Sparsifying Distributed Algorithms with Ramifications in Massively Parallel Computation and Centralized Local Computation

TL;DR

This paper introduces a sparsification technique for distributed algorithms that enables faster algorithms in massively parallel computation and local computation models, surpassing previous barriers in memory usage and query complexity.

Contribution

It presents novel sparsification methods that lead to sublogarithmic MPC algorithms with low memory requirements and LCAs with query complexity below the known Parnas-Ron barrier.

Findings

MPC algorithms for MIS, Maximal Matching, and Vertex Cover with $ ilde{O}( ext{poly}(rac{1}{ ext{memory}}))$ rounds.

LCA for MIS with query complexity $ ext{poly}(rac{ ext{degree}}{ ext{log} ext{degree}})$, breaking previous barriers.

First sublogarithmic MPC algorithms for large-scale graph problems with low memory per machine.

Abstract

We introduce a method for sparsifying distributed algorithms and exhibit how it leads to improvements that go past known barriers in two algorithmic settings of large-scale graph processing: Massively Parallel Computation (MPC), and Local Computation Algorithms (LCA). - MPC with Strongly Sublinear Memory: Recently, there has been growing interest in obtaining MPC algorithms that are faster than their classic $O(\log n)$-round parallel counterparts for problems such as MIS, Maximal Matching, 2-Approximation of Minimum Vertex Cover, and $(1+\epsilon)$-Approximation of Maximum Matching. Currently, all such MPC algorithms require $\tilde{\Omega}(n)$ memory per machine. Czumaj et al. [STOC'18] were the first to handle $\tilde{\Omega}(n)$ memory, running in $O((\log\log n)^2)$ rounds. We obtain $\tilde{O}(\sqrt{\log \Delta})$-round MPC algorithms for all these four problems that work even when each machine has memory $n^{\alpha}$ for any constant $\alpha\in (0, 1)$. Here, $\Delta$ denotes the maximum degree. These are the first sublogarithmic-time algorithms for these problems that break the linear memory barrier. - LCAs with Query Complexity Below the Parnas-Ron Paradigm: Currently, the best known LCA for MIS has query complexity $\Delta^{O(\log \Delta)} poly(\log n)$, by Ghaffari [SODA'16]. As pointed out by Rubinfeld, obtaining a query complexity of $poly(\Delta\log n)$ remains a central open question. Ghaffari's bound almost reaches a $\Delta^{\Omega\left(\frac{\log \Delta}{\log\log \Delta}\right)}$ barrier common to all known MIS LCAs, which simulate distributed algorithms by learning the local topology, \`{a} la Parnas-Ron [TCS'07]. This barrier follows from the $\Omega(\frac{\log \Delta}{\log\log \Delta})$ distributed lower bound of Kuhn, et al. [JACM'16]. We break this barrier and obtain an MIS LCA with query complexity $\Delta^{O(\log\log \Delta)} poly(\log n)$.