我们证明了与各种可满足性，图形和组合问题，当限制到平面的情况下，计数问题的#P-硬度。这些问题包括\begin{romannum} \item[{}] {\sc 3Sat, 1-3Sat, 1-Ex3Sat, Minimum Vertex Cover, Minimum Dominating Set, Minimum Feedback Vertex Set, X3C, Partition Into Triangles, and Clique Cover.} \end{romannum}我们还证明了{\sf NP}-完备性的{ \sc Ambiguity Satisfiability}问题\cite{Sa80}和{ \sf D $^P$ }-完备性（相对于随机多项式约简）的唯一可满足性问题\cite{VV85}与上述几个问题，当限制到平面的情况。以前，很少{ \sf #P}-硬度的结果，没有{ \sf NP}-硬度的结果，没有{ \sf D $^P$ }-完整性的结果是已知的计数问题，模糊的可满足性问题和唯一的可满足性问题，分别限制到平面的实例。假设{ \sf P $\neq $ NP}，上述结果的一个推论是：对于整数上线性不等式约束的平面线性目标函数的最大化或最小化问题，没有$ε$ -近似算法.
英文摘要：
We prove the #P-hardness of the counting problems associated with various satisfiability, graph and combinatorial problems, when restricted to planar instances. These problems include \begin{romannum} \item[{}] {\sc 3Sat, 1-3Sat, 1-Ex3Sat, Minimum Vertex Cover, Minimum Dominating Set, Minimum Feedback Vertex Set, X3C, Partition Into Triangles, and Clique Cover.} \end{romannum} We also prove the {\sf NP}-completeness of the {\sc Ambiguous Satisfiability} problems \cite{Sa80} and the {\sf D$^P$}-completeness (with respect to random polynomial reducibility) of the unique satisfiability problems \cite{VV85} associated with several of the above problems, when restricted to planar instances. Previously, very few {\sf #P}-hardness results, no {\sf NP}-hardness results, and no {\sf D$^P$}-completeness results were known for counting problems, ambiguous satisfiability problems and unique satisfiability problems, respectively, when restricted to planar instances.
Assuming {\sf P $\neq $ NP}, one corollary of the above results is
There are no $ε$-approximation algorithms for the problems of maximizing or minimizing a linear objective function subject to a planar system of linear inequality constraints over the integers.
We consider the problem of counting matchings in planar graphs. While perfect matchings in planar graphs can be counted by a classical polynomial-time algorithm, the problem of counting all matchings (possibly containing unmatched vertices, also known as defects) is known to be #P-complete on planar graphs. To interpolate between the hard case of counting matchings and the easy case of counting perfect matchings, we study the parameterized problem of counting matchings with exactly k unmatched vertices in a planar graph G, on input G and k. This setting has a natural interpretation in statisti…
Here we prove that counting maximum matchings in planar, bipartite graphs is #P-complete. This is somewhat surprising in the light that the number of perfect matchings in planar graphs can be computed in polynomial time. We also prove that counting non-necessarily perfect matchings in planar graphs is already #P-complete if the problem is restricted to bipartite graphs. So far hardness was proved only for general, non-necessarily bipartite graphs.
We prove a complexity dichotomy theorem for counting planar graph homomorphisms of domain size 3. Given any 3 by 3 real valued symmetric matrix $H$ defining a graph homomorphism from all planar graphs $G \mapsto Z_H(G)$, we completely classify the computational complexity of this problem according to the matrix $H$. We show that for every $H$, the problem is either polynomial time computable or \#P-hard. The P-time computable cases consist of precisely those that are P-time computable for general graphs (a complete classification is known) or computable by Valiant's holographic algorithm via m…
In this note we study the computational complexity of feedback arc set counting problems in directed graphs, highlighting some subtle yet common properties of counting classes. Counting the number of feedback arc sets of cardinality $k$ and the total number of feedback arc sets are #P-complete problems, while counting the number of minimum feedback arc sets is only proven to be #P-hard. Indeed, this latter problem is #.OptP[log n]-complete, hence if it belongs to #P then P=NP.
Let $G$ be a graph that contains an induced subgraph $H$. A retraction from $G$ to $H$ is a homomorphism from $G$ to $H$ that is the identity function on $H$. Retractions are very well-studied: Given $H$, the complexity of deciding whether there is a retraction from an input graph $G$ to $H$ is completely classified, in the sense that it is known for which $H$ this problem is tractable (assuming $\mathrm{P}\neq \mathrm{NP}$). Similarly, the complexity of (exactly) counting retractions from $G$ to $H$ is classified (assuming $\mathrm{FP}\neq \#\mathrm{P}$). However, almost nothing is known abou…
A retraction is a homomorphism from a graph $G$ to an induced subgraph $H$ of $G$ that is the identity on $H$. In a long line of research, retractions have been studied under various algorithmic settings. Recently, the problem of approximately counting retractions was considered. We give a complete trichotomy for the complexity of approximately counting retractions to all square-free graphs (graphs that do not contain a cycle of length $4$). It turns out there is a rich and interesting class of graphs for which this problem is complete in the class $\#\mathrm{BIS}$. As retractions generalise h…
We present an algorithm that takes as input an $n$-vertex planar graph $G$ and a $k$-vertex pattern graph $P$, and computes the number of (induced) copies of $P$ in $G$ in $2^{O(k/\log k)}n^{O(1)}$ time. If $P$ is a matching, independent set, or connected bounded maximum degree graph, the runtime reduces to $2^{\tilde{O}(\sqrt{k})}n^{O(1)}$. While our algorithm counts all copies of $P$, it also improves the fastest algorithms that only detect copies of $P$. Before our work, no $2^{O(k/\log k)}n^{O(1)}$ time algorithms for detecting unrestricted patterns $P$ were known, and by a result of Bodla…
A homomorphism from a graph G to a graph H is a function from the vertices of G to the vertices of H that preserves edges. A homomorphism is surjective if it uses all of the vertices of H and it is a compaction if it uses all of the vertices of H and all of the non-loop edges of H. Hell and Nesetril gave a complete characterisation of the complexity of deciding whether there is a homomorphism from an input graph G to a fixed graph H. A complete characterisation is not known for surjective homomorphisms or for compactions, though there are many interesting results. Dyer and Greenhill gave a com…
We prove #P-completeness results for counting edge colorings on simple graphs. These strengthen the corresponding results on multigraphs from [4]. We prove that for any $κ\ge r \ge 3$ counting $κ$-edge colorings on $r$-regular simple graphs is #P-complete. Furthermore, we show that for planar $r$-regular simple graphs where $r \in \{3, 4, 5\}$ counting edge colorings with \k{appa} colors for any $κ\ge r$ is also #P-complete. As there are no planar $r$-regular simple graphs for any $r > 5$, these statements cover all interesting cases in terms of the parameters $(κ, r)$.
We investigate the complexity of approximately counting stable matchings in the $k$-attribute model, where the preference lists are determined by dot products of "preference vectors" with "attribute vectors", or by Euclidean distances between "preference points" and "attribute points". Irving and Leather proved that counting the number of stable matchings in the general case is $#P$-complete. Counting the number of stable matchings is reducible to counting the number of downsets in a (related) partial order and is interreducible, in an approximation-preserving sense, to a class of problems tha…
We study the approximation complexity of the partition function of the eight-vertex model on general 4-regular graphs. For the first time, we relate the approximability of the eight-vertex model to the complexity of approximately counting perfect matchings, a central open problem in this field. Our results extend those in arXiv:1811.03126 [cs.CC]. In a region of the parameter space where no previous approximation complexity was known, we show that approximating the partition function is at least as hard as approximately counting perfect matchings via approximation-preserving reductions. In ano…
In this paper, we build on the idea of Valiant \cite{Val79a} and Ben-Dor/Halevi \cite{Ben93}, that is, to count the number of satisfying solutions of a boolean formula via computing the permanent of a specially constructed matrix. We show that the Desnanot-Jacobi identity ($\dji$) prevents Valiant's original approach to achieve a parsimonious reduction to the permanent over a field of characteristic two. As the next step, since the computation of the permanent is $#\classP$-complete, we make use of the equality of the permanent and the number of perfect matchings in an unweighted graph's bipar…
One of the most important recent developments in the complexity of approximate counting is the classification of the complexity of approximating the partition functions of antiferromagnetic 2-spin systems on bounded-degree graphs. This classification is based on a beautiful connection to the so-called uniqueness phase transition from statistical physics on the infinite $Δ$-regular tree. Our objective is to study the impact of this classification on unweighted 2-spin models on $k$-uniform hypergraphs. As has already been indicated by Yin and Zhao, the connection between the uniqueness phase tra…
In this paper, we prove that the numerical-semigroup-gap counting problem is #NP-complete as a main theorem. A numerical semigroup is an additive semigroup over the set of all nonnegative integers. A gap of a numerical semigroup is defined as a positive integer that does not belong to the numerical semigroup. The computation of gaps of numerical semigroups has been actively studied from the 19th century. However, little has been known on the computational complexity. In 2005, Ramirez-Alfonsin proposed a question whether or not the numerical-semigroup-gap counting problem is #P-complete. This w…
The Parameterised Complexity of Temporal Motif Counting, and a Lovász-Style Isomorphism Theorem
Indian Institute of Technology Palakkad（印度理工学院帕拉卡德分校）；School of Computing Science, University of Glasgow（格拉斯哥大学计算科学学院）；School of Electronic Engineering and Computer Science, Queen Mary University of London（伦敦大学玛丽女王学院电子工程与计算机科学系）
We study the exponential time complexity of approximate counting satisfying assignments of CNFs. We reduce the problem to deciding satisfiability of a CNF. Our reduction preserves the number of variables of the input formula and thus also preserves the exponential complexity of approximate counting. Our algorithm is also similar to an algorithm which works particular well in practice for which however no approximation guarantee was known. Towards an analysis of our reduction we provide a new inequality similar to the Bonami-Beckner hypercontractive inequality.
We consider the problem of counting, in a given graph, the number of induced k-vertex subgraphs which have an even number of edges, and also the complementary problem of counting the k-vertex induced subgraphs having an odd number of edges. We demonstrate that both problems are #W[1]-hard when parameterised by k, in fact proving a somewhat stronger result about counting subgraphs with a property that only holds for some subset of k-vertex subgraphs which have an even (respectively odd) number of edges. On the other hand, we show that the problems of counting even and odd k-vertex induced subgr…
We give a complexity dichotomy theorem for the counting Constraint Satisfaction Problem (#CSP in short) with complex weights. To this end, we give three conditions for its tractability. Let F be any finite set of complex-valued functions, then we prove that #CSP(F) is solvable in polynomial time if all three conditions are satisfied; and is #P-hard otherwise. Our complexity dichotomy generalizes a long series of important results on counting problems: (a) the problem of counting graph homomorphisms is the special case when there is a single symmetric binary function in F; (b) the problem of co…
We investigate the computational complexity of the problem of counting the maximal satisfying assignments of a Constraint Satisfaction Problem (CSP) over the Boolean domain {0,1}. A satisfying assignment is maximal if any new assignment which is obtained from it by changing a 0 to a 1 is unsatisfying. For each constraint language Gamma, #MaximalCSP(Gamma) denotes the problem of counting the maximal satisfying assignments, given an input CSP with constraints in Gamma. We give a complexity dichotomy for the problem of exactly counting the maximal satisfying assignments and a complexity trichotom…
We show that an effective version of Siegel's Theorem on finiteness of integer solutions and an application of elementary Galois theory are key ingredients in a complexity classification of some Holant problems. These Holant problems, denoted by Holant(f), are defined by a symmetric ternary function f that is invariant under any permutation of the k >= 3 domain elements. We prove that Holant(f) exhibits a complexity dichotomy. This dichotomy holds even when restricted to planar graphs. A special case of this result is that counting edge k-colorings is #P-hard over planar 3-regular graphs for k…
This note closes a minor gap in the literature on the counting complexity of conjunctive queries by showing that queries that are not free-connex do not have a linear time counting algorithm under standard complexity assumptions. More generally, it is shown that the so-called quantified star size is a lower bound for the exponent in the runtime of any counting algorithm for conjunctive queries.
We discover new P-time computable six-vertex models on planar graphs beyond Kasteleyn's algorithm for counting planar perfect matchings. We further prove that there are no more: Together, they exhaust all P-time computable six-vertex models on planar graphs, assuming #P is not P. This leads to the following exact complexity classification: For every parameter setting in ${\mathbb C}$ for the six-vertex model, the partition function is either (1) computable in P-time for every graph, or (2) #P-hard for general graphs but computable in P-time for planar graphs, or (3) #P-hard even for planar gra…
We determine the complexity of counting models of bounded size of specifications expressed in Linear-time Temporal Logic. Counting word models is #P-complete, if the bound is given in unary, and as hard as counting accepting runs of nondeterministic polynomial space Turing machines, if the bound is given in binary. Counting tree models is as hard as counting accepting runs of nondeterministic exponential time Turing machines, if the bound is given in unary. For a binary encoding of the bound, the problem is at least as hard as counting accepting runs of nondeterministic exponential space Turin…
Focke, Goldberg, and Živný (arXiv 2017) prove a complexity dichotomy for the problem of counting surjective homomorphisms from a large input graph G without loops to a fixed graph H that may have loops. In this note, we give a short proof of a weaker result: Namely, we only prove the #P-hardness of the more general problem in which G may have loops. Our proof is an application of a powerful framework of Lovász (2012), and it is analogous to proofs of Curticapean, Dell, and Marx (STOC 2017) who studied the "dual" problem in which the pattern graph G is small and the host graph H is the input. I…
We investigate the complexity of algorithms counting ones in different sets of operations. With addition and logical operations (but no shift) $O(\log^2(n))$ steps suffice to count ones. Parity can be computed with complexity $O(\log(n))$, which is the same bound as for methods using shift-operations. If multiplication is available, a solution of time complexity $O(\log^*(n))$ is possible improving the known bound $O(\log\log(n))$.
University of Notre Dame（圣母大学）；Utrecht University（乌得勒支大学）；TU Eindhoven（埃因霍温理工大学）；KTH Royal Institute of Technology（皇家理工学院）；Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam（阿姆斯特丹自由大学）
We devise a framework for proving tight lower bounds under the counting exponential-time hypothesis #ETH introduced by Dell et al. (ACM Transactions on Algorithms, 2014). Our framework allows us to convert classical #P-hardness results for counting problems into tight lower bounds under #ETH, thus ruling out algorithms with running time $2^{o(n)}$ on graphs with $n$ vertices and $O(n)$ edges. As exemplary applications of this framework, we obtain tight lower bounds under #ETH for the evaluation of the zero-one permanent, the matching polynomial, and the Tutte polynomial on all non-easy points …
Existential positive formulas form a fragment of first-order logic that includes and is semantically equivalent to unions of conjunctive queries, one of the most important and well-studied classes of queries in database theory. We consider the complexity of counting the number of answers to existential positive formulas on finite structures and give a trichotomy theorem on query classes, in the setting of bounded arity. This theorem generalizes and unifies several known results on the complexity of conjunctive queries and unions of conjunctive queries.
We prove a complexity dichotomy for a class of counting problems expressible as bipartite 3-regular Holant problems. For every problem of the form $\operatorname{Holant}\left(f\mid =_3 \right)$, where $f$ is any integer-valued ternary symmetric constraint function on Boolean variables, we prove that it is either P-time computable or #P-hard, depending on an explicit criterion of $f$. The constraint function can take both positive and negative values, allowing for cancellations. The dichotomy extends easily to rational valued functions of the same type. In addition, we discover a new phenomenon…
This paper is a study of weighted counting of the solutions of acyclic conjunctive queries ($\ACQ$). The unweighted quantifier free version of this problem is known to be tractable (for combined complexity), but it is also known that introducing even a single quantified variable makes it $\sP$-hard. We first show that weighted counting for quantifier-free $\ACQ$ is still tractable and that even minimalistic extensions of the problem lead to hard cases. We then introduce a new parameter for quantified queries that permits to isolate large island of tractability. We show that, up to a standard a…
In this paper, we seek a natural problem and a natural distribution of instances such that any $O(n^{c-ε})$-time algorithm fails to solve most instances drawn from the distribution, while the problem admits an $n^{c+o(1)}$-time algorithm that correctly solves all instances. Specifically, we consider the $K_{a,b}$ counting problem in a random bipartite graph, where $K_{a,b}$ is a complete bipartite graph for constants $a$ and $b$. We proved that the $K_{a,b}$ counting problem admits an $n^{a+o(1)}$-time algorithm if $a\geq 8$, while any $n^{a-ε}$-time algorithm fails to solve it even on random …
We prove a complexity classification theorem that classifies all counting constraint satisfaction problems ($\#$CSP) over Boolean variables into exactly three categories: (1) Polynomial-time tractable; (2) $\#$P-hard for general instances, but solvable in polynomial-time over planar graphs; and (3) $\#$P-hard over planar graphs. The classification applies to all sets of local, not necessarily symmetric, constraint functions on Boolean variables that take complex values. It is shown that Valiant's holographic algorithm with matchgates is a universal strategy for all problems in category (2).
A homomorphism from a graph G to a graph H is a function from V(G) to V(H) that preserves edges. Many combinatorial structures that arise in mathematics and computer science can be represented naturally as graph homomorphisms and as weighted sums of graph homomorphisms. In this paper, we study the complexity of counting homomorphisms modulo 2. The complexity of modular counting was introduced by Papadimitriou and Zachos and it has been pioneered by Valiant who famously introduced a problem for which counting modulo 7 is easy but counting modulo 2 is intractable. Modular counting provides a ric…
Given a linear equation $\mathcal{L}$, a set $A$ of integers is $\mathcal{L}$-free if $A$ does not contain any `non-trivial' solutions to $\mathcal{L}$. This notion incorporates many central topics in combinatorial number theory such as sum-free and progression-free sets. In this paper we initiate the study of (parameterised) complexity questions involving $\mathcal{L}$-free sets of integers. The main questions we consider involve deciding whether a finite set of integers $A$ has an $\mathcal{L}$-free subset of a given size, and counting all such $\mathcal{L}$-free subsets. We also raise a num…
Key Laboratory of System Software (Chinese Academy of Sciences), Institute of Software, Chinese Academy of Sciences（中国科学院系统软件重点实验室，中国科学院软件研究所；中国科学院大学）；University of Chinese Academy of Sciences
The Complexity of Counting Eulerian Tours in 4-Regular Graphs
We investigate the complexity of counting Eulerian tours ({ \sc #ET}) and its variations from two perspectives---the complexity of exact counting and the complexity w.r.t. approximation-preserving reductions (AP-reductions \cite{MR2044886} ). We prove that { \sc #ET} is #P-complete even for planar 4-regular graphs. A closely related problem is that of counting A-trails ({ \sc #A-trails}) in graphs with rotational embedding schemes (so called maps). Kotzig \cite{MR0248043} showed that { \sc #A-trails} can be computed in polynomial time for 4-regular plane graphs (embedding in the plane is equiv…
We consider the class of counting problems,i.e. functions in $\#$P, which are self reducible, and have easy decision version, i.e. for every input it is easy to decide if the value of the function $f(x)$ is zero. For example, $\#$independent-sets of all sizes, is such a problem, and one of the hardest of this class, since it is equivalent to $\#$SAT under multiplicative approximation preserving reductions. Using these two powerful properties, self reducibility and easy decision, we prove that all problems/ functions $f$ in this class can be approximated in probabilistic polynomial time within …
Conjunctive queries are basic and heavily studied database queries; in relational algebra, they are the select-project-join queries. In this article, we study the fundamental problem of counting, given a conjunctive query and a relational database, the number of answers to the query on the database. In particular, we study the complexity of this problem relative to sets of conjunctive queries. We present a trichotomy theorem, which shows essentially that this problem on a set of conjunctive queries is either tractable, equivalent to the parameterized CLIQUE problem, or as hard as the parameter…
We examine the computational complexity of approximately counting the list H-colourings of a graph. We discover a natural graph-theoretic trichotomy based on the structure of the graph H. If H is an irreflexive bipartite graph or a reflexive complete graph then counting list H-colourings is trivially in polynomial time. Otherwise, if H is an irreflexive bipartite permutation graph or a reflexive proper interval graph then approximately counting list H-colourings is equivalent to #BIS, the problem of approximately counting independent sets in a bipartite graph. This is a well-studied problem wh…
We study the complexity of approximately solving the weighted counting constraint satisfaction problem #CSP(F). In the conservative case, where F contains all unary functions, there is a classification known for the case in which the domain of functions in F is Boolean. In this paper, we give a classification for the more general problem where functions in F have an arbitrary finite domain. We define the notions of weak log-modularity and weak log-supermodularity. We show that if F is weakly log-modular, then #CSP(F)is in FP. Otherwise, it is at least as difficult to approximate as #BIS, the p…
We initiate the study of constraint satisfaction problems (CSPs) in the presence of counting quantifiers, which may be seen as variants of CSPs in the mould of quantified CSPs (QCSPs). We show that a single counting quantifier strictly between exists^1:=exists and exists^n:=forall (the domain being of size n) already affords the maximal possible complexity of QCSPs (which have both exists and forall), being Pspace-complete for a suitably chosen template. Next, we focus on the complexity of subsets of counting quantifiers on clique and cycle templates. For cycles we give a full trichotomy -- al…
A standard method for designing randomized algorithms to approximately count the number of solutions of a problem in $\#$P, is by constructing a rapidly mixing Markov chain converging to the uniform distribution over this set of solutions. This construction is not always an easy task, and it is conjectured that it is not always possible. We want to investigate other possibilities for using Markov Chains in relation to counting, and whether we can relate algorithmic counting to other, non-uniform, probability distributions over the set we want to count. In this paper we present a family of prob…
An important objective of research in counting complexity is to understand which counting problems are approximable. In this quest, the complexity class TotP, a hard subclass of #P, is of key importance, as it contains self-reducible counting problems with easy decision version, thus eligible to be approximable. Indeed, most problems known so far to admit an fpras fall into this class. An open question raised recently by the community of descriptive complexity is to find a logical characterization of TotP and of robust subclasses of TotP. In this work we define two subclasses of TotP, in terms…
