Query-Efficient Fixpoints of $\ell_p$-Contractions

Abstract

We prove that an $\epsilon$-approximate fixpoint of a map $f:[0,1]^d\rightarrow [0,1]^d$ can be found with $\mathcal{O}(d^2(\log\frac{1}{\epsilon} + \log\frac{1}{1-\lambda}))$ queries to $f$ if $f$ is $\lambda$-contracting with respect to an $\ell_p$-metric for some $p\in [1,\infty)\cup\{\infty\}$. This generalizes a recent result of Chen, Li, and Yannakakis [STOC'24] from the $\ell_\infty$-case to all $\ell_p$-metrics. Previously, all query upper bounds for $p\in [1,\infty) \setminus \{2\}$ were either exponential in $d$, $\log\frac{1}{\epsilon}$, or $\log\frac{1}{1-\lambda}$. Chen, Li, and Yannakakis also show how to ensure that all queries to $f$ lie on a discrete grid of limited granularity in the $\ell_\infty$-case. We provide such a rounding for the $\ell_1$-case, placing an appropriately defined version of the $\ell_1$-case in $\textsf{FP}^{dt}$. To prove our results, we introduce the notion of $\ell_p$-halfspaces and generalize the classical centerpoint theorem from discrete geometry: for any $p \in [1, \infty) \cup \{\infty\}$ and any mass distribution (or point set), we prove that there exists a centerpoint $c$ such that every $\ell_p$-halfspace defined by $c$ and a normal vector contains at least a $\frac{1}{d+1}$-fraction of the mass (or points).