Related papers: Hardness of Distributed Optimization
We study the problem of computing approximate minimum edge cuts by distributed algorithms. We use a standard synchronous message passing model where in each round, $O(\log n)$ bits can be transmitted over each edge (a.k.a. the CONGEST…
We consider stochastic optimization problems with heavy-tailed noise with structured density. For such problems, we show that it is possible to get faster rates of convergence than $\mathcal{O}(K^{-2(\alpha - 1)/\alpha})$, when the…
We give new, improved bounds for approximating the sparsest cut value or in other words the conductance $\phi$ of a graph in the CONGEST model. As our main result, we present an algorithm running in $O(\log^2 n/\phi)$ rounds in which every…
We study the problem of broadcasting multiple messages in the CONGEST model. In this problem, a dedicated source node $s$ possesses a set $M$ of messages with every message of size $O(\log n)$ where $n$ is the total number of nodes. The…
Despite its important applications in Machine Learning, min-max optimization of nonconvex-nonconcave objectives remains elusive. Not only are there no known first-order methods converging even to approximate local min-max points, but the…
The Minimum Dominating Set (MDS) problem is a well-established combinatorial optimization problem with numerous real-world applications. Its NP-hard nature makes it increasingly difficult to obtain exact solutions as the graph size grows.…
The classic lower bound of Kuhn, Moscibroda and Wattenhofer [JACM 2016] states that approximate maximum matching and approximate vertex cover (among other problems) in the LOCAL model require $\Omega(\min\{\sqrt{\frac{\log n}{\log\log n}},…
A drawback of the classic approach for complexity analysis of distributed graph problems is that it mostly informs about the complexity of notorious classes of ``worst case'' graphs. Algorithms that are used to prove a tight (existential)…
Given an undirected graph $G = (V, E)$ and a weight function $w:E \to \mathbb{R}$, the \textsc{Minimum Dominating Tree} problem asks to find a minimum weight sub-tree of $G$, $T = (U, F)$, such that every $v \in V \setminus U$ is adjacent…
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…
In the classical Steiner tree problem, given an undirected, connected graph $G=(V,E)$ with non-negative edge costs and a set of \emph{terminals} $T\subseteq V$, the objective is to find a minimum-cost tree $E' \subseteq E$ that spans the…
In this paper the minimum spanning tree problem with uncertain edge costs is discussed. In order to model the uncertainty a discrete scenario set is specified and a robust framework is adopted to choose a solution. The min-max, min-max…
We consider a general class of two-stage distributionally robust optimization (DRO) problems where the ambiguity set is constrained by fixed marginal probability laws that are not necessarily discrete. We derive primal and dual formulations…
This work considers a number of optimization problems and reductive relations between them. The two main problems we are interested in are the \emph{Optimal Decision Tree} and \emph{Set Cover}. We study these two fundamental tasks under…
Very recently, Khoury and Schild [FOCS 2025] showed that any randomized LOCAL algorithm that solves maximal matching requires $\Omega(\min\{\log \Delta, \log_\Delta n\})$ rounds, where $n$ is the number of nodes in the graph and $\Delta$ is…
The classical branch-and-bound algorithm for the integer feasibility problem has exponential worst case complexity. We prove that it is surprisingly efficient on reformulated problems, in which the columns of the constraint matrix are…
The goal of this paper is to understand the complexity of symmetry breaking problems, specifically maximal independent set (MIS) and the closely related $\beta$-ruling set problem, in two computational models suited for large-scale graph…
The Steiner Tree problem is a classical problem in combinatorial optimization: the goal is to connect a set $T$ of terminals in a graph $G$ by a tree of minimum size. Karpinski and Zelikovsky (1996) studied the $\delta$-dense version of…
We establish new exponential in dimension lower bounds for the Maximum Halfspace Discrepancy problem, which models linear classification. Both are fundamental problems in computational geometry and machine learning in their exact and…
The online dominating set problem is an online variant of the minimum dominating set problem, which is one of the most important NP-hard problems on graphs. This problem is defined as follows: Given an undirected graph $G = (V, E)$, in…