Related papers: Faster polytope rounding, sampling, and volume com…
We experimentally study the fundamental problem of computing the volume of a convex polytope given as an intersection of linear inequalities. We implement and evaluate practical randomized algorithms for accurately approximating the…
Most approximation algorithms for #P-complete problems (e.g., evaluating the permanent of a matrix or the volume of a polytope) work by reduction to the problem of approximate sampling from a distribution $\pi$ over a large set $\S$. This…
Performing random walks in networks is a fundamental primitive that has found applications in many areas of computer science, including distributed computing. In this paper, we focus on the problem of sampling random walks efficiently in a…
Many classical randomized algorithms (e.g., approximation algorithms for #P-complete problems) utilize the following random walk algorithm for {\em almost uniform sampling} from a state space $S$ of cardinality $N$: run a symmetric ergodic…
We focus on the problem of performing random walks efficiently in a distributed network. Given bandwidth constraints, the goal is to minimize the number of rounds required to obtain a random walk sample. We first present a fast sublinear…
We consider the problem of sampling from a log-concave distribution $\pi(\theta) \propto e^{-f(\theta)}$ constrained to a polytope $K:=\{\theta \in \mathbb{R}^d: A\theta \leq b\}$, where $A\in \mathbb{R}^{m\times d}$ and $b \in…
We propose and analyze two new MCMC sampling algorithms, the Vaidya walk and the John walk, for generating samples from the uniform distribution over a polytope. Both random walks are sampling algorithms derived from interior point methods.…
We introduce the geodesic walk for sampling Riemannian manifolds and apply it to the problem of generating uniform random points from polytopes in R^n specified by m inequalities. The walk is a discrete-time simulation of a stochastic…
We describe a novel algorithm for rounding packing integer programs based on multidimensional Brownian motion in $\mathbb{R}^n$. Starting from an optimal fractional feasible solution $\bar{x}$, the procedure converges in polynomial time to…
Let $K$ be a convex body in $\mathbb{R}^d$ which slides freely in a ball. Let $K^{(n)}$ denote the intersection of $n$ closed half-spaces containing $K$ whose bounding hyperplanes are independent and identically distributed according to a…
We show that the volume of a convex body in $\mathbb{R}^{n}$ in the general membership oracle model can be computed to within relative error $\varepsilon$ using $\widetilde{O}(n^{3.5}\psi^{2} + n^3/\varepsilon^{2})$ oracle queries, where…
We introduce a set of techniques that allow for efficiently generating many independent random walks in the Massive Parallel Computation (MPC) model with space per machine strongly sublinear in the number of vertices. In this…
We introduce a new tool for quantum algorithms called quantum fast-forwarding (QFF). The tool uses quantum walks as a means to quadratically fast-forward a reversible Markov chain. More specifically, with $P$ the Markov chain transition…
We define a notion of isotropy for discrete set distributions. If $\mu$ is a distribution over subsets $S$ of a ground set $[n]$, we say that $\mu$ is in isotropic position if $P[e \in S]$ is the same for all $e\in [n]$. We design a new…
We present an affine-invariant random walk for drawing uniform random samples from a convex body $\mathcal{K} \subset \mathbb{R}^n$ that uses maximum volume inscribed ellipsoids, known as John's ellipsoids, for the proposal distribution.…
Recently, it has been shown that one-dimensional quantum walks can mix more quickly than classical random walks, suggesting that quantum Monte Carlo algorithms can outperform their classical counterparts. We study two quantum walks on the…
We improve upon the running time for finding a point in a convex set given a separation oracle. In particular, given a separation oracle for a convex set $K\subset \mathbb{R}^n$ contained in a box of radius $R$, we show how to either find a…
We study the problem of covering a given set of $n$ points in a high, $d$-dimensional space by the minimum enclosing polytope of a given arbitrary shape. We present algorithms that work for a large family of shapes, provided either only…
We study approximations of smooth convex bodies by random ball-polytopes. We examine the following probability model: let $K\subset{\bf R}^d$ be a convex body such that $K$ slides freely in a ball of radius $R>0$ and has $C^2$ smooth…
We present a pseudopolynomial-time algorithm for the Knapsack problem that has running time $\widetilde{O}(n + t\sqrt{p_{\max}})$, where $n$ is the number of items, $t$ is the knapsack capacity, and $p_{\max}$ is the maximum item profit.…