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Search indexed arXiv papers on artificial intelligence, large language models, computer vision and robotics. Read source abstracts and follow links to arXiv.

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At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

Minimizing the makespan in job shop scheduling under conflict graph constraints

We study the job shop scheduling problem with a conflict graph, in which adjacent jobs cannot be processed simultaneously on different machines, with the objective of minimizing the makespan. We establish a polynomial equivalence with a resource-constrained job shop problem having unit-capacity resources and binary resource requirements The problem is strongly NP-hard even on two machines with unit-time operations. For this setting, we derive an optimal-makespan formula and a linear-time algorithm when the conflict graph is a cluster graph, given the clique partition. We also develop a polynomial-time $4/3$-approximation algorithm for arbitrary conflict graphs on two machines when each job has exactly two unit-time operations. For the general problem, we propose four mixed-integer linear formulations, lower bounds, and a genetic algorithm with active, non-delay, and hybrid decoding procedures. Computational experiments on instances derived from the Lawrence and Taillard benchmarks and on randomly generated generalized job shop instances evaluate the proposed methods and show that the genetic algorithm generally improves on constructive heuristics.

cs.DM↗

A simple algorithm for computing Hamilton paths on independent set polytopes

The independent set polytope, or stable set polytope, of a graph $G$ is the 0/1-polytope defined by the convex hull of the characteristic vectors of all independent sets of $G$. We present a simple algorithm for computing a Hamilton path on the independent set polytope of a given $n$-vertex graph $G$ with amortized delay $\mathcal{O}(n)$. The independent sets are listed such that two consecutive sets differ either in removing a vertex, or adding a vertex and removing its neighbors from the independent set, i.e., the symmetric difference between two consecutive independent sets induces a star in $G$. As applications of this result, we obtain an algorithm to compute a Hamilton path on the matching polytope of an $m$-edge graph $G$ with worst-case delay $\mathcal{O}(m)$, which lists all matchings of $G$ in such a way that the symmetric difference between two consecutive matchings is a path on at most three edges. Furthermore, we obtain an algorithm to compute a Hamilton path on the chain polytope and order polytope of an $n$-element poset $P$ with amortized delay $\mathcal{O}(n)$, which lists all antichains of $P$ or all ideals of $P$, respectively, by star exchanges. Our algorithms are derived from the generic framework proposed by Merino and Mütze (FOCS'23+SICOMP'24) for computing Hamilton paths on arbitrary 0/1-polytopes, which uses a linear optimization procedure as a black box. Our algorithms bypass solving the computationally intractable maximum weight independent set problem by a simple and purely combinatorial greedy rule.

cs.DM↗

New Records for the Hadamard Maximal Determinant Problem

The Hadamard maximal determinant problem seeks an $n\times n$ matrix $X$ with entries in $\{\pm 1\}$, which maximizes the determinant $\vert \det X \vert$ for a given order $n \in \mathbb{N}$. We report matrices attaining new record determinants for orders $n\equiv 3\pmod{4}$ between $103$ and $119$, as well as $n=51$. We provide a proof of optimality within a specific family of circulant--block constructions for $X$. For these orders, we recast the Hadamard problem as a sequence reconstruction problem from a pair of periodic autocorrelation functions, subject to certain arithmetic conditions. We describe several learning--based strategies for reconstruction and provide a comparison with classical simulated annealing--style approaches as a benchmark.

math.CO↗

An analogue of Reed's conjecture for digraphs

Reed in 1998 conjectured that every graph $G$ satisfies $χ(G) \leq \lceil \frac{Δ(G)+1+ω(G)}{2} \rceil$. As a partial result, he proved the existence of $\varepsilon > 0$ for which every graph $G$ satisfies $χ(G) \leq \lceil (1-\varepsilon)(Δ(G)+1)+\varepsilonω(G) \rceil$. We propose an analogue conjecture for digraphs. Given a digraph $D$, we denote by $\vecχ(D)$ the dichromatic number of $D$, which is the minimum number of colours needed to partition $D$ into acyclic induced subdigraphs. We let $\overleftrightarrowω(D)$ denote the size of the largest biclique (a set of vertices inducing a complete digraph) of $D$ and $\tildeΔ(D) = \max_{v\in V(D)} \sqrt{d^+(v) \cdot d^-(v)}$. We conjecture that every digraph $D$ satisfies $\vecχ(D) \leq \lceil \frac{\tildeΔ(D)+1+\overleftrightarrowω(D)}{2} \rceil$, which if true implies Reed's conjecture. As a partial result, we prove the existence of $\varepsilon >0$ for which every digraph $D$ satisfies $\vecχ(D) \leq \lceil (1-\varepsilon)(\tildeΔ(D)+1)+\varepsilon\overleftrightarrowω(D) \rceil$. This implies both Reed's result and an independent result of Harutyunyan and Mohar for oriented graphs. To obtain this upper bound on $\vecχ$, we prove that every digraph $D$ with $\overleftrightarrowω(D) > \frac{2}{3}(Δ_{\max}(D)+1)$, where $Δ_{\max}(D) = \max_{v\in V(D)} \max(d^+(v),d^-(v))$, admits an acyclic set of vertices intersecting each biclique of $D$, which generalises a result of King. We finally give a short proof that all oriented graphs $D$ satisfy $\vecχ(D) \leq \frac{\sqrt{2}}{2} \tildeΔ(D) + 2$, improving on a result of Golowich.

math.CO↗

Oracle-free Boltzmann Sampling for Powersets

We propose an approach for sampling powersets under the Boltzmann distribution in an oracle-free way, i.e. without numerically evaluating the associated generating function. Our approach relies on a Poissonised infinite occupancy model and thinning. It yields an explicit sampler for bounded counting sequences and extends under mild growth conditions. We implement the sampler and find runtimes comparable to existing Boltzmann samplers.

cs.DM↗

Connectivity of Districting Metagraphs

In this article, we prove irreducibility results for a family of Markov chains arising in the study of redistricting and detecting gerrymandering. These chains use ReCom moves as their transition mechanism and are commonly employed in Markov chain Monte Carlo methods to generate ensembles of districting plans. Such ensembles are frequently used for outlier analysis, in which a proposed districting map is compared against the ensemble to determine whether it behaves atypically; this methodology often appears in expert testimony in redistricting litigation. We show that when the underlying dual graph is a triangular subset of the triangular lattice with side length 5 or larger, and each district consists of two merged geographic regions, the associated ReCom chain is irreducible. This provides another entry in the very small list of known classes of ReCom chains for which irreducibility has been established. We also demonstrate the fragility of this phenomenon by constructing an infinite family of maps for which the corresponding ReCom chain is not irreducible. Indeed, we produce a districting map that, after implementing a single ReCom move, always yields the same original map. These examples remain structurally close to the triangular lattice: they arise as subdivisions of the triangular lattice, and the resulting graphs have maximum degree at most 8. Finally, we prove irreducibility for a further special case: the ReCom chain on a 3 x n grid graph partitioned into three districts of size n.

math.CO↗

A linear bound for nested cycles without geometric crossings

Cycles $C_1,\ldots,C_k$ in a graph are called nested without geometric crossings if they are pairwise edge-disjoint, $V(C_k)\subseteq\cdots\subseteq V(C_1)$, and each pair of consecutive cycles induces the same cyclic order on the vertices of the inner cycle, up to reversal. Let $f_k(n)$ be the least number of edges that forces such a family in every $n$-vertex graph. Gil Fernández, Kim, Kim and Liu proved that $f_2(n)=O(n)$, answering a question of Erdős, and asked whether $f_k(n)=O_k(n)$ for every fixed $k$. We prove this for all $k$. The proof selects the inner cycles together with a disjoint subgraph that supplies their external neighbours. A reselection argument gives disjoint paths from every inner-cycle vertex to any sufficiently large target set. Sublinear expansion and a rooted clique minor then allow the vertices to be joined in the required cyclic order.

math.CO↗

Generalized Graph Search Trees

Graph search algorithms and their corresponding graph search trees are commonly used in algorithmic graph theory. In recent years, the recognition problem of these graph search trees has received significant attention. So far, the research has focused on two types of search trees: first-in trees that behave like BFS-trees and last-in trees that behave like DFS-trees. The search tree paradigms differ from each other by the parent a vertex is connected to. In first-in trees, it is the first visited neighbor, while in last-in trees it is the last neighbor visited before that vertex. Here, we will generalize these concepts of graph search trees by allowing every preceding neighbor of a vertex to be the parent. We study the complexity of the recognition problem of these generalized graph search trees. We present NP-completeness proofs for most searches. We also show that the problem is trivial for Generic Search and polynomial-time solvable for several searches on bipartite graphs and chordal graphs. We also study the question how fixing the start vertex influences the complexity of the problem.

cs.DM↗

A $(\log n)^{1/4}$ Bound for the Komlós Problem

Let $A\in\mathbb{R}^{m\times n}$ have columns of Euclidean norm at most one. We prove that $\operatorname{disc}(A)\le2395\left(1+\log_+\frac n9\right)^{1/4}+2\sqrt2$. Here $\log_+t=\max\{0,\log t\}$. Building on Bansal and Jiang's affine spectral independence framework, we remove the $(\log\log n)^{7/4}$ factor from their bound. The fourth root comes from balancing the logarithmic decrease in the alive dimension against the fourth power of the row thresholds. Historical exponential sums control the covariance budget across size classes with summable thresholds. An exact threshold-sum certificate gives the coefficient $2395$, and rounding at most eight remaining fractional coordinates costs $2\sqrt2$. The finite construction also gives partial colourings from any prescribed starting point and at any prescribed depth, preserving existing signs. We formalize the partial- and full-colouring theorems in Lean, including the finite trajectory, exact threshold sum and final rounding, with Bansal--Jiang Theorem A.4 as the sole external research theorem assumption.

math.CO↗

Abelian Cayley High-Dimensional Expanders with Polylogarithmic Degree

We construct an explicit infinite family of simple two-dimensional Cayley complexes over $\mathbb{F}_2^n$ whose degree is polynomial in $n$ and whose nontrivial vertex-link eigenvalues lie in $[-λ,λ]$ for every fixed $λ>0$. For every fixed $d\ge2$, we also obtain an explicit infinite family of weighted $d$-dimensional Cayley complexes over $\mathbb{F}_2^n$ with codimension-two local spectral norm at most $1/d$ and Cayley degree $Θ_d(n)$. Our two-dimensional construction uses evaluation at rational points of algebraic curves to produce projective direction sets and many functions affine along these directions, which may be useful for further constructions and improvements.

math.CO↗

The exact asymptotic constant in the metric dimension of Jaccard space

Let $X$ be a finite set with $|X|=n$ and let $\mathrm{Jac}(a,b)=|a\,\triangle\, b|/|a\cup b|$ be the Jaccard distance on the power set $2^X$. Lladser and Paradise recently proved that the metric dimension of $(2^X,\mathrm{Jac})$ is $Θ(n/\ln n)$, with the constant left open; their bounds are $(\ln 2)\,n/\ln n\lesssim β(2^X,\mathrm{Jac})\lesssim 2\ln(2e)\,n/\ln n$. We determine the constant: \[ β(2^X,\mathrm{Jac})=\frac{2n}{\log_2 n}\,(1+o(1))=(2\ln 2)\,\frac{n}{\ln n}\,(1+o(1)). \] The proof identifies the problem, on each ``slice'' of subsets of fixed cardinality, with the Erdős--Rényi coin-weighing problem for a spring scale (the problem of \emph{detecting matrices}). The lower bound is the Erdős--Rényi entropy argument applied to the middle slice; the upper bound follows from the explicit detecting families of Lindström and of Cantor and Mills, augmented by a single extra landmark that reveals cardinality.

cs.DM↗

Polynomial-time algorithms for setting tight big-M coefficients in transmission expansion planning with disconnected buses

The increasing penetration of renewable energy and rising electricity demand are driving the need to integrate new buses and transmission lines into transmission grids. These trends are reshaping transmission expansion planning (TEP), motivating the development of effective methodologies to manage the resulting complexity. This paper introduces the longest shortest-path connection (LSPC) algorithm, a graph-based method to enhance the mixed-integer linear programming disjunctive formulation of TEP using valid inequalities (VIs). Traditional approaches for determining big-M coefficients in disconnected TEP networks typically rely on solving the computationally intensive longest path problem (LPP). In contrast, LSPC circumvents these limitations by efficiently identifying relevant power-flow paths between disconnected buses within the expansion network. We demonstrate that the VIs generated from these identified paths dominate those derived from LPP-based methods and other existing approaches.

cs.DM↗

Parameterised algorithms for temporally satisfying reconfiguration problems

Given a static vertex-selection problem (e.g. independent set, dominating set) on a graph, we can define a corresponding temporally satisfying reconfiguration problem on a temporal graph which asks for a sequence of solutions to the vertex-selection problem at each time such that we can reconfigure from one solution to the next. We can think of each solution in the sequence as a set of vertices with tokens placed on them; our reconfiguration model allows us to slide tokens along active edges of a temporal graph at each time-step. We show that it is possible to efficiently check whether one solution can be reconfigured to another, and show that approximation results on the static vertex-selection problem can be adapted with a lifetime factor to the reconfiguration version. Our main contributions are fixed-parameter tractable algorithms with respect to: enumeration time of the related static problem; the combination of temporal neighbourhood diversity and lifetime of the input temporal graph; and the combination of lifetime and treewidth of the footprint graph.

cs.DS↗

A fast and stable test to check if a weakly diagonally dominant matrix is a nonsingular M-matrix

We present a test for determining if a substochastic matrix is convergent. By establishing a duality between weakly chained diagonally dominant (w.c.d.d.) L-matrices and convergent substochastic matrices, we show that this test can be trivially extended to determine whether a weakly diagonally dominant (w.d.d.) matrix is a nonsingular M-matrix. The test's runtime is linear in the order of the input matrix if it is sparse and quadratic if it is dense. This is a partial strengthening of the cubic test in [J. M. Peña., A stable test to check if a matrix is a nonsingular M-matrix, Math. Comp., 247, 1385-1392, 2004]. As a by-product of our analysis, we prove that a nonsingular w.d.d. M-matrix is a w.c.d.d. L-matrix, a fact whose converse has been known since at least 1964. We point out that this strengthens some recent results on M-matrices in the literature.

math.NA↗

Homomorphism Indistinguishability, Multiplicity Automata Equivalence, and Polynomial Identity Testing

Two graphs $G$ and $H$ are homomorphism indistinguishable over a graph class $\mathcal{F}$ if they admit the same number of homomorphisms from every graph $F \in \mathcal{F}$. Many graph isomorphism relaxations such as (quantum) isomorphism and cospectrality can be characterised as homomorphism indistinguishability over specific graph classes. Thereby, the problems $\textrm{HomInd}(\mathcal{F})$ of deciding homomorphism indistinguishability over $\mathcal{F}$ subsume diverse graph isomorphism relaxations whose complexities range from logspace to undecidable. Establishing the first general result on the complexity of $\textrm{HomInd}(\mathcal{F})$, Seppelt (MFCS 2024) showed that $\textrm{HomInd}(\mathcal{F})$ is in randomised polynomial time for every graph class $\mathcal{F}$ of bounded treewidth that can be defined in counting monadic second-order logic $\mathsf{CMSO}_2$. We show that this algorithm is conditionally optimal, i.e. it cannot be derandomised unless polynomial identity testing is in $\mathsf{PTIME}$. For $\mathsf{CMSO}_2$-definable graph classes $\mathcal{F}$ of bounded pathwidth, we improve the previous complexity upper bound for $\textrm{HomInd}(\mathcal{F})$ from $\mathsf{PTIME}$ to $\mathsf{C}_=\mathsf{L}$ and show that this is tight. Secondarily, we establish a connection between homomorphism indistinguishability and multiplicity automata equivalence which allows us to pinpoint the complexity of the latter problem as $\mathsf{C}_=\mathsf{L}$-complete.

cs.CC↗

List coloring uncrowded hypergraphs at the shattering threshold

Improving an earlier bound of Frieze and Mubayi, Iliopoulos showed that any $k$-uniform uncrowded hypergraph of maximum degree $Δ$ has list chromatic number at most $(1+o(1))(k-1)\Big(\fracΔ{\logΔ}\Big)^{\frac{1}{k-1}}$. Determining the optimal leading constant in this bound remains a major open problem. A natural target for the constant, suggested by the coupon-collector heuristic, is $(k-1)^{\frac{1}{k-1}}$, which also arises independently as the shattering threshold for coloring and finding large independent sets in sparse random hypergraphs. We show that uncrowded hypergraphs attain this threshold: for $k \ge 2$, every $k$-uniform uncrowded hypergraph $\mathcal{H}$ of maximum degree at most $Δ$ satisfies $$χ_\ell(\mathcal{H})\le(1+o(1))\Big((k-1)\fracΔ{\logΔ}\Big)^{\frac{1}{k-1}}.$$ This matches the coupon-collector heuristic, and establishes a 2019 conjecture of Molloy for uncrowded hypergraphs. As a consequence, we show that every $k$-uniform linear hypergraph of maximum degree at most $Δ$ has chromatic number at most $c_k\Big(\fracΔ{\log Δ}\Big)^{\frac{1}{k-1}}$ with $c_k=1-o_k(1)$, resolving, in a stronger form, a recent conjecture of Verstraëte and Wilson on the independence number of linear hypergraphs. Our techniques yield the first palette sparsification result for hypergraph coloring using $o(Δ^{\frac{1}{k-1}})$ colors per vertex. Specifically, for an uncrowded $k$-graph $\mathcal{H}$ and $q=Θ\Big({\Big(\fracΔ{γ\logΔ}\Big)^{\frac{1}{k-1}}}\Big)$, sampling $Θ(Δ^{\fracγ{k-1}})$ colors per vertex suffices to obtain a proper $q$-coloring of $\mathcal{H}$ w.h.p. As an algorithmic consequence, we obtain a single-pass streaming algorithm using $O\big(n^{1+o(1)}\big)$ space for uncrowded $k$-graphs, and, via hypergraph partitioning, for linear hypergraphs as well.

math.CO↗

Limited Independence Suffices for Large-k Min-wise Hashing

Min-wise hashing and its $k$-min-wise variant are standard tools in similarity estimation, sampling, sketching, and streaming. A $k$-min-wise family requires every prescribed $r$-subset of a fixed set, for $r\le k$, to appear as the $r$ smallest hash values with approximately the fully random probability, up to multiplicative error $δ$. Previous analyses show that $O(\log(1/δ)+k\log\log(1/δ))$-wise independence suffices. Consequently, for $k=Θ(\log N)$ and $δ=N^{-c}$, the standard polynomial construction uses $O(k\log N\log\log N)$ seed bits. Recent work of Chen, Huang, and Li achieves the optimal $O(k\log N)$ seed length for $k=\log^{O(1)}N$, but only with almost-polynomial error $2^{-O(\log N/\log\log N)}$, leaving open whether polynomially small error is possible with the same seed length. We prove that the standard $s$-wise independent polynomial hash family is $k$-min-wise with multiplicative error $δ$ for $s=O(k+\log(1/δ)).$ Thus, when $k=Ω(\log(1/δ))$, only $O(k)$-wise independence is required. In particular, for $k=Θ(\log N)$ and $δ=N^{-c}$, this gives an explicit family with seed length $O(k\log N)$, matching the support-size lower bound up to constant factors. The proof conditions on the prescribed bottom set and bounds the error only after averaging over the random threshold given by its largest hash value, rather than controlling every threshold separately.

cs.DS↗