数据结构与算法
Sampling from multiple distributions so as to maximize overlap has been studied by statisticians since the 1950s. Since the 2000s, such correlated sampling from the probability simplex has been a powerful building block in disparate areas…
A graph is $c$-closed when every pair of nonadjacent vertices has at most $c-1$ common neighbors. In $c$-Closed Vertex Deletion, the input is a graph $G$ and an integer $k$ and we ask whether $G$ can be transformed into a $c$-closed graph…
In the classical longest palindromic substring (LPS) problem, we are given a string $S$ of length $n$, and the task is to output a longest palindromic substring in $S$. Gilbert, Hajiaghayi, Saleh, and Seddighin [SPAA 2023] showed how to…
Consider the single-source shortest paths problem on a directed graph with real-valued edge weights. We solve this problem in $O(n^{2.5}\log^{4.5}n)$ time, improving on prior work of Fineman (STOC 2024) and Huang-Jin-Quanrud (SODA 2025,…
We give a polynomial-time approximation algorithm for the (not necessarily metric) $k$-Median problem. The algorithm is an $\alpha$-size-approximation algorithm for $\alpha < 1 + 2 \ln(n/k)$. That is, it guarantees a solution having size at…
String Edit Distance is a more-than-classical problem whose behavior in the dynamic setting, where the strings are updated over time, is well studied. A single-character substitution, insertion, or deletion can be processed in time…
We give a proof of the conjecture of Nelson and Nguyen [FOCS 2013] on the optimal dimension and sparsity of oblivious subspace embeddings, up to sub-polylogarithmic factors: For any $n\geq d$ and $\epsilon\geq d^{-O(1)}$, there is a random…
In 2022, we published the book Maximum-Entropy Sampling: Algorithms and Application (Springer). Since then, there have been several notable advancements on this topic. In this manuscript, we survey some recent highlights.
We establish that a simple polynomial-time algorithm that we call reweighted spectral partitioning obtains small 2/3-balanced vertex-separators for a number of graph classes, including $O(\sqrt{n})$-sized separators for planar graphs,…
The BiCluster Editing problem aims at editing a given bipartite graph into a disjoint union of bicliques via a minimum number of edge deletion or addition operations. As a graph-based model for data clustering, the problem aims at a…
Shape formation is one of the most thoroughly studied problems in programmable matter and swarm robotics. However, in many models, the class of shapes that can be formed is highly restricted due to the particles' limited memory. In the…
Online linear programming (OLP) has gained significant attention from both researchers and practitioners due to its extensive applications, such as online auction, network revenue management, order fulfillment and advertising. Existing OLP…
A random $m\times n$ matrix $S$ is an oblivious subspace embedding (OSE) with parameters $\epsilon>0$, $\delta\in(0,1/3)$ and $d\leq m\leq n$, if for any $d$-dimensional subspace $W\subseteq R^n$, $P\big(\,\forall_{x\in W}\…
In the Generalized Noah's Ark Problem, one is given a phylogenetic tree on a set of species X and a set of conservation projects for each species. Each project comes with a cost and raises the survival probability of the corresponding…
In the classic longest common substring (LCS) problem, we are given two strings $S$ and $T$, each of length at most $n$, over an alphabet of size $\sigma$, and we are asked to find a longest string occurring as a fragment of both $S$ and…
We design new algorithms for approximating 2CSPs on graphs with bounded threshold rank, that is, whose normalized adjacency matrix has few eigenvalues larger than $\varepsilon$, smaller than $-\varepsilon$, or both. Unlike on worst-case…
We consider the problems of \emph{learning} and \emph{testing} real-valued convex functions over Gaussian space. Despite the extensive study of function convexity across mathematics, statistics, and computer science, its learnability and…
Rank aggregation is a task of combining the rankings of items from multiple users into a single ranking that best represents the users' rankings. Alabi et al. (AAAI'22) presents differentially-private (DP) polynomial-time approximation…
We study the problem of constructing cycle bases of graphs with low maximum edge participation, defined as the maximum number of basis cycles that share any single edge. This quantity, though less studied than total weight or length, plays…
The fastest known algorithm for factoring a degree $n$ univariate polynomial over a finite field $\mathbb{F}_q$ runs in time $O(n^{3/2 + o(1)}\text{polylog } q)$, and there is a reason to believe that the $3/2$ exponent represents a…