annabelle and Thắng, Nguy\~{ê}n Kim},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.STACS.2026.66},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-255550},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.STACS.2026.66},
  annote =	{Keywords: computational hardness, quantum state testing, quantum R\'{e}nyi entropy, quantum Tsallis entropy, von Neumann entropy}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.STACS.2026.69
Approximating q → p Norms of Non-Negative Matrices in Nearly-Linear Time

Authors: Etienne Objois and Adrian Vladu

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

Abstract
We provide the first nearly-linear time algorithm for approximating 𝓁_{q → p}-norms of non-negative matrices, for q ≥ p ≥ 1. Our algorithm returns a (1-ε)-approximation to the matrix norm in time Õ(1/(q ε) ⋅ nnz(A)), where A is the input matrix, and improves upon the previous state of the art, which either proved convergence only in the limit [Boyd '74], or had very high polynomial running times [Bhaskara-Vijayraghavan, SODA '11]. Our algorithm is extremely simple, and is largely inspired from the coordinate-scaling approach used for positive linear program solvers. Our algorithm can readily be used in the [Englert-Räcke, FOCS '09] to improve the running time of constructing O(log n)-competitive 𝓁_p-oblivious routings.
Cite as

Etienne Objois and Adrian Vladu. Approximating q → p Norms of Non-Negative Matrices in Nearly-Linear Time. In 43rd International Symposium on Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science (STACS 2026). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 364, pp. 69:1-69:19, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)

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@InProceedings{objois_et_al:LIPIcs.STACS.2026.69,
  author =	{Objois, Etienne and Vladu, Adrian},
  title =	{{Approximating q → p Norms of Non-Negative Matrices in Nearly-Linear Time}},
  booktitle =	{43rd International Symposium on Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science (STACS 2026)},
  pages =	{69:1--69:19},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-412-3},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2026},
  volume =	{364},
  editor =	{Mahajan, Meena and Manea, Florin and McIver, Annabelle and Thắng, Nguy\~{ê}n Kim},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.STACS.2026.69},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-255585},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.STACS.2026.69},
  annote =	{Keywords: matrix norm, Perron-Frobenius theory, oblivious routings, input-sparsity time, lp norm}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.10
On the Complexity of Unique Quantum Witnesses and Quantum Approximate Counting

Authors: Anurag Anshu, Jonas Haferkamp, Yeongwoo Hwang, and Quynh T. Nguyen

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

Abstract
We study the long-standing open question on the power of unique witnesses in quantum protocols, which asks if UniqueQMA, a variant of QMA whose accepting witness space is 1-dimensional, contains QMA under quantum reductions. This work rules out any black-box reduction from QMA to UniqueQMA by showing a quantum oracle separation between BQP^UniqueQMA and QMA. This provides a contrast to the classical case, where the Valiant-Vazirani theorem shows a black-box randomized reduction from UniqueNP to NP, and suggests the need for studying the structure of the ground space of local Hamiltonians in distilling a potential unique witness. Via similar techniques, we show, relative to a quantum oracle, that QMA^QMA cannot decide quantum approximate counting, ruling out a quantum analogue of Stockmeyer’s algorithm in the black-box setting. Our results employ a subspace reflection oracle, previously considered in [Scott Aaronson and Greg Kuperberg, 2007; Scott Aaronson et al., 2020; She and Yuen, 2023], but we introduce new tools which allow us to exploit the unique witness constraint. We also show a strong "polarization" behavior of QMA circuits, which could be of independent interest in studying quantum polynomial hierarchies. We then ask a natural question; what structural properties of the local Hamiltonian problem can we exploit? We introduce a physically motivated candidate by showing that the ground energy of local Hamiltonians that satisfy a computational variant of the eigenstate thermalization hypothesis (ETH) can be estimated through a UniqueQMA protocol. Our protocol can be viewed as a quantum expander test in a low energy subspace of the Hamiltonian and verifies a unique entangled state across two copies of the subspace. This allows us to conclude that if UniqueQMA is not equivalent to QMA, then QMA-hard Hamiltonians must violate ETH under adversarial perturbations (more accurately, further assuming the quantum PCP conjecture if ETH only applies to extensive energy subspaces). Under the same assumption, this also serves as evidence that chaotic local Hamiltonians, such as the SYK model may be computationally simpler than general local Hamiltonians.
Cite as

Anurag Anshu, Jonas Haferkamp, Yeongwoo Hwang, and Quynh T. Nguyen. On the Complexity of Unique Quantum Witnesses and Quantum Approximate Counting. In 17th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2026). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 362, pp. 10:1-10:20, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)

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@InProceedings{anshu_et_al:LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.10,
  author =	{Anshu, Anurag and Haferkamp, Jonas and Hwang, Yeongwoo and Nguyen, Quynh T.},
  title =	{{On the Complexity of Unique Quantum Witnesses and Quantum Approximate Counting}},
  booktitle =	{17th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2026)},
  pages =	{10:1--10:20},
  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.2026.10},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-252978},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.10},
  annote =	{Keywords: Quantum complexity, approximate counting, Valiant-Vazirani, eigenstate thermalization hypothesis}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.15
How to Use Nondeterminism in Cryptography

Authors: Marshall Ball and Peter Crawford-Kahrl

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

Abstract
Nondeterministic reductions have yielded powerful results in the theory of computational complexity, yet are effectively useless in a cryptographic context. The reason for this is simple, a nondeterministic polynomial time adversary can trivially break almost any cryptographic primitive by simply guessing the "key." In order to use this powerful nondeterministic tool kit in the cryptographic context, we initiate the study of cryptography against adversaries with limited nondeterminism: polynomial time nondeterministic algorithms that are restricted to just a few bits of nondeterminism. We demonstrate that limited nondeterministic security is sufficient to prove two foundational results that have eluded our grasp for decades: dream hardness amplification, and extracting ω(log n) hardcore bits.
Cite as

Marshall Ball and Peter Crawford-Kahrl. How to Use Nondeterminism in Cryptography. In 17th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2026). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 362, pp. 15:1-15:22, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)

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@InProceedings{ball_et_al:LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.15,
  author =	{Ball, Marshall and Crawford-Kahrl, Peter},
  title =	{{How to Use Nondeterminism in Cryptography}},
  booktitle =	{17th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2026)},
  pages =	{15:1--15:22},
  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.2026.15},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-253024},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.15},
  annote =	{Keywords: limited nondeterminism, cryptography, computational complexity, hardness amplification, pseudorandom generators, hardcore bits}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.12
Semi-Random Graphs, Robust Asymmetry, and Reconstruction

Authors: Julian Asilis, Xi Chen, Dutch Hansen, and Shang-Hua Teng

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

Abstract
The Graph Reconstruction Conjecture famously posits that any undirected graph on at least three vertices is determined up to isomorphism by its family of (unlabeled) induced subgraphs. At present, the conjecture admits partial resolutions of two types: 1) casework-based demonstrations of reconstructibility for families of graphs satisfying certain structural properties, and 2) probabilistic arguments establishing reconstructibility of random graphs by leveraging average-case phenomena. While results in the first category capture the worst-case nature of the conjecture, they play a limited role in understanding the general case. Results in the second category address much larger graph families, but it remains unclear how heavily the necessary arguments rely on optimistic distributional properties. Drawing on the algorithmic notions of smoothed and semi-random analysis, we study the robustness of what are arguably the two most fundamental properties in this latter line of work: asymmetry and uniqueness of subgraphs. Notably, we find that various natural semi-random graph distributions exhibit these properties asymptotically, much like their Erdős-Rényi counterparts. In particular, Bollobás [Bollob{á}s, 1990] demonstrated that almost all Erdős-Rényi random graphs G = (V, E) ∼ G(n, p) enjoy the property that their induced subgraphs on n - Θ(1) vertices are asymmetric and mutually non-isomorphic, for 1 - p, p = Ω(log(n) / n). As our primary result, we demonstrate that this property is robust against perturbation - even when an adversary is permitted to add/remove each vertex pair in V^{(2)} with (independent) arbitrarily large constant probability. Exploiting this result, we derive asymptotic characterizations of asymmetry in random graphs with large planted structure and bounded adversarial corruptions, along with improved bounds on the probability mass of nonreconstructible graphs in G(n, p).
Cite as

Julian Asilis, Xi Chen, Dutch Hansen, and Shang-Hua Teng. Semi-Random Graphs, Robust Asymmetry, and Reconstruction. In 17th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2026). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 362, pp. 12:1-12:21, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)

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@InProceedings{asilis_et_al:LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.12,
  author =	{Asilis, Julian and Chen, Xi and Hansen, Dutch and Teng, Shang-Hua},
  title =	{{Semi-Random Graphs, Robust Asymmetry, and Reconstruction}},
  booktitle =	{17th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2026)},
  pages =	{12:1--12:21},
  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.2026.12},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-252993},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.12},
  annote =	{Keywords: Graph reconstruction, random graphs}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.80
FPT Approximations for Connected Maximum Coverage

Authors: Tanmay Inamdar, Satyabrata Jana, Madhumita Kundu, Daniel Lokshtanov, Saket Saurabh, and Meirav Zehavi

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

Abstract
We revisit connectivity-constrained coverage through a unifying model, Partial Connected Red-Blue Dominating Set (PartialConRBDS). Given a bipartite graph G = (R∪ B,E) with red vertices R and blue vertices B, an auxiliary connectivity graph G_{conn} on R, and integers k,t, the task is to find a set S ⊆ R with |S| ≤ k such that G_{conn}[S] is connected and S dominates at least t blue vertices. This formulation captures connected variants of Maximum Coverage [Hochbaum-Rao, Inf. Proc. Lett., 2020; D'Angelo-Delfaraz, AAMAS 2025], Partial Vertex Cover, and Partial Dominating Set [Khuller et al., SODA 2014; Lamprou et al., TCS 2021] via standard encodings. Limits to parameterized tractability. PartialConRBDS is W[1]-hard parameterized by k even under strong restrictions: it remains hard when G_{conn} is a clique or a star and the incidence graph G is 3-degenerate, or when G is K_{2,2}-free. Inapproximability. For every ε > 0, there is no polynomial-time (1, 1-1/e+ε)-approximation unless 𝖯 = NP. Moreover, under ETH, no algorithm running in f(k)⋅ n^{o(k)} time achieves an g(k)-approximation for k for any computable function g(⋅), or for any ε > 0, a (1-1/e+ε)-approximation for t. Graphical special cases. Partial Connected Dominating Set is W[2]-hard parameterized by k and inherits the same ETH-based f(k)⋅ n^{o(k)} inapproximability bound as above; Partial Connected Vertex Cover is W[1]-hard parameterized by k. These hardness boundaries delineate a natural "sweet spot" for study: within appropriate structural restrictions on the incidence graph, one can still aim for fine-grained (FPT) approximations. Our algorithms. We solve PartialConRBDS exactly by reducing it to Relaxed Directed Steiner Out-Tree in time (2e)^t ⋅ n^{𝒪(1)}. For biclique-free incidences (i.e., when G excludes K_{d,d} as an induced subgraph), we obtain two complementary parameterized schemes: - An Efficient Parameterized Approximation Scheme (EPAS) running in time 2^{𝒪(k² d/ε)}⋅ n^{𝒪(1)} that either returns a connected solution of size at most k covering at least (1-ε)t blue vertices, or correctly reports that no connected size-k solution covers t; and - A Parameterized Approximation Scheme (PAS) running in time 2^{𝒪(kd(k²+log d))}⋅ n^{𝒪(1/ε)} that either returns a connected solution of size at most (1+ε)k covering at least t blue vertices, or correctly reports that no connected size-k solution covers t. Together, these results chart the boundary between hardness and FPT-approximability for connectivity-constrained coverage.
Cite as

Tanmay Inamdar, Satyabrata Jana, Madhumita Kundu, Daniel Lokshtanov, Saket Saurabh, and Meirav Zehavi. FPT Approximations for Connected Maximum Coverage. In 17th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2026). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 362, pp. 80:1-80:24, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)

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@InProceedings{inamdar_et_al:LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.80,
  author =	{Inamdar, Tanmay and Jana, Satyabrata and Kundu, Madhumita and Lokshtanov, Daniel and Saurabh, Saket and Zehavi, Meirav},
  title =	{{FPT Approximations for Connected Maximum Coverage}},
  booktitle =	{17th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2026)},
  pages =	{80:1--80:24},
  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.2026.80},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-253674},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.80},
  annote =	{Keywords: Partial Dominating Set, Connectivity, Maximum Coverage, FPT Approximation, Fixed-parameter Tractability}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.85
Recovering Communities in Structured Random Graphs

Authors: Michael Kapralov, Luca Trevisan, and Weronika Wrzos-Kaminska

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

Abstract
The problem of recovering planted community structure in random graphs has received a lot of attention in the literature on the stochastic block model, where the input is a random graph in which edges crossing between different communities appear with smaller probability than edges induced by communities. The communities themselves form a collection of vertex-disjoint sparse cuts in the expected graph, and can be recovered, often exactly, from a sample as long as a separation condition on the intra- and inter-community edge probabilities is satisfied. In this paper, we ask whether the presence of a large number of overlapping sparsest cuts in the expected graph still allows recovery. For example, the d-dimensional hypercube graph admits d distinct (balanced) sparsest cuts, one for every coordinate. Can these cuts be identified given a random sample of the edges of the hypercube where each edge is present independently with some probability p ∈ (0, 1)? We show that this is the case, in a very strong sense: the sparsest balanced cut in a sample of the hypercube at rate p = Clog d/d for a sufficiently large constant C is 1/poly(d)-close to a coordinate cut with high probability. This is asymptotically optimal and allows approximate recovery of all d cuts simultaneously. Furthermore, for an appropriate sample of hypercube-like graphs recovery can be made exact. The proof is essentially a strong hypercube cut sparsification bound that combines a theorem of Friedgut, Kalai and Naor on boolean functions whose Fourier transform concentrates on the first level of the Fourier spectrum with Karger’s cut counting argument.
Cite as

Michael Kapralov, Luca Trevisan, and Weronika Wrzos-Kaminska. Recovering Communities in Structured Random Graphs. In 17th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2026). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 362, pp. 85:1-85:23, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)

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@InProceedings{kapralov_et_al:LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.85,
  author =	{Kapralov, Michael and Trevisan, Luca and Wrzos-Kaminska, Weronika},
  title =	{{Recovering Communities in Structured Random Graphs}},
  booktitle =	{17th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2026)},
  pages =	{85:1--85:23},
  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.2026.85},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-253727},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.85},
  annote =	{Keywords: Hypercube graphs, Community detection, Fourier analysis of Boolean functions}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.56
The Hardness of Learning Quantum Circuits and Its Cryptographic Applications

Authors: Bill Fefferman, Soumik Ghosh, Makrand Sinha, and Henry Yuen

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

Abstract
We show that concrete hardness assumptions about learning or cloning the output state of a random quantum circuit can be used as the foundation for secure quantum cryptography. In particular, under these assumptions we construct secure one-way state generators (OWSGs), digital signature schemes, quantum bit commitments, and private key encryption schemes. We also discuss evidence for these hardness assumptions by analyzing the best-known quantum learning algorithms, as well as proving black-box lower bounds for cloning and learning given state preparation oracles. Our random circuit-based constructions provide concrete instantiations of quantum cryptographic primitives whose security do not depend on the existence of one-way functions. The use of random circuits in our constructions also opens the door to {NISQ-friendly quantum cryptography}. We discuss noise tolerant versions of our OWSG and digital signature constructions which can potentially be implementable on noisy quantum computers connected by a quantum network. On the other hand, they are still secure against {noiseless} quantum adversaries, raising the intriguing possibility of a useful implementation of an end-to-end cryptographic protocol on near-term quantum computers. Finally, our explorations suggest that the rich interconnections between learning theory and cryptography in classical theoretical computer science also extend to the quantum setting.
Cite as

Bill Fefferman, Soumik Ghosh, Makrand Sinha, and Henry Yuen. The Hardness of Learning Quantum Circuits and Its Cryptographic Applications. In 17th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2026). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 362, pp. 56:1-56:21, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)

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@InProceedings{fefferman_et_al:LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.56,
  author =	{Fefferman, Bill and Ghosh, Soumik and Sinha, Makrand and Yuen, Henry},
  title =	{{The Hardness of Learning Quantum Circuits and Its Cryptographic Applications}},
  booktitle =	{17th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2026)},
  pages =	{56:1--56:21},
  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.2026.56},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-253431},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.56},
  annote =	{Keywords: quantum learning, quantum circuits, cryptographic hardness, one-way state generators}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.60
Total Search Problems in ZPP

Authors: Noah Fleming, Stefan Grosser, Siddhartha Jain, Jiawei Li, Hanlin Ren, Morgan Shirley, and Weiqiang Yuan

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

Abstract
We initiate a systematic study of TFZPP, the class of total NP search problems solvable by polynomial time randomized algorithms. TFZPP contains a variety of important search problems such as Bertrand-Chebyshev (finding a prime between N and 2N), refuter problems for many circuit lower bounds, and Lossy-Code. The Lossy-Code problem has found prominence due to its fundamental connections to derandomization, catalytic computing, and the metamathematics of complexity theory, among other areas. While TFZPP collapses to FP under standard derandomization assumptions in the white-box setting, we are able to separate TFZPP from the major TFNP subclasses in the black-box setting. In fact, we are able to separate it from every uniform TFNP class assuming that NP is not in quasi-polynomial time. To do so, we extend the connection between proof complexity and black-box TFNP to randomized proof systems and randomized reductions. Next, we turn to developing a taxonomy of TFZPP problems. We highlight a problem called Nephew, originating from an infinity axiom in set theory. We show that Nephew is in PWPP∩ TFZPP and conjecture that it is not reducible to Lossy-Code. Intriguingly, except for some artificial examples, most other black-box TFZPP problems that we are aware of reduce to Lossy-Code: - We define a problem called Empty-Child capturing finding a leaf in a rooted (binary) tree, and show that this problem is equivalent to Lossy-Code. We also show that a variant of Empty-Child with "heights" is complete for the intersection of SOPL and Lossy-Code. - We strengthen Lossy-Code with several combinatorial inequalities such as the AM-GM inequality. Somewhat surprisingly, we show the resulting new problems are still reducible to Lossy-Code. A technical highlight of this result is that they are proved by formalizations in bounded arithmetic, specifically in Jeřábek’s theory APC₁ (JSL 2007). - Finally, we show that the Dense-Linear-Ordering problem reduces to Lossy-Code.
Cite as

Noah Fleming, Stefan Grosser, Siddhartha Jain, Jiawei Li, Hanlin Ren, Morgan Shirley, and Weiqiang Yuan. Total Search Problems in ZPP. In 17th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2026). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 362, pp. 60:1-60:26, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)

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@InProceedings{fleming_et_al:LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.60,
  author =	{Fleming, Noah and Grosser, Stefan and Jain, Siddhartha and Li, Jiawei and Ren, Hanlin and Shirley, Morgan and Yuan, Weiqiang},
  title =	{{Total Search Problems in ZPP}},
  booktitle =	{17th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2026)},
  pages =	{60:1--60:26},
  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.2026.60},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-253473},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.60},
  annote =	{Keywords: TFNP, lossy code, randomized proof systems, query complexity}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.59
On Approximating the f-Divergence Between Two Ising Models

Authors: Weiming Feng and Yucheng Fu

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

Abstract
The f-divergence is a fundamental notion that measures the difference between two distributions. In this paper, we study the problem of approximating the f-divergence between two Ising models, which is a generalization of recent work on approximating the TV-distance. Given two Ising models ν and μ, which are specified by their interaction matrices and external fields, the problem is to approximate the f-divergence D_f (ν ‖ μ) within an arbitrary relative error e^{±ε}. For χ^α-divergence with a constant integer α, we establish both algorithmic and hardness results. The algorithm works in a parameter regime that matches the hardness result. Our algorithm can be extended to other f-divergences such as α-divergence, Kullback-Leibler divergence, Rényi divergence, Jensen-Shannon divergence, and squared Hellinger distance.
Cite as

Weiming Feng and Yucheng Fu. On Approximating the f-Divergence Between Two Ising Models. In 17th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2026). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 362, pp. 59:1-59:23, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)

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@InProceedings{feng_et_al:LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.59,
  author =	{Feng, Weiming and Fu, Yucheng},
  title =	{{On Approximating the f-Divergence Between Two Ising Models}},
  booktitle =	{17th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2026)},
  pages =	{59:1--59:23},
  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.2026.59},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-253469},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.59},
  annote =	{Keywords: Ising model, f-divergence, approximation algorithms, randomized algorithms}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.3
Linear Matroid Intersection Is in Catalytic Logspace

Authors: Aryan Agarwala, Yaroslav Alekseev, and Antoine Vinciguerra

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

Abstract
Linear matroid intersection is an important problem in combinatorial optimization. Given two linear matroids over the same ground set, the linear matroid intersection problem asks you to find a common independent set of maximum size. The deep interest in linear matroid intersection is due to the fact that it generalises many classical problems in theoretical computer science, such as bipartite matching, edge disjoint spanning trees, rainbow spanning tree, and many more. We study this problem in the model of catalytic computation: space-bounded machines are granted access to catalytic space, which is additional working memory that is full with arbitrary data that must be preserved at the end of its computation. Although linear matroid intersection has had a polynomial time algorithm for over 50 years, it remains an important open problem to show that linear matroid intersection belongs to any well studied subclass of {P}. We address this problem for the class catalytic logspace (CL) with a polynomial time bound (CLP). Recently, Agarwala and Mertz (2025) showed that bipartite maximum matching can be computed in the class CLP ⊆ {P}. This was the first subclass of {P} shown to contain bipartite matching, and additionally the first problem outside TC¹ shown to be contained in CL. We significantly improve the result of Agarwala and Mertz by showing that linear matroid intersection can be computed in CLP.
Cite as

Aryan Agarwala, Yaroslav Alekseev, and Antoine Vinciguerra. Linear Matroid Intersection Is in Catalytic Logspace. In 17th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2026). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 362, pp. 3:1-3:23, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)

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@InProceedings{agarwala_et_al:LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.3,
  author =	{Agarwala, Aryan and Alekseev, Yaroslav and Vinciguerra, Antoine},
  title =	{{Linear Matroid Intersection Is in Catalytic Logspace}},
  booktitle =	{17th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2026)},
  pages =	{3:1--3:23},
  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.2026.3},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-252908},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.3},
  annote =	{Keywords: Catalytic Computing, Computational Complexity, Matroid Theory, Algorithms}
}
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