Related papers: Approximating observables is as hard as counting
We prove that, unless P=NP, there is no polynomial-time algorithm to approximate within some multiplicative constant the average size of an independent set in graphs of maximum degree 6. This is a special case of a more general result for…
The problem of (approximately) counting the independent sets of a bipartite graph (#BIS) is the canonical approximate counting problem that is complete in the intermediate complexity class #RH\Pi_1. It is believed that #BIS does not have an…
We give a randomized algorithm that approximates the number of independent sets in a dense, regular bipartite graph -- in the language of approximate counting, we give an FPRAS for #BIS on the class of dense, regular bipartite graphs.…
In the Maximum Independent Set problem we are asked to find a set of pairwise nonadjacent vertices in a given graph with the maximum possible cardinality. In general graphs, this classical problem is known to be NP-hard and hard to…
We propose a new type of approximate counting algorithms for the problems of enumerating the number of independent sets and proper colorings in low degree graphs with large girth. Our algorithms are not based on a commonly used Markov chain…
This article considers a class of disordered mean-field combinatorial optimization problems. We focus on the Gibbs measure, where the inverse temperature does not vary with the size of the graph and the edge weights are sampled from a…
Recent results establish for 2-spin antiferromagnetic systems that the computational complexity of approximating the partition function on graphs of maximum degree D undergoes a phase transition that coincides with the uniqueness phase…
We study the problem of approximately counting matchings in hypergraphs of bounded maximum degree and maximum size of hyperedges. With an activity parameter $\lambda$, each matching $M$ is assigned a weight $\lambda^{|M|}$. The counting…
We study the stable matching problem in non-bipartite graphs with incomplete but strict preference lists, where the edges have weights and the goal is to compute a stable matching of minimum or maximum weight. This problem is known to be…
For spin systems, such as the $q$-colorings and independent-set models, approximating the partition function in the so-called non-uniqueness region, where the model exhibits long-range correlations, is typically computationally hard for…
An emerging trend in approximate counting is to show that certain `low-temperature' problems are easy on typical instances, despite worst-case hardness results. For the class of regular graphs one usually shows that expansion can be…
Counting the independent sets of a graph is a classical #P-complete problem, even in the bipartite case. We give an exponential-time approximation scheme for this problem which is faster than the best known algorithm for the exact problem.…
Let H be a graph, and let C_H(G) be the number of (subgraph isomorphic) copies of H contained in a graph G. We investigate the fundamental problem of estimating C_H(G). Previous results cover only a few specific instances of this general…
A locally-optimal structure is a combinatorial structure such as a maximal independent set that cannot be improved by certain (greedy) local moves, even though it may not be globally optimal. It is trivial to construct an independent set in…
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 study the weighted induced bipartite subgraph problem (WIBSP). The goal of WIBSP is, given a graph and nonnegative weights for the nodes, to find a set W of nodes with the maximum total weight such that a subgraph induced by W is…
By implementing algorithmic versions of Sapozhenko's graph container methods, we give new algorithms for approximating the number of independent sets in bipartite graphs. Our first algorithm applies to $d$-regular, bipartite graphs…
We consider the algorithmic problem of finding large \textit{balanced} independent sets in sparse random bipartite graphs, and more generally the problem of finding independent sets with specified proportions of vertices on each side of the…
NP-complete problems should be hard on some instances but those may be extremely rare. On generic instances many such problems, especially related to random graphs, have been proven easy. We show the intractability of random instances of a…
We design improved approximation algorithms for NP-hard graph problems by incorporating predictions (e.g., learned from past data). Our prediction model builds upon and extends the $\varepsilon$-prediction framework by Cohen-Addad, d'Orsi,…