English

Optimal Static Fully Indexable Dictionaries

Data Structures and Algorithms 2025-04-29 v1

Abstract

Fully indexable dictionaries (FID) store sets of integer keys while supporting rank/select queries. They serve as basic building blocks in many succinct data structures. Despite the great importance of FIDs, no known FID is succinct with efficient query time when the universe size UU is a large polynomial in the number of keys nn, which is the conventional parameter regime for dictionary problems. In this paper, we design an FID that uses log(Un)+n(logU/t)Ω(t)\log \binom{U}{n} + \frac{n}{(\log U / t)^{\Omega(t)}} bits of space, and answers rank/select queries in O(t+loglogn)O(t + \log \log n) time in the worst case, for any parameter 1tlogn/loglogn1 \le t \le \log n / \log \log n, provided U=n1+Θ(1)U = n^{1 + \Theta(1)}. This time-space trade-off matches known lower bounds for FIDs [P\v{a}tra\c{s}cu & Thorup STOC 2006; P\v{a}tra\c{s}cu & Viola SODA 2010] when tlog0.99nt \le \log^{0.99} n. Our techniques also lead to efficient succinct data structures for the fundamental problem of maintaining nn integers each of =Θ(logn)\ell = \Theta(\log n) bits and supporting partial-sum queries, with a trade-off between O(t)O(t) query time and n+n/(logn/t)Ω(t)n\ell + n / (\log n / t)^{\Omega(t)} bits of space. Prior to this work, no known data structure for the partial-sum problem achieves constant query time with n+o(n)n \ell + o(n) bits of space usage.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2504.19350,
  title  = {Optimal Static Fully Indexable Dictionaries},
  author = {Jingxun Liang and Renfei Zhou},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2504.19350},
  year   = {2025}
}

Comments

18 pages, 2 figures; in ICALP 2025

R2 v1 2026-06-28T23:13:04.639Z