arXiv subjects

Sebastian Brandt

Publications and source records attributed to Sebastian Brandt.

49 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

arXiv2020

Truly Tight-in-$Δ$ Bounds for Bipartite Maximal Matching and Variants

In a recent breakthrough result, Balliu et al. [FOCS'19] proved a deterministic $Ω(\min(Δ,\log n /\log \log n))$-round and a randomized $Ω(\min(Δ,\log \log n/\log \log \log n))$-round lower bound for the complexity of the bipartite maximal matching problem on $n$-node graphs in the LOCAL model of distributed computing. Both lower bounds are asymptotically tight as a function of the maximum degree $Δ$. We provide truly tight bounds in $Δ$ for the complexity of bipartite maximal matching and many natural variants, up to and including the additive constant. As a by-product, our results yield a considerably simplified version of the proof by Balliu et al. We show that our results can be obtained via bounded automatic round elimination, a version of the recent automatic round elimination technique by Brandt [PODC'19] that is particularly suited for automatization from a practical perspective. In this context, our work can be seen as another step towards the automatization of lower bounds in the LOCAL model.

cs.DC↗

arXiv2020

How much does randomness help with locally checkable problems?

Locally checkable labeling problems (LCLs) are distributed graph problems in which a solution is globally feasible if it is locally feasible in all constant-radius neighborhoods. Vertex colorings, maximal independent sets, and maximal matchings are examples of LCLs. On the one hand, it is known that some LCLs benefit exponentially from randomness---for example, any deterministic distributed algorithm that finds a sinkless orientation requires $Θ(\log n)$ rounds in the LOCAL model, while the randomized complexity of the problem is $Θ(\log \log n)$ rounds. On the other hand, there are also many LCLs in which randomness is useless. Previously, it was not known if there are any LCLs that benefit from randomness, but only subexponentially. We show that such problems exist: for example, there is an LCL with deterministic complexity $Θ(\log^2 n)$ rounds and randomized complexity $Θ(\log n \log \log n)$ rounds.

cs.DC↗

arXiv2020

Classification of distributed binary labeling problems

We present a complete classification of the deterministic distributed time complexity for a family of graph problems: binary labeling problems in trees. These are locally checkable problems that can be encoded with an alphabet of size two in the edge labeling formalism. Examples of binary labeling problems include sinkless orientation, sinkless and sourceless orientation, 2-vertex coloring, perfect matching, and the task of coloring edges red and blue such that all nodes are incident to at least one red and at least one blue edge. More generally, we can encode e.g. any cardinality constraints on indegrees and outdegrees. We study the deterministic time complexity of solving a given binary labeling problem in trees, in the usual LOCAL model of distributed computing. We show that the complexity of any such problem is in one of the following classes: $O(1)$, $Θ(\log n)$, $Θ(n)$, or unsolvable. In particular, a problem that can be represented in the binary labeling formalism cannot have time complexity $Θ(\log^* n)$, and hence we know that e.g. any encoding of maximal matchings has to use at least three labels (which is tight). Furthermore, given the description of any binary labeling problem, we can easily determine in which of the four classes it is and what is an asymptotically optimal algorithm for solving it. Hence the distributed time complexity of binary labeling problems is decidable, not only in principle, but also in practice: there is a simple and efficient algorithm that takes the description of a binary labeling problem and outputs its distributed time complexity.

cs.DC↗

arXiv2019

A Sharp Threshold Phenomenon for the Distributed Complexity of the Lovász Local Lemma

The Lovász Local Lemma (LLL) says that, given a set of bad events that depend on the values of some random variables and where each event happens with probability at most $p$ and depends on at most $d$ other events, there is an assignment of the variables that avoids all bad events if the LLL criterion $ep(d+1)<1$ is satisfied. In this paper, we study the dependency of the distributed complexity of the LLL problem on the chosen LLL criterion. We show that for the fundamental case of each random variable of the considered LLL instance being associated with an edge of the input graph, that is, each random variable influences at most two events, a sharp threshold phenomenon occurs at $p = 2^{-d}$: we provide a simple deterministic (!) algorithm that matches a known $Ω(\log^* n)$ lower bound in bounded degree graphs, if $p < 2^{-d}$, whereas for $p \geq 2^{-d}$, a known $Ω(\log \log n)$ randomized and a known $Ω(\log n)$ deterministic lower bounds hold. In many applications variables affect more than two events; our main contribution is to extend our algorithm to the case where random variables influence at most three different bad events. We show that, surprisingly, the sharp threshold occurs at the exact same spot, providing evidence for our conjecture that this phenomenon always occurs at $p = 2^{-d}$, independent of the number $r$ of events that are affected by a variable. Almost all steps of the proof framework we provide for the case $r=3$ extend directly to the case of arbitrary $r$; consequently, our approach serves as a step towards characterizing the complexity of the LLL under different exponential criteria.

cs.DS↗

arXiv2019

Breaking the Linear-Memory Barrier in MPC: Fast MIS on Trees with Strongly Sublinear Memory

Recently, studying fundamental graph problems in the \emph{Massively Parallel Computation (MPC) framework, inspired by the MapReduce paradigm, has gained a lot of attention. An assumption common to a vast majority of approaches is to allow $\widetildeΩ(n)$ memory per machine, where $n$ is the number of nodes in the graph and $\widetildeΩ$ hides polylogarithmic factors. However, as pointed out by Karloff et al. [SODA'10] and Czumaj et al. [STOC'18], it might be unrealistic for a single machine to have linear or only slightly sublinear memory. In this paper, we thus study a more practical variant of the MPC model which only requires substantially sublinear or even subpolynomial memory per machine. In contrast to the linear-memory MPC model and also to streaming algorithms, in this low-memory MPC setting, a single machine will only see a small number of nodes in the graph. We introduce a new and strikingly simple technique to cope with this imposed locality. In particular, we show that the Maximal Independent Set (MIS) problem can be solved efficiently, that is, in $O(\log^3 \log n)$ rounds, when the input graph is a tree. This constitutes an almost exponential speed-up over the low-memory MPC algorithm in $O(\sqrt{\log n})$-algorithm in a concurrent work by Ghaffari and Uitto [SODA'19] and substantially reduces the local memory from $\widetildeΩ(n)$ required by the recent $O(\log \log n)$-round MIS algorithm of Ghaffari et al. [PODC'18] to $n^α$ for any $α>0$, without incurring a significant loss in the round complexity. Moreover, it demonstrates how to make use of the all-to-all communication in the MPC model to almost exponentially improve on the corresponding bound in the $\mathsf{LOCAL}$ and $\mathsf{PRAM}$ models by Lenzen and Wattenhofer [PODC'11].

cs.DS↗

arXiv2019

An Automatic Speedup Theorem for Distributed Problems

Recently, Brandt et al. [STOC'16] proved a lower bound for the distributed Lovász Local Lemma, which has been conjectured to be tight for sufficiently relaxed LLL criteria by Chang and Pettie [FOCS'17]. At the heart of their result lies a speedup technique that, for graphs of girth at least $2t+2$, transforms any $t$-round algorithm for one specific LLL problem into a $(t-1)$-round algorithm for the same problem. We substantially improve on this technique by showing that such a speedup exists for any locally checkable problem $Π$, with the difference that the problem $Π_1$ the inferred $(t-1)$-round algorithm solves is not (necessarily) the same problem as $Π$. Our speedup is automatic in the sense that there is a fixed procedure that transforms a description for $Π$ into a description for $Π_1$ and reversible in the sense that any $(t-1)$-round algorithm for $Π_1$ can be transformed into a $t$-round algorithm for $Π$. In particular, for any locally checkable problem $Π$ with exact deterministic time complexity $T(n, Δ) \leq t$ on graphs with $n$ nodes, maximum node degree $Δ$, and girth at least $2t+2$, there is a sequence of problems $Π_1, Π_2, \dots$ with time complexities $T(n, Δ)-1, T(n, Δ)-2, \dots$, that can be inferred from $Π$. As a first application of our generalized speedup, we solve a long-standing open problem of Naor and Stockmeyer [STOC'93]: we show that weak $2$-coloring in odd-degree graphs cannot be solved in $o(\log^* Δ)$ rounds, thereby providing a matching lower bound to their upper bound.

cs.DC↗

arXiv2019

The distributed complexity of locally checkable problems on paths is decidable

Consider a computer network that consists of a path with $n$ nodes. The nodes are labeled with inputs from a constant-sized set, and the task is to find output labels from a constant-sized set subject to some local constraints---more formally, we have an LCL (locally checkable labeling) problem. How many communication rounds are needed (in the standard LOCAL model of computing) to solve this problem? It is well known that the answer is always either $O(1)$ rounds, or $Θ(\log^* n)$ rounds, or $Θ(n)$ rounds. In this work we show that this question is decidable (albeit PSPACE-hard): we present an algorithm that, given any LCL problem defined on a path, outputs the distributed computational complexity of this problem and the corresponding asymptotically optimal algorithm.

cs.DC↗

arXiv2018

Querying Log Data with Metric Temporal Logic (Technical Report)

We propose a novel framework for ontology-based access to temporal log data using a datalog extension datalogMTL of a Horn fragment of the metric temporal logic MTL. We show that datalogMTL is ExpSpace-complete even with punctual intervals, in which case full MTL is known to be undecidable. We also prove that nonrecursive datalogMTL is PSpace-complete for combined complexity and in AC0 for data complexity. We demonstrate by two real-world use cases that nonrecursive datalogMTL programs can express complex temporal concepts from typical user queries and thereby facilitate access to temporal log data. Our experiments with Siemens turbine data and MesoWest weather data show that datalogMTL ontology-mediated queries are efficient and scale on large datasets.

cs.LO↗

arXiv2018

Matching and MIS for Uniformly Sparse Graphs in the Low-Memory MPC Model

The Massively Parallel Computation (MPC) model serves as a common abstraction of many modern large-scale parallel computation frameworks and has recently gained a lot of importance, especially in the context of classic graph problems. Unsatisfactorily, all current $\text{poly} (\log \log n)$-round MPC algorithms seem to get fundamentally stuck at the linear-memory barrier: their efficiency crucially relies on each machine having space at least linear in the number $n$ of nodes. As this might not only be prohibitively large, but also allows for easy if not trivial solutions for sparse graphs, we are interested in the low-memory MPC model, where the space per machine is restricted to be strongly sublinear, that is, $n^δ$ for any $0<δ<1$. We devise a degree reduction technique that reduces maximal matching and maximal independent set in graphs with arboricity $λ$ to the corresponding problems in graphs with maximum degree $\text{poly}(λ)$ in $O(\log^2 \log n)$ rounds. This gives rise to $O\left(\log^2\log n + T(\text{poly} λ)\right)$-round algorithms, where $T(Δ)$ is the $Δ$-dependency in the round complexity of maximal matching and maximal independent set in graphs with maximum degree $Δ$. A concurrent work by Ghaffari and Uitto shows that $T(Δ)=O(\sqrt{\log Δ})$. For graphs with arboricity $λ=\text{poly}(\log n)$, this almost exponentially improves over Luby's $O(\log n)$-round PRAM algorithm [STOC'85, JALG'86], and constitutes the first $\text{poly} (\log \log n)$-round maximal matching algorithm in the low-memory MPC model, thus breaking the linear-memory barrier. Previously, the only known subpolylogarithmic algorithm, due to Lattanzi et al. [SPAA'11], required strongly superlinear, that is, $n^{1+Ω(1)}$, memory per machine.

cs.DS↗

arXiv2018

Tight Bounds for Asynchronous Collaborative Grid Exploration

Consider a small group of mobile agents whose goal is to locate a certain cell in a two-dimensional infinite grid. The agents operate in an asynchronous environment, where in each discrete time step, an arbitrary subset of the agents execute one atomic look-compute-move cycle. The protocol controlling each agent is determined by a (possibly distinct) finite automaton. The only means of communication is to sense the states of the agents sharing the same grid cell. Whenever an agent moves, the destination cell of the movement is chosen by the agent's automaton from the set of neighboring grid cells. We study the minimum number of agents required to locate the target cell within finite time and our main result states a tight lower bound for agents endowed with a global compass. Furthermore, we show that the lack of such a compass makes the problem strictly more difficult and present tight upper and lower bounds for this case.

cs.DC↗

arXiv2017

LCL problems on grids

LCLs or locally checkable labelling problems (e.g. maximal independent set, maximal matching, and vertex colouring) in the LOCAL model of computation are very well-understood in cycles (toroidal 1-dimensional grids): every problem has a complexity of $O(1)$, $Θ(\log^* n)$, or $Θ(n)$, and the design of optimal algorithms can be fully automated. This work develops the complexity theory of LCL problems for toroidal 2-dimensional grids. The complexity classes are the same as in the 1-dimensional case: $O(1)$, $Θ(\log^* n)$, and $Θ(n)$. However, given an LCL problem it is undecidable whether its complexity is $Θ(\log^* n)$ or $Θ(n)$ in 2-dimensional grids. Nevertheless, if we correctly guess that the complexity of a problem is $Θ(\log^* n)$, we can completely automate the design of optimal algorithms. For any problem we can find an algorithm that is of a normal form $A' \circ S_k$, where $A'$ is a finite function, $S_k$ is an algorithm for finding a maximal independent set in $k$th power of the grid, and $k$ is a constant. Finally, partially with the help of automated design tools, we classify the complexity of several concrete LCL problems related to colourings and orientations.

cs.DC↗

arXiv2016

Towards Analytics Aware Ontology Based Access to Static and Streaming Data (Extended Version)

Real-time analytics that requires integration and aggregation of heterogeneous and distributed streaming and static data is a typical task in many industrial scenarios such as diagnostics of turbines in Siemens. OBDA approach has a great potential to facilitate such tasks; however, it has a number of limitations in dealing with analytics that restrict its use in important industrial applications. Based on our experience with Siemens, we argue that in order to overcome those limitations OBDA should be extended and become analytics, source, and cost aware. In this work we propose such an extension. In particular, we propose an ontology, mapping, and query language for OBDA, where aggregate and other analytical functions are first class citizens. Moreover, we develop query optimisation techniques that allow to efficiently process analytical tasks over static and streaming data. We implement our approach in a system and evaluate our system with Siemens turbine data.

cs.AI↗

arXiv2015

A Lower Bound for the Distributed Lovász Local Lemma

We show that any randomised Monte Carlo distributed algorithm for the Lovász local lemma requires $Ω(\log \log n)$ communication rounds, assuming that it finds a correct assignment with high probability. Our result holds even in the special case of $d = O(1)$, where $d$ is the maximum degree of the dependency graph. By prior work, there are distributed algorithms for the Lovász local lemma with a running time of $O(\log n)$ rounds in bounded-degree graphs, and the best lower bound before our work was $Ω(\log^* n)$ rounds [Chung et al. 2014].

cs.DC↗