Related papers: Lower Bound for the Unique Games Problem

In this work we offer an $O(|V|^2 |E|\, W)$ pseudo-polynomial time deterministic algorithm for solving the Value Problem and Optimal Strategy Synthesis in Mean Payoff Games. This improves by a factor $\log(|V|\, W)$ the best previously…

The semi-random graph process is a single player game in which the player is initially presented an empty graph on $n$ vertices. In each round, a vertex $u$ is presented to the player independently and uniformly at random. The player then…

This thesis investigates the extent to which the optimal value of a constraint satisfaction problem (CSP) can be approximated by some sentence of fixed point logic with counting (FPC). It is known that, assuming $\mathsf{P} \neq…

We develop a new approach for approximating large independent sets when the input graph is a one-sided spectral expander - that is, the uniform random walk matrix of the graph has its second eigenvalue bounded away from 1. Consequently, we…

We show how two techniques from statistical physics can be adapted to solve a variant of the notorious Unique Games problem, potentially opening new avenues towards the Unique Games Conjecture. The variant, which we call Count Unique Games,…

Solving parity games is a major building block for numerous applications in reactive program verification and synthesis. While they can be solved efficiently in practice, no known approach has a polynomial worst-case runtime complexity. We…

This paper presents a new lower bound for the discrete strategy improvement algorithm for solving parity games due to Voege and Jurdziski. First, we informally show which structures are difficult to solve for the algorithm. Second, we…

In this paper we examine problems motivated by on-line financial problems and stochastic games. In particular, we consider a sequence of entirely arbitrary distinct values arriving in random order, and must devise strategies for selecting…

We consider graph games of infinite duration with winning conditions in parameterized linear temporal logic, where the temporal operators are equipped with variables for time bounds. In model checking such specifications were introduced as…

We study the problem of approximating the value of a Unique Game instance in the streaming model. A simple count of the number of constraints divided by $p$, the alphabet size of the Unique Game, gives a trivial $p$-approximation that can…

A long-standing open problem in algorithmic game theory asks whether or not there is a polynomial time algorithm to compute a Nash equilibrium in a random bimatrix game. We study random win-lose games, where the entries of the $n\times n$…

Consider the following probabilistic one-player game: The board is a graph with $n$ vertices, which initially contains no edges. In each step, a new edge is drawn uniformly at random from all non-edges and is presented to the player,…

This paper investigates and bounds the expected solution quality of combinatorial optimization problems when feasible solutions are chosen at random. Loose general bounds are discovered, as well as families of combinatorial optimization…

Stochastic games are an important class of problems that generalize Markov decision processes to game theoretic scenarios. We consider finite state two-player zero-sum stochastic games over an infinite time horizon with discounted rewards.…

Randomized mechanisms, which map a set of bids to a probability distribution over outcomes rather than a single outcome, are an important but ill-understood area of computational mechanism design. We investigate the role of randomized…

We study the complexity of solving two-player infinite duration games played on a fixed finite graph, where the control of a node is not predetermined but rather assigned randomly. In classic random-turn games, control of each node is…

We consider the question of approximating Max 2-CSP where each variable appears in at most $d$ constraints (but with possibly arbitrarily large alphabet). There is a simple $(\frac{d+1}{2})$-approximation algorithm for the problem. We prove…

We present a deterministic algorithm, solving discounted games with $n$ nodes in $n^{O(1)}\cdot (2 + \sqrt{2})^n$-time. For bipartite discounted games our algorithm runs in $n^{O(1)}\cdot 2^n$-time. Prior to our work no deterministic…

We study the classical and quantum values of one- and two-party linear games, an important class of unique games that generalizes the well-known XOR games to the case of non-binary outcomes. We introduce a ``constraint graph" associated to…

A casino offers the following game. There are three cups each containing a die. You are being told that the dice in the cups are all the same, but possibly nonstandard. For a bet of \$1, the game master shakes all three cups and lets you…