Related papers: The Tractability Frontier of Graph-Like First-Orde…
We study the first-order model checking problem on two generalisations of pushdown graphs. The first class is the class of nested pushdown trees. The other is the class of collapsible pushdown graphs. Our main results are the following.…
We study the problem of checking whether an existential sentence (that is, a first-order sentence in prefix form built using existential quantifiers and all Boolean connectives) is true in a finite partially ordered set (in short, a poset).…
An uncertain database is defined as a relational database in which primary keys need not be satisfied. A repair (or possible world) of such database is obtained by selecting a maximal number of tuples without ever selecting two distinct…
We describe simple algebraic and combinatorial characterisations of finite relational core structures admitting finitely many obstructions. As a consequence, we show that it is decidable to determine whether a constraint satisfaction…
Algorithmic meta-theorems explain the tractability of large classes of computational problems by linking logical expressibility with structural graph properties. While extensions of first-order logic such as FO+dp admit efficient model…
We study the question of whether a given regular language of finite trees can be defined in first-order logic. We develop an algebraic approach to address this question and we use it to derive several necessary and sufficient conditions for…
Graph databases in many applications---semantic web, transport or biological networks among others---are not only large, but also frequently modified. Evaluating graph queries in this dynamic context is a challenging task, as those queries…
One measure of the complexity of a first-order theory, and similarly a type, is the complexity of the formulas required to axiomatize it. We say a theory is bounded if there is an axiomatization involving only $\forall_n$-formulas for some…
We continue and extend previous work on the parameterized complexity analysis of the NP-hard Stable Roommates with Ties and Incomplete Lists problem, thereby strengthening earlier results both on the side of parameterized hardness as well…
Within the model-theoretic framework for supervised learning introduced by Grohe and Tur\'an (TOCS 2004), we study the parameterized complexity of learning concepts definable in monadic second-order logic (MSO). We show that the problem of…
We show that the decidability of the first-order theory of the language that combines Boolean algebras of sets of uninterpreted elements with Presburger arithmetic operations. We thereby disprove a recent conjecture that this theory is…
For a first-order theory $T$, the Constraint Satisfaction Problem of $T$ is the computational problem of deciding whether a given conjunction of atomic formulas is satisfiable in some model of $T$. In this article we develop sufficient…
We present initial limit Datalog, a new extensible class of constrained Horn clauses for which the satisfiability problem is decidable. The class may be viewed as a generalisation to higher-order logic (with a simple restriction on types)…
We analyse the complexity of learning first-order queries in a model-theoretic framework for supervised learning introduced by (Grohe and Tur\'an, TOCS 2004). Previous research on the complexity of learning in this framework focussed on the…
Query evaluation on probabilistic databases is generally intractable (#P-hard). Existing dichotomy results have identified which queries are tractable (or safe), and connected them to tractable lineages. In our previous work, using…
The finite spectrum of a first-order sentence is the set of positive integers that are the sizes of its models. The class of finite spectra is known to be the same as the complexity class NE. We consider the spectra obtained by limiting…
Sparse structures are frequently sought when pursuing tractability in optimization problems. They are exploited from both theoretical and computational perspectives to handle complex problems that become manageable when sparsity is present.…
The first-order (FO) model checking problem asks, given an FO sentence $\phi$ and a graph $G$, whether $G$ is a model of $\phi$. This problem is known to be $\mathsf{AW[*]}$-hard when parameterized by the quantifier rank of the formula. A…
Over the past two decades several fragments of first-order logic have been identified and shown to have good computational and algorithmic properties, to a great extent as a result of appropriately describing the image of the standard…
We study the first order theory of structures over graphs i.e. structures of the form ($\mathcal{G},\tau$) where $\mathcal{G}$ is the set of all (isomorphism types of) finite undirected graphs and $\tau$ some vocabulary. We define the…