Homology localization through the looking-glass of parameterized complexity theory

Homology localization means finding a cycle of lowest weight that represents a homology class in a simplicial complex. It is an NP-complete problem, which this paper addresses using parameterized complexity theory. We prove that to find even a constant factor approximation to this problem is W[1]-ha...

Ausführliche Beschreibung

Gespeichert in:
Bibliographische Detailangaben
Veröffentlicht in:Journal of applied and computational topology Jg. 9; H. 2
Hauptverfasser: Blaser, Nello, Vågset, Erlend Raa
Format: Journal Article
Sprache:Englisch
Veröffentlicht: 01.06.2025
ISSN:2367-1726, 2367-1734
Online-Zugang:Volltext
Tags: Tag hinzufügen
Keine Tags, Fügen Sie den ersten Tag hinzu!
Beschreibung
Zusammenfassung:Homology localization means finding a cycle of lowest weight that represents a homology class in a simplicial complex. It is an NP-complete problem, which this paper addresses using parameterized complexity theory. We prove that to find even a constant factor approximation to this problem is W[1]-hard when solution size is used as a parameter. We have also designed and implemented two new algorithms that are fixed parameter tractable when parameterized by the treewidth of graphs associated to the simplicial complex. The running time of both algorithms matches the lower bounds we obtain from the exponential time hypothesis. We analysed the performance of the two algorithms experimentally and found that one algorithm is significantly faster than the other.
ISSN:2367-1726
2367-1734
DOI:10.1007/s41468-025-00212-0