Tight bounds for parallel randomized load balancing

Given a distributed system of \(n\) balls and \(n\) bins, how evenly can we distribute the balls to the bins, minimizing communication? The fastest non-adaptive and symmetric algorithm achieving a constant maximum bin load requires \(\varTheta (\log \log n)\) rounds, and any such algorithm running for \(r\in {\mathcal {O}}(1)\) rounds incurs a bin load of \(\varOmega ((\log n/\log \log n)^{1/r})\). In this work, we explore the fundamental limits of the general problem. We present a simple adaptive symmetric algorithm that achieves a bin load of 2 in \(\log ^* n+{\mathcal {O}}(1)\) communication rounds using \({\mathcal {O}}(n)\) messages in total. Our main result, however, is a matching lower bound of \((1-o(1))\log ^* n\) on the time complexity of symmetric algorithms that guarantee small bin loads. The essential preconditions of the proof are (i) a limit of \({\mathcal {O}}(n)\) on the total number of messages sent by the algorithm and (ii) anonymity of bins, i.e., the port numberings of balls need not be globally consistent. In order to show that our technique yields indeed tight bounds, we provide for each assumption an algorithm violating it, in turn achieving a constant maximum bin load in constant time.     

Faster search by lackadaisical quantum walk

In the typical model, a discrete-time coined quantum walk searching the 2D grid for a marked vertex achieves a success probability of \(O(1/\log N)\) in \(O(\sqrt{N \log N})\) steps, which with amplitude amplification yields an overall runtime of \(O(\sqrt{N} \log N)\). We show that making the quantum walk lackadaisical or lazy by adding a self-loop of weight 4 / N to each vertex speeds up the search, causing the success probability to reach a constant near 1 in \(O(\sqrt{N \log N})\) steps, thus yielding an \(O(\sqrt{\log N})\) improvement over the typical, loopless algorithm. This improved runtime matches the best known quantum algorithms for this search problem. Our results are based on numerical simulations since the algorithm is not an instance of the abstract search algorithm.     

Throughput maximization for speed scaling with agreeable deadlines

We study the following energy-efficient scheduling problem. We are given a set of n jobs which have to be scheduled by a single processor whose speed can be varied dynamically. Each job \(J_j\) is characterized by a processing requirement (work) \(p_j\), a release date \(r_j\), and a deadline \(d_j\). We are also given a budget of energy E which must not be exceeded and our objective is to maximize the throughput (i.e., the number of jobs which are completed on time). We show that the problem can be solved optimally via dynamic programming in \(O(n^4 \log n \log P)\) time when all jobs have the same release date, where P is the sum of the processing requirements of the jobs. For the more general case with agreeable deadlines where the jobs can be ordered so that, for every \(i < j\), it holds that \(r_i \le r_j\) and \(d_i \le d_j\), we propose an optimal dynamic programming algorithm which runs in \(O(n^6 \log n \log P)\) time. In addition, we consider the weighted case where every job \(J_j\) is also associated with a weight \(w_j\) and we are interested in maximizing the weighted throughput (i.e., the total weight of the jobs which are completed on time). For this case, we show that the problem becomes \(\mathcal{NP}\)-hard in the ordinary sense even when all jobs have the same release date and we propose a pseudo-polynomial time algorithm for agreeable instances.     

Fast arithmetic in algorithmic self-assembly

In this paper we consider the time complexity of adding two n-bit numbers together within the tile self-assembly model. The (abstract) tile assembly model is a mathematical model of self-assembly in which system components are square tiles with different glue types assigned to tile edges. Assembly is driven by the attachment of singleton tiles to a growing seed assembly when the net force of glue attraction for a tile exceeds some fixed threshold. Within this frame work, we examine the time complexity of computing the sum of two n-bit numbers, where the input numbers are encoded in an initial seed assembly, and the output sum is encoded in the final, terminal assembly of the system. We show that this problem, along with multiplication, has a worst case lower bound of \(\varOmega ( \sqrt{n} )\) in 2D assembly, and \(\varOmega (\root 3 \of {n})\) in 3D assembly. We further design algorithms for both 2D and 3D that meet this bound with worst case run times of \(O(\sqrt{n})\) and \(O(\root 3 \of {n})\) respectively, which beats the previous best known upper bound of O(n). Finally, we consider average case complexity of addition over uniformly distributed n-bit strings and show how we can achieve \(O(\log n)\) average case time with a simultaneous \(O(\sqrt{n})\) worst case run time in 2D. As additional evidence for the speed of our algorithms, we implement our algorithms, along with the simpler O(n) time algorithm, into a probabilistic run-time simulator and compare the timing results.     

A greedy approximation algorithm for minimum-gap scheduling

We consider scheduling of unit-length jobs with release times and deadlines, where the objective is to minimize the number of gaps in the schedule. Polynomial-time algorithms for this problem are known, yet they are rather inefficient, with the best algorithm running in time \(O(n^4)\) and requiring \(O(n^3)\) memory. We present a greedy algorithm that approximates the optimum solution within a factor of 2 and show that our analysis is tight. Our algorithm runs in time \(O(n^2 \log n)\) and needs only O(n) memory. In fact, the running time is \(O(n (g^*+1)\log n)\), where \(g^*\) is the minimum number of gaps.     

Close to linear space routing schemes

Let \(G=(V,E)\) be an unweighted undirected graph with n vertices and m edges, and let \(k>2\) be an integer. We present a routing scheme with a poly-logarithmic header size, that given a source s and a destination t at distance \(\varDelta \) from s, routes a message from s to t on a path whose length is \(O(k\varDelta +m^{1/k})\). The total space used by our routing scheme is \(mn^{O(1/\sqrt{\log n})}\), which is almost linear in the number of edges of the graph. We present also a routing scheme with \(n^{O(1/\sqrt{\log n})}\) header size, and the same stretch (up to constant factors). In this routing scheme, the routing table of every \(v\in V\) is at most \(kn^{O(1/\sqrt{\log n})}deg(v)\), where deg(v) is the degree of v in G. Our results are obtained by combining a general technique of Bernstein (2009), that was presented in the context of dynamic graph algorithms, with several new ideas and observations.     

Feedback from nature: simple randomised distributed algorithms for maximal independent set selection and greedy colouring

We propose distributed algorithms for two well-established problems that operate efficiently under extremely harsh conditions. Our algorithms achieve state-of-the-art performance in a simple and novel way. Our algorithm for maximal independent set selection operates on a network of identical anonymous processors. The processor at each node has no prior information about the network. At each time step, each node can only broadcast a single bit to all its neighbours, or remain silent. Each node can detect whether one or more neighbours have broadcast, but cannot tell how many of its neighbours have broadcast, or which ones. We build on recent work of Afek et al. (Science 331(6014):183–185, 2011) which was inspired by studying the development of a network of cells in the fruit fly. However we incorporate for the first time another important feature of the biological system: varying the probability value used at each node based on local feedback from neighbouring nodes. Given any n-node network, our algorithm achieves with high probability the optimal time complexity of \(O(\log n)\) rounds and the optimal expected message complexity of O(1) single-bit messages broadcast by each node. We also show that the previous approach, without feedback, cannot achieve better than \(\varOmega (\log ^2 n)\) time complexity with high probability, whatever global scheme is used to choose the probabilities. Our algorithm for distributed greedy colouring works under similar harsh conditions: each identical node has no prior information about the network, can only broadcast a single message to all neighbours at each time step representing a desired colour, and can only detect whether at least one neighbour has broadcast each colour value. We show that with high probability our algorithm has a time complexity of \(O(\Delta +\log n)\), where \(\Delta \) is the maximum degree of the network, and also has an expected message complexity of O(1) messages broadcast by each node.     

The hierarchical Petersen network: a new interconnection network with fixed degree

Network cost and fixed-degree characteristic for the graph are important factors to evaluate interconnection networks. In this paper, we propose hierarchical Petersen network (HPN) that is constructed in recursive and hierarchical structure based on a Petersen graph as a basic module. The degree of HPN(n) is 5, and HPN(n) has \(10^n\) nodes and \(2.5 \times 10^n\) edges. And we analyze its basic topological properties, routing algorithm, diameter, spanning tree, broadcasting algorithm and embedding. From the analysis, we prove that the diameter and network cost of HPN(n) are \(3\log _{10}N-1\) and \(15 \log _{10}N-1\), respectively, and it contains a spanning tree with the degree of 4. In addition, we propose link-disjoint one-to-all broadcasting algorithm and show that HPN(n) can be embedded into FP\(_k\) with expansion 1, dilation 2k and congestion 4. For most of the fixed-degree networks proposed, network cost and diameter require \(O(\sqrt{N})\) and the degree of the graph requires O(N). However, HPN(n) requires O(1) for the degree and \(O(\log _{10}N)\) for both diameter and network cost. As a result, the suggested interconnection network in this paper is superior to current fixed-degree and hierarchical networks in terms of network cost, diameter and the degree of the graph.     

Nearly optimal bounds for distributed wireless scheduling in the SINR model

We study the wireless scheduling problem in the SINR model. More specifically, given a set of \(n\) links, each a sender–receiver pair, we wish to partition (or schedule) the links into the minimum number of slots, each satisfying interference constraints allowing simultaneous transmission. In the basic problem, all senders transmit with the same uniform power. We analyze a randomized distributed scheduling algorithm proposed by Kesselheim and Vöcking, and show that it achieves \(O(\log n)\)-approximation, an improvement of a logarithmic factor. This matches the best ratio known for centralized algorithms and holds in arbitrary metric space and for every length-monotone and sublinear power assignment. We also show that every distributed algorithm uses \(\varOmega (\log n)\) slots to schedule certain instances that require only two slots, which implies that the best possible absolute performance guarantee is logarithmic.     

Parallel construction of wavelet trees on multicore architectures

The wavelet tree has become a very useful data structure to efficiently represent and query large volumes of data in many different domains, from bioinformatics to geographic information systems. One problem with wavelet trees is their construction time. In this paper, we introduce two algorithms that reduce the time complexity of a wavelet tree’s construction by taking advantage of nowadays ubiquitous multicore machines. Our first algorithm constructs all the levels of the wavelet in parallel with O(n) time and \(O(n\lg \sigma + \sigma \lg n)\) bits of working space, where n is the size of the input sequence and \(\sigma \) is the size of the alphabet. Our second algorithm constructs the wavelet tree in a domain decomposition fashion, using our first algorithm in each segment, reaching \(O(\lg n)\) time and \(O(n\lg \sigma + p\sigma \lg n/\lg \sigma )\) bits of extra space, where p is the number of available cores. Both algorithms are practical and report good speedup for large real datasets.     

Hybridized Discontinuous Galerkin Method for Elliptic Interface Problems: Error Estimates Under Low Regularity Assumptions of Solutions

New hybridized discontinuous Galerkin (HDG) methods for the interface problem for elliptic equations are proposed. Unknown functions of our schemes are \(u_h\) in elements and \(\hat{u}_h\) on inter-element edges. That is, we formulate our schemes without introducing the flux variable. We assume that subdomains \(\Omega _1\) and \(\Omega _2\) are polyhedral domains and that the interface \(\Gamma =\partial \Omega _1\cap \partial \Omega _2\) is polyhedral surface or polygon. Moreover, \(\Gamma \) is assumed to be expressed as the union of edges of some elements. We deal with the case where the interface is transversely connected with the boundary of the whole domain \(\overline{\Omega }=\overline{\Omega _1\cap \Omega _2}\). Consequently, the solution u of the interface problem may not have a sufficient regularity, say \(u\in H^2(\Omega )\) or \(u|_{\Omega _1}\in H^2(\Omega _1)\), \(u|_{\Omega _2}\in H^2(\Omega _2)\). We succeed in deriving optimal order error estimates in an HDG norm and the \(L^2\) norm under low regularity assumptions of solutions, say \(u|_{\Omega _1}\in H^{1+s}(\Omega _1)\) and \(u|_{\Omega _2}\in H^{1+s}(\Omega _2)\) for some \(s\in (1/2,1]\), where \(H^{1+s}\) denotes the fractional order Sobolev space. Numerical examples to validate our results are also presented.     

Time versus cost tradeoffs for deterministic rendezvous in networks

Two mobile agents, starting from different nodes of a network at possibly different times, have to meet at the same node. This problem is known as rendezvous. Agents move in synchronous rounds. Each agent has a distinct integer label from the set \(\{1,\ldots ,L\}\). Two main efficiency measures of rendezvous are its time (the number of rounds until the meeting) and its cost (the total number of edge traversals). We investigate tradeoffs between these two measures. A natural benchmark for both time and cost of rendezvous in a network is the number of edge traversals needed for visiting all nodes of the network, called the exploration time. Hence we express the time and cost of rendezvous as functions of an upper bound E on the time of exploration (where E and a corresponding exploration procedure are known to both agents) and of the size L of the label space. We present two natural rendezvous algorithms. Algorithm Cheap has cost O(E) (and, in fact, a version of this algorithm for the model where the agents start simultaneously has cost exactly E) and time O(EL). Algorithm Fast has both time and cost \(O(E\log L)\). Our main contributions are lower bounds showing that, perhaps surprisingly, these two algorithms capture the tradeoffs between time and cost of rendezvous almost tightly. We show that any deterministic rendezvous algorithm of cost asymptotically E (i.e., of cost \(E+o(E)\)) must have time \(\varOmega (EL)\). On the other hand, we show that any deterministic rendezvous algorithm with time complexity \(O(E\log L)\) must have cost \(\varOmega (E\log L)\).     

QuickHeapsort: Modifications and Improved Analysis

QuickHeapsort is a combination of Quicksort and Heapsort. We show that the expected number of comparisons for QuickHeapsort is always better than for Quicksort if a usual median-of-constant strategy is used for choosing pivot elements. In order to obtain the result we present a new analysis for QuickHeapsort splitting it into the analysis of the partition-phases and the analysis of the heap-phases. This enables us to consider samples of non-constant size for the pivot selection and leads to better theoretical bounds for the algorithm. Furthermore, we introduce some modifications of QuickHeapsort. We show that for every input the expected number of comparisons is at most \(n\log _{2}n - 0.03n + o(n)\) for the in-place variant. If we allow n extra bits, then we can lower the bound to \( n\log _{2} n -0.997 n+ o (n)\). Thus, spending n extra bits we can save more that 0.96n comparisons if n is large enough. Both estimates improve the previously known results. Moreover, our non-in-place variant does essentially use the same number of comparisons as index based Heapsort variants and Relaxed-Weak-Heapsort which use \( n\log _{2}n -0.9 n+ o (n)\) comparisons in the worst case. However, index based Heapsort variants and Relaxed-Weak-Heapsort require \({\Theta }(n\log n)\) extra bits whereas we need n bits only. Our theoretical results are upper bounds and valid for every input. Our computer experiments show that the gap between our bounds and the actual values on random inputs is small. Moreover, the computer experiments establish QuickHeapsort as competitive with Quicksort in terms of running time.     

Numerical Methods and Comparison for the Dirac Equation in the Nonrelativistic Limit Regime

We analyze rigorously error estimates and compare numerically spatial/temporal resolution of various numerical methods for the discretization of the Dirac equation in the nonrelativistic limit regime, involving a small dimensionless parameter \(0<\varepsilon \ll 1\) which is inversely proportional to the speed of light. In this limit regime, the solution is highly oscillatory in time, i.e. there are propagating waves with wavelength \(O(\varepsilon ^2)\) and O(1) in time and space, respectively. We begin with several frequently used finite difference time domain (FDTD) methods and obtain rigorously their error estimates in the nonrelativistic limit regime by paying particular attention to how error bounds depend explicitly on mesh size h and time step \(\tau \) as well as the small parameter \(\varepsilon \). Based on the error bounds, in order to obtain ‘correct’ numerical solutions in the nonrelativistic limit regime, i.e. \(0<\varepsilon \ll 1\), the FDTD methods share the same \(\varepsilon \)-scalability on time step and mesh size as: \(\tau =O(\varepsilon ^3)\) and \(h=O(\sqrt{\varepsilon })\). Then we propose and analyze two numerical methods for the discretization of the Dirac equation by using the Fourier spectral discretization for spatial derivatives combined with the symmetric exponential wave integrator and time-splitting technique for temporal derivatives, respectively. Rigorous error bounds for the two numerical methods show that their \(\varepsilon \)-scalability is improved to \(\tau =O(\varepsilon ^2)\) and \(h=O(1)\) when \(0<\varepsilon \ll 1\). Extensive numerical results are reported to support our error estimates.     

Two Plane-Probing Algorithms for the Computation of the Normal Vector to a Digital Plane

Digital planes are sets of integer points located between two parallel planes. We present a new algorithm that computes the normal vector of a digital plane given only a predicate “is a point x in the digital plane or not”. In opposition to classical recognition algorithm, this algorithm decides on-the-fly which points to test in order to output at the end the exact surface characteristics of the plane. We present two variants: the H-algorithm, which is purely local, and the R-algorithm which probes further along rays coming out from the local neighborhood tested by the H-algorithm. Both algorithms are shown to output the correct normal to the digital planes if the starting point is a lower leaning point. The worst-case time complexity is in \(O(\omega )\) for the H-algorithm and \(O(\omega \log \omega )\) for the R-algorithm, where \(\omega \) is the arithmetic thickness of the digital plane. In practice, the H-algorithm often outputs a reduced basis of the digital plane while the R-algorithm always returns a reduced basis. Both variants perform much better than the theoretical bound, with an average behavior close to \(O(\log \omega )\). Finally, we show how this algorithm can be used to analyze the geometry of arbitrary digital surfaces, by computing normals and identifying convex, concave or saddle parts of the surface. This paper is an extension of Lachaud et al. (Proceedings of 19th IAPR international conference discrete geometry for computer imagery (DGCI’2016), Nantes, France. Springer, Cham, 2016).     

Construction of quantum caps in projective space <Emphasis Type="Italic">PG</Emphasis>(<Emphasis Type="Italic">r</Emphasis>, 4) and quantum codes of distance 4

Constructions of quantum caps in projective space PG(r, 4) by recursive methods and computer search are discussed. For each even n satisfying \(n\ge 282\) and each odd z satisfying \(z\ge 275\), a quantum n-cap and a quantum z-cap in \(PG(k-1, 4)\) with suitable k are constructed, and \([[n,n-2k,4]]\) and \([[z,z-2k,4]]\) quantum codes are derived from the constructed quantum n-cap and z-cap, respectively. For \(n\ge 282\) and \(n\ne 286\), 756 and 5040, or \(z\ge 275\), the results on the sizes of quantum caps and quantum codes are new, and all the obtained quantum codes are optimal codes according to the quantum Hamming bound. While constructing quantum caps, we also obtain many large caps in PG(r, 4) for \(r\ge 11\). These results concerning large caps provide improved lower bounds on the maximal sizes of caps in PG(r, 4) for \(r\ge 11\).     

Entanglement witness criteria of strong-<Emphasis Type="Italic">k</Emphasis>-separability for multipartite quantum states

Let \(H_{1}, H_{2},\ldots ,H_{n}\) be separable complex Hilbert spaces with \(\dim H_{i}\ge 2\) and \(n\ge 2\). Assume that \(\rho \) is a state in \(H=H_1\otimes H_2\otimes \cdots \otimes H_n\). \(\rho \) is called strong-k-separable \((2\le k\le n)\) if \(\rho \) is separable for any k-partite division of H. In this paper, an entanglement witnesses criterion of strong-k-separability is obtained, which says that \(\rho \) is not strong-k-separable if and only if there exist a k-division space \(H_{m_{1}}\otimes \cdots \otimes H_{m_{k}}\) of H, a finite-rank linear elementary operator positive on product states \(\Lambda :\mathcal {B}(H_{m_{2}}\otimes \cdots \otimes H_{m_{k}})\rightarrow \mathcal {B}(H_{m_{1}})\) and a state \(\rho _{0}\in \mathcal {S}(H_{m_{1}}\otimes H_{m_{1}})\), such that \(\mathrm {Tr}(W\rho )<0\), where \(W=(\mathrm{Id}\otimes \Lambda ^{\dagger })\rho _{0}\) is an entanglement witness. In addition, several different methods of constructing entanglement witnesses for multipartite states are also given.     

A Two-Grid Block-Centered Finite Difference Method for the Nonlinear Time-Fractional Parabolic Equation

In this article, a two-grid block-centered finite difference scheme is introduced and analyzed to solve the nonlinear time-fractional parabolic equation. This method is considered where the nonlinear problem is solved only on a coarse grid of size H and a linear problem is solved on a fine grid of size h. Stability results are proven rigorously. Error estimates are established on non-uniform rectangular grid which show that the discrete \(L^{\infty }(L^2)\) and \(L^2(H^1)\) errors are \(O(\triangle t^{2-\alpha }+h^2+H^3)\). Finally, some numerical experiments are presented to show the efficiency of the two-grid method and verify that the convergence rates are in agreement with the theoretical analysis.     

The panpositionable panconnectedness of crossed cubes

In many parallel and distributed multiprocessor systems, the processors are connected based on different types of interconnection networks. The topological structure of an interconnection network is typically modeled as a graph. Among the many kinds of network topologies, the crossed cube is one of the most popular. In this paper, we investigate the panpositionable panconnectedness problem with respect to the crossed cube. A graph G is r-panpositionably panconnected if for any three distinct vertices x, y, z of G and for any integer \(l_1\) satisfying \(r \le l_1 \le |V(G)| - r - 1\), there exists a path \(P = [x, P_1, y, P_2, z]\) in G such that (i) \(P_1\) joins x and y with \(l(P_1) = l_1\) and (ii) \(P_2\) joins y and z with \(l(P_2) = l_2\) for any integer \(l_2\) satisfying \(r \le l_2 \le |V(G)| - l_1 - 1\), where |V(G)| is the total number of vertices in G and \(l(P_1)\) (respectively, \(l(P_2)\)) is the length of path \(P_1\) (respectively, \(P_2\)). By mathematical induction, we demonstrate that the n-dimensional crossed cube \(CQ_n\) is n-panpositionably panconnected. This result indicates that the path embedding of joining x and z with a mediate vertex y in \(CQ_n\) is extremely flexible. Moreover, applying our result, crossed cube problems such as panpositionable pancyclicity, panpositionably Hamiltonian connectedness, and panpositionable Hamiltonicity can be solved.