Parameterized Lower Bounds for Problems in P via Fine-Grained Cross-Compositions

TL;DR

This paper introduces a framework based on cross-compositions to establish lower bounds on parameterized running times for various problems, showing that certain faster algorithms are unlikely under complexity hypotheses.

Contribution

It provides a general method to exclude specific parameterized running times for problems in P using fine-grained complexity assumptions, extending the understanding of algorithmic limits.

Findings

Excludes certain parameterized running times for Longest Common Subsequence and Discrete Fréchet Distance.

Excludes specific bounds for Negative Triangle, Triangle Collection, and 2nd Shortest Path problems.

Shows tightness of known algorithms for most problems under the proposed framework.

Abstract

We provide a general framework to exclude parameterized running times of the form $O(\ell^\beta+ n^\gamma)$ for problems that have polynomial running time lower bounds under hypotheses from fine-grained complexity. Our framework is based on cross-compositions from parameterized complexity. We (conditionally) exclude running times of the form $O(\ell^{{\gamma}/{(\gamma-1)} - \epsilon} + n^\gamma)$ for any $1<\gamma<2$ and $\epsilon>0$ for the following problems: - Longest Common Subsequence: Given two length-$n$ strings and $\ell\in\mathbb{N}$, is there a common subsequence of length $\ell$? - Discrete Fr\'echet Distance: Given two lists of $n$ points each and $k\in \mathbb{N}$, is the Fr\'echet distance of the lists at most $k$? Here $\ell$ is the maximum number of points which one list is ahead of the other list in an optimum traversal. Moreover, we exclude running times $O(\ell^{{2\gamma}/{(\gamma -1)}-\epsilon} + n^\gamma)$ for any $1<\gamma<3$ and $\epsilon>0$ for: - Negative Triangle: Given an edge-weighted graph with $n$ vertices, is there a triangle whose sum of edge-weights is negative? Here $\ell$ is the order of a maximum connected component. - Triangle Collection: Given a vertex-colored graph with $n$ vertices, is there for each triple of colors a triangle whose vertices have these three colors? Here $\ell$ is the order of a maximum connected component. - 2nd Shortest Path: Given an $n$-vertex edge-weighted directed graph, two vertices $s$ and $t$, and $k \in \mathbb{N}$, has the second longest $s$-$t$-path length at most $k$? Here $\ell$ is the directed feedback vertex set. Except for 2nd Shortest Path all these running time bounds are tight, that is, algorithms with running time $O(\ell^{{\gamma}/{(\gamma-1)}} + n^\gamma )$ for any $1 < \gamma < 2$ and $O(\ell^{{2\gamma}/{(\gamma -1)}} + n^\gamma)$ for any $1 < \gamma < 3$, respectively, are known.