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Kirk Pruhs

Publications and source records attributed to Kirk Pruhs.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
arXiv2026

Matroid Contention Resolution with Concentration

Contention resolution schemes (CRS) are a fundamental and widely applied tool for rounding fractional solutions subject to combinatorial constraints. However, the known analyses of CRS generally only guarantee lower bounds on the expected value and concentration on the upper tail, but no concentration on the lower tail. Thus, CRS are generally not applicable to problems that contain covering constraints, since certifying a covering constraint holds requires a lower tail bound. Our main contribution is to derive lower tail bounds for the output of a particular contention resolution scheme, the random-order CRS of Adamczyk and W{\l}odarczyk, which we call AW. We show that every linear function of the rounded solution attains a constant fraction of its expectation with a failure probability that is dimension-free, depending only on the expected value and on the number of matroids, but not on the size of the ground set. Our analysis is driven by a new property we call \emph{strong $\lambda$-boundedness}, which strengthens the known $\lambda$-boundedness of AW by providing two-sided control on how rounding propagates between elements. We then introduce a random process capturing AW, a \emph{sequential selection process}, that may be of independent interest. We prove lower tail bounds for any strongly $\lambda$-bounded sequential selection process. To demonstrate the applicability of our new tail bounds, we apply them to two problems involving covering constraints. The first result is an $O(k \log k)$-approximation for $k$-matroid intersection coloring (improving the prior $O(k^2)$) when the chromatic number of at least one matroid is $\Omega(k^3 \log n)$, where $n$ is the number of elements. The second is the first bicriteria approximation algorithm for monotone submodular maximization under $k$ matroid constraints together with packing and covering constraints.

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arXiv2026

No, Cake Cutting Really is a Piece of Cake

We design and analyze a deterministic cake cutting algorithm that achieves proportional fairness using a linear number of cuts. The best previous upper bound on the number of cuts for a deterministic algorithm was $O(n \log n)$, which was obtained by a natural divide-and-conquer algorithm due to Even and Paz. It has long been conjectured that $O(n \log n)$ cuts was optimal for a deterministic algorithm.

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arXiv2026

Approximation Algorithms for Matroid-Intersection Coloring with Applications to Rota's Basis Conjecture

We study algorithmic matroid intersection coloring. Given $k$ matroids on a common ground set $U$ of $n$ elements, the goal is to partition $U$ into the fewest number of color classes, where each color class is independent in all matroids. It is known that $2\chi_{\max}$ colors suffice to color the intersection of two matroids, $(2k-1)\chi_{\max}$ colors suffice for general $k$, where $\chi_{\max}$ is the maximum chromatic number of the individual matroids. However, these results are non-constructive, leveraging techniques such as topological Hall's theorem and Sperner's Lemma. We provide the first polynomial-time algorithms to color two or more general matroids where the approximation ratio depends only on $k$ and, in particular, is independent of $n$. For two matroids, we constructively match the $2\chi_{\max}$ existential bound, yielding a 2-approximation for the Matroid Intersection Coloring problem. For $k$ matroids we achieve a $(k^2-k)\chi_{\max}$ coloring, which is the first $O(1)$-approximation for constant $k$. Our approach introduces a novel matroidal structure we call a \emph{flexible decomposition}. We use this to formally reduce general matroid intersection coloring to graph coloring while avoiding the limitations of partition reduction techniques, and without relying on non-constructive topological machinery. Furthermore, we give a \emph{fully polynomial randomized approximation scheme} (FPRAS) for coloring the intersection of two matroids when $\chi_{\max}$ is large. This yields the first polynomial-time constructive algorithm for an asymptotic variant of Rota's Basis Conjecture. This constructivizes Montgomery and Sauermann's recent asymptotic breakthrough and generalizes it to arbitrary matroids.

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arXiv2026

Minimizing Completion Times of Stochastic Jobs on Parallel Machines is Hard

This paper considers the scheduling of stochastic jobs on parallel identical machines to minimize the expected total weighted completion time. While this is a classical problem with a significant body of research on approximation algorithms over the past two decades, constant-factor performance guarantees are currently known only under very restrictive assumptions on the input distributions, even when all job weights are identical. This algorithmic difficulty is striking given the lack of corresponding complexity results: to date, it is conceivable that the problem could be solved optimally in polynomial time. We address this gap with hardness results that demonstrate the problem's inherent intractability. For the special case of discrete two-point processing time distributions and unit weights, we prove that deciding whether there exists a scheduling policy with expected cost at most a given threshold is #P-hard. Furthermore, we show that evaluating the expected objective value of the standard (W)SEPT list scheduling policy is itself #P-hard. These are the first hardness results for scheduling independent stochastic jobs and min-sum objective that do not merely rely on the intractability of the underlying deterministic counterparts.

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arXiv2025

Indirect Coflow Scheduling

We consider routing in reconfigurable networks, which is also known as coflow scheduling in the literature. The algorithmic literature generally (perhaps implicitly) assumes that the amount of data to be transferred is large. Thus the standard way to model a collection of requested data transfers is by an integer demand matrix $D$, where the entry in row $i$ and column $j$ of $D$ is an integer representing the amount of information that the application wants to send from machine/node $i$ to machine/node $j$. A feasible coflow schedule is then a sequence of matchings, which represent the sequence of data transfers that covers $D$. In this work, we investigate coflow scheduling when the size of some of the requested data transfers may be small relative to the amount of data that can be transferred in one round. fractional matchings and/or that employ indirect routing, and compare the relative utility of these options. We design algorithms that perform much better for small demands than the algorithms in the literature that were designed for large data transfers.

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arXiv2025

Efficiently Coloring the Intersection of a General Matroid and Combinatorial Matroids

This paper shows a polynomial-time algorithm that, given a general matroid $M_1$ and $k-1$ partition matroids $ M_2, \ldots, M_k$, produces a coloring of the intersection $M = \cap_{i=1}^k M_i$ using at most $1+\sum_{i=1}^k \left(\chi(M_i) -1\right)$ colors. This is the first polynomial-time $O(k)$-approximation algorithm for matroid intersection coloring where one of the matroids may be a general matroid. Leveraging the fact that most of the standard combinatorial matroids reduce to partition matroids at a loss of a factor of two in the chromatic number, this algorithm also yields a polynomial-time $O(k)$-approximation algorithm for matroid intersection coloring in the case where each of the matroids $ M_2, \ldots, M_k$ are one of these standard combinatorial types. Even when $k = 2$, the previous best-known approximation ratio was $O(\log n)$ via a reduction to Set Cover.

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arXiv2025

Competitive Online Transportation Simplified

The setting for the online transportation problem is a metric space $M$, populated by $m$ parking garages of varying capacities. Over time cars arrive in $M$, and must be irrevocably assigned to a parking garage upon arrival in a way that respects the garage capacities. The objective is to minimize the aggregate distance traveled by the cars. In 1998, Kalyanasundaram and Pruhs conjectured that there is a $(2m-1)$-competitive deterministic algorithm for the online transportation problem, matching the optimal competitive ratio for the simpler online metric matching problem. Recently, Harada and Itoh presented the first $O(m)$-competitive deterministic algorithm for the online transportation problem. Our contribution is an alternative algorithm design and analysis that we believe is simpler.

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arXiv2025

Robust Gittins for Stochastic Scheduling

A common theme in stochastic optimization problems is that, theoretically, stochastic algorithms need to "know" relatively rich information about the underlying distributions. This is at odds with most applications, where distributions are rough predictions based on historical data. Thus, commonly, stochastic algorithms are making decisions using imperfect predicted distributions, while trying to optimize over some unknown true distributions. We consider the fundamental problem of scheduling stochastic jobs preemptively on a single machine to minimize expected mean completion time in the setting where the scheduler is only given imperfect predicted job size distributions. If the predicted distributions are perfect, then it is known that this problem can be solved optimally by the Gittins index policy. The goal of our work is to design a scheduling policy that is robust in the sense that it produces nearly optimal schedules even if there are modest discrepancies between the predicted distributions and the underlying real distributions. Our main contributions are: (1) We show that the standard Gittins index policy is not robust in this sense. If the true distributions are perturbed by even an arbitrarily small amount, then running the Gittins index policy using the perturbed distributions can lead to an unbounded increase in mean completion time. (2) We explain how to modify the Gittins index policy to make it robust, that is, to produce nearly optimal schedules, where the approximation depends on a new measure of error between the true and predicted distributions that we define. Looking forward, the approach we develop here can be applied more broadly to many other stochastic optimization problems to better understand the impact of mispredictions, and lead to the development of new algorithms that are robust against such mispredictions.

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arXiv2025

Efficient Algorithms for Cardinality Estimation and Conjunctive Query Evaluation With Simple Degree Constraints

Cardinality estimation and conjunctive query evaluation are two of the most fundamental problems in database query processing. Recent work proposed, studied, and implemented a robust and practical information-theoretic cardinality estimation framework. In this framework, the estimator is the cardinality upper bound of a conjunctive query subject to ``degree-constraints'', which model a rich set of input data statistics. For general degree constraints, computing this bound is computationally hard. Researchers have naturally sought efficiently computable relaxed upper bounds that are as tight as possible. The polymatroid bound is the tightest among those relaxed upper bounds. While it is an open question whether the polymatroid bound can be computed in polynomial-time in general, it is known to be computable in polynomial-time for some classes of degree constraints. Our focus is on a common class of degree constraints called simple degree constraints. Researchers had not previously determined how to compute the polymatroid bound in polynomial time for this class of constraints. Our first main result is a polynomial time algorithm to compute the polymatroid bound given simple degree constraints. Our second main result is a polynomial-time algorithm to compute a ``proof sequence'' establishing this bound. This proof sequence can then be incorporated in the PANDA-framework to give a faster algorithm to evaluate a conjunctive query. In addition, we show computational limitations to extending our results to broader classes of degree constraints. Finally, our technique leads naturally to a new relaxed upper bound called the {\em flow bound}, which is computationally tractable.

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arXiv2023

Polynomial Time Convergence of the Iterative Evaluation of Datalogo Programs

Datalogo is an extension of Datalog that allows for aggregation and recursion over an arbitrary commutative semiring. Like Datalog, Datalogo programs can be evaluated via the natural iterative algorithm until a fixed point is reached. However unlike Datalog, the natural iterative evaluation of some Datalogo programs over some semirings may not converge. It is known that the commutative semirings for which the iterative evaluation of Datalogo programs is guaranteed to converge are exactly those semirings that are stable [7]. Previously, the best known upper bound on the number of iterations until convergence over $p$-stable semirings is $\sum_{i=1}^n (p+2)^i = \Theta(p^n)$ steps, where $n$ is (essentially) the output size. We establish that, in fact, the natural iterative evaluation of a Datalogoprogram over a $p$-stable semiring converges within a polynomial number of iterations. In particular our upper bound is $O( \sigma p n^2( n^2 \lg \lambda + \lg \sigma))$ where $\sigma$ is the number of elements in the semiring present in either the input databases or the Datalogo program, and $\lambda$ is the maximum number of terms in any product in the Datalogo program.

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arXiv2023

On the Convergence Rate of Linear Datalogo over Stable Semirings

Datalogo is an extension of Datalog, where instead of a program being a collection of union of conjunctive queries over the standard Boolean semiring, a program may now be a collection of sum-product queries over an arbitrary commutative partially ordered pre-semiring. Datalogo is more powerful than Datalog in that its additional algebraic structure alows for supporting recursion with aggregation. At the same time, Datalogo retains the syntactic and semantic simplicity of Datalog: Datalogo has declarative least fixpoint semantics. The least fixpoint can be found via the na\"ive evaluation algorithm that repeatedly applies the immediate consequence operator until no further change is possible. It was shown in~\cite{Khamis0PSW22} that, when the underlying semiring is $p$-stable, then the na\"ive evaluation of any Datalogo program over the semiring converges in a finite number of steps. However, the upper bounds on the rate of convergence were exponential in the number $n$ of ground IDB atoms. This paper establishes polynomial upper bounds on the convergence rate of the na\"ive algorithm on {\bf linear} Datalogo programs, which is quite common in practice. In particular, the main result of this paper is that the convergence rate of linear Datalogo programs under any $p$-stable semiring is $O(pn^3)$. Next, we study the convergence rate in terms of the number of elements in the semiring for linear Datalogo programs. When $L$ is the number of elements, we show that the convergence rate is bounded by $O(pn \log L)$. This significantly improves the convergence rate for small $L$.

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arXiv2023

An $O(\log n)$-Competitive Posted-Price Algorithm for Online Matching on the Line

Motivated by demand-responsive parking pricing systems, we consider posted-price algorithms for the online metric matching problem. We give an $O(\log n)$-competitive posted-price randomized algorithm in the case that the metric space is a line. In particular, in this setting we show how to implement the ubiquitous guess-and-double technique using prices.

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arXiv2023

Resource Augmentation Analysis of the Greedy Algorithm for the Online Transportation Problem

We consider the online transportation problem set in a metric space containing parking garages of various capacities. Cars arrive over time, and must be assigned to an unfull parking garage upon their arrival. The objective is to minimize the aggregate distance that cars have to travel to their assigned parking garage. We show that the natural greedy algorithm, augmented with garages of $k\ge3$ times the capacity, is $\left(1 + \frac{2}{k-2}\right)$-competitive.

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arXiv2023

Online $k$-Median with Consistent Clusters

We consider the online $k$-median clustering problem in which $n$ points arrive online and must be irrevocably assigned to a cluster on arrival. As there are lower bound instances that show that an online algorithm cannot achieve a competitive ratio that is a function of $n$ and $k$, we consider a beyond worst-case analysis model in which the algorithm is provided a priori with a predicted budget $B$ that upper bounds the optimal objective value. We give an algorithm that achieves a competitive ratio that is exponential in the the number $k$ of clusters, and show that the competitive ratio of every algorithm must be linear in $k$. To the best of our knowledge this is the first investigation in the literature that considers cluster consistency using competitive analysis.

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arXiv2022

Optimizing Polymatroid Functions

We consider a class of optimization problems that involve determining the maximum value that a function in a particular class can attain subject to a collection of difference constraints. We show that a particular linear programming technique, based on duality and projections, can be used to rederive some structural results that were previously established using more ad hoc methods. We then show that this technique can be used to obtain a polynomial-time algorithm for a certain type of simple difference constraints. Finally we give lower bound results that show that certain possible extensions of these results are probably not feasible.

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arXiv2022

On the Impossibility of Decomposing Binary Matroids

We show that there exist $k$-colorable matroids that are not $(b,c)$-decomposable when $b$ and $c$ are constants. A matroid is $(b,c)$-decomposable, if its ground set of elements can be partitioned into sets $X_1, X_2, \ldots, X_l$ with the following two properties. Each set $X_i$ has size at most $ck$. Moreover, for all sets $Y$ such that $|Y \cap X_i| \leq 1$ it is the case that $Y$ is $b$-colorable. A $(b,c)$-decomposition is a strict generalization of a partition decomposition and, thus, our result refutes a conjecture from arXiv:1911.10485v2 .

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