24 Search Results for "Tang, Zhihao Gavin"


Document
Smoothed Analysis of Online Metric Matching with a Single Sample: Beyond Metric Distortion

Authors: Yingxi Li, Ellen Vitercik, and Mingwei Yang

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


Abstract
In the online metric matching problem, n servers and n requests lie in a metric space. Servers are available upfront, and requests arrive sequentially. An arriving request must be matched immediately and irrevocably to an available server, incurring a cost equal to their distance. The goal is to minimize the total matching cost. We study this problem in [0, 1]^d with the Euclidean metric, when servers are adversarial and requests are independently drawn from distinct distributions that satisfy a mild smoothness condition. Our main result is an O(1)-competitive algorithm for d ≠ 2 that requires no distributional knowledge, relying only on a single sample from each request distribution. To our knowledge, this is the first algorithm to achieve an o(log n) competitive ratio for non-trivial metrics beyond the i.i.d. setting. Our approach bypasses the Ω(log n) barrier introduced by probabilistic metric embeddings: instead of analyzing the embedding distortion and the algorithm separately, we directly bound the cost of the algorithm on the target metric space of a simple deterministic embedding. We then combine this analysis with lower bounds on the offline optimum for Euclidean metrics, derived via majorization arguments, to obtain our guarantees.

Cite as

Yingxi Li, Ellen Vitercik, and Mingwei Yang. Smoothed Analysis of Online Metric Matching with a Single Sample: Beyond Metric Distortion. In 17th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2026). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 362, pp. 94:1-94:23, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)


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@InProceedings{li_et_al:LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.94,
  author =	{Li, Yingxi and Vitercik, Ellen and Yang, Mingwei},
  title =	{{Smoothed Analysis of Online Metric Matching with a Single Sample: Beyond Metric Distortion}},
  booktitle =	{17th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2026)},
  pages =	{94:1--94:23},
  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.2026.94},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-253815},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.94},
  annote =	{Keywords: Online algorithm, Metric matching, Competitive analysis, Smoothed analysis}
}
Document
The Secretary Problem with Predictions and a Chosen Order

Authors: Helia Karisani, Mohammadreza Daneshvaramoli, Hedyeh Beyhaghi, Mohammad Hajiesmaili, and Cameron Musco

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


Abstract
We study a learning-augmented variant of the secretary problem, recently introduced by Fujii and Yoshida (2023). In this variant, the decision-maker has access to machine-learned predictions of candidate values in advance. The key challenge is to balance consistency and robustness: when the predictions are accurate, the algorithm should hire a near-best secretary; however, if they are inaccurate, the algorithm should still achieve a bounded competitive ratio. We consider both the standard Random Order Secretary Problem (ROSP), where candidates arrive in a uniform random order, and a more natural model in the learning-augmented setting, where the decision-maker can choose the arrival order based on the predicted candidate values. This model, which we call the Chosen Order Secretary Problem (COSP), can capture scenarios such as an interview schedule that is set by the decision-maker. We propose a novel algorithm that applies to both ROSP and COSP. Building on the approach of Fujii and Yoshida, our method switches from fully trusting predictions to a threshold-based rule when a large deviation of a prediction is observed. Importantly, unlike the algorithm of Fujii and Yoshida, our algorithm uses randomization as part of its decision logic. We show that if ε ∈ [0,1] denotes the maximum multiplicative prediction error, then for ROSP our algorithm achieves competitive ratio max {0.221, (1-ε)/(1+ε)}, improving on a previous bound of max {0.215, (1-ε)/(1+ε)} due to Fujii and Yoshida [Fujii and Yoshida, 2023]. For COSP, our algorithm achieves max {0.262, (1-ε)/(1+ε)}. This surpasses a 0.25 upper bound on the worst-case competitive ratio that applies to the approach of Fujii and Yoshida, and gets closer to the classical secretary benchmark of 1/e ≈ 0.368, which is an upper bound for any algorithm. Our result for COSP highlights the benefit of integrating predictions with arrival-order control in online decision-making.

Cite as

Helia Karisani, Mohammadreza Daneshvaramoli, Hedyeh Beyhaghi, Mohammad Hajiesmaili, and Cameron Musco. The Secretary Problem with Predictions and a Chosen Order. In 17th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2026). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 362, pp. 86:1-86:24, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)


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@InProceedings{karisani_et_al:LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.86,
  author =	{Karisani, Helia and Daneshvaramoli, Mohammadreza and Beyhaghi, Hedyeh and Hajiesmaili, Mohammad and Musco, Cameron},
  title =	{{The Secretary Problem with Predictions and a Chosen Order}},
  booktitle =	{17th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2026)},
  pages =	{86:1--86:24},
  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.2026.86},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-253734},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.86},
  annote =	{Keywords: Secretary problem, learning-augmented algorithms, online algorithms}
}
Document
Identity Testing for Circuits with Exponentiation Gates

Authors: Jiatu Li and Mengdi Wu

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


Abstract
Motivated by practical applications in the design of optimization compilers for neural networks, we initiated the study of identity testing problems for arithmetic circuits augmented with exponentiation gates that compute the real function x↦ e^x. These circuits compute real functions of form P(→x)/P'(→x), where both P(→x) and P'(→x) are exponential polynomials ∑_{i = 1}^k f_i(→x)⋅ exp((g_i(→x))/(h_i(→x))), for polynomials f_i(→x),g_i(→x), and h_i(→x). We formalize a black-box query model over finite fields for this class of circuits, which is mathematical simple and reflects constraints faced by real-world neural network compilers. We proved that a simple and efficient randomized identity testing algorithm achieves perfect completeness and non-trivial soundness. Concurrent with our work, the algorithm has been implemented in the optimization compiler Mirage by Wu et al. (OSDI 2025), demonstrating promising empirical performance in both efficiency and soundness error. Finally, we propose a number-theoretic conjecture under which our algorithm is sound with high probability.

Cite as

Jiatu Li and Mengdi Wu. Identity Testing for Circuits with Exponentiation Gates. In 17th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2026). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 362, pp. 95:1-95:22, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)


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@InProceedings{li_et_al:LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.95,
  author =	{Li, Jiatu and Wu, Mengdi},
  title =	{{Identity Testing for Circuits with Exponentiation Gates}},
  booktitle =	{17th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2026)},
  pages =	{95:1--95:22},
  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.2026.95},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-253821},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.95},
  annote =	{Keywords: Polynomial Identity Testing, Exponential Polynomials}
}
Document
One Action Too Many: Inapproximability of Budgeted Combinatorial Contracts

Authors: Michal Feldman, Yoav Gal-Tzur, Tomasz Ponitka, and Maya Schlesinger

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


Abstract
We study multi-agent contract design with combinatorial actions, under budget constraints, and for a broad class of objective functions, including profit (principal’s utility), reward, and welfare. Our first result is a strong impossibility: For submodular reward functions, no randomized poly-time algorithm can approximate the optimal budget-feasible value within any finite factor, even with demand-oracle access. This result rules out extending known constant-factor guarantees from either (i) unbudgeted settings with combinatorial actions or (ii) budgeted settings with binary actions, to their combination. The hardness is tight: It holds even when all but one agent have binary actions and the remaining agent has just one additional action. On the positive side, we show that gross substitutes rewards (a well-studied strict subclass of submodular functions) admit a deterministic poly-time O(1)-approximation, using only value queries. Our results thus draw the first sharp separation between budgeted and unbudgeted settings in combinatorial contracts, and identifies gross substitutes as a tractable frontier for budgeted combinatorial contracts. Finally, we present an FPTAS for additive rewards, demonstrating that arbitrary approximation is tractable under any budget. This constitutes the first FPTAS for the multi-agent combinatorial-actions setting, even in the absence of budget constraints.

Cite as

Michal Feldman, Yoav Gal-Tzur, Tomasz Ponitka, and Maya Schlesinger. One Action Too Many: Inapproximability of Budgeted Combinatorial Contracts. In 17th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2026). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 362, pp. 58:1-58:24, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)


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@InProceedings{feldman_et_al:LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.58,
  author =	{Feldman, Michal and Gal-Tzur, Yoav and Ponitka, Tomasz and Schlesinger, Maya},
  title =	{{One Action Too Many: Inapproximability of Budgeted Combinatorial Contracts}},
  booktitle =	{17th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2026)},
  pages =	{58:1--58:24},
  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.2026.58},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-253459},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.58},
  annote =	{Keywords: Combinatorial Contracts, Algorithmic Contract Design, Budget-Feasible Contracts}
}
Document
Prior-Independent and Subgame Optimal Online Algorithms

Authors: Jason Hartline, Aleck Johnsen, and Anant Shah

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


Abstract
This paper develops two game-theoretic notions of beyond worst-case analysis that give better than worst-case guarantees on natural inputs. We illustrate them through the finite-horizon ski-rental problem. First, we consider prior-independent design and analysis of online algorithms where, rather than choosing a worst-case input, the adversary chooses a worst-case independent and identical distribution over inputs. Prior-independent online algorithms are generally analytically intractable; instead we give a fully polynomial-time approximation scheme to compute them. Second, we consider the worst-case design of algorithms. We define "subgame optimality" which is stronger than worst-case optimality in that it requires the algorithm to take advantage of an adversary not playing a worst-case input. Algorithms that focus only on the worst case can be far from subgame optimal. Highlighting the potential improvement from these paradigms for the finite-horizon ski-rental problem, we empirically compare worst-case, subgame optimal, and prior-independent algorithms in the prior-independent framework. Finally, we analyze the structure of their decisions across input sequences: the prior-independent algorithm exhibits more extreme adaptations to observed data, in contrast with the more conservative behavior of worst-case and subgame optimal algorithms.

Cite as

Jason Hartline, Aleck Johnsen, and Anant Shah. Prior-Independent and Subgame Optimal Online Algorithms. In 17th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2026). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 362, pp. 75:1-75:23, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)


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@InProceedings{hartline_et_al:LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.75,
  author =	{Hartline, Jason and Johnsen, Aleck and Shah, Anant},
  title =	{{Prior-Independent and Subgame Optimal Online Algorithms}},
  booktitle =	{17th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2026)},
  pages =	{75:1--75:23},
  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.2026.75},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-253622},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.75},
  annote =	{Keywords: online algorithms, prior-independent algorithm design, zero-sum games}
}
Document
Circle-Segment Intersection Queries in Connected Geometric Graphs

Authors: Peyman Afshani, Yannick Bosch, and Sabine Storandt

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 359, 36th International Symposium on Algorithms and Computation (ISAAC 2025)


Abstract
In this paper, we study the problem of efficiently reporting all intersections between a given set of line segments in the plane and a query circle, focusing on the case where the segments form the edges of a connected geometric graph. While previous data structures for circle-segment intersection queries on general segment sets incur high space or query time costs, we exploit the connectivity of the input to obtain significantly improved performance. In fact, we propose a new circle-segment intersection data structure that can be constructed in 𝒪((n + C) log³ n) time and space on connected graphs with n edges and C edge crossings. It answers intersection queries in 𝒪(k log³ n) time, where k denotes the output size. Our method relies on the construction of efficient circle-graph intersection oracles as well as a novel linear-time algorithm to partition the edges of the graph into balanced, connected components, which might be of independent interest. In a proof-of-concept experimental study on real-world road networks, we show that our novel data structure also performs well in practice. Even on networks with millions of edges, the construction time is within minutes and queries are answered in a few milliseconds.

Cite as

Peyman Afshani, Yannick Bosch, and Sabine Storandt. Circle-Segment Intersection Queries in Connected Geometric Graphs. In 36th International Symposium on Algorithms and Computation (ISAAC 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 359, pp. 3:1-3:16, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)


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@InProceedings{afshani_et_al:LIPIcs.ISAAC.2025.3,
  author =	{Afshani, Peyman and Bosch, Yannick and Storandt, Sabine},
  title =	{{Circle-Segment Intersection Queries in Connected Geometric Graphs}},
  booktitle =	{36th International Symposium on Algorithms and Computation (ISAAC 2025)},
  pages =	{3:1--3:16},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-408-6},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{359},
  editor =	{Chen, Ho-Lin and Hon, Wing-Kai and Tsai, Meng-Tsung},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.ISAAC.2025.3},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-249114},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ISAAC.2025.3},
  annote =	{Keywords: Intersection data structure, Graph partitioning, Dobkin-Kirkpatrick hierarchy}
}
Document
Optimal Online Bipartite Matching in Degree-2 Graphs

Authors: Amey Bhangale, Arghya Chakraborty, and Prahladh Harsha

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 359, 36th International Symposium on Algorithms and Computation (ISAAC 2025)


Abstract
Online bipartite matching is a classical problem in online algorithms and we know that both the deterministic fractional and randomized integral online matchings achieve the same competitive ratio of 1-1/e. In this work, we study classes of graphs where the online degree is restricted to 2. As expected, one can achieve a competitive ratio of better than 1-1/e in both the deterministic fractional and randomized integral cases, but surprisingly, these ratios are not the same. It was already known that for fractional matching, a 0.75 competitive ratio algorithm is optimal. We show that the folklore Half-Half algorithm achieves a competitive ratio of η ≈ 0.717772… and more surprisingly, show that this is optimal by giving a matching lower-bound. This yields a separation between the two problems: deterministic fractional and randomized integral, showing that it is impossible to obtain a perfect rounding scheme.

Cite as

Amey Bhangale, Arghya Chakraborty, and Prahladh Harsha. Optimal Online Bipartite Matching in Degree-2 Graphs. In 36th International Symposium on Algorithms and Computation (ISAAC 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 359, pp. 13:1-13:19, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)


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@InProceedings{bhangale_et_al:LIPIcs.ISAAC.2025.13,
  author =	{Bhangale, Amey and Chakraborty, Arghya and Harsha, Prahladh},
  title =	{{Optimal Online Bipartite Matching in Degree-2 Graphs}},
  booktitle =	{36th International Symposium on Algorithms and Computation (ISAAC 2025)},
  pages =	{13:1--13:19},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-408-6},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{359},
  editor =	{Chen, Ho-Lin and Hon, Wing-Kai and Tsai, Meng-Tsung},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.ISAAC.2025.13},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-249216},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ISAAC.2025.13},
  annote =	{Keywords: Online Algorithm, Bipartite matching}
}
Document
Beating Competitive Ratio 4 for Graphic Matroid Secretary

Authors: Kiarash Banihashem, MohammadTaghi Hajiaghayi, Dariusz R. Kowalski, Piotr Krysta, Danny Mittal, and Jan Olkowski

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


Abstract
One of the classic problems in online decision-making is the secretary problem, where the goal is to hire the best secretary out of n rankable applicants or, in a natural extension, to maximize the probability of selecting the largest number from a sequence arriving in random order. Many works have considered generalizations of this problem where one can accept multiple values subject to a combinatorial constraint. The seminal work of Babaioff, Immorlica, Kempe, and Kleinberg (SODA'07, JACM'18) proposed the matroid secretary conjecture, suggesting that there exists an O(1)-competitive algorithm for the matroid constraint, and many works since have attempted to obtain algorithms for both general matroids and specific classes of matroids. The ultimate goal of these results is to obtain an e-competitive algorithm, and the strong matroid secretary conjecture states that this is possible for general matroids. One of the most important classes of matroids is the graphic matroid, where a set of edges in a graph is deemed independent if it contains no cycle. Given the rich combinatorial structure of graphs, obtaining algorithms for these matroids is often seen as a good first step towards solving the problem for general matroids. For matroid secretary, Babaioff et al. (SODA'07, JACM'18) first studied graphic matroid case and obtained a 16-competitive algorithm. Subsequent works have improved the competitive ratio, most recently to 4 by Soto, Turkieltaub, and Verdugo (SODA'18). In this paper, we break the 4-competitive barrier for the problem, obtaining a new algorithm with a competitive ratio of 3.95. For the special case of simple graphs (i.e., graphs that do not contain parallel edges) we further improve this to 3.77. Intuitively, solving the problem for simple graphs is easier as they do not contain cycles of length two. A natural question that arises is whether we can obtain a ratio arbitrarily close to e by assuming the graph has a large enough girth. We answer this question affirmatively, proving that one can obtain a competitive ratio arbitrarily close to e even for constant values of girth, providing further evidence for the strong matroid secretary conjecture. We further show that this bound is tight: for any constant g, one cannot obtain a competitive ratio better than e even if we assume that the input graph has girth at least g. To our knowledge, such a bound was not previously known even for simple graphs.

Cite as

Kiarash Banihashem, MohammadTaghi Hajiaghayi, Dariusz R. Kowalski, Piotr Krysta, Danny Mittal, and Jan Olkowski. Beating Competitive Ratio 4 for Graphic Matroid Secretary. In 33rd Annual European Symposium on Algorithms (ESA 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 351, pp. 52:1-52:16, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)


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@InProceedings{banihashem_et_al:LIPIcs.ESA.2025.52,
  author =	{Banihashem, Kiarash and Hajiaghayi, MohammadTaghi and Kowalski, Dariusz R. and Krysta, Piotr and Mittal, Danny and Olkowski, Jan},
  title =	{{Beating Competitive Ratio 4 for Graphic Matroid Secretary}},
  booktitle =	{33rd Annual European Symposium on Algorithms (ESA 2025)},
  pages =	{52:1--52:16},
  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.2025.52},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-245205},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ESA.2025.52},
  annote =	{Keywords: online algorithms, graphic matroids, secretary problem}
}
Document
Track A: Algorithms, Complexity and Games
q-Partitioning Valuations: Exploring the Space Between Subadditive and Fractionally Subadditive Valuations

Authors: Kiril Bangachev and S. Matthew Weinberg

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


Abstract
For a set M of m elements, we define a decreasing chain of classes of normalized monotone-increasing valuation functions from 2^M to ℝ_{≥ 0}, parameterized by an integer q ∈ [2,m]. For a given q, we refer to the class as q-partitioning. A valuation function is subadditive if and only if it is 2-partitioning, and fractionally subadditive if and only if it is m-partitioning. Thus, our chain establishes an interpolation between subadditive and fractionally subadditive valuations. We show that this interpolation is smooth (q-partitioning valuations are "nearly" (q-1)-partitioning in a precise sense, Theorem 6), interpretable (the definition arises by analyzing the core of a cost-sharing game, à la the Bondareva-Shapley Theorem for fractionally subadditive valuations, Section 3.1), and non-trivial (the class of q-partitioning valuations is distinct for all q, Proposition 3). For domains where provable separations exist between subadditive and fractionally subadditive, we interpolate the stronger guarantees achievable for fractionally subadditive valuations to all q ∈ {2,…, m}. Two highlights are the following: 1) An Ω ((log log q)/(log log m))-competitive posted price mechanism for q-partitioning valuations. Note that this matches asymptotically the state-of-the-art for both subadditive (q = 2) [Paul Dütting et al., 2020], and fractionally subadditive (q = m) [Feldman et al., 2015]. 2) Two upper-tail concentration inequalities on 1-Lipschitz, q-partitioning valuations over independent items. One extends the state-of-the-art for q = m to q < m, the other improves the state-of-the-art for q = 2 for q > 2. Our concentration inequalities imply several corollaries that interpolate between subadditive and fractionally subadditive, for example: 𝔼[v(S)] ≤ (1 + 1/log q)Median[v(S)] + O(log q). To prove this, we develop a new isoperimetric inequality using Talagrand’s method of control by q points, which may be of independent interest. We also discuss other probabilistic inequalities and game-theoretic applications of q-partitioning valuations, and connections to subadditive MPH-k valuations [Tomer Ezra et al., 2019].

Cite as

Kiril Bangachev and S. Matthew Weinberg. q-Partitioning Valuations: Exploring the Space Between Subadditive and Fractionally Subadditive Valuations. In 52nd International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming (ICALP 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 334, pp. 18:1-18:20, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)


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@InProceedings{bangachev_et_al:LIPIcs.ICALP.2025.18,
  author =	{Bangachev, Kiril and Weinberg, S. Matthew},
  title =	{{q-Partitioning Valuations: Exploring the Space Between Subadditive and Fractionally Subadditive Valuations}},
  booktitle =	{52nd International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming (ICALP 2025)},
  pages =	{18:1--18:20},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-372-0},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{334},
  editor =	{Censor-Hillel, Keren and Grandoni, Fabrizio and Ouaknine, Jo\"{e}l and Puppis, Gabriele},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.ICALP.2025.18},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-233956},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ICALP.2025.18},
  annote =	{Keywords: Subadditive Functions, Fractionally Subadditive Functions, Posted Price Mechanisms, Concentration Inequalities}
}
Document
Track A: Algorithms, Complexity and Games
Submodular Hypergraph Partitioning: Metric Relaxations and Fast Algorithms via an Improved Cut-Matching Game

Authors: Antares Chen, Lorenzo Orecchia, and Erasmo Tani

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


Abstract
Despite there being significant work on developing spectral- [Chan et al., 2018; Lau et al., 2023; Kwok et al., 2022], and metric-embedding-based [Louis and Makarychev, 2016] approximation algorithms for hypergraph conductance, little is known regarding the approximability of other hypergraph partitioning objectives. This work proposes algorithms for a general model of hypergraph partitioning that unifies both undirected and directed versions of many well-studied partitioning objectives. The first contribution of this paper introduces polymatroidal cut functions, a large class of cut functions amenable to approximation algorithms via metric embeddings and routing multicommodity flows. We demonstrate a simple O(√{log n})-approximation, where n is the number of vertices in the hypergraph, for these problems by rounding relaxations to metrics of negative-type. The second contribution of this paper generalizes the cut-matching game framework of Khandekar et al. [Khandekar et al., 2007] to tackle polymatroidal cut functions. This yields an almost-linear time O(log n)-approximation algorithm for standard versions of undirected and directed hypergraph partitioning [Kwok et al., 2022]. A technical contribution of our construction is a novel cut-matching game, which greatly relaxes the set of allowed actions by the cut player and allows for the use of approximate s-t maximum flows by the matching player. We believe this to be of independent interest.

Cite as

Antares Chen, Lorenzo Orecchia, and Erasmo Tani. Submodular Hypergraph Partitioning: Metric Relaxations and Fast Algorithms via an Improved Cut-Matching Game. In 52nd International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming (ICALP 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 334, pp. 49:1-49:16, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)


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@InProceedings{chen_et_al:LIPIcs.ICALP.2025.49,
  author =	{Chen, Antares and Orecchia, Lorenzo and Tani, Erasmo},
  title =	{{Submodular Hypergraph Partitioning: Metric Relaxations and Fast Algorithms via an Improved Cut-Matching Game}},
  booktitle =	{52nd International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming (ICALP 2025)},
  pages =	{49:1--49:16},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-372-0},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{334},
  editor =	{Censor-Hillel, Keren and Grandoni, Fabrizio and Ouaknine, Jo\"{e}l and Puppis, Gabriele},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.ICALP.2025.49},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-234261},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ICALP.2025.49},
  annote =	{Keywords: Hypergraph Partitioning, Cut Improvement, Cut-Matching Game}
}
Document
Track A: Algorithms, Complexity and Games
A Theory of Spectral CSP Sparsification

Authors: Sanjeev Khanna, Aaron Putterman, and Madhu Sudan

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


Abstract
We initiate the study of spectral sparsification for instances of Constraint Satisfaction Problems (CSPs). In particular, we introduce a notion of the spectral energy of a fractional assignment for a Boolean CSP instance, and define a spectral sparsifier as a weighted subset of constraints that approximately preserves this energy for all fractional assignments. Our definition not only strengthens the combinatorial notion of a CSP sparsifier but also extends well-studied concepts such as spectral sparsifiers for graphs and hypergraphs. Recent work by Khanna, Putterman, and Sudan [SODA 2024] demonstrated near-linear sized combinatorial sparsifiers for a broad class of CSPs, which they term field-affine CSPs. Our main result is a polynomial-time algorithm that constructs a spectral CSP sparsifier of near-quadratic size for all field-affine CSPs. This class of CSPs includes graph (and hypergraph) cuts, XORs, and more generally, any predicate which can be written as P(x₁, … x_r) = 𝟏[∑ a_i x_i ≠ b mod p]. Based on our notion of the spectral energy of a fractional assignment, we also define an analog of the second eigenvalue of a CSP instance. We then show an extension of Cheeger’s inequality for all even-arity XOR CSPs, showing that this second eigenvalue loosely captures the "expansion" of the underlying CSP. This extension specializes to the case of Cheeger’s inequality when all constraints are even XORs and thus gives a new generalization of this powerful inequality which converts the combinatorial notion of expansion to an analytic property. Perhaps the most important effect of spectral sparsification is that it has led to certifiable sparsifiers for graphs and hypergraphs. This aspect remains open in our case even for XOR CSPs since the eigenvalues we describe in our Cheeger inequality are not known to be efficiently computable. Computing this efficiently, and/or finding other ways to certifiably sparsify CSPs are open questions emerging from our work. Another important open question is determining which classes of CSPs have near-linear size spectral sparsifiers.

Cite as

Sanjeev Khanna, Aaron Putterman, and Madhu Sudan. A Theory of Spectral CSP Sparsification. In 52nd International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming (ICALP 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 334, pp. 107:1-107:12, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)


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@InProceedings{khanna_et_al:LIPIcs.ICALP.2025.107,
  author =	{Khanna, Sanjeev and Putterman, Aaron and Sudan, Madhu},
  title =	{{A Theory of Spectral CSP Sparsification}},
  booktitle =	{52nd International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming (ICALP 2025)},
  pages =	{107:1--107:12},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-372-0},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{334},
  editor =	{Censor-Hillel, Keren and Grandoni, Fabrizio and Ouaknine, Jo\"{e}l and Puppis, Gabriele},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.ICALP.2025.107},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-234840},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ICALP.2025.107},
  annote =	{Keywords: Sparsification, sketching, hypergraphs}
}
Document
Track A: Algorithms, Complexity and Games
Universal Online Contention Resolution with Preselected Order

Authors: Junyao Zhao

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


Abstract
Online contention resolution scheme (OCRS) is a powerful technique for online decision making, which - in the case of matroids - given a matroid and a prior distribution of active elements, selects a subset of active elements that satisfies the matroid constraint in an online fashion. OCRS has been studied mostly for product distributions in the literature. Recently, universal OCRS, that works even for correlated distributions, has gained interest, because it naturally generalizes the classic notion, and its existence in the random-order arrival model turns out to be equivalent to the matroid secretary conjecture. However, currently very little is known about how to design universal OCRSs for any arrival model. In this work, we consider a natural and relatively flexible arrival model, where the OCRS is allowed to preselect (i.e., non-adaptively select) the arrival order of the elements, and within this model, we design simple and optimal universal OCRSs that are computationally efficient. In the course of deriving our OCRSs, we also discover an efficient reduction from universal online contention resolution to the matroid secretary problem for any arrival model, answering a question posed in [Dughmi, 2020].

Cite as

Junyao Zhao. Universal Online Contention Resolution with Preselected Order. In 52nd International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming (ICALP 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 334, pp. 137:1-137:17, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)


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@InProceedings{zhao:LIPIcs.ICALP.2025.137,
  author =	{Zhao, Junyao},
  title =	{{Universal Online Contention Resolution with Preselected Order}},
  booktitle =	{52nd International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming (ICALP 2025)},
  pages =	{137:1--137:17},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-372-0},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{334},
  editor =	{Censor-Hillel, Keren and Grandoni, Fabrizio and Ouaknine, Jo\"{e}l and Puppis, Gabriele},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.ICALP.2025.137},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-235147},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ICALP.2025.137},
  annote =	{Keywords: Matroids, online contention resolution schemes, secretary problems}
}
Document
Track A: Algorithms, Complexity and Games
A New Impossibility Result for Online Bipartite Matching Problems

Authors: Flavio Chierichetti, Mirko Giacchini, Alessandro Panconesi, and Andrea Vattani

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


Abstract
Online Bipartite Matching with random user arrival is a fundamental problem in the online advertisement ecosystem. Over the last 30 years, many algorithms and impossibility results have been developed for this problem. In particular, the latest impossibility result was established by Manshadi, Oveis Gharan and Saberi [Manshadi et al., 2011] in 2011. Since then, several algorithms have been published in an effort to narrow the gap between the upper and the lower bounds on the competitive ratio. In this paper we show that no algorithm can achieve a competitive ratio better than 1- e/(e^e) = 0.82062…, improving upon the 0.823 upper bound presented in [Manshadi et al., 2011]. Our construction is simple to state, accompanied by a fully analytic proof, and yields a competitive ratio bound intriguingly similar to 1 - 1/e, the optimal competitive ratio for the fully adversarial Online Bipartite Matching problem. Although the tightness of our upper bound remains an open question, we show that our construction is extremal in a natural class of instances.

Cite as

Flavio Chierichetti, Mirko Giacchini, Alessandro Panconesi, and Andrea Vattani. A New Impossibility Result for Online Bipartite Matching Problems. In 52nd International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming (ICALP 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 334, pp. 58:1-58:20, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)


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@InProceedings{chierichetti_et_al:LIPIcs.ICALP.2025.58,
  author =	{Chierichetti, Flavio and Giacchini, Mirko and Panconesi, Alessandro and Vattani, Andrea},
  title =	{{A New Impossibility Result for Online Bipartite Matching Problems}},
  booktitle =	{52nd International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming (ICALP 2025)},
  pages =	{58:1--58:20},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-372-0},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{334},
  editor =	{Censor-Hillel, Keren and Grandoni, Fabrizio and Ouaknine, Jo\"{e}l and Puppis, Gabriele},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.ICALP.2025.58},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-234354},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ICALP.2025.58},
  annote =	{Keywords: Bipartite Matching, Random Graphs, Competitive Ratio}
}
Document
Track A: Algorithms, Complexity and Games
Query Efficient Weighted Stochastic Matching

Authors: Mahsa Derakhshan and Mohammad Saneian

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


Abstract
In this paper, we study the weighted stochastic matching problem. Let G = (V, E) be a given edge-weighted graph, and let its realization 𝒢 be a random subgraph of G that includes each edge e ∈ E independently with a known probability p_e. The goal in this problem is to pick a sparse subgraph Q of G without prior knowledge of 𝒢, such that the maximum weight matching among the realized edges of Q (i.e., the subgraph Q ∩ 𝒢) in expectation approximates the maximum weight matching of the entire realization 𝒢. It is established by previous work that attaining any constant approximation ratio for this problem requires selecting a subgraph of max-degree Ω(1/p), where p = min_{e ∈ E} p_e. On the positive side, there exists a (1-ε)-approximation algorithm by Behnezhad and Derakhshan [FOCS'20], albeit at the cost of a max-degree having exponential dependence on 1/p. Within the O(1/p) query regime, however, the best-known algorithm achieves a 0.536 approximation ratio due to Dughmi, Kalayci, and Patel [ICALP'23], improving over the 0.501 approximation algorithm by Behnezhad, Farhadi, Hajiaghayi, and Reyhani [SODA'19]. In this work, we present a 0.68-approximation algorithm with the asymptotically optimal O(1/p) queries per vertex. Our result not only substantially improves the approximation ratio for weighted graphs, but also breaks the well-known 2/3 barrier with the optimal number of queries - even for unweighted graphs. Our analysis involves reducing the problem to designing a randomized matching algorithm on a given stochastic graph with some variance-bounding properties. To achieve these properties, we leverage a randomized algorithm by MacRury and Ma [STOC'24] for a variant of online stochastic matching.

Cite as

Mahsa Derakhshan and Mohammad Saneian. Query Efficient Weighted Stochastic Matching. In 52nd International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming (ICALP 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 334, pp. 67:1-67:20, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)


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@InProceedings{derakhshan_et_al:LIPIcs.ICALP.2025.67,
  author =	{Derakhshan, Mahsa and Saneian, Mohammad},
  title =	{{Query Efficient Weighted Stochastic Matching}},
  booktitle =	{52nd International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming (ICALP 2025)},
  pages =	{67:1--67:20},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-372-0},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{334},
  editor =	{Censor-Hillel, Keren and Grandoni, Fabrizio and Ouaknine, Jo\"{e}l and Puppis, Gabriele},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.ICALP.2025.67},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-234445},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ICALP.2025.67},
  annote =	{Keywords: Sublinear algorithms, Stochastic, Matching}
}
Document
Track A: Algorithms, Complexity and Games
The Long Arm of Nashian Allocation in Online p-Mean Welfare Maximization

Authors: Zhiyi Huang, Chui Shan Lee, Xinkai Shu, and Zhaozi Wang

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


Abstract
We study the online allocation of divisible items to n agents with additive valuations for p-mean welfare maximization, a problem introduced by Barman, Khan, and Maiti (2022). Our algorithmic and hardness results characterize the optimal competitive ratios for the entire spectrum of -∞ ≤ p ≤ 1. Surprisingly, our improved algorithms for all p ≤ (1)/(log n) are simply the greedy algorithm for the Nash welfare, supplemented with two auxiliary components to ensure all agents have non-zero utilities and to help a small number of agents with low utilities. In this sense, the long arm of Nashian allocation achieves near-optimal competitive ratios not only for Nash welfare but also all the way to egalitarian welfare.

Cite as

Zhiyi Huang, Chui Shan Lee, Xinkai Shu, and Zhaozi Wang. The Long Arm of Nashian Allocation in Online p-Mean Welfare Maximization. In 52nd International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming (ICALP 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 334, pp. 98:1-98:18, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)


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@InProceedings{huang_et_al:LIPIcs.ICALP.2025.98,
  author =	{Huang, Zhiyi and Lee, Chui Shan and Shu, Xinkai and Wang, Zhaozi},
  title =	{{The Long Arm of Nashian Allocation in Online p-Mean Welfare Maximization}},
  booktitle =	{52nd International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming (ICALP 2025)},
  pages =	{98:1--98:18},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-372-0},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{334},
  editor =	{Censor-Hillel, Keren and Grandoni, Fabrizio and Ouaknine, Jo\"{e}l and Puppis, Gabriele},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.ICALP.2025.98},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-234754},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ICALP.2025.98},
  annote =	{Keywords: Online Algorithms, Fair Division, Nash Welfare}
}
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