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Lorenzo Ciardo

Publications and source records attributed to Lorenzo Ciardo.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
arXiv2026

Schrijver-Delsarte rigidity in association schemes and undecidability of quantum graph homomorphism

We prove RE-completeness of the quantum homomorphism problem parameterised by families of graphs derived from the classic metric association schemes. These include Kneser graphs, $q$-Kneser graphs, and the complements of Johnson, Grassmann, and Hamming graphs. Our proof develops a spectral method for establishing non-contextuality of quantum polymorphisms. It combines an equality analysis of Roberson's bound on the projective packing number in terms of Schrijver's theta with a structural argument inspired by Erdős-Ko-Rado theory.

math.CO↗
arXiv2026

Linear equations mod $n$ are pseudo-telepathic

We prove that the quantum monad in dimension $2n$ admits no natural transformation to the polymorphism clone of linear equations modulo $n$. Consequently, for every $n\geq 2$, there exists an unsatisfiable system of linear equations over $\mathbb{Z}_n$ whose constraint system game admits a perfect finite-dimensional quantum strategy. As a corollary, we completely characterise pseudo-telepathic constraint languages in finite dimension. The proof combines a result of Harding, Jager, and Smith on group-valued measures on subspaces of Hilbert spaces with the polymorphism-minion characterisation of quantum pseudo-telepathy.

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arXiv2026

Quantum Polymorphisms and the Complexity of Quantum Constraint Satisfaction

We introduce the concept of quantum polymorphisms to the complexity theory of quantum constraint satisfaction. Via this notion, we build an algebraic framework of reductions between quantum CSPs, and we establish a Galois connection between quantum polymorphism minions and quantum relational constructions. By leveraging a contextuality property of quantum polymorphisms, we fully characterise the existence of commutativity gadgets for relational structures, introduced by Ji as a method for achieving quantum soundness of classical CSP reductions. Prior to our work, only a partial classification was known for a subclass of Boolean languages and for non-Boolean languages meeting specific structural conditions [Culf--Mastel, FOCS'25]. As an application of our framework, we prove that the quantum CSPs parameterised by odd cycles and the quantum CSP expressing quantum satisfiability of Siggers clauses are undecidable.

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arXiv2026

Hierarchies of Minion Tests for PCSPs through Tensors

We provide a unified framework to study hierarchies of relaxations for Constraint Satisfaction Problems and their Promise variant. The idea is to split the description of a hierarchy into an algebraic part, depending on a minion capturing the "base level", and a geometric part - which we call tensorisation - inspired by multilinear algebra. We exploit the geometry of the tensor spaces arising from our construction to prove general properties of hierarchies. We identify certain classes of minions, which we call linear and conic, whose corresponding hierarchies have particularly fine features. We establish that the (combinatorial) bounded width, Sherali-Adams LP, affine IP, Sum-of-Squares SDP, and combined "LP + affine IP" hierarchies are all captured by this framework. In particular, in order to analyse the Sum-of-Squares SDP hierarchy, we also characterise the solvability of the standard SDP relaxation through a new minion.

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arXiv2026

New Algorithms and Hardness Results for Robust Satisfiability of (Promise) CSPs

In this paper, we continue the study of robust satisfiability of promise CSPs (PCSPs), initiated in (Brakensiek, Guruswami, Sandeep, STOC 2023 / Discrete Analysis 2025), and obtain the following results: For the PCSP 1-in-3-SAT vs NAE-SAT with negations, we prove that it is hard, under the Unique Games conjecture (UGC), to satisfy $1-Ω(1/\log (1/ε))$ constraints in a $(1-ε)$-satisfiable instance. This shows that the exponential loss incurred by the BGS algorithm for the case of Alternating-Threshold polymorphisms is necessary, in contrast to the polynomial loss achievable for Majority polymorphisms. For any Boolean PCSP that admits Majority polymorphisms, we give an algorithm satisfying $1-O(\sqrtε)$ fraction of the weaker constraints when promised the existence of an assignment satisfying $1-ε$ fraction of the stronger constraints. This significantly generalizes the Charikar--Makarychev--Makarychev algorithm for 2-SAT, and matches the optimal trade-off possible under the UGC. The algorithm also extends, with the loss of an extra $\log (1/ε)$ factor, to PCSPs on larger domains with a certain structural condition, which is implied by, e.g., a family of Plurality polymorphisms. We prove that assuming the UGC, robust satisfiability is preserved under the addition of equality constraints. As a consequence, we can extend the rich algebraic techniques for decision/search PCSPs to robust PCSPs. The methods involve the development of a correlated and robust version of the general SDP rounding algorithm for CSPs due to (Brown-Cohen, Raghavendra, ICALP 2016), which might be of independent interest.

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arXiv2025

Classical Simulation of Quantum CSP Strategies

We prove that any perfect quantum strategy for the two-prover game encoding a constraint satisfaction problem (CSP) can be simulated via a perfect classical strategy with an extra classical communication channel, whose size depends only on $(i)$ the size of the shared quantum system used in the quantum strategy, and $(ii)$ structural parameters of the CSP template. The result is obtained via a combinatorial characterisation of perfect classical strategies with extra communication channels and a geometric rounding procedure for the projection-valued measurements involved in quantum strategies. A key intermediate step of our proof is to establish that the gap between the classical chromatic number of graphs and its quantum variant is bounded when the quantum strategy involves shared quantum information of bounded size.

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arXiv2025

On the Quantum Chromatic Gap

The largest known gap between quantum and classical chromatic number of graphs, obtained via quantum protocols for colouring Hadamard graphs based on the Deutsch--Jozsa algorithm and the quantum Fourier transform, is exponential. We put forth a quantum pseudo-telepathy version of Khot's $d$-to-$1$ Games Conjecture and prove that, conditional to its validity, the gap is unbounded: There exist graphs whose quantum chromatic number is $3$ and whose classical chromatic number is arbitrarily large. Furthermore, we show that the existence of a certain form of pseudo-telepathic XOR games would imply the conjecture and, thus, the unboundedness of the quantum chromatic gap. As two technical steps of our proof that might be of independent interest, we establish a quantum adjunction theorem for Pultr functors between categories of relational structures, and we prove that the Dinur--Khot--Kindler--Minzer--Safra reduction, recently used for proving the $2$-to-$2$ Games Theorem, is quantum complete.

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arXiv2025

1-in-3 vs. Not-All-Equal: Dichotomy of a broken promise

The 1-in-3 and Not-All-Equal satisfiability problems for Boolean CNF formulas are two well-known NP-hard problems. In contrast, the promise 1-in-3 vs. Not-All-Equal problem can be solved in polynomial time. In the present work, we investigate this constraint satisfaction problem in a regime where the promise is weakened from either side by a rainbow-free structure, and establish a complexity dichotomy for the resulting class of computational problems.

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arXiv2024

The periodic structure of local consistency

We connect the mixing behaviour of random walks over a graph to the power of the local-consistency algorithm for the solution of the corresponding constraint satisfaction problem (CSP). We extend this connection to arbitrary CSPs and their promise variant. In this way, we establish a linear-level (and, thus, optimal) lower bound against the local-consistency algorithm applied to the class of aperiodic promise CSPs. The proof is based on a combination of the probabilistic method for random Erdős-Rényi hypergraphs and a structural result on the number of fibers (i.e., long chains of hyperedges) in sparse hypergraphs of large girth. As a corollary, we completely classify the power of local consistency for the approximate graph homomorphism problem by establishing that, in the nontrivial cases, the problem has linear width.

cs.CC↗
arXiv2024

Semidefinite programming and linear equations vs. homomorphism problems

We introduce a relaxation for homomorphism problems that combines semidefinite programming with linear Diophantine equations, and propose a framework for the analysis of its power based on the spectral theory of association schemes. We use this framework to establish an unconditional lower bound against the semidefinite programming + linear equations model, by showing that the relaxation does not solve the approximate graph homomorphism problem and thus, in particular, the approximate graph colouring problem.

cs.CC↗
arXiv2024

Quantum Advantage and CSP Complexity

Information-processing tasks modelled by homomorphisms between relational structures can witness quantum advantage when entanglement is used as a computational resource. We prove that the occurrence of quantum advantage is determined by the same type of algebraic structure (known as a minion) that captures the polymorphism identities of CSPs and, thus, CSP complexity. We investigate the connection between the minion of quantum advantage and other known minions controlling CSP tractability and width. In this way, we make use of complexity results from the algebraic theory of CSPs to characterise the occurrence of quantum advantage in the case of graphs, and to obtain new necessary and sufficient conditions in the case of arbitrary relational structures.

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arXiv2022

The Sherali-Adams Hierarchy for Promise CSPs through Tensors

We study the Sherali-Adams linear programming hierarchy in the context of promise constraint satisfaction problems (PCSPs). We characterise when a level of the hierarchy accepts an instance in terms of a homomorphism problem for an appropriate multilinear structure obtained through a tensor power of the constraint language. The geometry of this structure, which consists in a space of tensors satisfying certain symmetries, allows then to establish non-solvability of the approximate graph colouring problem via constantly many levels of Sherali-Adams. Besides this primary application, our tensorisation construction introduces a new tool to the study of hierarchies of algorithmic relaxations for computational problems within (and, possibly, beyond) the context of constraint satisfaction. In particular, we see it as a key step towards the algebraic characterisation of the power of Sherali-Adams for PCSPs.

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arXiv2022

CLAP: A New Algorithm for Promise CSPs

We propose a new algorithm for Promise Constraint Satisfaction Problems PCSPs). It is a combination of the $\textbf{C}$onstraint Basic $\textbf{L}$P relaxation and the $\textbf{A}$ffine I$\textbf{P}$ relaxation (CLAP). We give a characterisation of the power of CLAP in terms of a minion homomorphism. Using this characterisation, we identify a certain weak notion of symmetry which, if satisfied by infinitely many polymorphisms of PCSPs, guarantees tractability. We demonstrate that there are PCSPs solved by CLAP that are not solved by any of the existing algorithms for PCSPs; in particular, not by the BLP+AIP algorithm of Brakensiek et al. [SICOMP'20] and not by a reduction to tractable finite-domain CSPs.

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arXiv2022

Approximate Graph Colouring and Crystals

We show that approximate graph colouring is not solved by any level of the affine integer programming (AIP) hierarchy. To establish the result, we translate the problem of exhibiting a graph fooling a level of the AIP hierarchy into the problem of constructing a highly symmetric crystal tensor. In order to prove the existence of crystals in arbitrary dimension, we provide a combinatorial characterisation for realisable systems of tensors; i.e., sets of low-dimensional tensors that can be realised as the projections of a single high-dimensional tensor.

cs.CC↗
arXiv2021

Perron value and moment of rooted trees

The Perron value $ρ(T)$ of a rooted tree $T$ has a central role in the study of the algebraic connectivity and characteristic set, and it can be considered a weight of spectral nature for $T$. A different, combinatorial weight notion for $T$ - the moment $μ(T)$ - emerges from the analysis of Kemeny's constant in the context of random walks on graphs. In the present work, we compare these two weight concepts showing that $μ(T)$ is "almost" an upper bound for $ρ(T)$ and the ratio $μ(T)/ρ(T)$ is unbounded but at most linear in the order of $T$. To achieve these primary goals, we introduce two new objects associated with $T$ - the Perron entropy and the neckbottle matrix - and we investigate how different operations on the set of rooted trees affect the Perron value and the moment.

math.CO↗
arXiv2020

Spectral theory of products of digraphs

A unified approach to the determination of eigenvalues and eigenvectors of specific matrices associated with directed graphs is presented. Matrices studied include the distance matrix, distance Laplacian, and distance signless Laplacian, in addition to the adjacency matrix, Laplacian, and signless Laplacian. Various sums of Kronecker products of nonnegative matrices are introduced to model the Cartesian and lexicographic products of digraphs. The Jordan canonical form is applied extensively to the analysis of spectra and eigenvectors. The analysis shows that Cartesian products provide a method for building infinite families of transmission regular digraphs with few distinct distance eigenvalues.

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