The Gap-Hamming-Distance problem arose in the context of proving space lower bounds for a number of key problems in the data stream model. In this problem, Alice and Bob have to decide whether the Hamming distance between their $n$-bit input strings is large (i.e., at least $n/2 + \sqrt n$) or small (i.e., at most $n/2 - \sqrt n$); they do not care if it is neither large nor small. This $Θ(\sqrt n)$ gap in the problem specification is crucial for capturing the approximation allowed to a data stream algorithm.
Thus far, for randomized communication, an $Ω(n)$ lower bound on this problem was known only in the one-way setting. We prove an $Ω(n)$ lower bound for randomized protocols that use any constant number of rounds.
As a consequence we conclude, for instance, that $ε$-approximately counting the number of distinct elements in a data stream requires $Ω(1/ε^2)$ space, even with multiple (a constant number of) passes over the input stream. This extends earlier one-pass lower bounds, answering a long-standing open question. We obtain similar results for approximating the frequency moments and for approximating the empirical entropy of a data stream.
In the process, we also obtain tight $n - Θ(\sqrt{n}\log n)$ lower and upper bounds on the one-way deterministic communication complexity of the problem. Finally, we give a simple combinatorial proof of an $Ω(n)$ lower bound on the one-way randomized communication complexity.
We consider the communication complexity of the Hamming distance of two strings. Bille et al. [SPIRE 2018] considered the communication complexity of the longest common prefix (LCP) problem in the setting where the two parties have their strings in a compressed form, i.e., represented by the Lempel-Ziv 77 factorization (LZ77) with/without self-references. We present a randomized public-coin protocol for a joint computation of the Hamming distance of two strings represented by LZ77 without self-references. While our scheme is heavily based on Bille et al.'s LCP protocol, our complexity analysis…
We study distributed protocols for finding all pairs of similar vectors in a large dataset. Our results pertain to a variety of discrete metrics, and we give concrete instantiations for Hamming distance. In particular, we give improved upper bounds on the overhead required for similarity defined by Hamming distance $r>1$ and prove a lower bound showing qualitative optimality of the overhead required for similarity over any Hamming distance $r$. Our main conceptual contribution is a connection between similarity search algorithms and certain graph-theoretic quantities. For our upper bounds, we …
We consider the problem of finding a maximal independent set (MIS) in the shared blackboard communication model with vertex-partitioned inputs. There are $n$ players corresponding to vertices of an undirected graph, and each player sees the edges incident on its vertex -- this way, each edge is known by both its endpoints and is thus shared by two players. The players communicate in simultaneous rounds by posting their messages on a shared blackboard visible to all players, with the goal of computing an MIS of the graph. While the MIS problem is well studied in other distributed models, and wh…
In this paper, we prove a strong XOR lemma for bounded-round two-player randomized communication. For a function $f:\mathcal{X}\times \mathcal{Y}\rightarrow\{0,1\}$, the $n$-fold XOR function $f^{\oplus n}:\mathcal{X}^n\times \mathcal{Y}^n\rightarrow\{0,1\}$ maps $n$ input pairs $(X_1,\ldots,X_n,Y_1,\ldots,Y_n)$ to the XOR of the $n$ output bits $f(X_1,Y_1)\oplus \cdots \oplus f(X_n, Y_n)$. We prove that if every $r$-round communication protocols that computes $f$ with probability $2/3$ uses at least $C$ bits of communication, then any $r$-round protocol that computes $f^{\oplus n}$ with proba…
We study two basic graph parameters, the chromatic number and the orthogonal rank, in the context of classical and quantum exact communication complexity. In particular, we consider two types of communication problems that we call promise equality and list problems. For both of these, it was already known that the one-round classical and one-round quantum complexities are characterized by the chromatic number and orthogonal rank of a certain graph, respectively. In a promise equality problem, Alice and Bob must decide if their inputs are equal or not. We prove that classical protocols for such…
We prove tight network topology dependent bounds on the round complexity of computing well studied $k$-party functions such as set disjointness and element distinctness. Unlike the usual case in the CONGEST model in distributed computing, we fix the function and then vary the underlying network topology. This complements the recent such results on total communication that have received some attention. We also present some applications to distributed graph computation problems. Our main contribution is a proof technique that allows us to reduce the problem on a general graph topology to a relev…
In this paper we explore fundamental problems in randomized communication complexity such as computing Set Intersection on sets of size $k$ and Equality Testing between vectors of length $k$. Sağlam and Tardos and Brody et al. showed that for these types of problems, one can achieve optimal communication volume of $O(k)$ bits, with a randomized protocol that takes $O(\log^* k)$ rounds. Aside from rounds and communication volume, there is a \emph{third} parameter of interest, namely the \emph{error probability} $p_{\mathrm{err}}$. It is straightforward to show that protocols for Set Intersectio…
We prove a direct sum theorem for bounded round entanglement-assisted quantum communication complexity. To do so, we use the fully quantum definition for information cost and complexity that we recently introduced, and use both the fact that information is a lower bound on the communication, and the fact that a direct sum property holds for quantum information complexity. We then give a protocol for compressing a single copy of a protocol down to its quantum information cost, up to terms depending on the number of rounds and the allowed increase in error. Two important tools to derive this pro…
The importance of being able to verify quantum computation delegated to remote servers increases with recent development of quantum technologies. In some of the proposed protocols for this task, a client delegates her quantum computation to non-communicating servers in multiple rounds of communication. In this work, we propose the first protocol where the client delegates her quantum computation to two servers in one-round of communication. Another advantage of our protocol is that it is conceptually simpler than previous protocols. The parameters of our protocol also make it possible to prove…
We explore multi-round quantum memoryless communication protocols. These are restricted version of multi-round quantum communication protocols. The "memoryless" term means that players forget history from previous rounds, and their behavior is obtained only by input and message from the opposite player. The model is interesting because this allows us to get lower bounds for models like automata, Ordered Binary Decision Diagrams and streaming algorithms. At the same time, we can prove stronger results with this restriction. We present a lower bound for quantum memoryless protocols. Additionally…
