Schaefer's theorem for graphs
Research output: Contribution to journal › Research article › Contributed › peer-review
Contributors
Abstract
Schaefer's theorem is a complexity classification result for so-called Boolean constraint satisfaction problems: it states that every Boolean constraint satisfaction problem is either contained in one out of six classes and can be solved in polynomial time, or is NP-complete. We present an analog of this dichotomy result for the propositional logic of graphs instead of Boolean logic. In this generalization of Schaefer's result, the input consists of a set W of variables and a conjunction Φ of statements ("constraints") about these variables in the language of graphs, where each statement is taken from a fixed finite set Ψ of allowed quantifier-free first-order formulas; the question is whether Φ is satisfiable in a graph. We prove that either Ψ is contained in one out of 17 classes of graph formulas and the corresponding problem can be solved in polynomial time, or the problem is NP-complete. This is achieved by a universalalgebraic approach, which in turn allows us to use structural Ramsey theory. To apply the universal-algebraic approach, we formulate the computational problems under consideration as constraint satisfaction problems (CSPs) whose templates are first-order definable in the countably infinite random graph. Our method for classifying the computational complexity of those CSPs is based on a Ramsey-theoretic analysis of functions acting on the random graph, and we develop general tools suitable for such an analysis which are of independent mathematical interest.
Details
Original language | English |
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Article number | 19 |
Journal | Journal of the ACM |
Volume | 62 |
Issue number | 3 |
Publication status | Published - 1 Jun 2015 |
Peer-reviewed | Yes |
External IDs
ORCID | /0000-0001-8228-3611/work/142241108 |
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Keywords
ASJC Scopus subject areas
Keywords
- Algorithms, Computational logic, Constraint satisfaction, F.2.2 [analysis of algorithms and problem complexity]: Nonnumerical algorithms and problems - Computations on discrete structures, Homogeneous structures, Model theory, Ramsey theory, The countable random graph, Theory, Universal algebra