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Zhujun Zhang

Publications and source records attributed to Zhujun Zhang.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
arXiv2026

King Chasing Problem in Chinese Chess is NP-hard

We prove that king chasing problem in Chinese Chess is NP-hard when generalized to $n\times n$ boards. `King chasing' is a frequently-used strategy in Chinese Chess, which means that the player has to continuously check the opponent in every move until finally checkmating the opponent's king. The problem is to determine which player has a winning strategy in generalized Chinese Chess, under the constraints of king chasing. Obviously, it is a sub-problem of generalized Chinese Chess problem. We prove that king chasing problem in Chinese Chess is NP-hard by reducing from the classic NP-complete problem 3-SAT.

math.CO↗
arXiv2025

On the Undecidability of Tiling the $3$-dimensional Space with a Set of $3$ Polycubes

Translational tiling problems are among the most fundamental and representative undecidable problems in all fields of mathematics. Greenfeld and Tao obtained two remarkable results on the undecidability of translational tiling in recent years. One is the existence of an aperiodic monotile in a space of sufficiently large dimension. The other is the undecidability of translational tiling of periodic subsets of space with a single tile, provided that the dimension of the space is part of the input. These two results support the following conjecture: there is a fixed dimension $n$ such that translational tiling with a single tile is undecidable. One strategy towards solving this conjecture is to prove the undecidability of translational tiling of a fixed dimension space with a set of $k$ tiles, for a positive integer $k$ as small as possible. In this paper, it is shown that translational tiling the $3$-dimensional space with a set of $3$ polycubes is undecidable.

math.CO↗
arXiv2025

Undecidability of Translational Tiling of the Plane with Four Tiles

The translational tiling problem, dated back to Wang's domino problem in the 1960s, is one of the most representative undecidable problems in the field of discrete geometry and combinatorics. Ollinger initiated the study of the undecidability of translational tiling with a fixed number of tiles in 2009, and proved that translational tiling of the plane with a set of $11$ polyominoes is undecidable. The number of polyominoes needed to obtain undecidability was reduced from $11$ to $7$ by Yang and Zhang, and then to $5$ by Kim. We show that translational tiling of the plane with a set of $4$ (disconnected) polyominoes is undecidable in this paper.

math.CO↗
arXiv2025

Undecidability of Translational Tiling of the Plane with Orthogonally Convex Polyominoes

The first undecidability result on the tiling is the undecidability of translational tiling of the plane with Wang tiles, where there is an additional color matching requirement. Later, researchers obtained several undecidability results on translational tiling problems where the tilings are subject to the geometric shapes of the tiles only. However, all these results are proved by constructing tiles with extremely concave shapes. It is natural to ask: can we obtain undecidability results of translational tiling with convex tiles? Towards answering this question, we prove the undecidability of translational tiling of the plane with a set of 7 orthogonally convex polyominoes.

math.CO↗
arXiv2024

Translational Aperiodic Sets of 7 Polyominoes

Recently, two extraordinary results on aperiodic monotiles have been obtained in two different settings. One is a family of aperiodic monotiles in the plane discovered by Smith, Myers, Kaplan and Goodman-Strauss in 2023, where rotation is allowed, breaking the 50-year-old record (aperiodic sets of two tiles found by Roger Penrose in the 1970s) on the minimum size of aperiodic sets in the plane. The other is the existence of an aperiodic monotile in the translational tiling of $\mathbb{Z}^n$ for some huge dimension $n$ proved by Greenfeld and Tao. This disproves the long-standing periodic tiling conjecture. However, it is known that there is no aperiodic monotile for translational tiling of the plane. The smallest size of known aperiodic sets for translational tilings of the plane is $8$, which was discovered more than $30$ years ago by Ammann. In this paper, we prove that translational tiling of the plane with a set of $7$ polyominoes is undecidable. As a consequence of the undecidability, we have constructed a family of aperiodic sets of size $7$ for the translational tiling of the plane. This breaks the 30-year-old record of Ammann.

math.CO↗
arXiv2024

Undecidability of Translational Tiling with Three Tiles

Is there a fixed dimension $n$ such that translational tiling of $\mathbb{Z}^n$ with a monotile is undecidable? Several recent results support a positive answer to this question. Greenfeld and Tao disprove the periodic tiling conjecture by showing that an aperiodic monotile exists in sufficiently high dimension $n$ [Ann. Math. 200(2024), 301-363]. In another paper [to appear in J. Eur. Math. Soc.], they also show that if the dimension $n$ is part of the input, then the translational tiling for subsets of $\mathbb{Z}^n$ with one tile is undecidable. These two results are very strong pieces of evidence for the conjecture that translational tiling of $\mathbb{Z}^n$ with a monotile is undecidable, for some fixed $n$. This paper gives another supportive result for this conjecture by showing that translational tiling of the $4$-dimensional space with a set of three connected tiles is undecidable.

math.CO↗
arXiv2024

Undecidability of Translational Tiling of the 4-dimensional Space with a Set of 4 Polyhypercubes

Recently, Greenfeld and Tao disprove the conjecture that translational tilings of a single tile can always be periodic [Ann. Math. 200(2024), 301-363]. In another paper [to appear in J. Eur. Math. Soc.], they also show that if the dimension $n$ is part of the input, the translational tiling for subsets of $\mathbb{Z}^n$ with one tile is undecidable. These two results are very strong pieces of evidence for the conjecture that translational tiling of $\mathbb{Z}^n$ with a monotile is undecidable, for some fixed $n$. This paper shows that translational tiling of the $3$-dimensional space with a set of $5$ polycubes is undecidable. By introducing a technique that lifts a set of polycubes and its tiling from $3$-dimensional space to $4$-dimensional space, we manage to show that translational tiling of the $4$-dimensional space with a set of $4$ tiles is undecidable. This is a step towards the attempt to settle the conjecture of the undecidability of translational tiling of the $n$-dimensional space with a monotile, for some fixed $n$.

math.CO↗
arXiv2024

Undecidability of Translational Tiling of the 3-dimensional Space with a Set of 6 Polycubes

This paper focuses on the undecidability of translational tiling of $n$-dimensional space $\mathbb{Z}^n$ with a set of $k$ tiles. It is known that tiling $\mathbb{Z}^2$ with translated copies with a set of $8$ tiles is undecidable. Greenfeld and Tao gave strong evidence in a series of works that for sufficiently large dimension $n$, the translational tiling problem for $\mathbb{Z}^n$ might be undecidable for just one tile. This paper shows the undecidability of translational tiling of $\mathbb{Z}^3$ with a set of $6$ tiles.

math.CO↗
arXiv2024

NP-completeness of Tiling Finite Simply Connected Regions with a Fixed Set of Wang Tiles

The computational complexity of tiling finite simply connected regions with a fixed set of tiles is studied in this paper. We show that the problem of tiling simply connected regions with a fixed set of $23$ Wang tiles is NP-complete. As a consequence, the problem of tiling simply connected regions with a fixed set of $111$ rectangles is NP-complete. Our results improve that of Igor Pak and Jed Yang by using fewer numbers of tiles. Notably in the case of Wang tiles, the number has decreased by more than one third from $35$ to $23$.

math.CO↗
arXiv2024

Undecidability of tiling the plane with a fixed number of Wang bars

To study the fixed parameter undecidability of tiling problem for a set of Wang tiles, Jeandel and Rolin show that the tiling problem for a set of 44 Wang bars is undecidable. In this paper, we improve their result by proving that whether a set of 29 Wang bars can tile the plane is undecidable. As a consequence, the tiling problem for a set of Wang tiles with color deficiency of 25 is also undecidable.

math.CO↗
arXiv2024

Atropos-k is PSPACE-complete

Burke and Teng introduced a two-player combinatorial game Atropos based on Sperner's lemma, and showed that deciding whether one has a winning strategy for Atropos is PSPACE-complete. In the original Atropos game, the players must color a node adjacent to the last colored node. Burke and Teng also mentioned a variant Atropos-k in which each move is at most of distance k of the previous move, and asked a question on determining the computational complexity of this variant. In this paper, we answer this question by showing that for any fixed integer k (k>=2), Atropos-k is PSPACE-complete by reduction from True Quantified Boolean Formula (TQBF).

cs.CC↗
arXiv2023

Perfect Information Hearthstone is PSPACE-hard

We consider the computational complexity of Hearthstone which is a popular online CCG (collectible card game). We reduce a PSPACE-complete problem, the partition game, to perfect information Hearthstone in which there is no hidden information or random elements. In the reduction, each turn in Hearthstone is used to simulate one choice in the partition game. It is proved that determining whether the player has a forced win in perfect information Hearthstone is PSPACE-hard.

cs.CC↗
arXiv2022

A Note on the Computational Complexity of Selfmate and Reflexmate Chess Problems

A selfmate is a Chess problem in which White, moving first, needs to force Black to checkmate within a specified number of moves. The reflexmate is a derivative of the selfmate in which White compels Black to checkmate with the added condition that if either player can checkmate, they must do that (when this condition applies only to Black, it is a semi-reflexmate). We slightly modify the reduction of EXPTIME-hardness of Chess and apply the reduction to these Chess problems. It is proved that selfmate, reflexmate, and semi-reflexmate are all EXPTIME-complete.

cs.CC↗
arXiv2019

A Note on Computational Complexity of Kill-all Go

Kill-all Go is a variant of Go in which Black tries to capture all white stones, while White tries to survive. We consider computational complexity of Kill-all Go with two rulesets, Chinese rules and Japanese rules. We prove that: (i) Kill-all Go with Chinese rules is PSPACE-hard, and (ii) Kill-all Go with Japanese rules is EXPTIME-complete.

cs.CC↗
arXiv2019

A Note on Computational Complexity of Dou Shou Qi

Dou Shou Qi is a Chinese strategy board game for two players. We use a EXPTIME-hardness framework to analyse computational complexity of the game. We construct all gadgets of the hardness framework. In conclusion, we prove that Dou Shou Qi is EXPTIME-complete.

cs.CC↗
arXiv2019

A Note on Hardness Frameworks and Computational Complexity of Xiangqi and Janggi

We review NP-hardness framework and PSPACE-hardness framework for a type of 2D platform games. We introduce a EXPTIME-hardness framework by defining some new gadgets. We use these hardness frameworks to analyse computational complexity of Xiangqi (Chinese Chess) and Janggi (Korean Chess). We construct all gadgets of the hardness frameworks in Xiangqi and Janggi. In conclusion, we prove that Xiangqi and Janggi are both EXPTIME-complete.

cs.CC↗