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Taha Ameen

Publications and source records attributed to Taha Ameen.

13 recordsLinked to original sources

Converse bounds for multiple graph alignment and correlation detection based on last matching

The paper focuses on information theoretic converse bounds for the alignment of $m$ correlated graphs and for the detection of correlation among $m$ graphs. A simple idea for $m\geq 3$ is that if the alignment of $m-1$ of the graphs is revealed as extra information (by a genie for example) then it is still necessary to produce the alignment between the one remaining graph and the others, i.e. the last matching must be accomplished. For both Gaussian and Erdos-Renyi models, the last-matching problem is equivalent to one with two observed graphs, providing a path to extend converse bounds for $m=2$ to larger $m$. While the method is rather obvious for alignment, we show that the method can also be used to derive converse bounds for weak detection of correlation.

math.ST

Estimating Community Boundaries in Geometric Random Graphs

The unit square $I=[0,1]^2$ is divided into two rectangles by the vertical line $x=p$, where $p\in(0,1)$. Consider $N$ independent uniformly distributed points on $I$, which we interpret as a population of individuals, with the line $x=p$ representing a community boundary that separates the population into two communities. Whether a pair of individuals share a connection depends on their locations in $I$ and on whether they belong to the same community. Specifically, two individuals in the same community are connected if they are within distance $R_N$ of each other, while two individuals in different communities are connected if they are within distance $R_N'$ of each other, giving rise to a geometric variant of the so-called \emph{stochastic block model}. A statistician observes the adjacency matrix of the resulting graph together with the geometric locations of the individuals and is tasked with estimating the boundary location $p$. Depending on how $R_N$ and $R_N'$ scale as $N\to\infty$, we establish necessary and sufficient conditions for consistent estimation of $p$. Whenever consistent estimation is possible, we devise an estimator that converges to $p$ as $N\to\infty$ and provide explicit bounds on its estimation error.

math.ST

Optimality of a Threshold Policy for a Queueing System with One Fast Server and Two Identical Slow Servers

This paper studies the optimal control problem of a queueing system with three servers: one fast server and two identical slow servers. The two-server version of this problem, with one fast server and one slow server, was introduced by Lin and Kumar (1984), and the optimal policy has been shown to be of threshold type. However, generalizing this result beyond the two-server setting has been considered an open problem. In this paper, we resolve the first nontrivial case by proving that a threshold policy is optimal for the three-server system considered. The core technical ideas in this paper are generated by GPT-5.5 Pro. We have included a short report describing the authors' interactions with GPT-5.5 Pro. The authors verified the proofs and rewrote the paper for better rigor, clarity, and exposition. In addition, three key lemmas have also been verified in Lean 4.

math.OC

Flexibility allocation in random bipartite matching markets: exact matching rates and dominance regimes

This paper studies how a fixed flexibility budget should be allocated across the two sides of a balanced bipartite matching market. We model compatibilities via a sparse bipartite stochastic block model in which flexible agents are more likely to connect with agents on the opposite side, and derive an exact variational formula for the asymptotic matching rate under any flexibility allocation. The derivation extends the local weak convergence framework of [BLS11] from single-type to multi-type unimodular Galton-Watson trees, reducing the matching rate to an explicit low-dimensional optimization problem. Using this formula, we analytically investigate when the one-sided allocation, which concentrates all flexibility on one side, dominates the two-sided allocation and vice versa, sharpening and extending the comparisons of [FMZ26] which relied on approximate algorithmic bounds rather than an exact characterization of the matching rate.

math.PR

A uniformity principle for spatial matching

Platforms matching spatially distributed supply to demand face a fundamental design choice: given a fixed total budget of service range, how should it be allocated across supply nodes ex ante, i.e. before supply and demand locations are realized, to maximize fulfilled demand? We model this problem using bipartite random geometric graphs where $n$ supply and $m$ demand nodes are uniformly distributed on $[0,1]^k$ ($k \ge 1$), and edges form when demand falls within a supply node's service region, the volume of which is determined by its service range. Since each supply node serves at most one demand, platform performance is determined by the expected size of a maximum matching. We establish a uniformity principle: whenever one service range allocation is more uniform than the other, the more uniform allocation yields a larger expected matching. This principle emerges from diminishing marginal returns to range expanding service range, and limited interference between supply nodes due to bounded ranges naturally fragmenting the graph. For $k=1$, we further characterize the expected matching size through a Markov chain embedding and derive closed-form expressions for special cases. Our results provide theoretical guidance for service-range allocation and incentive design in ride-hailing, on-demand labor markets, and drone delivery platforms, highlighting the benefits of reducing disparities in supply-side flexibility.

math.PR

Detecting Planted Structure in Circular Data

Hypothesis testing problems for circular data are formulated, where observations take values on the unit circle and may contain a hidden, phase-coherent structure. Under the null, the data are independent uniform on the unit circle; under the alternative, either (i) a planted subset of size K concentrates around an unknown phase (the flat setting), or (ii) a planted community of size k induces coherence among the edges of a complete graph (the community setting). In each of the two settings, two circular signal distributions are considered: a hard-cluster distribution, where correlated planted observations lie in an arc of known length and unknown location, and a von Mises distribution, where correlated planted observations follow a von Mises distribution with a common unknown location parameter. For each of the four resulting models, nearly matching necessary and sufficient conditions are derived (up to constants and occasional logarithmic factors) for detectability, thereby establishing information-theoretic phase transitions.

math.ST

Aligning Multiple Inhomogeneous Random Graphs: Fundamental Limits of Exact Recovery

This work studies fundamental limits for recovering the underlying correspondence among multiple correlated graphs. In the setting of inhomogeneous random graphs, we present and analyze a matching algorithm: first partially match the graphs pairwise and then combine the partial matchings by transitivity. Our analysis yields a sufficient condition on the problem parameters to exactly match all nodes across all the graphs. In the setting of homogeneous (Erdős-Rényi) graphs, we show that this condition is also necessary, i.e. the algorithm works down to the information theoretic threshold. This reveals a scenario where exact matching between two graphs alone is impossible, but leveraging more than two graphs allows exact matching among all the graphs. Converse results are also given in the inhomogeneous setting and transitivity again plays a role. Along the way, we derive independent results about the k-core of inhomogeneous random graphs.

cs.DS

Sharp Detection Threshold for Correlation among Multiple Unlabeled Gaussian Networks

This paper studies the hypothesis testing problem of deciding whether $m \geq 2$ complete weighted graphs with Gaussian edge weights are mutually correlated after unknown relabelings of their vertices. Under the null model all edge weights are independent standard Gaussians, whereas under the planted model the graphs share a latent vertex alignment and each pair of corresponding edge weights has correlation $\rho$. For fixed $m$, we identify the sharp information-theoretic threshold for detection. Above the threshold, a generalized likelihood-ratio test achieves strong detection, whereas even weak detection is impossible below the threshold. The result extends the two-graph detection threshold of Wu, Xu, and Yu to any fixed number of graphs, exhibits a side-information regime in which two graphs alone are insufficient but multiple graphs enable detection, and, together with the recovery threshold of Vassaux and Massouli\'e, shows that this Gaussian multi-graph model has no detection--recovery gap.

math.ST

Robust Graph Matching when Nodes are Corrupt

Two models are introduced to investigate graph matching in the presence of corrupt nodes. The weak model, inspired by biological networks, allows one or both networks to have a positive fraction of molecular entities interact randomly with their network. For this model, it is shown that no estimator can correctly recover a positive fraction of the corrupt nodes. Necessary conditions for any estimator to correctly identify and match all the uncorrupt nodes are derived, and it is shown that these conditions are also sufficient for the k-core estimator. The strong model, inspired by social networks, permits one or both networks to have a positive fraction of users connect arbitrarily. For this model, detection of corrupt nodes is impossible. Even so, we show that if only one of the networks is compromised, then under appropriate conditions, the maximum overlap estimator can correctly match a positive fraction of nodes albeit without explicitly identifying them.

math.ST

Blockchain Security when Messages are Lost

Security analyses for consensus protocols in blockchain research have primarily focused on the synchronous model, where point-to-point communication delays are upper bounded by a known finite constant. These models are unrealistic in noisy settings, where messages may be lost (i.e. incur infinite delay). In this work, we study the impact of message losses on the security of the proof-of-work longest-chain protocol. We introduce a new communication model to capture the impact of message loss called the $0-\infty$ model, and derive a region of tolerable adversarial power under which the consensus protocol is secure. The guarantees are derived as a simple bound for the probability that a transaction violates desired security properties. Specifically, we show that this violation probability decays almost exponentially in the security parameter. Our approach involves constructing combinatorial objects from blocktrees, and identifying random variables associated with them that are amenable to analysis. This approach improves existing bounds and extends the known regime for tolerable adversarial threshold in settings where messages may be lost.

cs.CR

Slit-strip Ising boundary conformal field theory 1: Discrete and continuous function spaces

This is the first in a series of articles about recovering the full algebraic structure of a boundary conformal field theory (CFT) from the scaling limit of the critical Ising model in slit-strip geometry. Here, we introduce spaces of holomorphic functions in continuum domains as well as corresponding spaces of discrete holomorphic functions in lattice domains. We find distinguished sets of functions characterized by their singular behavior in the three infinite directions in the slit-strip domains. We prove convergence results of the distinguished discrete holomorphic functions to the continuum ones. In the subsequent articles, the discrete holomorphic functions will be used for the calculation of the Ising model fusion coefficients (as well as for the diagonalization of the Ising transfer matrix), and the convergence of the functions is used to prove the convergence of the fusion coefficients. It will also be shown that the vertex operator algebra of the boundary conformal field theory can be recovered from the limit of the fusion coefficients via geometric transformations involving the distinguished continuum functions.

math-ph

Slit-strip Ising boundary conformal field theory 2: Scaling limits of fusion coefficients

This is the second in a series of three articles about recovering the full algebraic structure of a boundary conformal field theory (CFT) from the scaling limit of the critical Ising model in slit-strip geometry. Here we study the fusion coefficients of the Ising model in the lattice slit-strip, with locally monochromatic boundary conditions. The fusion coefficients are certain renormalized limits of boundary correlation functions at the three extremities of the truncated lattice slit-strips, in a basis of random variables whose correlation functions have an essentially exponential dependence on the truncation heights. The key technique is to associate operator valued discrete 1-forms to certain discrete holomorphic functions. This provides a direct analogy with currents in boundary conformal field theory. For two specific applications of this technique, we use distinguished discrete holomorphic functions from the first article of the series. First, we rederive the known diagonalization of the Ising transfer matrix in a form that parallels boundary conformal field theory. Second, we characterize the Ising model fusion coefficients by a recursion written purely in terms of inner products of the distinguished discrete holomorphic functions. The convergence result for the discrete holomorphic functions proven in the first part can then be used to derive the convergence of the fusion coefficients in the scaling limit. In the third article of the series, it will be shown that up to a transformation that accounts for our chosen slit-strip geometry, the scaling limits of the fusion coefficients become the structure constants of the vertex operator algebra of a fermionic conformal field theory.

math-ph

Computing Robust Forward Invariant Sets of Multidimensional Non-linear Systems via Geometric Deformation of Polytopes

This paper develops and implements an algorithm to compute sequences of polytopic Robust Forward Invariant Sets (RFIS) that can parametrically vary in size between the maximal and minimal RFIS of a nonlinear dynamical system. This is done through a novel computational approach that geometrically deforms a polytope into an invariant set using a sequence of homeomorphishms, based on an invariance condition that only needs to be satisfied at a finite set of test points. For achieving this, a fast computational test is developed to establish if a given polytopic set is an RFIS. The geometric nature of the proposed approach makes it applicable for arbitrary Lipschitz continuous nonlinear systems in the presence of bounded additive disturbances. The versatility of the proposed approach is presented through simulation results on a variety of nonlinear dynamical systems in two and three dimensions, for which, sequences of invariant sets are computed.

eess.SY