28 Search Results for "de Mesmay, Arnaud"

Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.SoCG.2026.38
On the Size of k-Irreducible Triangulations

Authors: Vincent Delecroix, Oscar Fontaine, and Arnaud de Mesmay

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

Abstract
A triangulation of a surface is k-irreducible if every non-contractible curve has length at least k and any edge contraction breaks this property. Equivalently, every edge belongs to a non-contractible curve of length k and there are no shorter non-contractible curves. We prove that a k-irreducible triangulation of an orientable surface of genus g has O(k²g) triangles, which is optimal. This is an improvement over the previous best bound k^O(k) g² of Gao, Richter and Seymour [Journal of Combinatorial Theory, Series B, 1996].
Cite as

Vincent Delecroix, Oscar Fontaine, and Arnaud de Mesmay. On the Size of k-Irreducible Triangulations. In 42nd International Symposium on Computational Geometry (SoCG 2026). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 367, pp. 38:1-38:16, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)

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@InProceedings{delecroix_et_al:LIPIcs.SoCG.2026.38,
  author =	{Delecroix, Vincent and Fontaine, Oscar and de Mesmay, Arnaud},
  title =	{{On the Size of k-Irreducible Triangulations}},
  booktitle =	{42nd International Symposium on Computational Geometry (SoCG 2026)},
  pages =	{38:1--38:16},
  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.2026.38},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-258446},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.SoCG.2026.38},
  annote =	{Keywords: surface, irreducible triangulation, system of curves, minimal position, systolic geometry}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.STACS.2026.13
Line Cover and Related Problems

Authors: Matthias Bentert, Fedor V. Fomin, Petr A. Golovach, Souvik Saha, Sanjay Seetharaman, and Anannya Upasana

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

Abstract
We study several extensions of the classic Line Cover problem of covering a set of n points in the plane with k lines. Line Cover is known to be NP-hard and our focus is on two natural generalizations: (1) Line Clustering, where the objective is to find k lines in the plane that minimize the sum of squares of distances of a given set of input points to the closest line, and (2) Hyperplane Cover, where the goal is to cover n points in ℝ^d by k hyperplanes. We also consider the more general Projective Clustering problem, which unifies both of these and has numerous applications in machine learning, data mining, and computational geometry. In this problem one seeks k affine subspaces of dimension r minimizing the sum of squares of distances of a given set of n points in ℝ^d to the closest point within one of the k affine subspaces. Our main contributions reveal interesting differences in the parameterized complexity of these problems. While Line Cover is fixed-parameter tractable parameterized by the number k of lines in the solution, we show that Line Clustering is W[1]-hard when parameterized by k and rule out algorithms of running time n^{o(k)} under the Exponential Time Hypothesis. Hyperplane Cover is known to be NP-hard even when d = 2 and by the work of Langerman and Morin [Discrete & Computational Geometry, 2005], it is FPT parameterized by k and d. We complement this result by establishing that Hyperplane Cover is W[2]-hard when parameterized by only k. We complement our hardness results by presenting an algorithm for Projective Clustering. We show that this problem is solvable in n^{𝒪(dk(r+1))} time. Not only does this yield an upper bound for Line Clustering that asymptotically matches our lower bound, but it also significantly extends the seminal work on k-Means Clustering (the special case r = 0) by Inaba, Katoh, and Imai [SoCG 1994].
Cite as

Matthias Bentert, Fedor V. Fomin, Petr A. Golovach, Souvik Saha, Sanjay Seetharaman, and Anannya Upasana. Line Cover and Related Problems. In 43rd International Symposium on Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science (STACS 2026). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 364, pp. 13:1-13:18, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)

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@InProceedings{bentert_et_al:LIPIcs.STACS.2026.13,
  author =	{Bentert, Matthias and Fomin, Fedor V. and Golovach, Petr A. and Saha, Souvik and Seetharaman, Sanjay and Upasana, Anannya},
  title =	{{Line Cover and Related Problems}},
  booktitle =	{43rd International Symposium on Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science (STACS 2026)},
  pages =	{13:1--13:18},
  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.2026.13},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-255023},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.STACS.2026.13},
  annote =	{Keywords: Point Line Cover, Projective Clustering, W-hardness, XP algorithm}
}
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.2025.87
Multicut Problems in Almost-Planar Graphs: the Dependency of Complexity on the Demand Pattern

Authors: Florian Hörsch and Dániel Marx

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

Abstract
Given a graph G, a set T of terminal vertices, and a demand graph H on T, the Multicut problem asks for a set of edges of minimum weight that separates the pairs of terminals specified by the edges of H. The Multicut problem can be solved in polynomial time if the number of terminals and the genus of the graph is bounded (Colin de Verdière [Algorithmica, 2017]). Restricting the possible demand graphs in the input leads to special cases of Multicut whose complexity might be different from the general problem. Focke et al. [SoCG 2024] systematically characterized which special cases of Multicut are fixed-parameter tractable parameterized by the number of terminals on planar graphs. Moreover, extending these results beyond planar graphs, they precisely determined how the parameter genus influences the complexity and presented partial results of this form for graphs that can be made planar by the deletion of π edges. Continuing this line of work, we complete the picture on how this parameter π influences the complexity of different special cases and precisely determine the influence of the crossing number, another parameter measuring closeness to planarity. Formally, let ℋ be any class of graphs (satisfying a mild closure property) and let Multicut(ℋ) be the special case when the demand graph H is in ℋ. Our first main result is showing that if ℋ has the combinatorial property of having bounded distance to extended bicliques, then Multicut(ℋ) on unweighted graphs is FPT parameterized by the number t of terminals and π. For the case when ℋ does not have this combinatorial property, Focke et al. [SoCG 2024] showed that O(√t) is essentially the best possible exponent of the running time; together with our result, this gives a complete understanding of how the parameter π influences complexity on unweighted graphs. Our second main result is giving an algorithm whose existence shows that the parameter crossing number behaves analogously if we consider Multicut(ℋ) on weighted graphs.
Cite as

Florian Hörsch and Dániel Marx. Multicut Problems in Almost-Planar Graphs: the Dependency of Complexity on the Demand Pattern. In 33rd Annual European Symposium on Algorithms (ESA 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 351, pp. 87:1-87:13, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

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@InProceedings{horsch_et_al:LIPIcs.ESA.2025.87,
  author =	{H\"{o}rsch, Florian and Marx, D\'{a}niel},
  title =	{{Multicut Problems in Almost-Planar Graphs: the Dependency of Complexity on the Demand Pattern}},
  booktitle =	{33rd Annual European Symposium on Algorithms (ESA 2025)},
  pages =	{87:1--87:13},
  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.2025.87},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-245553},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ESA.2025.87},
  annote =	{Keywords: MultiCut, Multiway Cut, Parameterized Complexity, Tight Bounds, Embedded Graph, Planar Graph, Crossing Number}
}
Document
APPROX
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.APPROX/RANDOM.2025.5
Min-CSPs on Complete Instances II: Polylogarithmic Approximation for Min-NAE-3-SAT

Authors: Aditya Anand, Euiwoong Lee, Davide Mazzali, and Amatya Sharma

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

Abstract
This paper studies complete k-Constraint Satisfaction Problems (CSPs), where an n-variable instance has exactly one nontrivial constraint for each subset of k variables, i.e., it has binom(n,k) constraints. A recent work started a systematic study of complete k-CSPs [Anand, Lee, Sharma, SODA'25], and showed a quasi-polynomial time algorithm that decides if there is an assignment satisfying all the constraints of any complete Boolean-alphabet k-CSP, algorithmically separating complete instances from dense instances. The tractability of this decision problem is necessary for any nontrivial (multiplicative) approximation for the minimization version, whose goal is to minimize the number of violated constraints. The same paper raised the question of whether it is possible to obtain nontrivial approximation algorithms for complete Min-k-CSPs with k ≥ 3. In this work, we make progress in this direction and show a quasi-polynomial time polylog(n)-approximation to Min-NAE-3-SAT on complete instances, which asks to minimize the number of 3-clauses where all the three literals equal the same bit. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first known example of a CSP whose decision version is NP-Hard in general (and dense) instances while admitting a polylog(n)-approximation in complete instances. Our algorithm presents a new iterative framework for rounding a solution from the Sherali-Adams hierarchy, where each iteration interleaves the two well-known rounding tools: the conditioning procedure, in order to "almost fix" many variables, and the thresholding procedure, in order to "completely fix" them. Finally, we improve the running time of the decision algorithms of Anand, Lee, and Sharma and show a simple algorithm that decides any complete Boolean-alphabet k-CSP in polynomial time.
Cite as

Aditya Anand, Euiwoong Lee, Davide Mazzali, and Amatya Sharma. Min-CSPs on Complete Instances II: Polylogarithmic Approximation for Min-NAE-3-SAT. In Approximation, Randomization, and Combinatorial Optimization. Algorithms and Techniques (APPROX/RANDOM 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 353, pp. 5:1-5:23, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

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@InProceedings{anand_et_al:LIPIcs.APPROX/RANDOM.2025.5,
  author =	{Anand, Aditya and Lee, Euiwoong and Mazzali, Davide and Sharma, Amatya},
  title =	{{Min-CSPs on Complete Instances II: Polylogarithmic Approximation for Min-NAE-3-SAT}},
  booktitle =	{Approximation, Randomization, and Combinatorial Optimization. Algorithms and Techniques (APPROX/RANDOM 2025)},
  pages =	{5:1--5:23},
  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.2025.5},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-243712},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.APPROX/RANDOM.2025.5},
  annote =	{Keywords: Constraint Satisfiability Problems, Approximation Algorithms, Sherali Adams}
}
Document
Track A: Algorithms, Complexity and Games
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.ICALP.2025.42
Fitting Tree Metrics and Ultrametrics in Data Streams

Authors: Amir Carmel, Debarati Das, Evangelos Kipouridis, and Evangelos Pipis

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

Abstract
Fitting distances to tree metrics and ultrametrics are two widely used methods in hierarchical clustering, primarily explored within the context of numerical taxonomy. Formally, given a positive distance function D: binom(V,2) → ℝ_{>0}, the goal is to find a tree (or an ultrametric) T including all elements of set V, such that the difference between the distances among vertices in T and those specified by D is minimized. Numerical taxonomy was first introduced by Sneath and Sokal [Nature 1962], and since then it has been studied extensively in both biology and computer science. In this paper, we initiate the study of ultrametric and tree metric fitting problems in the semi-streaming model, where the distances between pairs of elements from V (with |V| = n), defined by the function D, can arrive in an arbitrary order. We study these problems under various distance norms; namely the 𝓁₀ objective, which aims to minimize the number of modified entries in D to fit a tree-metric or an ultrametric; the 𝓁₁ objective, which seeks to minimize the total sum of distance errors across all pairs of points in V; and the 𝓁_∞ objective, which focuses on minimizing the maximum error incurred by any entries in D. - Our first result addresses the 𝓁₀ objective. We provide a single-pass polynomial-time Õ(n)-space O(1) approximation algorithm for ultrametrics and prove that no single-pass exact algorithm exists, even with exponential time. - Next, we show that the algorithm for 𝓁₀ implies an O(Δ/δ) approximation for the 𝓁₁ objective, where Δ is the maximum, and δ is the minimum absolute difference between distances in the input. This bound matches the best-known approximation for the RAM model using a combinatorial algorithm when Δ/δ = O(n). - For the 𝓁_∞ objective, we provide a complete characterization of the ultrametric fitting problem. First, we present a single-pass polynomial-time Õ(n)-space 2-approximation algorithm and show that no better than 2-approximation is possible, even with exponential time. Furthermore, we show that with an additional pass, it is possible to achieve a polynomial-time exact algorithm for ultrametrics. - Finally, we extend all these results to tree metrics by using only one additional pass through the stream and without asymptotically increasing the approximation factor.
Cite as

Amir Carmel, Debarati Das, Evangelos Kipouridis, and Evangelos Pipis. Fitting Tree Metrics and Ultrametrics in Data Streams. In 52nd International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming (ICALP 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 334, pp. 42:1-42:21, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

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@InProceedings{carmel_et_al:LIPIcs.ICALP.2025.42,
  author =	{Carmel, Amir and Das, Debarati and Kipouridis, Evangelos and Pipis, Evangelos},
  title =	{{Fitting Tree Metrics and Ultrametrics in Data Streams}},
  booktitle =	{52nd International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming (ICALP 2025)},
  pages =	{42:1--42:21},
  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.2025.42},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-234197},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ICALP.2025.42},
  annote =	{Keywords: Streaming, Clustering, Ultrametrics, Tree metrics, Distance fitting}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.SoCG.2025.15
When Distances Lie: Euclidean Embeddings in the Presence of Outliers and Distance Violations

Authors: Matthias Bentert, Fedor V. Fomin, Petr A. Golovach, M. S. Ramanujan, and Saket Saurabh

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

Abstract
Distance geometry explores the properties of distance spaces that can be exactly represented as the pairwise Euclidean distances between points in ℝ^d (d ≥ 1), or equivalently, distance spaces that can be isometrically embedded in ℝ^d. In this work, we investigate whether a distance space can be isometrically embedded in ℝ^d after applying a limited number of modifications. Specifically, we focus on two types of modifications: outlier deletion (removing points) and distance modification (adjusting distances between points). The central problem, Euclidean Embedding Editing, asks whether an input distance space on n points can be transformed, using at most k modifications, into a space that is isometrically embeddable in ℝ^d. We present several fixed-parameter tractable (FPT) and approximation algorithms for this problem. Our first result is an algorithm that solves Euclidean Embedding Editing in time (dk)^𝒪(d+k) + n^𝒪(1). The core subroutine of this algorithm, which is of independent interest, is a polynomial-time method for compressing the input distance space into an equivalent instance of Euclidean Embedding Editing with 𝒪((dk)²) points. For the special but important case of Euclidean Embedding Editing where only outlier deletions are allowed, we improve the parameter dependence of the FPT algorithm and obtain a running time of min{(d+3)^k, 2^{d+k}} ⋅ n^𝒪(1). Additionally, we provide an FPT-approximation algorithm for this problem, which outputs a set of at most 2 ⋅ Opt outliers in time 2^d ⋅ n^{𝒪(1)}. This 2-approximation algorithm improves upon the previous (3+ε)-approximation algorithm by Sidiropoulos, Wang, and Wang [SODA '17]. Furthermore, we complement our algorithms with hardness results motivating our choice of parameterizations.
Cite as

Matthias Bentert, Fedor V. Fomin, Petr A. Golovach, M. S. Ramanujan, and Saket Saurabh. When Distances Lie: Euclidean Embeddings in the Presence of Outliers and Distance Violations. In 41st International Symposium on Computational Geometry (SoCG 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 332, pp. 15:1-15:16, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

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@InProceedings{bentert_et_al:LIPIcs.SoCG.2025.15,
  author =	{Bentert, Matthias and Fomin, Fedor V. and Golovach, Petr A. and Ramanujan, M. S. and Saurabh, Saket},
  title =	{{When Distances Lie: Euclidean Embeddings in the Presence of Outliers and Distance Violations}},
  booktitle =	{41st International Symposium on Computational Geometry (SoCG 2025)},
  pages =	{15:1--15:16},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-370-6},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{332},
  editor =	{Aichholzer, Oswin and Wang, Haitao},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.SoCG.2025.15},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-231672},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.SoCG.2025.15},
  annote =	{Keywords: Parameterized Complexity, Euclidean Embedding, FPT-approximation}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.SoCG.2025.18
Finding a Shortest Curve That Separates Few Objects from Many

Authors: Therese Biedl, Éric Colin de Verdière, Fabrizio Frati, Anna Lubiw, and Günter Rote

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

Abstract
We present a fixed-parameter tractable (FPT) algorithm to find a shortest curve that encloses a set of k required objects in the plane while paying a penalty for enclosing unwanted objects. The input is a set of interior-disjoint simple polygons in the plane, where k of the polygons are required to be enclosed and the remaining optional polygons have non-negative penalties. The goal is to find a closed curve that is disjoint from the polygon interiors and encloses the k required polygons, while minimizing the length of the curve plus the penalties of the enclosed optional polygons. If the penalties are high, the output is a shortest curve that separates the required polygons from the others. The problem is NP-hard if k is not fixed, even in very special cases. The runtime of our algorithm is O(3^k n³), where n is the number of vertices of the input polygons. We extend the result to a graph version of the problem where the input is a connected plane graph with positive edge weights. There are k required faces; the remaining faces are optional and have non-negative penalties. The goal is to find a closed walk in the graph that encloses the k required faces, while minimizing the weight of the walk plus the penalties of the enclosed optional faces. We also consider an inverted version of the problem where the required objects must lie outside the curve. Our algorithms solve some other well-studied problems, such as geometric knapsack.
Cite as

Therese Biedl, Éric Colin de Verdière, Fabrizio Frati, Anna Lubiw, and Günter Rote. Finding a Shortest Curve That Separates Few Objects from Many. In 41st International Symposium on Computational Geometry (SoCG 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 332, pp. 18:1-18:16, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

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@InProceedings{biedl_et_al:LIPIcs.SoCG.2025.18,
  author =	{Biedl, Therese and Colin de Verdi\`{e}re, \'{E}ric and Frati, Fabrizio and Lubiw, Anna and Rote, G\"{u}nter},
  title =	{{Finding a Shortest Curve That Separates Few Objects from Many}},
  booktitle =	{41st International Symposium on Computational Geometry (SoCG 2025)},
  pages =	{18:1--18:16},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-370-6},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{332},
  editor =	{Aichholzer, Oswin and Wang, Haitao},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.SoCG.2025.18},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-231701},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.SoCG.2025.18},
  annote =	{Keywords: Enclosure, curve, separation, weakly simple polygon, Euler tour}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.SoCG.2025.67
Hard Diagrams of Split Links

Authors: Corentin Lunel, Arnaud de Mesmay, and Jonathan Spreer

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

Abstract
Deformations of knots and links in ambient space can be studied combinatorially on their diagrams via local modifications called Reidemeister moves. While it is well-known that, in order to move between equivalent diagrams with Reidemeister moves, one sometimes needs to insert excess crossings, there are significant gaps between the best known lower and upper bounds on the required number of these added crossings. In this article, we study the problem of turning a diagram of a split link into a split diagram, and we show that there exist split links with diagrams requiring an arbitrarily large number of such additional crossings. More precisely, we provide a family of diagrams of split links, so that any sequence of Reidemeister moves transforming a diagram with c crossings into a split diagram requires going through a diagram with Ω(√c) extra crossings. Our proof relies on the framework of bubble tangles, as introduced by the first two authors, and a technique of Chambers and Liokumovitch to turn homotopies into isotopies in the context of Riemannian geometry.
Cite as

Corentin Lunel, Arnaud de Mesmay, and Jonathan Spreer. Hard Diagrams of Split Links. In 41st International Symposium on Computational Geometry (SoCG 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 332, pp. 67:1-67:17, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

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@InProceedings{lunel_et_al:LIPIcs.SoCG.2025.67,
  author =	{Lunel, Corentin and de Mesmay, Arnaud and Spreer, Jonathan},
  title =	{{Hard Diagrams of Split Links}},
  booktitle =	{41st International Symposium on Computational Geometry (SoCG 2025)},
  pages =	{67:1--67:17},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-370-6},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{332},
  editor =	{Aichholzer, Oswin and Wang, Haitao},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.SoCG.2025.67},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-232191},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.SoCG.2025.67},
  annote =	{Keywords: Knot theory, hard knot and link diagrams, Reidemeister moves, extra crossings, split links, bubble tangles, compression representativity}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.STACS.2025.32
A Faster Algorithm for Constrained Correlation Clustering

Authors: Nick Fischer, Evangelos Kipouridis, Jonas Klausen, and Mikkel Thorup

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 327, 42nd International Symposium on Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science (STACS 2025)

Abstract
In the Correlation Clustering problem we are given n nodes, and a preference for each pair of nodes indicating whether we prefer the two endpoints to be in the same cluster or not. The output is a clustering inducing the minimum number of violated preferences. In certain cases, however, the preference between some pairs may be too important to be violated. The constrained version of this problem specifies pairs of nodes that must be in the same cluster as well as pairs that must not be in the same cluster (hard constraints). The output clustering has to satisfy all hard constraints while minimizing the number of violated preferences. Constrained Correlation Clustering is APX-Hard and has been approximated within a factor 3 by van Zuylen et al. [SODA '07]. Their algorithm is based on rounding an LP with Θ(n³) constraints, resulting in an Ω(n^{3ω}) running time. In this work, using a more combinatorial approach, we show how to approximate this problem significantly faster at the cost of a slightly weaker approximation factor. In particular, our algorithm runs in Õ(n³) time (notice that the input size is Θ(n²)) and approximates Constrained Correlation Clustering within a factor 16. To achieve our result we need properties guaranteed by a particular influential algorithm for (unconstrained) Correlation Clustering, the CC-PIVOT algorithm. This algorithm chooses a pivot node u, creates a cluster containing u and all its preferred nodes, and recursively solves the rest of the problem. It is known that selecting pivots at random gives a 3-approximation. As a byproduct of our work, we provide a derandomization of the CC-PIVOT algorithm that still achieves the 3-approximation; furthermore, we show that there exist instances where no ordering of the pivots can give a (3-ε)-approximation, for any constant ε. Finally, we introduce a node-weighted version of Correlation Clustering, which can be approximated within factor 3 using our insights on Constrained Correlation Clustering. As the general weighted version of Correlation Clustering would require a major breakthrough to approximate within a factor o(log n), Node-Weighted Correlation Clustering may be a practical alternative.
Cite as

Nick Fischer, Evangelos Kipouridis, Jonas Klausen, and Mikkel Thorup. A Faster Algorithm for Constrained Correlation Clustering. In 42nd International Symposium on Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science (STACS 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 327, pp. 32:1-32:18, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

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@InProceedings{fischer_et_al:LIPIcs.STACS.2025.32,
  author =	{Fischer, Nick and Kipouridis, Evangelos and Klausen, Jonas and Thorup, Mikkel},
  title =	{{A Faster Algorithm for Constrained Correlation Clustering}},
  booktitle =	{42nd International Symposium on Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science (STACS 2025)},
  pages =	{32:1--32:18},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-365-2},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{327},
  editor =	{Beyersdorff, Olaf and Pilipczuk, Micha{\l} and Pimentel, Elaine 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.2025.32},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-228585},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.STACS.2025.32},
  annote =	{Keywords: Clustering, Constrained Correlation Clustering, Approximation}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.STACS.2025.28
Can You Link Up With Treewidth?

Authors: Radu Curticapean, Simon Döring, Daniel Neuen, and Jiaheng Wang

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 327, 42nd International Symposium on Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science (STACS 2025)

Abstract
A central result by Marx [ToC '10] constructs k-vertex graphs H of maximum degree 3 such that n^o(k/log k) time algorithms for detecting colorful H-subgraphs would refute the Exponential-Time Hypothesis (ETH). This result is widely used to obtain almost-tight conditional lower bounds for parameterized problems under ETH. Our first contribution is a new and fully self-contained proof of this result that further simplifies a recent work by Karthik et al. [SOSA 2024]. In our proof, we introduce a novel graph parameter of independent interest, the linkage capacity γ(H), and show that detecting colorful H-subgraphs in time n^o(γ(H)) refutes ETH. Then, we use a simple construction of communication networks credited to Beneš to obtain k-vertex graphs of maximum degree 3 and linkage capacity Ω(k/log k), avoiding arguments involving expander graphs, which were required in previous papers. We also show that every graph H of treewidth t has linkage capacity Ω(t/log t), thus recovering a stronger result shown by Marx [ToC '10] with a simplified proof. Additionally, we obtain new tight lower bounds on the complexity of subgraph detection for certain types of patterns by analyzing their linkage capacity: We prove that almost all k-vertex graphs of polynomial average degree Ω(k^β) for β > 0 have linkage capacity Θ(k), which implies tight lower bounds for finding such patterns H. As an application of these results, we also obtain tight lower bounds for counting small induced subgraphs having a fixed property Φ, improving bounds from, e.g., [Roth et al., FOCS 2020].
Cite as

Radu Curticapean, Simon Döring, Daniel Neuen, and Jiaheng Wang. Can You Link Up With Treewidth?. In 42nd International Symposium on Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science (STACS 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 327, pp. 28:1-28:24, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

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@InProceedings{curticapean_et_al:LIPIcs.STACS.2025.28,
  author =	{Curticapean, Radu and D\"{o}ring, Simon and Neuen, Daniel and Wang, Jiaheng},
  title =	{{Can You Link Up With Treewidth?}},
  booktitle =	{42nd International Symposium on Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science (STACS 2025)},
  pages =	{28:1--28:24},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-365-2},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{327},
  editor =	{Beyersdorff, Olaf and Pilipczuk, Micha{\l} and Pimentel, Elaine 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.2025.28},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-228534},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.STACS.2025.28},
  annote =	{Keywords: subgraph isomorphism, constraint satisfaction problems, linkage capacity, exponential-time hypothesis, parameterized complexity, counting complexity}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.ESA.2024.50
Making Multicurves Cross Minimally on Surfaces

Authors: Loïc Dubois

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 308, 32nd Annual European Symposium on Algorithms (ESA 2024)

Abstract
On an orientable surface S, consider a collection Γ of closed curves. The (geometric) intersection number i_S(Γ) is the minimum number of self-intersections that a collection Γ' can have, where Γ' results from a continuous deformation (homotopy) of Γ. We provide algorithms that compute i_S(Γ) and such a Γ', assuming that Γ is given by a collection of closed walks of length n in a graph M cellularly embedded on S, in O(n log n) time when M and S are fixed. The state of the art is a paper of Despré and Lazarus [SoCG 2017, J. ACM 2019], who compute i_S(Γ) in O(n²) time, and Γ' in O(n⁴) time if Γ is a single closed curve. Our result is more general since we can put an arbitrary number of closed curves in minimal position. Also, our algorithms are quasi-linear in n instead of quadratic and quartic. Most importantly, our proofs are simpler, shorter, and more structured. We use techniques from two-dimensional topology and from the theory of hyperbolic surfaces. Most notably, we prove a new property of the reducing triangulations introduced by Colin de Verdière, Despré, and Dubois [SODA 2024], reducing our problem to the case of surfaces with boundary. As a key subroutine, we rely on an algorithm of Fulek and Tóth [JCO 2020].
Cite as

Loïc Dubois. Making Multicurves Cross Minimally on Surfaces. In 32nd Annual European Symposium on Algorithms (ESA 2024). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 308, pp. 50:1-50:15, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2024)

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@InProceedings{dubois:LIPIcs.ESA.2024.50,
  author =	{Dubois, Lo\"{i}c},
  title =	{{Making Multicurves Cross Minimally on Surfaces}},
  booktitle =	{32nd Annual European Symposium on Algorithms (ESA 2024)},
  pages =	{50:1--50:15},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-338-6},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2024},
  volume =	{308},
  editor =	{Chan, Timothy and Fischer, Johannes and Iacono, John 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.2024.50},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-211216},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ESA.2024.50},
  annote =	{Keywords: Algorithms, Topology, Surfaces, Closed Curves, Geometric Intersection Number}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/DagRep.14.2.120
Triangulations in Geometry and Topology (Dagstuhl Seminar 24072)

Authors: Maike Buchin, Jean Cardinal, Arnaud de Mesmay, Jonathan Spreer, and Alex He

Published in: Dagstuhl Reports, Volume 14, Issue 2 (2024)

Abstract
This report documents the program and the outcomes of Dagstuhl Seminar "Triangulations in Geometry and Topology" (24072). The seminar was held from February 12 to February 16, 2024, gathered 31 participants, and started with four introductory talks and an open problem session. Then the participants spread into small groups to work on open problems on diverse topics including reconfiguration of geometric shapes, geodesics on triangulated surfaces, distances in flip graphs, geometric cycles and algorithms in 3-manifold topology.
Cite as

Maike Buchin, Jean Cardinal, Arnaud de Mesmay, Jonathan Spreer, and Alex He. Triangulations in Geometry and Topology (Dagstuhl Seminar 24072). In Dagstuhl Reports, Volume 14, Issue 2, pp. 120-163, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2024)

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@Article{buchin_et_al:DagRep.14.2.120,
  author =	{Buchin, Maike and Cardinal, Jean and de Mesmay, Arnaud and Spreer, Jonathan and He, Alex},
  title =	{{Triangulations in Geometry and Topology (Dagstuhl Seminar 24072)}},
  pages =	{120--163},
  journal =	{Dagstuhl Reports},
  ISSN =	{2192-5283},
  year =	{2024},
  volume =	{14},
  number =	{2},
  editor =	{Buchin, Maike and Cardinal, Jean and de Mesmay, Arnaud and Spreer, Jonathan and He, Alex},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/DagRep.14.2.120},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-205017},
  doi =		{10.4230/DagRep.14.2.120},
  annote =	{Keywords: computational geometry, geometric topology, triangulations}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.SoCG.2024.28
Computing Shortest Closed Curves on Non-Orientable Surfaces

Authors: Denys Bulavka, Éric Colin de Verdière, and Niloufar Fuladi

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 293, 40th International Symposium on Computational Geometry (SoCG 2024)

Abstract
We initiate the study of computing shortest non-separating simple closed curves with some given topological properties on non-orientable surfaces. While, for orientable surfaces, any two non-separating simple closed curves are related by a self-homeomorphism of the surface, and computing shortest such curves has been vastly studied, for non-orientable ones the classification of non-separating simple closed curves up to ambient homeomorphism is subtler, depending on whether the curve is one-sided or two-sided, and whether it is orienting or not (whether it cuts the surface into an orientable one). We prove that computing a shortest orienting (weakly) simple closed curve on a non-orientable combinatorial surface is NP-hard but fixed-parameter tractable in the genus of the surface. In contrast, we can compute a shortest non-separating non-orienting (weakly) simple closed curve with given sidedness in g^{O(1)} ⋅ n log n time, where g is the genus and n the size of the surface. For these algorithms, we develop tools that can be of independent interest, to compute a variation on canonical systems of loops for non-orientable surfaces based on the computation of an orienting curve, and some covering spaces that are essentially quotients of homology covers.
Cite as

Denys Bulavka, Éric Colin de Verdière, and Niloufar Fuladi. Computing Shortest Closed Curves on Non-Orientable Surfaces. In 40th International Symposium on Computational Geometry (SoCG 2024). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 293, pp. 28:1-28:16, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2024)

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@InProceedings{bulavka_et_al:LIPIcs.SoCG.2024.28,
  author =	{Bulavka, Denys and Colin de Verdi\`{e}re, \'{E}ric and Fuladi, Niloufar},
  title =	{{Computing Shortest Closed Curves on Non-Orientable Surfaces}},
  booktitle =	{40th International Symposium on Computational Geometry (SoCG 2024)},
  pages =	{28:1--28:16},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-316-4},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2024},
  volume =	{293},
  editor =	{Mulzer, Wolfgang and Phillips, Jeff M.},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.SoCG.2024.28},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-199731},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.SoCG.2024.28},
  annote =	{Keywords: Surface, Graph, Algorithm, Non-orientable surface}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.SoCG.2024.48
Hopf Arborescent Links, Minor Theory, and Decidability of the Genus Defect

Authors: Pierre Dehornoy, Corentin Lunel, and Arnaud de Mesmay

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 293, 40th International Symposium on Computational Geometry (SoCG 2024)

Abstract
While the problem of computing the genus of a knot is now fairly well understood, no algorithm is known for its four-dimensional variants, both in the smooth and in the topological locally flat category. In this article, we investigate a class of knots and links called Hopf arborescent links, which are obtained as the boundaries of some iterated plumbings of Hopf bands. We show that for such links, computing the genus defects, which measure how much the four-dimensional genera differ from the classical genus, is decidable. Our proof is non-constructive, and is obtained by proving that Seifert surfaces of Hopf arborescent links under a relation of minors defined by containment of their Seifert surfaces form a well-quasi-order.
Cite as

Pierre Dehornoy, Corentin Lunel, and Arnaud de Mesmay. Hopf Arborescent Links, Minor Theory, and Decidability of the Genus Defect. In 40th International Symposium on Computational Geometry (SoCG 2024). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 293, pp. 48:1-48:18, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2024)

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@InProceedings{dehornoy_et_al:LIPIcs.SoCG.2024.48,
  author =	{Dehornoy, Pierre and Lunel, Corentin and de Mesmay, Arnaud},
  title =	{{Hopf Arborescent Links, Minor Theory, and Decidability of the Genus Defect}},
  booktitle =	{40th International Symposium on Computational Geometry (SoCG 2024)},
  pages =	{48:1--48:18},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-316-4},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2024},
  volume =	{293},
  editor =	{Mulzer, Wolfgang and Phillips, Jeff M.},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.SoCG.2024.48},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-199938},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.SoCG.2024.48},
  annote =	{Keywords: Knot Theory, Genus, Slice Genus, Hopf Arborescent Links, Well-Quasi-Order}
}
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