arXiv subjects

Florian Starke

Publications and source records attributed to Florian Starke.

10 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Almost Symmetric Linear Arc Monadic Datalog and Transitive Tournaments

We introduce $n$-almost symmetric Datalog and study $n$-almost symmetric linear arc monadic Datalog. We characterize the finite relational structures whose constraint satisfaction problem is solved by this Datalog fragment as those that can be primitive positively constructed from the transitive tournament on $n+2$ vertices. We also give characterizations in terms of a certain homomorphism duality (which we call $n$-fixed unfolded caterpillar duality) and in universal-algebraic terms (the existence of $k$-absorptive operations and of operations forming an elevator chain of length $n+1$). This article generalizes the results from Bodirsky and Starke about symmetric linear arc monadic Datalog.

cs.LO↗

arXiv2025

Digraphs modulo primitive positive constructability

This is my dissertation about digraphs ordered by pp-constructability. We study in particular smooth digraphs, i.e., digraphs without sources or sinks, tournaments and semicomplete digraphs, orientations of paths and cycles, digraphs with at most four vertices, and orientations of trees.

math.RA↗

arXiv2024

Finite Simple Groups in the Primitive Positive Constructability Poset

We show that any clone over a finite domain that has a quasi Maltsev operation and fully symmetric operations of all arities has an incoming minion homomorphism from I, the clone of all idempotent operations on a two element set. We use this result to show that in the pp-constructability poset the lower covers of the structure with all relations that are invariant under I are the transitive tournament on three vertices and structures in one-to-one correspondence with all finite simple groups.

math.GR↗

arXiv2024

Symmetric Linear Arc Monadic Datalog and Gadget Reductions

A Datalog program solves a constraint satisfaction problem (CSP) if and only if it derives the goal predicate precisely on the unsatisfiable instances of the CSP. There are three Datalog fragments that are particularly important for finite-domain constraint satisfaction: arc monadic Datalog, linear Datalog, and symmetric linear Datalog, each having good computational properties. We consider the fragment of Datalog where we impose all of these restrictions simultaneously, i.e., we study \emph{symmetric linear arc monadic (slam) Datalog}. We characterise the CSPs that can be solved by a slam Datalog program as those that have a gadget reduction to a particular Boolean constraint satisfaction problem. We also present exact characterisations in terms of a homomorphism duality (which we call \emph{unfolded caterpillar duality}), and in universal-algebraic terms (using known minor conditions, namely the existence of quasi Maltsev operations and $k$-absorptive operations of arity $nk$}, for all $n,k \geq 1$). Our characterisations also imply that the question whether a given finite-domain CSP can be expressed by a slam Datalog program is decidable.

math.RA↗

arXiv2022

The Smallest Hard Trees

We find an orientation of a tree with 20 vertices such that the corresponding fixed-template constraint satisfaction problem (CSP) is NP-complete, and prove that for every orientation of a tree with fewer vertices the corresponding CSP can be solved in polynomial time. We also compute the smallest tree that is NL-hard (assuming L is not NL), the smallest tree that cannot be solved by arc consistency, and the smallest tree that cannot be solved by Datalog. Our experimental results also support a conjecture of Bulin concerning a question of Hell, Nesetril and Zhu, namely that "easy trees lack the ability to count". Most proofs are computer-based and make use of the most recent universal-algebraic theory about the complexity of finite-domain CSPs. However, further ideas are required because of the huge number of orientations of trees. In particular, we use the well-known fact that it suffices to study orientations of trees that are cores and show how to efficiently decide whether a given orientation of a tree is a core using the arc-consistency procedure. Moreover, we present a method to generate orientations of trees that are cores that works well in practice. In this way we found interesting examples for the open research problem to classify finite-domain CSPs in NL.

math.RA↗

arXiv2021

Smooth digraphs modulo primitive positive constructability and cyclic loop conditions

Finite smooth digraphs, that is, finite directed graphs without sources and sinks, can be partially ordered via pp-constructability. We give a complete description of this poset and, in particular, we prove that it is a distributive lattice. Moreover, we show that in order to separate two smooth digraphs in our poset it suffices to show that the polymorphism clone of one of the digraphs satisfies a prime cyclic loop condition that is not satisfied by the polymorphism clone of the other. Furthermore, we prove that the poset of cyclic loop ordered by their strength for clones is a distributive lattice, too.

math.RA↗

arXiv2021

Maximal Digraphs With Respect to Primitive Positive Constructibility

We study the class of all finite directed graphs up to primitive positive constructability. The resulting order has a unique greatest element, namely the graph $P_1$ with one vertex and no edges. The graph $P_1$ has a unique greatest lower bound, namely the graph $P_2$ with two vertices and one directed edge. Our main result is a complete description of the greatest lower bounds of $P_2$; we call these graphs submaximal. We show that every graph that is not equivalent to $P_1$ and $P_2$ is below one of the submaximal graphs.

math.CO↗

arXiv2020

ASNP: a tame fragment of existential second-order logic

Amalgamation SNP (ASNP) is a fragment of existential second-order logic that strictly contains binary connected MMSNP of Feder and Vardi and binary guarded monotone SNP of Bienvenu, ten Cate, Lutz, and Wolter; it is a promising candidate for an expressive subclass of NP that exhibits a complexity dichotomy. We show that ASNP has a complexity dichotomy if and only if the infinite-domain dichotomy conjecture holds for constraint satisfaction problems for first-order reducts of binary finitely bounded homogeneous structures. For such CSPs, powerful universal-algebraic hardness conditions are known that are conjectured to describe the border between NP-hard and polynomial-time tractable CSPs. The connection to CSPs also implies that every ASNP sentence can be evaluated in polynomial time on classes of finite structures of bounded treewidth. We show that the syntax of ASNP is decidable. The proof relies on the fact that for classes of finite binary structures given by finitely many forbidden substructures, the amalgamation property is decidable.

cs.LO↗

arXiv2019

On associative operations on commutative integral domains

We describe the associative multilinear polynomial functions over commutative integral domains. This extends Marichal and Mathonet's result on infinite integral domains and provides a new proof of Andres's classification of two-element $n$-semigroups.

math.RA↗

arXiv2019

Exploring the Topological Entropy of Formal Languages

We introduce the notions of topological entropy of a formal language and of a topological automaton. We show that the entropy function is surjective and bound the entropy of languages accepted by deterministic ε-free push-down automata with an arbitrary amount of stacks.

cs.FL↗