A tight lower bound for counting Hamiltonian cycles via matrix rank

Radu Curticapean, Nathan Lindzey, Jesper Nederlof

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionAcademicpeer-review

11 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

For even k ϵ N, the matchings connectivity matrix Mk is a binary matrix indexed by perfect matchings on k vertices; the entry at (M;M) is 1 i M [ M0 forms a single cycle. Cygan et al. (STOC 2013) showed that the rank of Mk over Z2 is ( p ϵ k ) and used this to give an O ((2 + p 2)pw) time algorithm for counting Hamiltonian cycles modulo ϵ on graphs of pathwidth pw, carrying over to the decision problem via witness isolation. The same authors complemented their algorithm by an essentially tight lower bound under the Strong Exponential Time Hypothesis (SETH). This bound crucially relied on a large permutation submatrix withinMk, which enabled a \pattern propagation" commonly used in previous related lower bounds, as initiated by Lokshtanov et al. (SODA 2011). We present a new technique for a similar \pattern propagation" when only a black-box lower bound on the asymptotic rank of Mk is given; no stronger structural insights such as the existence of large permutation submatrices in Mk are needed. Given appropriate rank bounds, our technique yields lower bounds for counting Hamiltonian cycles (also modulo fixed primes p) parameterized by pathwidth. To apply this technique, we prove that the rank of Mk over the rationals is 4k=poly(k), using the representation theory of the symmetric group and various insights from algebraic combinatorics. We also show that the rank of Mk over Zp is (1:57k) for any prime p 6= 2. Combining our rank bounds with the new pattern propagation technique, we show that Hamiltonian cycles cannot be counted in time O∗((6 -ϵ)pw) for any ϵ > 0 unless SETH fails. This bound is tight due to a O∗(6pw) time algorithm by Bodlaender et al. (ICALP 2013). Under SETH, we also obtain that Hamiltonian cycles cannot be counted modulo primes p = 2 in time O∗(3:57pw), indicating that the modulus can affect the complexity in intricate ways.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publication29th Annual ACM-SIAM Symposium on Discrete Algorithms, SODA 2018
EditorsArtur Czumaj
Place of PublicationNew York
PublisherAssociation for Computing Machinery, Inc
Pages1080-1099
Number of pages20
ISBN (Electronic)9781611975031
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2018
Event29th Annual ACM-SIAM Symposium on Discrete Algorithms (SODA 2018) - Astor Crowne Plaza, New Orleans, United States
Duration: 7 Jan 201810 Jan 2018
Conference number: 29
https://www.siam.org/meetings/da18/

Conference

Conference29th Annual ACM-SIAM Symposium on Discrete Algorithms (SODA 2018)
Abbreviated titleSODA 2018
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CityNew Orleans
Period7/01/1810/01/18
Internet address

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