Related papers: The Tractability Frontier of Graph-Like First-Orde…
In this article, we study parameterized complexity theory from the perspective of logic, or more specifically, descriptive complexity theory. We propose to consider parameterized model-checking problems for various fragments of first-order…
We systematically investigate the complexity of model checking the existential positive fragment of first-order logic. In particular, for a set of existential positive sentences, we consider model checking where the sentence is restricted…
The notion of bounded expansion captures uniform sparsity of graph classes and renders various algorithmic problems that are hard in general tractable. In particular, the model-checking problem for first-order logic is fixed-parameter…
Asking which sets are fixed-parameter tractable for a given parameterization constitutes much of the current research in parameterized complexity theory. This approach faces some of the core difficulties in complexity theory. By focussing…
We study the computational problem of checking whether a quantified conjunctive query (a first-order sentence built using only conjunction as Boolean connective) is true in a finite poset (a reflexive, antisymmetric, and transitive directed…
The parameterized model-checking problem for a class of first-order sentences (queries) asks to decide whether a given sentence from the class holds true in a given relational structure (database); the parameter is the length of the…
We investigate the decidability and complexity status of model-checking problems on unlabelled reachability graphs of Petri nets by considering first-order and modal languages without labels on transitions or atomic propositions on…
We consider the problems of deciding whether an input graph can be modified by removing/adding at most k vertices/edges such that the result of the modification satisfies some property definable in first-order logic. We establish a number…
We study the linearizability monitoring problem, which asks whether a given concurrent history of a data structure is equivalent to some sequential execution of the same data structure. In general, this problem is $\textsf{NP}$-hard, even…
A graph class $\mathscr{C}$ is called monadically stable if one cannot interpret, in first-order logic, arbitrary large linear orders in colored graphs from $\mathscr{C}$. We prove that the model checking problem for first-order logic is…
We construct a fixed parameter algorithm parameterized by d and k that takes as an input a graph G' obtained from a d-degenerate graph G by complementing on at most k arbitrary subsets of the vertex set of G and outputs a graph H such that…
Complex networks are everywhere. They appear for example in the form of biological networks, social networks, or computer networks and have been studied extensively. Efficient algorithms to solve problems on complex networks play a central…
We study the model-checking problem for first- and monadic second-order logic on finite relational structures. The problem of verifying whether a formula of these logics is true on a given structure is considered intractable in general, but…
We present a fixed-parameter tractable algorithm for first-order model checking on interpretations of graph classes with bounded local cliquewidth. Notably, this includes interpretations of planar graphs, and more generally, of classes of…
Various feature descriptions are being employed in logic programming languages and constrained-based grammar formalisms. The common notational primitive of these descriptions are functional attributes called features. The descriptions…
We introduce a new data structure for answering connectivity queries in undirected graphs subject to batched vertex failures. Precisely, given any graph G and integer k, we can in fixed-parameter time construct a data structure that can…
We study property testing of properties that are definable in first-order logic (FO) in the bounded-degree graph and relational structure models. We show that any FO property that is defined by a formula with quantifier prefix…
We study an extension of first-order logic that allows to express cardinality conditions in a similar way as SQL's COUNT operator. The corresponding logic FOC(P) was introduced by Kuske and Schweikardt (LICS'17), who showed that query…
In this article we formally define and investigate the computational complexity of the Definability Problem for open first-order formulas (i.e., quantifier free first-order formulas) with equality. Given a logic $\mathbf{\mathcal{L}}$, the…
It is known that for subgraph-closed graph classes the first-order model checking problem is fixed-parameter tractable if and only if the class is nowhere dense [Grohe, Kreutzer, Siebertz, STOC 2014]. However, the dependency on the formula…