47 Search Results for "Stefankovic, Daniel"

Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.SoCG.2026.42
Compressed Data Structures for Heegaard Splitting

Authors: Henrique Ennes and Clément Maria

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 367, 42nd International Symposium on Computational Geometry (SoCG 2026)

Abstract
Heegaard splittings provide a natural representation of closed 3-manifolds by gluing handlebodies along a common surface. These splittings can be equivalently given by two finite sets of meridians lying on the surface, which define a Heegaard diagram. We present a data structure to effectively represent Heegaard diagrams as normal curves with respect to triangulations of a surface of complexity measured by the space required to express the normal coordinates' vectors in binary. This structure can be significantly more compressed than triangulations of 3-manifolds, giving exponential gains for some families. Even with this succinct definition of complexity, we establish polynomial-time algorithms for comparing and manipulating diagrams, performing stabilizations, detecting trivial stabilizations and reductions, and computing topological invariants of the underlying manifolds, such as their fundamental and homology groups. We also contrast early implementations of our techniques with standard software programs for 3-manifolds, achieving faster algorithms for the average cases and exponential gains in speed for some particular presentations of the inputs.
Cite as

Henrique Ennes and Clément Maria. Compressed Data Structures for Heegaard Splitting. In 42nd International Symposium on Computational Geometry (SoCG 2026). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 367, pp. 42:1-42:15, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)

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@InProceedings{ennes_et_al:LIPIcs.SoCG.2026.42,
  author =	{Ennes, Henrique and Maria, Cl\'{e}ment},
  title =	{{Compressed Data Structures for Heegaard Splitting}},
  booktitle =	{42nd International Symposium on Computational Geometry (SoCG 2026)},
  pages =	{42:1--42:15},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-418-5},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2026},
  volume =	{367},
  editor =	{Ahn, Hee-Kap and Hoffmann, Michael and Nayyeri, Amir},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.SoCG.2026.42},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-258484},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.SoCG.2026.42},
  annote =	{Keywords: 3-manifold, Heegaard splitting, curves on surfaces, surface theory, data structure, computational topology}
}
Document
Media Exposition
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.SoCG.2026.100
Visualizing Higher Order Structures, Overlap Regions, and Clustering in the Hilbert Geometry (Media Exposition)

Authors: Hridhaan Banerjee, Soren Brown, June Cagan, Auguste H. Gezalyan, Megan Hunleth, Veena Kailad, Chaewoon Kyoung, Rowan Shigeno, Yasmine Tajeddin, Andrew Wagger, Kelin Zhu, and David M. Mount

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 367, 42nd International Symposium on Computational Geometry (SoCG 2026)

Abstract
Higher-order Voronoi diagrams and Delaunay mosaics in polygonal metrics have only recently been studied, yet no tools exist for visualizing them. We introduce a tool that fills this gap, providing dynamic interactive software for visualizing higher-order Voronoi diagrams and Delaunay mosaics along with clustering and tools for exploring overlap and outer regions in the Hilbert polygonal metric. We prove that k-th order Voronoi cells are not always star-shaped and establish complexity bounds for our algorithm, which generates all order Voronoi diagrams at once. Our software unifies and extends previous tools for visualizing the Hilbert, Funk, and Thompson geometries.
Cite as

Hridhaan Banerjee, Soren Brown, June Cagan, Auguste H. Gezalyan, Megan Hunleth, Veena Kailad, Chaewoon Kyoung, Rowan Shigeno, Yasmine Tajeddin, Andrew Wagger, Kelin Zhu, and David M. Mount. Visualizing Higher Order Structures, Overlap Regions, and Clustering in the Hilbert Geometry (Media Exposition). In 42nd International Symposium on Computational Geometry (SoCG 2026). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 367, pp. 100:1-100:6, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)

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@InProceedings{banerjee_et_al:LIPIcs.SoCG.2026.100,
  author =	{Banerjee, Hridhaan and Brown, Soren and Cagan, June and Gezalyan, Auguste H. and Hunleth, Megan and Kailad, Veena and Kyoung, Chaewoon and Shigeno, Rowan and Tajeddin, Yasmine and Wagger, Andrew and Zhu, Kelin and Mount, David M.},
  title =	{{Visualizing Higher Order Structures, Overlap Regions, and Clustering in the Hilbert Geometry}},
  booktitle =	{42nd International Symposium on Computational Geometry (SoCG 2026)},
  pages =	{100:1--100:6},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-418-5},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2026},
  volume =	{367},
  editor =	{Ahn, Hee-Kap and Hoffmann, Michael and Nayyeri, Amir},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.SoCG.2026.100},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-259062},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.SoCG.2026.100},
  annote =	{Keywords: Hilbert metric, Funk metric, Voronoi diagrams}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.ICDT.2026.7
The Importance of Parameters in Ranking Functions

Authors: Christoph Standke, Nikolaos Tziavelis, Wolfgang Gatterbauer, and Benny Kimelfeld

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 365, 29th International Conference on Database Theory (ICDT 2026)

Abstract
How important is the weight of a given column in determining the ranking of tuples in a table? To address such an explanation question about a ranking function, we investigate the computation of SHAP scores for column weights, adopting a recent framework by Grohe et al. [ICDT'24]. The exact definition of this score depends on three key components: (1) the ranking function in use, (2) an effect function that quantifies the impact of using alternative weights on the ranking, and (3) an underlying weight distribution. We analyze the computational complexity of different instantiations of this framework for a range of fundamental ranking and effect functions, focusing on probabilistically independent finite distributions for individual columns. For the ranking functions, we examine lexicographic orders and score-based orders defined by the summation, minimum, and maximum functions. For the effect functions, we consider global, top-k, and local perspectives: global measures quantify the divergence between the perturbed and original rankings, top-k measures inspect the change in the set of top-k answers, and local measures capture the impact on an individual tuple of interest. Although all cases admit an additive fully polynomial-time randomized approximation scheme (FPRAS), we establish the complexity of exact computation, identifying which cases are solvable in polynomial time and which are #P-hard. We further show that all complexity results, lower bounds and upper bounds, extend to a related task of computing the Shapley value of whole columns (regardless of their weight).
Cite as

Christoph Standke, Nikolaos Tziavelis, Wolfgang Gatterbauer, and Benny Kimelfeld. The Importance of Parameters in Ranking Functions. In 29th International Conference on Database Theory (ICDT 2026). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 365, pp. 7:1-7:18, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)

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@InProceedings{standke_et_al:LIPIcs.ICDT.2026.7,
  author =	{Standke, Christoph and Tziavelis, Nikolaos and Gatterbauer, Wolfgang and Kimelfeld, Benny},
  title =	{{The Importance of Parameters in Ranking Functions}},
  booktitle =	{29th International Conference on Database Theory (ICDT 2026)},
  pages =	{7:1--7:18},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-413-0},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2026},
  volume =	{365},
  editor =	{ten Cate, Balder and Funk, Maurice},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.ICDT.2026.7},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-256217},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ICDT.2026.7},
  annote =	{Keywords: Ranking, Explanation, Shapley value, SHAP scores}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.STACS.2026.39
Planting and MCMC Sampling from the Potts Model

Authors: Andreas Galanis, Leslie Ann Goldberg, and Paulina Smolarova

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

Abstract
We consider the problem of sampling from the ferromagnetic q-state Potts model on the random d-regular graph with parameter β > 0. A key difficulty that arises in sampling from the model is the existence of a "metastability" window β ∈ (β_u,β_u'), where roughly the distribution has two competing modes, the so-called disordered and ordered phases. This causes classical Markov-chain algorithms to be slow mixing from worst-case initialisations. Nevertheless, Helmuth, Jenssen and Perkins (SODA '19) designed a sampling algorithm that works for all β, when d ≥ 5 and q = d^{Ω(d)}, using polymers and cluster expansion methods; more recently, their analysis technique has been adapted to show that a Markov chain (random-cluster dynamics) mixes fast when initialised appropriately, in the same regime of q,d,β. Despite these positive algorithmic results, a well-known bottleneck behind cluster-expansion arguments is that they inherently only work for large q, whereas it is widely conjectured that sampling on the random d-regular graph is possible for all q,d ≥ 3. The only result so far that applies to general q,d ≥ 3 is by Blanca and Gheissari who showed that the random-cluster dynamics mixes fast in the "uniqueness" regime β < β_u where roughly only the disordered mode exists. For β ≥ β_u however, a second subdominant mode emerges creating bottlenecks and giving rise to correlations which have been hard to handle, especially for small values of q and d. Our main contribution is to perform a delicate analysis of the Potts distribution and the random-cluster dynamics that goes beyond the threshold β_u. We use planting as the main tool, a technique used in the analysis of random CSPs to capture how the space of solutions is correlated with the structure of the random instance. While planting arguments provide only weak sampling guarantees generically, here we instead combine planting with the analysis of random-cluster dynamics to obtain significantly stronger guarantees. We are thus able to show that the random-cluster dynamics initialised from all-out mixes fast for all integers q,d ≥ 3 beyond the uniqueness threshold β_u, all the way to the optimal threshold β_c ∈ (β_u,β_u') where the dominant mode switches from disordered to ordered. A more involved analysis also applies to the ordered regime β > β_c where we obtain an algorithm for all d ≥ 3 and q ≥ (5d)⁵, improving significantly upon the previous range of q,d by Carlson, Davies, Fraiman, Kolla, Potukuchi, and Yap (FOCS'22).
Cite as

Andreas Galanis, Leslie Ann Goldberg, and Paulina Smolarova. Planting and MCMC Sampling from the Potts Model. In 43rd International Symposium on Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science (STACS 2026). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 364, pp. 39:1-39:19, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)

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@InProceedings{galanis_et_al:LIPIcs.STACS.2026.39,
  author =	{Galanis, Andreas and Goldberg, Leslie Ann and Smolarova, Paulina},
  title =	{{Planting and MCMC Sampling from the Potts Model}},
  booktitle =	{43rd International Symposium on Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science (STACS 2026)},
  pages =	{39:1--39:19},
  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.2026.39},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-255280},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.STACS.2026.39},
  annote =	{Keywords: approximate sampling, Glauber dynamics, Potts model, random cluster model}
}
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.2026.63
Perfect Simulation of Las Vegas Algorithms via Local Computation

Authors: Xinyu Fu, Yonggang Jiang, and Yitong Yin

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

Abstract
The notion of Las Vegas algorithms was introduced by Babai (1979) and can be defined in two ways: - In Babai’s original definition, a randomized algorithm is called Las Vegas if it has a finitely bounded running time and certifiable random failure. - Another definition widely accepted today is that Las Vegas algorithms refer to zero-error randomized algorithms with random running times. The equivalence between the two definitions is straightforward. Specifically, for randomized algorithms with certifiable failures, repeatedly running the algorithm until no failure is encountered allows for faithful simulation of the correct output when it executes successfully. We show that a similar perfect simulation can also be achieved in distributed local computation. Specifically, in the LOCAL model, with a polylogarithmic overhead in time complexity, any Las Vegas algorithm with finitely bounded running time and locally certifiable failures can be converted to a zero error Las Vegas algorithm. This transformed algorithm faithfully reproduces the correct output of the original algorithm in successful executions. This is achieved by a reduction to a distributed sampling problem under the Lovász Local Lemma (LLL), where the objective is to sample from the joint distribution of random variables avoiding all bad events. We then design the first efficient algorithm to solve this sampling problem in the LOCAL model.
Cite as

Xinyu Fu, Yonggang Jiang, and Yitong Yin. Perfect Simulation of Las Vegas Algorithms via Local Computation. In 17th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2026). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 362, pp. 63:1-63:22, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)

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@InProceedings{fu_et_al:LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.63,
  author =	{Fu, Xinyu and Jiang, Yonggang and Yin, Yitong},
  title =	{{Perfect Simulation of Las Vegas Algorithms via Local Computation}},
  booktitle =	{17th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2026)},
  pages =	{63:1--63:22},
  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.2026.63},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-253503},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.63},
  annote =	{Keywords: Las Vegas algorithms, perfect simulation, Lov\'{a}sz Local Lemma, sampling}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.114
Zero-Freeness Is All You Need: A Weitz-Type FPTAS for the Entire Lee-Yang Zero-Free Region

Authors: Shuai Shao and Ke Shi

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

Abstract
We present a Weitz-type FPTAS for the ferromagnetic Ising model across the entire Lee–Yang zero-free region, without relying on the strong spatial mixing (SSM) property. Our algorithm is Weitz-type for two reasons. First, it expresses the partition function as a telescoping product of ratios, with the key being to approximate each ratio. Second, it uses Weitz’s self-avoiding walk tree, and truncates it at logarithmic depth to give a good and efficient approximation. The key difference from the standard Weitz algorithm is that we approximate a carefully designed edge-deletion ratio instead of the marginal probability of a vertex being assigned a particular spin, ensuring our algorithm does not require SSM. Furthermore, by establishing local dependence of coefficients (LDC), we indeed prove a novel form of SSM for these edge-deletion ratios, which, in turn, implies the standard SSM for the random cluster model. This is the first SSM result for the random cluster model on general graphs, beyond lattices. Our proof of LDC is based on a new division relation, and we show such relations hold quite universally. This leads to a broadly applicable framework for proving LDC across a variety of models, including the Potts model, the hypergraph independence polynomial, and Holant problems. Combined with existing zero-freeness results for these models, we derive new SSM results for them.
Cite as

Shuai Shao and Ke Shi. Zero-Freeness Is All You Need: A Weitz-Type FPTAS for the Entire Lee-Yang Zero-Free Region. In 17th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2026). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 362, pp. 114:1-114:17, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)

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@InProceedings{shao_et_al:LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.114,
  author =	{Shao, Shuai and Shi, Ke},
  title =	{{Zero-Freeness Is All You Need: A Weitz-Type FPTAS for the Entire Lee-Yang Zero-Free Region}},
  booktitle =	{17th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2026)},
  pages =	{114:1--114:17},
  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.2026.114},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-254010},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.114},
  annote =	{Keywords: Ferromagnetic Ising Model, Lee–Yang Theorem, Weitz-Type FPTAS, Strong Spatial Mixing, Random Cluster Model}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.18
Interactive Proofs for Distribution Testing with Conditional Oracles

Authors: Ari Biswas, Mark Bun, Clément L. Canonne, and Satchit Sivakumar

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

Abstract
We revisit the framework of interactive proofs for distribution testing, first introduced by Chiesa and Gur (ITCS 2018), which has recently experienced a surge in interest, accompanied by notable progress (e.g., Herman and Rothblum, STOC 2022, FOCS 2023; Herman, RANDOM 2024). In this model, a data-poor verifier determines whether a probability distribution has a property of interest by interacting with an all-powerful, data-rich but untrusted prover bent on convincing them that it has the property. While prior work gave sample-, time-, and communication-efficient protocols for testing and estimating a range of distribution properties, they all suffer from an inherent issue: for most interesting properties of distributions over a domain of size N, the verifier must draw at least Ω(√N) samples of its own. While sublinear in N, this is still prohibitive for large domains encountered in practice. In this work, we circumvent this limitation by augmenting the verifier with the ability to perform an exponentially smaller number of more powerful (but reasonable) pairwise conditional queries, effectively enabling them to perform "local comparison checks" of the prover’s claims. We systematically investigate the landscape of interactive proofs in this new setting, giving poly-logarithmic query and sample protocols for (tolerantly) testing all label-invariant properties, thus demonstrating exponential savings without compromising on communication, for this large and fundamental class of testing tasks.
Cite as

Ari Biswas, Mark Bun, Clément L. Canonne, and Satchit Sivakumar. Interactive Proofs for Distribution Testing with Conditional Oracles. In 17th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2026). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 362, pp. 18:1-18:13, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)

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@InProceedings{biswas_et_al:LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.18,
  author =	{Biswas, Ari and Bun, Mark and Canonne, Cl\'{e}ment L. and Sivakumar, Satchit},
  title =	{{Interactive Proofs for Distribution Testing with Conditional Oracles}},
  booktitle =	{17th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2026)},
  pages =	{18:1--18:13},
  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.2026.18},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-253059},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.18},
  annote =	{Keywords: Distribution Testing, Interactive Proofs}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.FSTTCS.2025.17
Cutoff for the Swendsen–Wang Dynamics on the Complete Graph

Authors: Antonio Blanca and Zhezheng Song

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

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

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

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@InProceedings{blanca_et_al:LIPIcs.FSTTCS.2025.17,
  author =	{Blanca, Antonio and Song, Zhezheng},
  title =	{{Cutoff for the Swendsen–Wang Dynamics on the Complete Graph}},
  booktitle =	{45th IARCS Annual Conference on Foundations of Software Technology and Theoretical Computer Science (FSTTCS 2025)},
  pages =	{17:1--17:21},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-406-2},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{360},
  editor =	{Aiswarya, C. and Mehta, Ruta and Roy, Subhajit},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.FSTTCS.2025.17},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-250987},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.FSTTCS.2025.17},
  annote =	{Keywords: Markov chains, mixing times, cutoff phenomenon, Potts model, mean-field}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.GD.2025.24
String Graph Obstacles of High Girth and of Bounded Degree

Authors: Maria Chudnovsky, David Eppstein, and David Fischer

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

Abstract
A string graph is the intersection graph of curves in the plane. Kratochvíl previously showed the existence of infinitely many obstacles: graphs that are not string graphs but for which any edge contraction or vertex deletion produces a string graph. Kratochvíl’s obstacles contain arbitrarily large cliques, so they have girth three and unbounded degree. We extend this line of working by studying obstacles among graphs of restricted girth and/or degree. We construct an infinite family of obstacles of girth four; in addition, our construction is K_{2,3}-subgraph-free and near-planar (planar plus one edge). Furthermore, we prove that there is a subcubic obstacle of girth three, and that there are no subcubic obstacles of high girth. We characterize the subcubic string graphs as having a matching whose contraction yields a planar graph, and based on this characterization we find a linear-time algorithm for recognizing subcubic string graphs of bounded treewidth.
Cite as

Maria Chudnovsky, David Eppstein, and David Fischer. String Graph Obstacles of High Girth and of Bounded Degree. In 33rd International Symposium on Graph Drawing and Network Visualization (GD 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 357, pp. 24:1-24:18, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

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@InProceedings{chudnovsky_et_al:LIPIcs.GD.2025.24,
  author =	{Chudnovsky, Maria and Eppstein, David and Fischer, David},
  title =	{{String Graph Obstacles of High Girth and of Bounded Degree}},
  booktitle =	{33rd International Symposium on Graph Drawing and Network Visualization (GD 2025)},
  pages =	{24:1--24:18},
  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.2025.24},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-250108},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.GD.2025.24},
  annote =	{Keywords: string graphs, induced minors, forbidden minors, sparsity, triangle-free graphs, near-planar graphs}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.GD.2025.14
OOPS: Optimized One-Planarity Solver via SAT

Authors: Sergey Pupyrev

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

Abstract
We present OOPS (Optimized One-Planarity Solver), a practical heuristic for recognizing 1-planar graphs and several important subclasses. A graph is 1-planar if it can be drawn in the plane such that each edge is crossed at most once - a natural generalization of planar graphs that has received increasing attention in graph drawing and beyond-planar graph theory. Although testing planarity can be done in linear time, recognizing 1-planar graphs is NP-complete, making effective practical algorithms especially valuable. The core idea of our approach is to reduce the recognition of 1-planarity to a propositional satisfiability (SAT) instance, enabling the use of modern SAT solvers to efficiently explore the search space. Despite the inherent complexity of the problem, our method is substantially faster in practice than naïve or brute-force algorithms. In addition to demonstrating the empirical performance of our solver on synthetic and real-world instances, we show how OOPS can be used as a discovery tool in theoretical graph theory. Specifically, we employ OOPS to investigate two research problems concerning 1-planarity of specific graph families. Our implementation of the algorithm is publicly available to support further exploration in the field.
Cite as

Sergey Pupyrev. OOPS: Optimized One-Planarity Solver via SAT. In 33rd International Symposium on Graph Drawing and Network Visualization (GD 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 357, pp. 14:1-14:19, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

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@InProceedings{pupyrev:LIPIcs.GD.2025.14,
  author =	{Pupyrev, Sergey},
  title =	{{OOPS: Optimized One-Planarity Solver via SAT}},
  booktitle =	{33rd International Symposium on Graph Drawing and Network Visualization (GD 2025)},
  pages =	{14:1--14:19},
  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.2025.14},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-250004},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.GD.2025.14},
  annote =	{Keywords: beyond planarity, 1-planar graph, SAT, book embeddings, upward 1-planarity}
}
Document
Brief Announcement
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.DISC.2025.65
Brief Announcement: Congested Clique Counting for Local Gibbs Distributions

Authors: Joshua Z. Sobel

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

Abstract
There are well established reductions between combinatorial sampling and counting problems (Jerrum, Valiant, Vazirani TCS 1986). Building off of a very recent parallel algorithm utilizing this connection (Liu, Yin, Zhang arxiv 2024), we demonstrate the first approximate counting algorithm in the CongestedClique for a wide range of problems. Most interestingly, we present an algorithm for approximating the number of q-colorings of a graph within ε-multiplicative error, when q > αΔ for any constant α > 2, in Õ((n^{1/3})/ε²) rounds. More generally, we achieve a runtime of Õ((n^{1/3})/ε²) rounds for approximating the partition function of Gibbs distributions defined over graphs when simple locality and fast mixing conditions hold. Gibbs distributions are widely used in fields such as machine learning and statistical physics. We obtain our result by providing an algorithm to draw n random samples from a distributed Markov chain in parallel, using similar ideas to triangle counting (Dolev, Lenzen, Peled DISC 2012) and semiring matrix multiplication (Censor-Hillel, Kaski, Korhonen, Lenzen, Paz, Suomela PODC 2015). Aside from counting problems, this result may be interesting for other applications requiring a large number of samples.
Cite as

Joshua Z. Sobel. Brief Announcement: Congested Clique Counting for Local Gibbs Distributions. In 39th International Symposium on Distributed Computing (DISC 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 356, pp. 65:1-65:7, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

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@InProceedings{sobel:LIPIcs.DISC.2025.65,
  author =	{Sobel, Joshua Z.},
  title =	{{Brief Announcement: Congested Clique Counting for Local Gibbs Distributions}},
  booktitle =	{39th International Symposium on Distributed Computing (DISC 2025)},
  pages =	{65:1--65:7},
  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.2025.65},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-248811},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.DISC.2025.65},
  annote =	{Keywords: Distributed Sampling, Approximate Counting, Markov Chains, Gibbs Distributions}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.ESA.2025.21
A Unified FPT Framework for Crossing Number Problems

Authors: Éric Colin de Verdière and Petr Hliněný

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

Abstract
The basic (and traditional) crossing number problem is to determine the minimum number of crossings in a topological drawing of an input graph in the plane. We develop a unified framework that smoothly captures many generalized crossing number problems, and that yields fixed-parameter tractable (FPT) algorithms for them not only in the plane but also on surfaces. Our framework takes the following form. We fix a surface S, an integer r, and a map κ from the set of topological drawings of graphs in S to ℤ_+ ∪ {∞}, satisfying some natural monotonicity conditions, but essentially describing the allowed drawings and how we want to count the crossings in them. Then deciding whether an input graph G has an allowed drawing D on S with κ(D) ≤ r can be done in time quadratic in the size of G (and exponential in other parameters). More generally, we may take as input an edge-colored graph, and distinguish crossings by the colors of the involved edges; and we may allow to perform a bounded number of edge removals and vertex splits to G before drawing it. The proof is a reduction to the embeddability of a graph on a two-dimensional simplicial complex. This framework implies, in a unified way, quadratic FPT algorithms for many topological crossing number variants established in the graph drawing community. Some of these variants already had previously published FPT algorithms, mostly relying on Courcelle’s metatheorem, but for many of those, we obtain an algorithm with a better runtime. Moreover, our framework extends, at no cost, to these crossing number variants in any fixed surface.
Cite as

Éric Colin de Verdière and Petr Hliněný. A Unified FPT Framework for Crossing Number Problems. In 33rd Annual European Symposium on Algorithms (ESA 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 351, pp. 21:1-21:18, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

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@InProceedings{colindeverdiere_et_al:LIPIcs.ESA.2025.21,
  author =	{Colin de Verdi\`{e}re, \'{E}ric and Hlin\v{e}n\'{y}, Petr},
  title =	{{A Unified FPT Framework for Crossing Number Problems}},
  booktitle =	{33rd Annual European Symposium on Algorithms (ESA 2025)},
  pages =	{21:1--21:18},
  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.2025.21},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-244897},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ESA.2025.21},
  annote =	{Keywords: computational geometry, fixed-parameter tractability, graph drawing, graph embedding, crossing number, two-dimensional simplicial complex, surface}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.ESA.2025.37
Hardness of Computation of Quantum Invariants on 3-Manifolds with Restricted Topology

Authors: Henrique Ennes and Clément Maria

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

Abstract
Quantum invariants in low-dimensional topology offer a wide variety of valuable invariants about knots and 3-manifolds, presented by explicit formulas that are readily computable. Their computational complexity has been actively studied and is tightly connected to topological quantum computing. In this article, we prove that for any 3-manifold quantum invariant in the Reshetikhin-Turaev model, there is a deterministic polynomial time algorithm that, given as input an arbitrary closed 3-manifold M, outputs a closed 3-manifold M' with the same quantum invariant, such that M' is hyperbolic, contains no low genus embedded incompressible surface, and is presented by a strongly irreducible Heegaard diagram. Our construction relies on properties of Heegaard splittings and the Hempel distance. At the level of computational complexity, this proves that the hardness of computing a given quantum invariant of 3-manifolds is preserved even when severely restricting the topology and the combinatorics of the input. This positively answers a question raised by Samperton [Samperton, 2023].
Cite as

Henrique Ennes and Clément Maria. Hardness of Computation of Quantum Invariants on 3-Manifolds with Restricted Topology. In 33rd Annual European Symposium on Algorithms (ESA 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 351, pp. 37:1-37:16, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

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@InProceedings{ennes_et_al:LIPIcs.ESA.2025.37,
  author =	{Ennes, Henrique and Maria, Cl\'{e}ment},
  title =	{{Hardness of Computation of Quantum Invariants on 3-Manifolds with Restricted Topology}},
  booktitle =	{33rd Annual European Symposium on Algorithms (ESA 2025)},
  pages =	{37:1--37:16},
  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.2025.37},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-245057},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ESA.2025.37},
  annote =	{Keywords: 3-manifold, Heegaard splitting, Hempel distance, Quantum invariant, polynomial time reduction}
}
Document
RANDOM
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.APPROX/RANDOM.2025.47
Time Lower Bounds for the Metropolis Process and Simulated Annealing

Authors: Zongchen Chen, Dan Mikulincer, Daniel Reichman, and Alexander S. Wein

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 353, Approximation, Randomization, and Combinatorial Optimization. Algorithms and Techniques (APPROX/RANDOM 2025)

Abstract
The Metropolis process (MP) and Simulated Annealing (SA) are stochastic local search heuristics that are often used in solving combinatorial optimization problems. Despite significant interest, there are very few theoretical results regarding the quality of approximation obtained by MP and SA (with polynomially many iterations) for NP-hard optimization problems. We provide rigorous lower bounds for MP and SA with respect to the classical maximum independent set problem when the algorithms are initialized from the empty set. We establish the existence of a family of graphs for which both MP and SA fail to find approximate solutions in polynomial time. More specifically, we show that for any ε ∈ (0,1) there are n-vertex graphs for which the probability SA (when limited to polynomially many iterations) will approximate the optimal solution within ratio Ω(1/n^{1-ε}) is exponentially small. Our lower bounds extend to graphs of constant average degree d, illustrating the failure of MP to achieve an approximation ratio of Ω(log(d)/d) in polynomial time. In some cases, our lower bounds apply even when the temperature is chosen adaptively. Finally, we prove exponential-time lower bounds when the inputs to these algorithms are bipartite graphs, and even trees, which are known to admit polynomial-time algorithms for the independent set problem.
Cite as

Zongchen Chen, Dan Mikulincer, Daniel Reichman, and Alexander S. Wein. Time Lower Bounds for the Metropolis Process and Simulated Annealing. In Approximation, Randomization, and Combinatorial Optimization. Algorithms and Techniques (APPROX/RANDOM 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 353, pp. 47:1-47:22, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

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@InProceedings{chen_et_al:LIPIcs.APPROX/RANDOM.2025.47,
  author =	{Chen, Zongchen and Mikulincer, Dan and Reichman, Daniel and Wein, Alexander S.},
  title =	{{Time Lower Bounds for the Metropolis Process and Simulated Annealing}},
  booktitle =	{Approximation, Randomization, and Combinatorial Optimization. Algorithms and Techniques (APPROX/RANDOM 2025)},
  pages =	{47:1--47:22},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-397-3},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{353},
  editor =	{Ene, Alina and Chattopadhyay, Eshan},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.APPROX/RANDOM.2025.47},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-244138},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.APPROX/RANDOM.2025.47},
  annote =	{Keywords: Metropolis Process, Simulated Annealing, Independent Set}
}
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