English

Curvature batching gives single-exponential integer quadratic programming

Optimization and Control 2026-04-07 v1

Abstract

Integer Quadratic Programming (IQP), min{xTQx+cTx:Axb,xZn}\min\{x^T Q x + c^T x : Ax \le b,\, x\in\Z^n\}, is a fundamental problem in combinatorial optimization. While the convex and concave special cases admit polynomial-time algorithms for fixed~nn, the general indefinite case is considerably harder: it was only recently shown to lie in NP, and the FPT algorithm, due to Lokshtanov, establishes fixed-parameter tractability parameterized by nn and the largest coefficient~LL without giving an explicit running time. We give the first single-exponential algorithm for IQP, solving it in time (nLAnΔ(A)LQ)O(n)poly(φ), \bigl(n\,L^n_A\,\Delta(A)\,L_Q\bigr)^{O(n)}\cdot\mathrm{poly}(\varphi), which is (nL)O(n2)poly(φ)(nL)^{O(n^2)}\cdot\mathrm{poly}(\varphi) in general using the same parameterization. We achieve improvements for structured cases like total unimodularity and further state explicit complexity results for a number of FPT algorithms and optimization problems. The single-exponential bound is achieved via curvature batching: we classify kernel directions by the sign of their quadratic curvature and observe that when no negative-curvature direction exists, all gradient constraints can be imposed simultaneously in a single batch. This replaces the chain of determinant squarings inherent in sequential branching with a single polynomial inflation, after which the remaining problem is an ILP. As a secondary contribution, we give an explicit bound for concave integer minimization over a polytope {Axb}Zn\{Ax \le b\} \cap \Z^n whose parametric complexity depends only on the constraint matrix~AA and is independent of the right-hand side~bb.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2604.04851,
  title  = {Curvature batching gives single-exponential integer quadratic programming},
  author = {Cinar Ari and Robert Hildebrand},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2604.04851},
  year   = {2026}
}
R2 v1 2026-07-01T11:55:34.106Z