In this paper, we consider the question of determining whether a function f has property P or is e-far from any function with property P. A property testing algorithm is given a sample of the value of f on instances drawn according to some distribution. In some cases, it is also allowed to query f on instances of its choice. We study this question for different properties and establish some connections to problems in learning theory and approximation.In particular, we focus our attention on testing graph properties. Given access to a graph G in the form of being able to query whether an edge exists or not between a pair of vertices, we devise algorithms to test whether the underlying graph has properties such as being bipartite, k-Colorable, or having a p-Clique (clique of density p with respect to the vertex set). Our graph property testing algorithms are probabilistic and make assertions that are correct with high probability, while making a number of queries that is independent of the size of the graph. Moreover, the property testing algorithms can be used to efficiently (i.e., in time linear in the number of vertices) construct partitions of the graph that correspond to the property being tested, if it holds for the input graph.

Property Testing and its connection to Learning and Approximation

Network Analysis: Methodological Foundations

In recent years, a new “fine-grained” theory of computational hardness has been developed, based on “fine-grained reductions” that focus on exact running times for problems. Mimicking NP-hardness, the approach is to (1) select a key problem X that for some function t , is conjectured to not be solvable by any O(t(n)1 ") time algorithm for " > 0, and (2) reduce X in a fine-grained way to many important problems, thus giving tight conditional time lower bounds for them. This approach has led to the discovery of many meaningful relationships between problems, and to equivalence

On some fine-grained questions in algorithms and complexity

Graph spanners: A tutorial review

The Massively Parallel Computation (MPC) model serves as a common abstraction of many modern large-scale parallel computation frameworks and has recently gained a lot of importance, especially in the context of classic graph problems. In this work, we mainly consider maximal matching and maximal independent set problems in the MPC model.These problems are known to admit efficient MPC algorithms if the space available per machine is near-linear in the number n of nodes. This is not only often significantly more than what we can afford, but also allows for easy if not trivial solutions for sparse graphs---which are common in real-world large-scale graphs. We are, therefore, interested in the low-memory MPC model, where the space per machine is restricted to be strongly sublinear, that is, nδ for any constant 0

https://dl.acm.org/doi/pdf/10.1145/3293611.3331609

Massively Parallel Computation of Matching and MIS in Sparse Graphs

Among the most important graph parameters is the Diameter, the largest distance between any two vertices. There are no known very efficient algorithms for computing the Diameter exactly. Thus, much research has been devoted to how fast this parameter can be approximated. Chechik et al. [SODA 2014] showed that the diameter can be approximated within a multiplicative factor of 3/2 in O(m3/2) time. Furthermore, Roditty and Vassilevska W. [STOC 13] showed that unless the Strong Exponential Time Hypothesis (SETH) fails, no O(n2−e) time algorithm can achieve an approximation factor better than 3/2 in sparse graphs. Thus the above algorithm is essentially optimal for sparse graphs for approximation factors less than 3/2. It was, however, completely plausible that a 3/2-approximation is possible in linear time. In this work we conditionally rule out such a possibility by showing that unless SETH fails no O(m3/2−e) time algorithm can achieve an approximation factor better than 5/3. Another fundamental set of graph parameters are the Eccentricities. The Eccentricity of a vertex v is the distance between v and the farthest vertex from v. Chechik et al. [SODA 2014] showed that the Eccentricities of all vertices can be approximated within a factor of 5/3 in O(m3/2) time and Abboud et al. [SODA 2016] showed that no O(n2−e) algorithm can achieve better than 5/3 approximation in sparse graphs. We show that the runtime of the 5/3 approximation algorithm is also optimal by proving that under SETH, there is no O(m3/2−e) algorithm that achieves a better than 9/5 approximation. We also show that no near-linear time algorithm can achieve a better than 2 approximation for the Eccentricities. This is the first lower bound in fine-grained complexity that addresses near-linear time computation. We show that our lower bound for near-linear time algorithms is essentially tight by giving an algorithm that approximates Eccentricities within a 2+δ factor in O(m/δ) time for any 0 To establish the above lower bounds we study the S-T Diameter problem: Given a graph and two subsets S and T of vertices, output the largest distance between a vertex in S and a vertex in T. We give new algorithms and show tight lower bounds that serve as a starting point for all other hardness results. Our lower bounds apply only to sparse graphs. We show that for dense graphs, there are near-linear time algorithms for S-T Diameter, Diameter and Eccentricities, with almost the same approximation guarantees as their O(m3/2) counterparts, improving upon the best known algorithms for dense graphs.

https://dl.acm.org/doi/pdf/10.1145/3188745.3188950

Towards tight approximation bounds for graph diameter and eccentricities

Among the most important graph parameters is the Diameter, the largest distance between any two vertices. There are no known very efficient algorithms for computing the Diameter exactly. Thus, much research has been devoted to how fast this parameter can be approximated. Chechik et al. showed that the diameter can be approximated within a multiplicative factor of $3/2$ in $\tilde{O}(m^{3/2})$ time. Furthermore, Roditty and Vassilevska W. showed that unless the Strong Exponential Time Hypothesis (SETH) fails, no $O(n^{2-\epsilon})$ time algorithm can achieve an approximation factor better than $3/2$ in sparse graphs. Thus the above algorithm is essentially optimal for sparse graphs for approximation factors less than $3/2$. It was, however, completely plausible that a $3/2$-approximation is possible in linear time. In this work we conditionally rule out such a possibility by showing that unless SETH fails no $O(m^{3/2-\epsilon})$ time algorithm can achieve an approximation factor better than $5/3$. 
Another fundamental set of graph parameters are the Eccentricities. The Eccentricity of a vertex $v$ is the distance between $v$ and the farthest vertex from $v$. Chechik et al. showed that the Eccentricities of all vertices can be approximated within a factor of $5/3$ in $\tilde{O}(m^{3/2})$ time and Abboud et al. showed that no $O(n^{2-\epsilon})$ algorithm can achieve better than $5/3$ approximation in sparse graphs. We show that the runtime of the $5/3$ approximation algorithm is also optimal under SETH. We also show that no near-linear time algorithm can achieve a better than $2$ approximation for the Eccentricities and that this is essentially tight: we give an algorithm that approximates Eccentricities within a $2+\delta$ factor in $\tilde{O}(m/\delta)$ time for any $0<\delta<1$. This beats all Eccentricity algorithms in Cairo et al.

Towards Tight Approximation Bounds for Graph Diameter and Eccentricities

We propose a new distribution-free model of social networks. Our definitions are motivated by one of the most universal signatures of social networks, triadic closure---the property that pairs of vertices with common neighbors tend to be adjacent. Our most basic definition is that of a "$c$-closed" graph, where for every pair of vertices $u,v$ with at least $c$ common neighbors, $u$ and $v$ are adjacent. We study the classic problem of enumerating all maximal cliques, an important task in social network analysis. We prove that this problem is fixed-parameter tractable with respect to $c$ on $c$-closed graphs. Our results carry over to "weakly $c$-closed graphs", which only require a vertex deletion ordering that avoids pairs of non-adjacent vertices with $c$ common neighbors. Numerical experiments show that well-studied social networks tend to be weakly $c$-closed for modest values of $c$.

Finding Cliques in Social Networks: A New Distribution-Free Model

In the dynamic Single-Source Shortest Paths (SSSP) problem, we are given a graph G=(V,E) subject to edge insertions and deletions and a source vertex s∈ V, and the goal is to maintain the distance d(s,t) for all t∈ V. Fine-grained complexity has provided strong lower bounds for exact partially dynamic SSSP and approximate fully dynamic SSSP [ESA’04, FOCS’14, STOC’15]. Thus much focus has been directed towards finding efficient partially dynamic (1+є)-approximate SSSP algorithms [STOC’14, ICALP’15, SODA’14, FOCS’14, STOC’16, SODA’17, ICALP’17, ICALP’19, STOC’19, SODA’20, SODA’20]. Despite this rich literature, for directed graphs there are no known deterministic algorithms for (1+є)-approximate dynamic SSSP that perform better than the classic ES-tree [JACM’81]. We present the first such algorithm. We present a deterministic data structure for incremental SSSP in weighted directed graphs with total update time O(n 2 logW/є O(1)) which is near-optimal for very dense graphs; here W is the ratio of the largest weight in the graph to the smallest. Our algorithm also improves over the best known partially dynamic randomized algorithm for directed SSSP by Henzinger et al. [STOC’14, ICALP’15] if m=ω(n 1.1). Complementing our algorithm, we provide improved conditional lower bounds. Henzinger et al. [STOC’15] showed that under the OMv Hypothesis, the partially dynamic exact s-t Shortest Path problem in undirected graphs requires amortized update or query time m 1/2−o(1), given polynomial preprocessing time. Under a new hypothesis about finding Cliques, we improve the update and query lower bound for algorithms with polynomial preprocessing time to m 0.626−o(1). Further, under the k-Cycle hypothesis, we show that any partially dynamic SSSP algorithm with O(m 2−є) preprocessing time requires amortized update or query time m 1−o(1), which is essentially optimal. All previous conditional lower bounds that come close to our bound [ESA’04,FOCS’14] only held for “combinatorial” algorithms, while our new lower bound does not make such restrictions.

New algorithms and hardness for incremental single-source shortest paths in directed graphs

The diameter, radius and eccentricities are natural graph parameters. While these problems have been studied extensively, there are no known dynamic algorithms for them beyond the ones that follow from trivial recomputation after each update or from solving dynamic All-Pairs Shortest Paths (APSP), which is very computationally intensive. This is the situation for dynamic approximation algorithms as well, and even if only edge insertions or edge deletions need to be supported. 
This paper provides a comprehensive study of the dynamic approximation of Diameter, Radius and Eccentricities, providing both conditional lower bounds, and new algorithms whose bounds are optimal under popular hypotheses in fine-grained complexity. Some of the highlights include: 
- Under popular hardness hypotheses, there can be no significantly better fully dynamic approximation algorithms than recomputing the answer after each update, or maintaining full APSP. 
- Nearly optimal partially dynamic (incremental/decremental) algorithms can be achieved via efficient reductions to (incremental/decremental) maintenance of Single-Source Shortest Paths. For instance, a nearly $(3/2+\epsilon)$-approximation to Diameter in directed or undirected graphs can be maintained decrementally in total time $m^{1+o(1)}\sqrt{n}/\epsilon^2$. This nearly matches the static $3/2$-approximation algorithm for the problem that is known to be conditionally optimal.

Nicole Wein

Papers

Towards tight approximation bounds for graph diameter and eccentricities

Towards Tight Approximation Bounds for Graph Diameter and Eccentricities

Finding Cliques in Social Networks: A New Distribution-Free Model

New algorithms and hardness for incremental single-source shortest paths in directed graphs

Algorithms and Hardness for Diameter in Dynamic Graphs