arXiv subjects

Julián Mestre

Publications and source records attributed to Julián Mestre.

16 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

The Quantumly Fast and the Classically Forrious

We study the extremal Forrelation problem, where, provided with oracle access to Boolean functions $f$ and $g$ promised to satisfy either $\operatorname{forr}(f,g)=1$ or $\operatorname{forr}(f,g)=-1$, one must determine (with high probability) which of the two cases holds while performing as few oracle queries as possible. It is well known that this problem can be solved with one quantum query; yet, Girish and Servedio (ITCS 2026) recently showed this problem requires $\widetildeΩ(2^{n/4})$ classical queries, and conjectured the optimal bound to be $\widetildeΘ(2^{n/2})$. By generalizing their construction, we build on their result and prove a non-adaptive lower bound of $Ω(2^{(1/2- o(1))n})$, which matches the conjectured lower bound up to a vanishing constant in the exponent.

cs.CC↗

arXiv2026

Rounding the Ball LP for Fair Max-Min Diversification

Given $n$ points in a metric space, partitioned into groups, $X_1,\dots,X_m$, and integer quotas, $k_1,\dots,k_m$, summing to $k$, the Fair Max-Min Diversification problem asks for a set of $k$ points, exactly $k_i$ from each group $X_i$, maximizing the minimum pairwise distance. Addanki et al. (ICDT 2022) described a ball LP for this problem and rounding algorithms that yield a factor 2 approximation whose fairness holds only in expectation and a factor 6 approximation with relaxed fairness guarantees, as well as an $(m+1)$-approximation with exact fairness. We introduce two new algorithms. The first method refines the rounding of Addanki et al., yielding a 2-approximate solution that is $\varepsilon$-fair with high probability, meaning that from every group $X_i$, at least $(1-\varepsilon) k_i$ points are chosen. The second method in polynomial time returns a 4-approximation to the optimal value of the exact fairness version. In time $n^{O(1)} 2^{O(k)}$, which is fixed-parameter tractable in $k$, we achieve an exactly fair 4-approximation. Our method adapts the augmenting procedure behind Haxell's theorem (Graphs Combin., 1995). This approximation factor does not depend on $m$. Moreover, we show that no rounding of the ball LP achieves a smaller factor with exact fairness.

cs.DS↗

arXiv2025

With a Little Help From My Friends: Exploiting Probability Distribution Advice in Algorithm Design

We study online algorithms with predictions using distributional advice, a type of prediction that arises when leveraging expert knowledge or historical data. To demonstrate the usefulness and versatility of this framework, we focus on the fundamental problem of online metric matching, considering both the fractional and integral variants. Our main positive result is, for the former, an algorithm achieving the optimal cost under perfect advice, while smoothly defaulting to competitive ratios comparable to advice-free algorithms as the prediction's quality degrades. For the integral matching, we are able to provide an algorithm with essentially the same guarantees, up to an additive sublinear term. We conclude by discussing how our algorithmic framework can be extended to other online optimization problems.

cs.DS↗

arXiv2022

Optimizing Function Layout for Mobile Applications

Function layout, also referred to as function reordering or function placement, is one of the most effective profile-guided compiler optimizations. By reordering functions in a binary, compilers are able to greatly improve the performance of large-scale applications or reduce the compressed size of mobile applications. Although the technique has been studied in the context of large-scale binaries, no recent study has investigated the impact of function layout on mobile applications. In this paper we develop the first principled solution for optimizing function layouts in the mobile space. To this end, we identify two important optimization goals, the compressed code size and the cold start-up time of a mobile application. Then we propose a formal model for the layout problem, whose objective closely matches the goals. Our novel algorithm to optimize the layout is inspired by the classic balanced graph partitioning problem. We carefully engineer and implement the algorithm in an open source compiler, LLVM. An extensive evaluation of the new method on large commercial mobile applications indicates up to 2% compressed size reduction and up to 3% start-up time improvement on top of the state-of-the-art approach.

cs.PL↗

arXiv2022

Nested Active-Time Scheduling

The active-time scheduling problem considers the problem of scheduling preemptible jobs with windows (release times and deadlines) on a parallel machine that can schedule up to $g$ jobs during each timestep. The goal in the active-time problem is to minimize the number of active steps, i.e., timesteps in which at least one job is scheduled. In this way, the active time models parallel scheduling when there is a fixed cost for turning the machine on at each discrete step. This paper presents a 9/5-approximation algorithm for a special case of the active-time scheduling problem in which job windows are laminar (nested). This result improves on the previous best 2-approximation for the general case.

cs.DS↗

arXiv2021

On the Extended TSP Problem

We initiate the theoretical study of Ext-TSP, a problem that originates in the area of profile-guided binary optimization. Given a graph $G=(V, E)$ with positive edge weights $w: E \rightarrow R^+$, and a non-increasing discount function $f(\cdot)$ such that $f(1) = 1$ and $f(i) = 0$ for $i > k$, for some parameter $k$ that is part of the problem definition. The problem is to sequence the vertices $V$ so as to maximize $\sum_{(u, v) \in E} f(|d_u - d_v|)\cdot w(u,v)$, where $d_v \in \{1, \ldots, |V| \}$ is the position of vertex~$v$ in the sequence. We show that \prob{Ext-TSP} is APX-hard to approximate in general and we give a $(k+1)$-approximation algorithm for general graphs and a PTAS for some sparse graph classes such as planar or treewidth-bounded graphs. Interestingly, the problem remains challenging even on very simple graph classes; indeed, there is no exact $n^{o(k)}$ time algorithm for trees unless the ETH fails. We complement this negative result with an exact $n^{O(k)}$ time algorithm for trees.

cs.DS↗

arXiv2021

QUEST: Queue Simulation for Content Moderation at Scale

Moderating content in social media platforms is a formidable challenge due to the unprecedented scale of such systems, which typically handle billions of posts per day. Some of the largest platforms such as Facebook blend machine learning with manual review of platform content by thousands of reviewers. Operating a large-scale human review system poses interesting and challenging methodological questions that can be addressed with operations research techniques. We investigate the problem of optimally operating such a review system at scale using ideas from queueing theory and simulation.

cs.LG↗

arXiv2019

The Ad Types Problem

The Ad Types Problem (without gap rules) is a special case of the assignment problem in which there are $k$ types of nodes on one side (the ads), and an ordered set of nodes on the other side (the slots). The edge weight of an ad $i$ of type $θ$ to slot $j$ is $v_i\cdot α^θ_j$ where $v_i$ is an advertiser-specific value and each ad type $θ$ has a discount curve $α^{(θ)}_{1} \ge α^{(θ)}_{2} \ge ... \ge 0$ over the slots that is common for ads of type $θ$. We present two contributions for this problem: 1) we give an algorithm that finds the maximum weight matching that runs in $O(n^2(k + \log n))$ time for $n$ slots and $n$ ads of each type---cf. $O(kn^3)$ when using the Hungarian algorithm---, and 2) we show to do VCG pricing in asymptotically the same time, namely $O(n^2(k + \log n))$, and apply reserve prices in $O(n^3(k + \log n))$. The Ad Types Problem (with gap rules) includes a matrix $G$ such that after we show an ad of type $θ_i$, the next $G_{ij}$ slots cannot show an ad of type $θ_j$. We show that the problem is hard to approximate within $k^{1- ε}$ for any $ε> 0$ (even without discount curves) by reduction from Maximum Independent Set. On the positive side, we show a Dynamic Program formulation that solves the problem (including discount curves) optimally and runs in $O(k\cdot n^{2k + 1})$ time.

cs.GT↗

arXiv2017

Barrier Coverage with Non-uniform Lengths to Minimize Aggregate Movements

Given a line segment $I=[0,L]$, the so-called barrier, and a set of $n$ sensors with varying ranges positioned on the line containing $I$, the barrier coverage problem is to move the sensors so that they cover $I$, while minimising the total movement. In the case when all the sensors have the same radius the problem can be solved in $O(n \log n)$ time (Andrews and Wang, Algorithmica 2017). If the sensors have different radii the problem is known to be NP-hard to approximate within a constant factor (Czyzowicz et al., ADHOC-NOW 2009). We strengthen this result and prove that no polynomial time $ρ^{1-\varepsilon}$-approximation algorithm exists unless $P=NP$, where $ρ$ is the ratio between the largest radius and the smallest radius. Even when we restrict the number of sensors that are allowed to move by a parameter $k$, the problem turns out to be W[1]-hard. On the positive side we show that a $((2+\varepsilon)ρ+2/\varepsilon)$-approximation can be computed in $O(n^3/\varepsilon^2)$ time and we prove fixed-parameter tractability when parameterized by the total movement assuming all numbers in the input are integers.

cs.DS↗

arXiv2016

A 4-approximation for scheduling on a single machine with general cost function

We consider a single machine scheduling problem that seeks to minimize a generalized cost function: given a subset of jobs we must order them so as to minimize $\sum f_j(C_j)$, where $C_j$ is the completion time of job $j$ and $f_j$ is a job-dependent cost function. This problem has received a considerably amount of attention lately, partly because it generalizes a large number of sequencing problems while still allowing constant approximation guarantees. In a recent paper, Cheung and Shmoys provided a primal-dual algorithm for the problem and claimed that is a 2-approximation. In this paper we show that their analysis cannot yield an approximation guarantee better than $4$. We then cast their algorithm as a local ratio algorithm and show that in fact it has an approximation ratio of $4$. Additionally, we consider a more general problem where jobs has release dates and can be preempted. For this version we give a $4κ$-approximation algorithm where $κ$ is the number of distinct release dates.

cs.DS↗

arXiv2016

A Primal-Dual Approximation Algorithm for Min-Sum Single-Machine Scheduling Problems

We consider the following single-machine scheduling problem, which is often denoted $1||\sum f_{j}$: we are given $n$ jobs to be scheduled on a single machine, where each job $j$ has an integral processing time $p_j$, and there is a nondecreasing, nonnegative cost function $f_j(C_{j})$ that specifies the cost of finishing $j$ at time $C_{j}$; the objective is to minimize $\sum_{j=1}^n f_j(C_j)$. Bansal \& Pruhs recently gave the first constant approximation algorithm with a performance guarantee of 16. We improve on this result by giving a primal-dual pseudo-polynomial-time algorithm based on the recently introduced knapsack-cover inequalities. The algorithm finds a schedule of cost at most four times the constructed dual solution. Although we show that this bound is tight for our algorithm, we leave open the question of whether the integrality gap of the LP is less than 4. Finally, we show how the technique can be adapted to yield, for any $ε>0$, a $(4+ε)$-approximation algorithm for this problem.

cs.DS↗

arXiv2014

Parametrized Algorithms for Random Serial Dictatorship

Voting and assignment are two of the most fundamental settings in social choice theory. For both settings, random serial dictatorship (RSD) is a well-known rule that satisfies anonymity, ex post efficiency, and strategyproofness. Recently, it was shown that computing the resulting probabilities is #P-complete both in the voting and assignment setting. In this paper, we study RSD from a parametrized complexity perspective. More specifically, we present efficient algorithms to compute the RSD probabilities under the condition that the number of agent types, alternatives, or objects is bounded.

cs.GT↗

arXiv2014

How Unsplittable-Flow-Covering helps Scheduling with Job-Dependent Cost Functions

Generalizing many well-known and natural scheduling problems, scheduling with job-specific cost functions has gained a lot of attention recently. In this setting, each job incurs a cost depending on its completion time, given by a private cost function, and one seeks to schedule the jobs to minimize the total sum of these costs. The framework captures many important scheduling objectives such as weighted flow time or weighted tardiness. Still, the general case as well as the mentioned special cases are far from being very well understood yet, even for only one machine. Aiming for better general understanding of this problem, in this paper we focus on the case of uniform job release dates on one machine for which the state of the art is a 4-approximation algorithm. This is true even for a special case that is equivalent to the covering version of the well-studied and prominent unsplittable flow on a path problem, which is interesting in its own right. For that covering problem, we present a quasi-polynomial time $(1+ε)$-approximation algorithm that yields an $(e+ε)$-approximation for the above scheduling problem. Moreover, for the latter we devise the best possible resource augmentation result regarding speed: a polynomial time algorithm which computes a solution with \emph{optimal }cost at $1+ε$ speedup. Finally, we present an elegant QPTAS for the special case where the cost functions of the jobs fall into at most $\log n$ many classes. This algorithm allows the jobs even to have up to $\log n$ many distinct release dates.

cs.DS↗

arXiv2010

Improved bounds for stochastic matching

This results in this paper have been merged with the result in arXiv:1003.0167. The authors would like to withdraw this version. Please see arXiv:1008.5356 for the merged version.

cs.DS↗

arXiv2007

Lagrangian Relaxation and Partial Cover

Lagrangian relaxation has been used extensively in the design of approximation algorithms. This paper studies its strengths and limitations when applied to Partial Cover.

cs.DS↗

arXiv2007

Weighted Popular Matchings

We study the problem of assigning jobs to applicants. Each applicant has a weight and provides a preference list ranking a subset of the jobs. A matching M is popular if there is no other matching M' such that the weight of the applicants who prefer M' over M exceeds the weight of those who prefer M over M'. This paper gives efficient algorithms to find a popular matching if one exists.

cs.DS↗