Related papers: Paths Beyond Local Search: A Nearly Tight Bound fo…
We give practical, efficient algorithms that automatically determine the asymptotic distributed round complexity of a given locally checkable graph problem in the $[\Theta(\log n), \Theta(n)]$ region, in two settings. We present one…
We prove an $\Omega(d \lg n/ (\lg\lg n)^2)$ lower bound on the dynamic cell-probe complexity of statistically $\mathit{oblivious}$ approximate-near-neighbor search ($\mathsf{ANN}$) over the $d$-dimensional Hamming cube. For the natural…
Error bounds and complexity bounds in numerical analysis and information-based complexity are often proved for functions that are defined on very simple domains, such as a cube, a torus, or a sphere. We study optimal error bounds for the…
In this paper, we study the parameterized complexity of local search, whose goal is to find a good nearby solution from the given current solution. Formally, given an optimization problem where the goal is to find the largest feasible…
Online learning aims to perform nearly as well as the best hypothesis in hindsight. For some hypothesis classes, though, even finding the best hypothesis offline is challenging. In such offline cases, local search techniques are often…
We characterize the query complexity of finding stationary points of one-dimensional non-convex but smooth functions. We consider four settings, based on whether the algorithms under consideration are deterministic or randomized, and…
A decentralized search algorithm is a method of routing on a random graph that uses only limited, local, information about the realization of the graph. In some random graph models it is possible to define such algorithms which produce…
We consider the ANTS problem [Feinerman et al.] in which a group of agents collaboratively search for a target in a two-dimensional plane. Because this problem is inspired by the behavior of biological species, we argue that in addition to…
Classical optimization algorithms--hill climbing, simulated annealing, population-based methods--generate candidate solutions via random perturbations. We replace the random proposal generator with an LLM agent that reasons about evaluation…
Randomized search algorithms for hard combinatorial problems exhibit a large variability of performances. We study the different types of rare events which occur in such out-of-equilibrium stochastic processes and we show how they cooperate…
Local fixpoint iteration describes a technique that restricts fixpoint iteration in function spaces to needed arguments only. It has been studied well for first-order functions in abstract interpretation and also in model checking. Here we…
A method for the construction of approximate analytical expressions for the stationary marginal densities of general stochastic search processes is proposed. By the marginal densities, regions of the search space that with high probability…
The problem of locally routing on geometric networks using limited memory is extensively studied in computational geometry. We consider one particular graph, the ordered $\Theta$-graph, which is significantly harder to route on than the…
We consider the approximability of center-based clustering problems where the points to be clustered lie in a metric space, and no candidate centers are specified. We call such problems "continuous", to distinguish from "discrete"…
Iteration complexities for optimizing smooth functions with first-order algorithms are typically stated in terms of a global Lipschitz constant of the gradient, and near-optimal results are then achieved using fixed step sizes. But many…
Designing search algorithms for finding global optima is one of the most active research fields, recently. These algorithms consist of two main categories, i.e., classic mathematical and metaheuristic algorithms. This article proposes a…
Continuous search problems (CSPs), which involve finding solutions within a continuous domain, frequently arise in fields such as optimization, physics, and engineering. Unlike discrete search problems, CSPs require navigating an…
A commonly used strategy for improving optimization algorithms is to restart the algorithm when it is believed to be trapped in an inferior part of the search space. Building on the recent success of Bet-and-Run approaches for restarted…
While reinforcement learning (RL) holds great potential for decision making in the real world, it suffers from a number of unique difficulties which often need specific consideration. In particular: it is highly non-stationary; suffers from…
This paper studies lower bounds for fundamental optimization problems in the CONGEST model. We show that solving problems exactly in this model can be a hard task, by providing $\tilde{\Omega}(n^2)$ lower bounds for cornerstone problems,…