English

$\#$W[1] = $\text{FPT}$: Fixed-Parameter Tractable Exact Algorithms for the $\#k$-Matching Problem

Computational Complexity 2026-05-12 v2

Abstract

The concept of NP-completeness has been proposed for half a century, and it is conjectured that there are no subexponential-time algorithms for NP-hard problems, which is known as the Exponential Time Hypothesis (ETH). As a pivotal conjecture in the field of theoretical computer science, numerous conjectures in computer science rely on ETH. A corollary of the Exponential Time Hypothesis is the Counting Exponential Time Hypothesis (#ETH\#ETH), and a further corollary of #ETH\#ETH is that #W[1]FPT\#W[1] \neq \text{FPT}. The #k\#k-matching problem is a well-known #W[1]\#W[1]-complete problem. We have discovered an algorithm for the #k\#k-matching problem with a running time of f(k)nO(1)f(k)n^{O(1)}. This result implies that the hypotheses #W[1]FPT\#W[1] \neq \text{FPT}, W[1]FPTW[1] \neq \text{FPT}, the Counting Exponential Time Hypothesis, and the Exponential Time Hypothesis all do not hold.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2604.16308,
  title  = {$\#$W[1] = $\text{FPT}$: Fixed-Parameter Tractable Exact Algorithms for the $\#k$-Matching Problem},
  author = {Yongming Yi},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2604.16308},
  year   = {2026}
}

Comments

The article contains fundamental inaccuracies regarding the core results and technical contributions of the original research. These errors are significant enough to mislead readers, particularly non-specialists in computational complexity theory. I therefore request the immediate retraction of this explanatory article.

R2 v1 2026-07-01T12:14:47.783Z