Towards an algebraic approach to the reconfiguration CSP

Abstract

This paper investigates the reconfiguration variant of the Constraint Satisfaction Problem (CSP), referred to as the Reconfiguration CSP (RCSP). Given a CSP instance and two of its solutions, RCSP asks whether one solution can be transformed into the other via a sequence of intermediate solutions, each differing by the assignment of a single variable. RCSP has attracted growing interest in theoretical computer science, and when the variable domain is Boolean, the computational complexity of RCSP exhibits a dichotomy depending on the allowed constraint types. A notable special case is the reconfiguration of graph homomorphisms -- also known as graph recoloring -- which has been studied using topological methods. We propose a novel algebraic approach to RCSP, inspired by techniques used in classical CSP complexity analysis. Unlike traditional methods based on total operations, our framework employs partial operations to capture a reduction involving equality constraints. This perspective facilitates the extension of complexity results from Boolean domains to more general settings, demonstrating the versatility of partial operations in identifying tractable RCSP instances.