29 Search Results for "Sauerwald, Thomas"

Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.STACS.2026.6
Threshold-Driven Streaming Graph: Expansion and Rumor Spreading

Authors: Flora Angileri, Andrea Clementi, Emanuele Natale, Michele Salvi, and Isabella Ziccardi

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

Abstract
A randomized distributed algorithm called RAES was introduced in [Becchetti et al., 2020] to extract a bounded-degree expander from a dense n-vertex expander graph G = (V, E). The algorithm relies on a simple threshold-based procedure. A key assumption in [Becchetti et al., 2020] is that the input graph G is static - i.e., both its vertex set V and edge set E remain unchanged throughout the process - while the analysis of raes in dynamic models is left as a major open question. In this work, we investigate the behavior of RAES under a dynamic graph model induced by a streaming node-churn process (also known as the sliding window model), where, at each discrete round, a new node joins the graph and the oldest node departs. This process yields a bounded-degree dynamic graph 𝒢 = {G_t = (V_t, E_t) : t ∈ ℕ} that captures essential characteristics of peer-to-peer networks - specifically, node churn and threshold on the number of connections each node can manage. We prove that every snapshot G_t in the dynamic graph sequence has good expansion properties with high probability. Furthermore, we leverage this property to establish a logarithmic upper bound on the completion time of the well-known PUSH and PULL rumor spreading protocols over the dynamic graph 𝒢.
Cite as

Flora Angileri, Andrea Clementi, Emanuele Natale, Michele Salvi, and Isabella Ziccardi. Threshold-Driven Streaming Graph: Expansion and Rumor Spreading. In 43rd International Symposium on Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science (STACS 2026). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 364, pp. 6:1-6:21, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)

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@InProceedings{angileri_et_al:LIPIcs.STACS.2026.6,
  author =	{Angileri, Flora and Clementi, Andrea and Natale, Emanuele and Salvi, Michele and Ziccardi, Isabella},
  title =	{{Threshold-Driven Streaming Graph: Expansion and Rumor Spreading}},
  booktitle =	{43rd International Symposium on Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science (STACS 2026)},
  pages =	{6:1--6:21},
  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.2026.6},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-254957},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.STACS.2026.6},
  annote =	{Keywords: Distributed Algorithms, Randomized Algorithms, Dynamic Random Graphs, Graph Expansion, Rumor Spreading}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.STACS.2026.71
Broadcast in Almost Mixing Time

Authors: Anton Paramonov and Roger Wattenhofer

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

Abstract
We study the problem of broadcasting multiple messages in the CONGEST model. In this problem, a dedicated source node s possesses a set M of messages with every message of size O(log n) where n is the total number of nodes. The objective is to ensure that every node in the network learns all messages in M. The execution of an algorithm progresses in rounds, and we focus on optimizing the round complexity of broadcasting multiple messages. Our primary contribution is a randomized algorithm for networks with expander topology. The algorithm succeeds with high probability and achieves a round complexity that is optimal up to a factor of the network’s mixing time and polylogarithmic terms. It leverages a multi-COBRA primitive, which uses multiple branching random walks running in parallel. A crucial aspect of our method is the use of these branching random walks to construct an optimal (up to a polylogarithmic factor) tree packing of a random graph, which is then used for efficient broadcasting. We also prove the problem to be NP-hard in a centralized setting and provide insights into why lower bounds that can be matched in expanders, namely graph diameter and |M|/minCut, cannot be tight in general graphs.
Cite as

Anton Paramonov and Roger Wattenhofer. Broadcast in Almost Mixing Time. In 43rd International Symposium on Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science (STACS 2026). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 364, pp. 71:1-71:20, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)

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@InProceedings{paramonov_et_al:LIPIcs.STACS.2026.71,
  author =	{Paramonov, Anton and Wattenhofer, Roger},
  title =	{{Broadcast in Almost Mixing Time}},
  booktitle =	{43rd International Symposium on Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science (STACS 2026)},
  pages =	{71:1--71:20},
  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.2026.71},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-255603},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.STACS.2026.71},
  annote =	{Keywords: Distributed algorithms, Expander Graphs, Random graphs, Broadcast, Branching random walks, Tree packing, CONGEST model}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.102
Smoothed Analysis of Dynamic Graph Algorithms

Authors: Uri Meir and Ami Paz

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

Abstract
Recent years have seen significant progress in the study of dynamic graph algorithms, and most notably, the introduction of strong lower bound techniques for them (e.g., Henzinger, Krinninger, Nanongkai and Saranurak, STOC 2015; Larsen and Yu, FOCS 2023). As worst-case analysis (adversarial inputs) may lead to the necessity of high running times, a natural question arises: in which cases are high running times really necessary, and in which cases these inputs merely manifest unique pathological cases? Early attempts to tackle this question were made by Nikoletseas, Reif, Spirakis and Yung (ICALP 1995) and by Alberts and Henzinger (Algorithmica 1998), who considered models with very little adversarial control over the inputs, and showed fast algorithms exist for them. The question was then overlooked for decades, until Henzinger, Lincoln and Saha (SODA 2022) recently addressed uniformly random inputs, and presented algorithms and impossibility results for several subgraph counting problems. To tackle the above question more thoroughly, we employ smoothed analysis, a celebrated framework introduced by Spielman and Teng (J. ACM, 2004). An input is proposed by an adversary but then a noisy version of it is processed by the algorithm instead. This model of inputs is parameterized by the amount of adversarial control, and fully interpolates between worst-case inputs and a uniformly random input. Doing so, we extend impossibility results for some problems to the smoothed model with only a minor quantitative loss. That is, we show that partially-adversarial inputs suffice to impose high running times for certain problems. In contrast, we show that other problems become easy even with the slightest amount of noise. In addition, we study the interplay between the adversary and the noise, leading to three natural models of smoothed inputs, for which we show a hierarchy of increasing difficulty stretching between the average-case and the worst-case complexities.
Cite as

Uri Meir and Ami Paz. Smoothed Analysis of Dynamic Graph Algorithms. In 17th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2026). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 362, pp. 102:1-102:20, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)

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@InProceedings{meir_et_al:LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.102,
  author =	{Meir, Uri and Paz, Ami},
  title =	{{Smoothed Analysis of Dynamic Graph Algorithms}},
  booktitle =	{17th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2026)},
  pages =	{102:1--102:20},
  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.2026.102},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-253896},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.102},
  annote =	{Keywords: Dynamic graph algorithms, Smoothed analysis, Shortest paths}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.74
Adversarially-Robust Gossip Algorithms for Approximate Quantile and Mean Computations

Authors: Bernhard Haeupler, Marc Kaufmann, Raghu Raman Ravi, and Ulysse Schaller

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

Abstract
This paper presents gossip algorithms for aggregation tasks that demonstrate both robustness to adversarial corruptions of any order of magnitude and optimality across a substantial range of these corruption levels. Gossip algorithms distribute information in a scalable and efficient way by having random pairs of nodes exchange small messages. Value aggregation problems are of particular interest in this setting, as they occur frequently in practice, and many elegant algorithms have been proposed for computing aggregates and statistics such as averages and quantiles. An important and well-studied advantage of gossip algorithms is their robustness to message delays, network churn, and unreliable message transmissions. However, these crucial robustness guarantees only hold if all nodes follow the protocol and no messages are corrupted. In this paper, we remedy this by providing a framework to model both adversarial participants and message corruptions in gossip-style communications by allowing an adversary to control a small fraction of the nodes or corrupt messages arbitrarily. Despite this very powerful and general corruption model, we show that robust gossip algorithms can be designed for many important aggregation problems. Our algorithms guarantee that almost all nodes converge to an approximately correct answer with optimal efficiency and essentially as fast as without corruptions. The design of adversarially-robust gossip algorithms poses completely new challenges. Despite this, our algorithms remain very simple variations of known non-robust algorithms with often only subtle changes to avoid non-compliant nodes gaining too much influence over outcomes. While our algorithms remain simple, their analysis is much more complex and often requires a completely different approach than the non-adversarial setting.
Cite as

Bernhard Haeupler, Marc Kaufmann, Raghu Raman Ravi, and Ulysse Schaller. Adversarially-Robust Gossip Algorithms for Approximate Quantile and Mean Computations. In 17th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2026). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 362, pp. 74:1-74:14, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)

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@InProceedings{haeupler_et_al:LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.74,
  author =	{Haeupler, Bernhard and Kaufmann, Marc and Ravi, Raghu Raman and Schaller, Ulysse},
  title =	{{Adversarially-Robust Gossip Algorithms for Approximate Quantile and Mean Computations}},
  booktitle =	{17th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2026)},
  pages =	{74:1--74:14},
  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.2026.74},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-253611},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.74},
  annote =	{Keywords: Gossip Algorithms, Distributed Computing, Adversarial Robustness}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.OPODIS.2025.30
Byzantine-Tolerant Phase Clock

Authors: Costas Busch, Paweł Garncarek, and Dariusz R. Kowalski

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 361, 29th International Conference on Principles of Distributed Systems (OPODIS 2025)

Abstract
A phase clock is a basic synchronization mechanism that keeps distributed nodes closely synchronized to execute the same phase of a distributed algorithm. A phase clock is typically implemented with a local logical counter that keeps track of the current phase count. Phase clocks are particularly useful in population protocols for implementing leader election and majority selection. We study phase clocks that tolerate Byzantine faults. We show that there is a phase clock that tolerates up to f < n/3 faulty nodes, where n is the number of nodes, such that the gap of the local counter values is O(n²log n). The gap can be further lowered to O(log n) when f ≤ n/8. We also show that if f > n/3, then the gap grows to infinity as time increases. While analyzing phase clock we introduce novel techniques and bounds for balls into bins processes, which might be of independent interest. Using the phase clock, we obtain a majority selection population protocol that tolerates up to f faults and decides on the majority value in O(log² n) parallel time using poly-log states per node.
Cite as

Costas Busch, Paweł Garncarek, and Dariusz R. Kowalski. Byzantine-Tolerant Phase Clock. In 29th International Conference on Principles of Distributed Systems (OPODIS 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 361, pp. 30:1-30:19, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

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@InProceedings{busch_et_al:LIPIcs.OPODIS.2025.30,
  author =	{Busch, Costas and Garncarek, Pawe{\l} and Kowalski, Dariusz R.},
  title =	{{Byzantine-Tolerant Phase Clock}},
  booktitle =	{29th International Conference on Principles of Distributed Systems (OPODIS 2025)},
  pages =	{30:1--30:19},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-409-3},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2026},
  volume =	{361},
  editor =	{Arusoaie, Andrei and Onica, Emanuel and Spear, Michael and Tucci-Piergiovanni, Sara},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.OPODIS.2025.30},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-252036},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.OPODIS.2025.30},
  annote =	{Keywords: phase clock, Byzantine nodes, population protocols, balls into bins}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.DISC.2025.26
Towards Constant Time Multi-Call Rumor Spreading on Small-Set Expanders

Authors: Emilio Cruciani, Sebastian Forster, and Tijn de Vos

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

Abstract
We study a multi-call variant of the classic PUSH&PULL rumor spreading process where nodes can contact k of their neighbors instead of a single one during both PUSH and PULL operations. We show that rumor spreading can be made faster at the cost of an increased amount of communication between the nodes. As a motivating example, consider the process on a complete graph of n nodes: while the standard PUSH&PULL protocol takes Θ(log n) rounds, we prove that our k-PUSH&PULL variant completes in Θ(log_{k} n) rounds, with high probability. We generalize this result in an expansion-sensitive way, as has been done for the classic PUSH&PULL protocol for different notions of expansion, e.g., conductance and vertex expansion. We consider small-set vertex expanders, graphs in which every sufficiently small subset of nodes has a large neighborhood, ensuring strong local connectivity. In particular, when the expansion parameter satisfies ϕ > 1, these graphs have a diameter of o(log n), as opposed to other standard notions of expansion. Since the graph’s diameter is a lower bound on the number of rounds required for rumor spreading, this makes small-set expanders particularly well-suited for fast information dissemination. We prove that k-PUSH&PULL takes O(log_{ϕ} n ⋅ log_{k} n) rounds in these expanders, with high probability. We complement this with a simple lower bound of Ω(log_{ϕ} n+ log_{k} n) rounds.
Cite as

Emilio Cruciani, Sebastian Forster, and Tijn de Vos. Towards Constant Time Multi-Call Rumor Spreading on Small-Set Expanders. In 39th International Symposium on Distributed Computing (DISC 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 356, pp. 26:1-26:25, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

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@InProceedings{cruciani_et_al:LIPIcs.DISC.2025.26,
  author =	{Cruciani, Emilio and Forster, Sebastian and de Vos, Tijn},
  title =	{{Towards Constant Time Multi-Call Rumor Spreading on Small-Set Expanders}},
  booktitle =	{39th International Symposium on Distributed Computing (DISC 2025)},
  pages =	{26:1--26:25},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-402-4},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{356},
  editor =	{Kowalski, Dariusz R.},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.DISC.2025.26},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-248434},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.DISC.2025.26},
  annote =	{Keywords: small set expansion, vertex expansion, rumor spreading, multi-call rumor spreading, push\&pull protocol}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.DISC.2025.28
Byzantine Consensus in the Random Asynchronous Model

Authors: George Danezis, Jovan Komatovic, Lefteris Kokoris-Kogias, Alberto Sonnino, and Igor Zablotchi

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

Abstract
We propose a novel relaxation of the classic asynchronous network model, called the random asynchronous model, which removes adversarial message scheduling while preserving unbounded message delays and Byzantine faults. Instead of an adversary dictating message order, delivery follows a random schedule. We analyze Byzantine consensus at different resilience thresholds (n = 3f+1, n = 2f+1, and n = f+2) and show that our relaxation allows consensus with probabilistic guarantees which are impossible in the standard asynchronous model or even the partially synchronous model. We complement these protocols with corresponding impossibility results, establishing the limits of consensus in the random asynchronous model.
Cite as

George Danezis, Jovan Komatovic, Lefteris Kokoris-Kogias, Alberto Sonnino, and Igor Zablotchi. Byzantine Consensus in the Random Asynchronous Model. In 39th International Symposium on Distributed Computing (DISC 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 356, pp. 28:1-28:22, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

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@InProceedings{danezis_et_al:LIPIcs.DISC.2025.28,
  author =	{Danezis, George and Komatovic, Jovan and Kokoris-Kogias, Lefteris and Sonnino, Alberto and Zablotchi, Igor},
  title =	{{Byzantine Consensus in the Random Asynchronous Model}},
  booktitle =	{39th International Symposium on Distributed Computing (DISC 2025)},
  pages =	{28:1--28:22},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-402-4},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{356},
  editor =	{Kowalski, Dariusz R.},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.DISC.2025.28},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-248457},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.DISC.2025.28},
  annote =	{Keywords: network model, asynchronous, random scheduler, Byzantine consensus}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.DISC.2025.10
Amnesiac Flooding: Easy to Break, Hard to Escape

Authors: Henry Austin, Maximilien Gadouleau, George B. Mertzios, and Amitabh Trehan

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

Abstract
Broadcast is a central problem in distributed computing. Recently, Hussak and Trehan [PODC'19/ STACS'20/DC'23] proposed a stateless broadcasting protocol (Amnesiac Flooding), which was surprisingly proven to terminate in asymptotically optimal time (linear in the diameter of the network). However, it remains unclear: (i) Are there other stateless terminating broadcast algorithms with the desirable properties of Amnesiac Flooding, (ii) How robust is Amnesiac Flooding with respect to faults? In this paper we make progress on both of these fronts. Under a reasonable restriction (obliviousness to message content) additional to the fault-free synchronous model, we prove that Amnesiac Flooding is the only strictly stateless deterministic protocol that can achieve terminating broadcast. We achieve this by identifying four natural properties of a terminating broadcast protocol that Amnesiac Flooding uniquely satisfies. In contrast, we prove that even minor relaxations of any of these four criteria allow the construction of other terminating broadcast protocols. On the other hand, we prove that Amnesiac Flooding can become non-terminating or non-broadcasting, even if we allow just one node to drop a single message on a single edge in a single round. As a tool for proving this, we focus on the set of all configurations of transmissions between nodes in the network, and obtain a dichotomy characterizing the configurations, starting from which, Amnesiac Flooding terminates. Additionally, we characterise the structure of sets of Byzantine agents capable of forcing non-termination or non-broadcast of the protocol on arbitrary networks.
Cite as

Henry Austin, Maximilien Gadouleau, George B. Mertzios, and Amitabh Trehan. Amnesiac Flooding: Easy to Break, Hard to Escape. In 39th International Symposium on Distributed Computing (DISC 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 356, pp. 10:1-10:23, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

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@InProceedings{austin_et_al:LIPIcs.DISC.2025.10,
  author =	{Austin, Henry and Gadouleau, Maximilien and Mertzios, George B. and Trehan, Amitabh},
  title =	{{Amnesiac Flooding: Easy to Break, Hard to Escape}},
  booktitle =	{39th International Symposium on Distributed Computing (DISC 2025)},
  pages =	{10:1--10:23},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-402-4},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{356},
  editor =	{Kowalski, Dariusz R.},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.DISC.2025.10},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-248273},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.DISC.2025.10},
  annote =	{Keywords: Amnesiac flooding, Terminating protocol, Algorithm state, Stateless protocol, Flooding algorithm, Network algorithms, Graph theory, Termination, Communication, Broadcast}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.ESA.2025.103
On the Satisfiability of Random 3-SAT Formulas with k-Wise Independent Clauses

Authors: Ioannis Caragiannis, Nick Gravin, and Zhile Jiang

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

Abstract
The problem of identifying the satisfiability threshold of random 3-SAT formulas has received a lot of attention during the last decades and has inspired the study of other threshold phenomena in random combinatorial structures. The classical assumption in this line of research is that, for a given set of n Boolean variables, each clause is drawn uniformly at random among all sets of three literals from these variables, independently from other clauses. Here, we keep the uniform distribution of each clause, but deviate significantly from the independence assumption and consider richer families of probability distributions. For integer parameters n, m, and k, we denote by ℱ_k(n,m) the family of probability distributions that produce formulas with m clauses, each selected uniformly at random from all sets of three literals from the n variables, so that the clauses are k-wise independent. Our aim is to make general statements about the satisfiability or unsatisfiability of formulas produced by distributions in ℱ_k(n,m) for different values of the parameters n, m, and k. Our technical results are as follows: First, all probability distributions in ℱ₂(n,m) with m ∈ Ω(n³) return unsatisfiable formulas with high probability. This result is tight. We show that there exists a probability distribution 𝒟 ∈ ℱ₃(n,m) with m ∈ O(n³) so that a random formula drawn from 𝒟 is almost always satisfiable. In contrast, for m ∈ Ω(n²), any probability distribution 𝒟 ∈ ℱ₄(n,m) returns an unsatisfiable formula with high probability. This is our most surprising and technically involved result. Finally, for any integer k ≥ 2, any probability distribution 𝒟 ∈ ℱ_k(n,m) with m ∈ O(n^{1-1/k}) returns a satisfiable formula with high probability.
Cite as

Ioannis Caragiannis, Nick Gravin, and Zhile Jiang. On the Satisfiability of Random 3-SAT Formulas with k-Wise Independent Clauses. In 33rd Annual European Symposium on Algorithms (ESA 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 351, pp. 103:1-103:17, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

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@InProceedings{caragiannis_et_al:LIPIcs.ESA.2025.103,
  author =	{Caragiannis, Ioannis and Gravin, Nick and Jiang, Zhile},
  title =	{{On the Satisfiability of Random 3-SAT Formulas with k-Wise Independent Clauses}},
  booktitle =	{33rd Annual European Symposium on Algorithms (ESA 2025)},
  pages =	{103:1--103:17},
  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.2025.103},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-245721},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ESA.2025.103},
  annote =	{Keywords: Random 3-SAT, k-wise independence, Random bipartite graph}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.OPODIS.2024.36
Distributed Branching Random Walks and Their Applications

Authors: Vijeth Aradhya, Seth Gilbert, and Thorsten Götte

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 324, 28th International Conference on Principles of Distributed Systems (OPODIS 2024)

Abstract
In recent years, the explosion of big data and analytics has necessitated distributed storage and processing with several compute nodes (e.g., multiple datacenters). These nodes collaboratively perform parallel computation, where the data is typically partitioned across these nodes to ensure scalability, redundancy and load-balancing. But the nodes may not always be co-located; in many cases, they are part of a larger communication network. Since those nodes only need to communicate among themselves, a key challenge is to design efficient routes catered to that subnetwork. In this work, we initiate the study of distributed sampling and routing problems for subnetworks in any well-connected network. Given any network G = (V, E) with mixing time τ_mix, consider the canonical problem of permutation routing [Ghaffari, Kuhn and Su, PODC 2017] that aims to minimize both congestion and dilation of the routes, where the demands (i.e., set of source-terminal pairs) are such that each node sends or receives number of messages proportional to its degree. We show that the permutation routing problem, when demands are restricted to any subset S ⊆ V (i.e., subnetwork), can be solved in exp(O(√(log|S|))) ⋅ Õ(τ_mix) rounds (where Õ(⋅) hides polylogarithmic factors of |V|). This means that the running time depends subpolynomially on the subnetwork size (i.e., not on the entire network size). The ability to solve permutation routing efficiently immediately implies that a large class of parallel algorithms can be simulated efficiently on the subnetwork. As a prerequisite to constructing efficient routes, we design and analyze distributed branching random walks that distribute tokens started by the nodes in the subnetwork. At a high-level, these algorithms operate by always moving each token according to a (lazy) simple random walk, but also branching a token into multiple tokens at some specified intervals; ultimately, if a node starts a branching walk, with its id in a token, then by the end of execution, several tokens with its id would be randomly distributed among the nodes. As these random walks can be started by many nodes, a crucial challenge is to ensure low-congestion, which is a primary focus of this paper.
Cite as

Vijeth Aradhya, Seth Gilbert, and Thorsten Götte. Distributed Branching Random Walks and Their Applications. In 28th International Conference on Principles of Distributed Systems (OPODIS 2024). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 324, pp. 36:1-36:20, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

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@InProceedings{aradhya_et_al:LIPIcs.OPODIS.2024.36,
  author =	{Aradhya, Vijeth and Gilbert, Seth and G\"{o}tte, Thorsten},
  title =	{{Distributed Branching Random Walks and Their Applications}},
  booktitle =	{28th International Conference on Principles of Distributed Systems (OPODIS 2024)},
  pages =	{36:1--36:20},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-360-7},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{324},
  editor =	{Bonomi, Silvia and Galletta, Letterio and Rivi\`{e}re, Etienne and Schiavoni, Valerio},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.OPODIS.2024.36},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-225723},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.OPODIS.2024.36},
  annote =	{Keywords: Distributed Graph Algorithms, Random Walks, Permutation Routing}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.OPODIS.2024.31
Dynamic Probabilistic Reliable Broadcast

Authors: João Paulo Bezerra, Veronika Anikina, Petr Kuznetsov, Liron Schiff, and Stefan Schmid

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 324, 28th International Conference on Principles of Distributed Systems (OPODIS 2024)

Abstract
Byzantine reliable broadcast is a fundamental primitive in distributed systems that allows a set of processes to agree on a message broadcast by a dedicated process, even when some of them are malicious (Byzantine). It guarantees that no two correct processes deliver different messages, and if a message is delivered by a correct process, every correct process eventually delivers one. Byzantine reliable broadcast protocols are known to scale poorly, as they require Ω(n²) message exchanges, where n is the number of system members. The quadratic cost can be explained by the inherent need for every process to relay a message to every other process. In this paper, we explore ways to overcome this limitation by casting the problem to the probabilistic setting. We propose a solution in which every broadcast message is validated by a small set of witnesses, which allows us to maintain low latency and small communication complexity. In order to tolerate the slow adaptive adversary, we dynamically select the witnesses through a novel stream-local hash function: given a stream of inputs, it generates a stream of output hashed values that adapts to small deviations of the inputs. Our performance analysis shows that the proposed solution exhibits significant scalability gains over state-of-the-art protocols.
Cite as

João Paulo Bezerra, Veronika Anikina, Petr Kuznetsov, Liron Schiff, and Stefan Schmid. Dynamic Probabilistic Reliable Broadcast. In 28th International Conference on Principles of Distributed Systems (OPODIS 2024). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 324, pp. 31:1-31:30, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2024)

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@InProceedings{bezerra_et_al:LIPIcs.OPODIS.2024.31,
  author =	{Bezerra, Jo\~{a}o Paulo and Anikina, Veronika and Kuznetsov, Petr and Schiff, Liron and Schmid, Stefan},
  title =	{{Dynamic Probabilistic Reliable Broadcast}},
  booktitle =	{28th International Conference on Principles of Distributed Systems (OPODIS 2024)},
  pages =	{31:1--31:30},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-360-7},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{324},
  editor =	{Bonomi, Silvia and Galletta, Letterio and Rivi\`{e}re, Etienne and Schiavoni, Valerio},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.OPODIS.2024.31},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-225679},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.OPODIS.2024.31},
  annote =	{Keywords: Reliable broadcast, probabilistic algorithms, witness sets, stream-local hashing, cryptocurrencies, accountability}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.OPODIS.2024.29
On Reliability of the Extrema Propagation Technique in Random Environment

Authors: Jacek Cichoń, Dawid Dworzański, and Karol Gotfryd

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 324, 28th International Conference on Principles of Distributed Systems (OPODIS 2024)

Abstract
We study the reliability of the following simple mechanism for spreading information in a communication network in the presence of random message loss. Initially, some nodes have information that they want to distribute throughout the network. Each node that has received the information tries to broadcast it to all its neighbors. However, due to interference or communication failures, each transmission between two nodes is broken independently with some fixed probability. This transmission mechanism is the basis for the extrema propagation technique, proposed and analyzed in [Carlos Baquero et al., 2012; Baquero et al., 2009; Jacek Cicho{ń} et al., 2012]. Extrema propagation is a simple but powerful method of spreading the extreme values stored by the nodes. In a fully reliable environment, only the number of rounds equal to the network diameter is required for all nodes to be informed. It was shown empirically in [Carlos Baquero et al., 2012] that it also performs well in the presence of link failures and message loss. Extrema propagation is an algorithmic framework that was adopted for designing efficient method for distributed data aggregation, such as estimation of cardinalities, sums, and averages, estimation of data distribution via histograms and random sampling (cf. [Baquero et al., 2009; Karol Gotfryd and Jacek Cichoń, 2023]). In this paper, we propose a formal network model in which random transmission failures occur and analyze the operation time of the extrema propagation technique for any connected network graph. We provide new general probabilistic upper bounds on the number of rounds needed to spread the extreme values that depend only on the number of nodes, the diameter of the network, and the probability of successful transmission. For some special families of graphs, we also derive specific, more accurate estimates. Our theoretical and experimental results confirm the reliability and efficiency of the extrema propagation technique in faulty or noisy environments.
Cite as

Jacek Cichoń, Dawid Dworzański, and Karol Gotfryd. On Reliability of the Extrema Propagation Technique in Random Environment. In 28th International Conference on Principles of Distributed Systems (OPODIS 2024). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 324, pp. 29:1-29:16, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2024)

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@InProceedings{cichon_et_al:LIPIcs.OPODIS.2024.29,
  author =	{Cicho\'{n}, Jacek and Dworza\'{n}ski, Dawid and Gotfryd, Karol},
  title =	{{On Reliability of the Extrema Propagation Technique in Random Environment}},
  booktitle =	{28th International Conference on Principles of Distributed Systems (OPODIS 2024)},
  pages =	{29:1--29:16},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-360-7},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{324},
  editor =	{Bonomi, Silvia and Galletta, Letterio and Rivi\`{e}re, Etienne and Schiavoni, Valerio},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.OPODIS.2024.29},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-225657},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.OPODIS.2024.29},
  annote =	{Keywords: wireless ad-hoc networks, extrema propagation, distributed data aggregation, fault tolerant aggregation, randomly evolving networks}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2024.86
Rumors with Changing Credibility

Authors: Charlotte Out, Nicolás Rivera, Thomas Sauerwald, and John Sylvester

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 287, 15th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2024)

Abstract
Randomized rumor spreading processes diffuse information on an undirected graph and have been widely studied. In this work, we present a generic framework for analyzing a broad class of such processes on regular graphs. Our analysis is protocol-agnostic, as it only requires the expected proportion of newly informed vertices in each round to be bounded, and a natural negative correlation property. This framework allows us to analyze various protocols, including PUSH, PULL, and PUSH-PULL, thereby extending prior research. Unlike previous work, our framework accommodates message failures at any time t ≥ 0 with a probability of 1-q(t), where the credibility q(t) is any function of time. This enables us to model real-world scenarios in which the transmissibility of rumors may fluctuate, as seen in the spread of "fake news" and viruses. Additionally, our framework is sufficiently broad to cover dynamic graphs.
Cite as

Charlotte Out, Nicolás Rivera, Thomas Sauerwald, and John Sylvester. Rumors with Changing Credibility. In 15th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2024). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 287, pp. 86:1-86:23, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2024)

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@InProceedings{out_et_al:LIPIcs.ITCS.2024.86,
  author =	{Out, Charlotte and Rivera, Nicol\'{a}s and Sauerwald, Thomas and Sylvester, John},
  title =	{{Rumors with Changing Credibility}},
  booktitle =	{15th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2024)},
  pages =	{86:1--86:23},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-309-6},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2024},
  volume =	{287},
  editor =	{Guruswami, Venkatesan},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2024.86},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-196149},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2024.86},
  annote =	{Keywords: Rumor spreading, epidemic algorithms, "fake news"}
}
Document
Track A: Algorithms, Complexity and Games
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.ICALP.2023.103
The Support of Open Versus Closed Random Walks

Authors: Thomas Sauerwald, He Sun, and Danny Vagnozzi

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 261, 50th International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming (ICALP 2023)

Abstract
A closed random walk of length 𝓁 on an undirected and connected graph G = (V,E) is a random walk that returns to the start vertex at step 𝓁, and its properties have been recently related to problems in different mathematical fields, e.g., geometry and combinatorics (Jiang et al., Annals of Mathematics '21) and spectral graph theory (McKenzie et al., STOC '21). For instance, in the context of analyzing the eigenvalue multiplicity of graph matrices, McKenzie et al. show that, with high probability, the support of a closed random walk of length 𝓁 ⩾ 1 is Ω(𝓁^{1/5}) on any bounded-degree graph, and leaves as an open problem whether a stronger bound of Ω(𝓁^{1/2}) holds for any regular graph. First, we show that the support of a closed random walk of length 𝓁 is at least Ω(𝓁^{1/2} / √{log n}) for any regular or bounded-degree graph on n vertices. Secondly, we prove for every 𝓁 ⩾ 1 the existence of a family of bounded-degree graphs, together with a start vertex such that the support is bounded by O(𝓁^{1/2}/√{log n}). Besides addressing the open problem of McKenzie et al., these two results also establish a subtle separation between closed random walks and open random walks, for which the support on any regular (or bounded-degree) graph is well-known to be Ω(𝓁^{1/2}) for all 𝓁 ⩾ 1. For irregular graphs, we prove that even if the start vertex is chosen uniformly, the support of a closed random walk may still be O(log 𝓁). This rules out a general polynomial lower bound in 𝓁 for all graphs. Finally, we apply our results on random walks to obtain new bounds on the multiplicity of the second largest eigenvalue of the adjacency matrices of graphs.
Cite as

Thomas Sauerwald, He Sun, and Danny Vagnozzi. The Support of Open Versus Closed Random Walks. In 50th International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming (ICALP 2023). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 261, pp. 103:1-103:21, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2023)

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@InProceedings{sauerwald_et_al:LIPIcs.ICALP.2023.103,
  author =	{Sauerwald, Thomas and Sun, He and Vagnozzi, Danny},
  title =	{{The Support of Open Versus Closed Random Walks}},
  booktitle =	{50th International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming (ICALP 2023)},
  pages =	{103:1--103:21},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-278-5},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2023},
  volume =	{261},
  editor =	{Etessami, Kousha and Feige, Uriel 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.2023.103},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-181556},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ICALP.2023.103},
  annote =	{Keywords: support of random walks, eigenvalue multiplicity}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.STACS.2023.45
Tight Bounds for Repeated Balls-Into-Bins

Authors: Dimitrios Los and Thomas Sauerwald

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 254, 40th International Symposium on Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science (STACS 2023)

Abstract
We study the repeated balls-into-bins process introduced by Becchetti, Clementi, Natale, Pasquale and Posta (2019). This process starts with m balls arbitrarily distributed across n bins. At each round t = 1,2,…, one ball is selected from each non-empty bin, and then placed it into a bin chosen independently and uniformly at random. We prove the following results: - For any n ⩽ m ⩽ poly(n), we prove a lower bound of Ω(m/n ⋅ log n) on the maximum load. For the special case m = n, this matches the upper bound of 𝒪(log n), as shown in [Luca Becchetti et al., 2019]. It also provides a positive answer to the conjecture in [Luca Becchetti et al., 2019] that for m = n the maximum load is ω(log n/ log log n) at least once in a polynomially large time interval. For m ∈ [ω(n), n log n], our new lower bound disproves the conjecture in [Luca Becchetti et al., 2019] that the maximum load remains 𝒪(log n). - For any n ⩽ m ⩽ poly(n), we prove an upper bound of 𝒪(m/n ⋅ log n) on the maximum load for all steps of a polynomially large time interval. This matches our lower bound up to multiplicative constants. - For any m ⩾ n, our analysis also implies an 𝒪(m²/n) waiting time to reach a configuration with a 𝒪(m/n ⋅ log m) maximum load, even for worst-case initial distributions. - For m ⩾ n, we show that every ball visits every bin in 𝒪(m log m) rounds. For m = n, this improves the previous upper bound of 𝒪(n log² n) in [Luca Becchetti et al., 2019]. We also prove that the upper bound is tight up to multiplicative constants for any n ⩽ m ⩽ poly(n).
Cite as

Dimitrios Los and Thomas Sauerwald. Tight Bounds for Repeated Balls-Into-Bins. In 40th International Symposium on Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science (STACS 2023). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 254, pp. 45:1-45:22, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2023)

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@InProceedings{los_et_al:LIPIcs.STACS.2023.45,
  author =	{Los, Dimitrios and Sauerwald, Thomas},
  title =	{{Tight Bounds for Repeated Balls-Into-Bins}},
  booktitle =	{40th International Symposium on Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science (STACS 2023)},
  pages =	{45:1--45:22},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-266-2},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2023},
  volume =	{254},
  editor =	{Berenbrink, Petra and Bouyer, Patricia and Dawar, Anuj and Kant\'{e}, Mamadou Moustapha},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.STACS.2023.45},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-176975},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.STACS.2023.45},
  annote =	{Keywords: Repeated balls-into-bins, self-stabilizing systems, balanced allocations, potential functions, random walks}
}
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