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Ferenc Bencs

Publications and source records attributed to Ferenc Bencs.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
arXiv2026

On the self-intersection time of non-backtracking random walks

We study the self-intersection time of the non-backtracking random walk on connected undirected graphs. For every fixed $\Delta \geq 3$ we show that the expected self-intersection time is $O(\sqrt{n} \log n)$ on $n$-vertex graphs with minimum degree at least $3$ and maximum degree at most $\Delta$. For regular graphs with a uniform spectral gap, we improve this to $O(\sqrt{n})$. We also show an $\Omega(\sqrt{n})$ lower bound on a class of regular expanders. Our upper bound on the expected self-intersection time implies an improved mixing time bound on Glauber dynamics for the Ising model on $\Delta$-regular graphs at the tree uniqueness threshold.

math.PR↗
arXiv2025

On the complex zeros and the computational complexity of approximating the reliability polynomial

In this paper we relate the location of the complex zeros of the reliability polynomial to parameters at which a certain family of rational functions derived from the reliability polynomial exhibits chaotic behaviour. We use this connection to prove new results about the location of reliability zeros. In particular we show that there are zeros with modulus larger than $1$ with essentially any possible argument. We moreover use this connection to show that approximately evaluating the reliability polynomial for planar graphs at a non-positive algebraic number in the unit disk is #P-hard.

math.CO↗
arXiv2025

On zeros and algorithms for disordered systems: mean-field spin glasses

Spin glasses are fundamental probability distributions at the core of statistical physics, the theory of average-case computational complexity, and modern high-dimensional statistical inference. In the mean-field setting, we design deterministic quasipolynomial-time algorithms for estimating the partition function to arbitrarily high accuracy for all inverse temperatures in the second moment regime. In particular, for the Sherrington--Kirkpatrick model, our algorithms succeed for the entire replica-symmetric phase. To achieve this, we study the locations of the zeros of the partition function. Notably, our methods are conceptually simple, and apply equally well to the spherical case and the case of Ising spins.

cs.DS↗
arXiv2025

Barvinok's interpolation method meets Weitz's correlation decay approach

In this paper we take inspiration from Weit'z algorithm for approximating the independence polynomial to provide a new algorithm for computing the coefficients of the Taylor series of the logarithm of the independence polynomial. Hereby we provide a clear connections between Barvinok's interpolation method and Weitz's algorithm. Our algorithm easily extends to other graph polynomials and partition functions and we illustrate this by applying it to the chromatic polynomial and to the graph homomorphism partition function. Our approach arguably yields a simpler and more transparent algorithm than the algorithm of Patel and the second author. As an application of our algorithmic approach we moreover derive, using the interpolation method, a deterministic $O(n(m/\varepsilon)^{7})$-time algorithm that on input of an $n$-vertex and $m$-edge graph of minimum degree at least $3$ and $\varepsilon>0$ approximately computes the number of sink-free orientations of $G$ up to a multiplicative $\exp(\varepsilon)$ factor.

cs.DS↗
arXiv2025

Improved bounds on the zeros of the chromatic polynomial of graphs and claw-free graphs

We prove that for any graph $G$ the (complex) zeros of its chromatic polynomial, $\chi_G(x)$, lie inside the disk centered at $0$ of radius $4.25 \Delta(G)$, where $\Delta(G)$ denotes the maximum degree of $G$. This improves on a recent result of Jenssen, Patel and Regts, who proved a bound of $5.94\Delta(G)$. Moreover, we show that for graphs of sufficiently large girth we can replace $4.25$ by $3.60$ and for claw-free graphs we can replace $4.25$ by $3.81$. Our proofs add some substantially novel ideas to those developed by Jenssen, Patel, and Regts, while building on them. A key novel ingredient for claw-free graphs is to use a representation of the coefficients of the chromatic polynomial in terms of the number of certain partial acyclic orientations.

math.CO↗
arXiv2024

Number of Eulerian orientations for Benjamini--Schramm convergent graph sequences

For a graph $G$ let $\varepsilon(G)$ denote the number of Eulerian orientations, and $v(G)$ denote the number of vertices of $G$. We show that if $(G_n)_n$ is a sequence of Eulerian graphs that are convergent in Benjamini--Schramm sense, then $\lim\limits_{n\to \infty}\frac{1}{v(G_n)}\ln \varepsilon(G_n)$ is convergent.

math.CO↗
arXiv2024

Deterministic approximate counting of colorings with fewer than $2\Delta$ colors via absence of zeros

Let $\Delta,q\geq 3$ be integers. We prove that there exists $\eta\geq 0.002$ such that if $q\geq (2-\eta)\Delta$, then there exists an open set $\mathcal{U}\subset \mathbb{C}$ that contains the interval $[0,1]$ such that for each $w\in \mathcal{U}$ and any graph $G=(V,E)$ of maximum degree at most $\Delta$, the partition function of the anti-ferromagnetic $q$-state Potts model evaluated at $w$ does not vanish. This provides a (modest) improvement on a result of Liu, Sinclair, and Srivastava, and breaks the $q=2\Delta$-barrier for this problem. As a direct consequence we obtain via Barvinok's interpolation method a deterministic polynomial time algorithm to approximate the number of proper $q$-colorings of graphs of maximum degree at most $\Delta$, provided $q\geq (2-\eta)\Delta$.

math.CO↗
arXiv2024

Approximating the volume of a truncated relaxation of the independence polytope

Answering a question of Gamarnik and Smedira, we give a polynomial time algorithm that approximately computes the volume of a truncation of a relaxation of the independent set polytope, improving on their quasi-polynomial time algorithm. Our algorithm is obtained by viewing the volume as an evaluation of a graph polynomial and we approximate this evaluation using Barvinok's interpolation method.

math.CO↗
arXiv2023

Near optimal bounds for weak and strong spatial mixing for the anti-ferromagnetic Potts model on trees

We show that the anti-ferromagnetic Potts model on trees exhibits strong spatial mixing for a near-optimal range of parameters. Our work complements recent results of Chen, Liu, Mani, and Moitra [arXiv.2304.01954] who showed this to be true in the infinite temperature setting, corresponding to uniform proper colorings. We furthermore prove weak spatial mixing results complementing results in [arXiv.2304.01954].

math.PR↗
arXiv2023

Optimal zero-free regions for the independence polynomial of bounded degree hypergraphs

In this paper we investigate the distribution of zeros of the independence polynomial of hypergraphs of maximum degree $\Delta$. For graphs the largest zero-free disk around zero was described by Shearer as having radius $\lambda_s(\Delta)=(\Delta-1)^{\Delta-1}/\Delta^\Delta$. Recently it was shown by Galvin et al. that for hypergraphs the disk of radius $\lambda_s(\Delta+1)$ is zero-free; however, it was conjectured that the actual truth should be $\lambda_s(\Delta)$. We show that this is indeed the case. We also show that there exists an open region around the interval $[0,(\Delta-1)^{\Delta-1}/(\Delta-2)^\Delta)$ that is zero-free for hypergraphs of maximum degree $\Delta$, which extends the result of Peters and Regts from graphs to hypergraphs. Finally, we determine the radius of the largest zero-free disk for the family of bounded degree $k$-uniform linear hypertrees in terms of $k$ and $\Delta$.

math.CO↗
arXiv2022

Approximating the chromatic polynomial is as hard as computing it exactly

We show that for any non-real algebraic number $q$ such that $|q-1|>1$ or $\Re(q)>\frac{3}{2}$ it is \textsc{\#P}-hard to compute a multiplicative (resp. additive) approximation to the absolute value (resp. argument) of the chromatic polynomial evaluated at $q$ on planar graphs. This implies \textsc{\#P}-hardness for all non-real algebraic $q$ on the family of all graphs. We moreover prove several hardness results for $q$ such that $|q-1|\leq 1$. Our hardness results are obtained by showing that a polynomial time algorithm for approximately computing the chromatic polynomial of a planar graph at non-real algebraic $q$ (satisfying some properties) leads to a polynomial time algorithm for \emph{exactly} computing it, which is known to be hard by a result of Vertigan. Many of our results extend in fact to the more general partition function of the random cluster model, a well known reparametrization of the Tutte polynomial.

cs.CC↗
arXiv2022

Random cluster model on regular graphs

For a graph $G=(V,E)$ with $v(G)$ vertices the partition function of the random cluster model is defined by $$Z_G(q,w)=\sum_{A\subseteq E(G)}q^{k(A)}w^{|A|},$$ where $k(A)$ denotes the number of connected components of the graph $(V,A)$. Furthermore, let $g(G)$ denote the girth of the graph $G$, that is, the length of the shortest cycle. In this paper we show that if $(G_n)_n$ is a sequence of $d$-regular graphs such that the girth $g(G_n)\to \infty$, then the limit $$\lim_{n\to \infty} \frac{1}{v(G_n)}\ln Z_{G_n}(q,w)=\ln \Phi_{d,q,w}$$ exists if $q\geq 2$ and $w\geq 0$. The quantity $\Phi_{d,q,w}$ can be computed as follows. Let $$\Phi_{d,q,w}(t):=\left(\sqrt{1+\frac{w}{q}}\cos(t)+\sqrt{\frac{(q-1)w}{q}}\sin(t)\right)^{d}+(q-1)\left(\sqrt{1+\frac{w}{q}}\cos(t)-\sqrt{\frac{w}{q(q-1)}}\sin(t)\right)^{d},$$ then $$\Phi_{d,q,w}:=\max_{t\in [-\pi,\pi]}\Phi_{d,q,w}(t),$$ The same conclusion holds true for a sequence of random $d$-regular graphs with probability one. Our result extends the work of Dembo, Montanari, Sly and Sun for the Potts model (integer $q$), and we prove a conjecture of Helmuth, Jenssen and Perkins about the phase transition of the random cluster model with fixed $q$.

math.CO↗
arXiv2022

On the location of chromatic zeros of series-parallel graphs

In this paper we consider the zeros of the chromatic polynomial of series-parallel graphs. Complementing a result of Sokal, showing density outside the disk $|q-1|\leq1$, we show density of these zeros in the half plane $\Re(q)>3/2$ and we show there exists an open region $U$ containing the interval $(0,32/27)$ such that $U\setminus\{1\}$ does not contain zeros of the chromatic polynomial of series-parallel graphs. We also disprove a conjecture of Sokal by showing that for each large enough integer $\Delta$ there exists a series-parallel graph for which all vertices but one have degree at most $\Delta$ and whose chromatic polynomial has a zero with real part exceeding $\Delta$.

math.CO↗
arXiv2022

On complex roots of the independence polynomial

It is known from the work of Shearer (1985) (and also Scott and Sokal (2005)) that the independence polynomial $Z_G(\lambda)$ of a graph $G$ of maximum degree at most $d+1$ does not vanish provided that $\vert{\lambda}\vert \leq \frac{d^d}{(d+1)^{d+1}}$. Significant extensions of this result have recently been given in the case $\Re \lambda \geq 0$ by Peters and Regts (2019) and Bencs and Csikv\'ari (arxiv:1807.08963). In this paper, our motivation is to further extend these results and find zero free regions when $\Re \lambda \leq 0$. We begin by giving new geometric criteria for establishing zero-free regions as well as for carrying out semi-rigorous numerical explorations. We then provide two examples of the (rigorous) use of these criteria, by establishing two new zero-free regions in the left-half plane. We also improve upon the results of Bencs and Csikv\'ari (arxiv:1807.08963) for the right half-plane using our framework. By a direct application of the interpolation method of Barvinok, combined with extensions due to Patel and Regts, these results also imply deterministic polynomial time approximation algorithms for the independence polynomial of bounded degree graphs in the new zero-free regions.

cs.DM↗
arXiv2021

The limit of the zero locus of the independence polynomial for bounded degree graphs

The goal of this paper is to accurately describe the maximal zero-free region of the independence polynomial for graphs of bounded degree, for large degree bounds. In previous work with de Boer, Guerini and Regts it was demonstrated that this zero-free region coincides with the normality region of the related occupation ratios. These ratios form a discrete semi-group that is in a certain sense generated by finitely many rational maps. We will show that as the degree bound converges to infinity, the properly rescaled normality regions converge to a limit domain, which can be described as the maximal boundedness component of a semi-group generated by infinitely many exponential maps. We prove that away from the real axis, this boundedness component avoids a neighborhood of the boundary of the limit cardioid, answering a recent question by Andreas Galanis. We also give an exact formula for the boundary of the boundedness component near the positive real boundary point.

math.CO↗
arXiv2021

Factor-of-iid balanced orientation of non-amenable graphs

We show that if a non-amenable, quasi-transitive, unimodular graph $G$ has all degrees even then it has a factor-of-iid balanced orientation, meaning each vertex has equal in- and outdegree. This result involves extending earlier spectral-theoretic results on Bernoulli shifts to the Bernoulli graphings of quasi-transitive, unimodular graphs. As a consequence, we also obtain that when $G$ is regular (of either odd or even degree) and bipartite, it has a factor-of-iid perfect matching. This generalizes a result of Lyons and Nazarov beyond transitive graphs.

math.PR↗
arXiv2021

Evaluations of Tutte polynomials of regular graphs

Let $T_G(x,y)$ be the Tutte polynomial of a graph $G$. In this paper we show that if $(G_n)_n$ is a sequence of $d$-regular graphs with girth $g(G_n)\to \infty$, then for $x\geq 1$ and $0\leq y\leq 1$ we have $$\lim_{n\to \infty}T_{G_n}(x,y)^{1/v(G_n)}=t_d(x,y),$$ where $$t_d(x,y)=\left\{\begin{array}{lc} (d-1)\left(\frac{(d-1)^2}{(d-1)^2-x}\right)^{d/2-1}&\ \ \mbox{if}\ x\leq d-1,\\ x\left(1+\frac{1}{x-1}\right)^{d/2-1} &\ \ \mbox{if}\ x> d-1. \end{array}\right.$$ independently of $y$ if $0\leq y\leq 1$. If $(G_n)_n$ is a sequence of random $d$-regular graphs, then the same statement holds true asymptotically almost surely. This theorem generalizes results of McKay ($x=1,y=1$, spanning trees of random $d$-regular graphs) and Lyons ($x=1,y=1$, spanning trees of large-girth $d$-regular graphs). Interesting special cases are $T_G(2,1)$ counting the number of spanning forests, $T_G(2,0)$ counting the number of acyclic orientations.

math.CO↗