Related papers: Lower Bound Techniques in the Comparison-Query Mod…
This paper tightens the best known analysis of Hein's 1989 algorithm to infer the topology of a weighted tree based on the lengths of paths between its leaves. It shows that the number of length queries required for a degree-$k$ tree of $n$…
In this paper, we provide algorithms to rank and unrank certain degree-restricted classes of Cayley trees (spanning trees of the n-vertex complete graph). Specifically, we consider classes of trees that have a given set of leaves or a fixed…
Sorting is a foundational problem in computer science that is typically employed on sequences or total orders. More recently, a more general form of sorting on partially ordered sets (or posets), where some pairs of elements are…
We define a search problem on trees that closely captures the backtracking behavior of all current practical graph isomorphism algorithms. Given two trees with colored leaves, the goal is to find two leaves of matching color, one in each of…
The {\sc Directed Maximum Leaf Out-Branching} problem is to find an out-branching (i.e. a rooted oriented spanning tree) in a given digraph with the maximum number of leaves. In this paper, we improve known parameterized algorithms and…
Over some types of trees with a given number of vertices, which trees minimize or maximize the total number of subtrees or leaf containing subtrees are studied. Here are some of the main results:\ (1)\, Sharp upper bound on the total number…
In this paper, we provide algorithms to rank, unrank, and randomly generate certain degree-restricted classes of Cayley trees. Specifically, we consider classes of trees that have a given degree sequence or a given multiset of degrees. If…
We study search trees with 2-way comparisons (2WCST's), which involve separate less-than and equal-to tests in their nodes, each test having two possible outcomes, yes and no. These trees have a much subtler structure than standard search…
Tree search algorithms, such as branch-and-bound, are the most widely used tools for solving combinatorial and nonconvex problems. For example, they are the foremost method for solving (mixed) integer programs and constraint satisfaction…
The set of all permutations with $n$ symbols is a symmetric group denoted by $S_n$. A transposition tree, $T$, is a spanning tree over its $n$ vertices $V_T=${$1, 2, 3, \ldots n$} where the vertices are the positions of a permutation $\pi$…
Given a weighted, ordered query set $Q$ and a partition of $Q$ into classes, we study the problem of computing a minimum-cost decision tree that, given any query $q$ in $Q$, uses equality tests and less-than comparisons to determine the…
Given a digraph $D$, the Minimum Leaf Out-Branching problem (MinLOB) is the problem of finding in $D$ an out-branching with the minimum possible number of leaves, i.e., vertices of out-degree 0. We prove that MinLOB is polynomial-time…
We introduce a framework for proving lower bounds on computational problems over distributions against algorithms that can be implemented using access to a statistical query oracle. For such algorithms, access to the input distribution is…
We consider the quantum complexities of the following three problems: searching an ordered list, sorting an un-ordered list, and deciding whether the numbers in a list are all distinct. Letting N be the number of elements in the input list,…
Recently, Balliu, Brandt, and Olivetti [FOCS '20] showed the first $\omega(\log^* n)$ lower bound for the maximal independent set (MIS) problem in trees. In this work we prove lower bounds for a much more relaxed family of distributed…
Tree rotations (left and right) are basic local deformations allowing to transform between two unlabeled binary trees of the same size. Hence, there is a natural problem of practically finding such transformation path with low number of…
We study a decision tree model in which one is allowed to query subsets of variables. This model is a generalization of the standard decision tree model. For example, the $\lor-$decision (or $T_1$-decision) model has two queries, one is a…
The maximum common subtree isomorphism problem asks for the largest possible isomorphism between subtrees of two given input trees. This problem is a natural restriction of the maximum common subgraph problem, which is ${\sf NP}$-hard in…
We study the connections between sorting and the binary search tree (BST) model, with an aim towards showing that the fields are connected more deeply than is currently appreciated. While any BST can be used to sort by inserting the keys…
In the laminar-constrained spanning tree problem, the goal is to find a minimum-cost spanning tree which respects upper bounds on the number of times each cut in a given laminar family is crossed. This generalizes the well-studied…