Satisfiability of Ordering CSPs Above Average

We study the satisfiability of ordering constraint satisfaction problems (CSPs) above average. We prove the conjecture of Gutin, van Iersel, Mnich, and Yeo that the satisfiability above average of ordering CSPs of arity $k$ is fixed-parameter tractable for every $k$. Previously, this was only known for $k=2$ and $k=3$. We also generalize this result to more general classes of CSPs, including CSPs with predicates defined by linear inequalities. To obtain our results, we prove a new Bonami-type inequality for the Efron-Stein decomposition. The inequality applies to functions defined on arbitrary product probability spaces. In contrast to other variants of the Bonami Inequality, it does not depend on the mass of the smallest atom in the probability space. We believe that this inequality is of independent interest.

How to Play Unique Games against a Semi-Random Adversary

In this paper, we study the average case complexity of the Unique Games problem. We propose a natural semi-random model, in which a unique game instance is generated in several steps. First an adversary selects a completely satisfiable instance of Unique Games, then she chooses an epsilon-fraction of all edges, and finally replaces (corrupts) the constraints corresponding to these edges with new constraints. If all steps are adversarial, the adversary can obtain any (1-epsilon) satisfiable instance, so then the problem is as hard as in the worst case. In our semi-random model, one of the steps is random, and all other steps are adversarial. We show that known algorithms for unique games (in particular, all algorithms that use the standard SDP relaxation) fail to solve semi-random instances of Unique Games. We present an algorithm that with high probability finds a solution satisfying a (1-delta) fraction of all constraints in semi-random instances (we require that the average degree of the graph is Omega(log k). To this end, we consider a new non-standard SDP program for Unique Games, which is not a relaxation for the problem, and show how to analyze it. We present a new rounding scheme that simultaneously uses SDP and LP solutions, which we believe is of independent interest. Our result holds only for epsilon less than some absolute constant. We prove that if epsilon > 1/2, then the problem is hard in one of the models, the result assumes the 2-to-2 conjecture. Finally, we study semi-random instances of Unique Games that are at most (1-epsilon) satisfiable. We present an algorithm that with high probability, distinguishes between the case when the instance is a semi-random instance and the case when the instance is an (arbitrary) (1-delta) satisfiable instance if epsilon > c delta.

The Grothendieck constant is strictly smaller than Krivines bound

We prove that $K_G<frac{pi}{2log(1+sqrt{2})}$, where $K_G$ is the Grothendieck constant.

Metric Extension Operators, Vertex Sparsifiers and Lipschitz Extendability

We study vertex cut and flow sparsifiers that were recently introduced by Moitra, and Leighton and Moitra. We improve and generalize their results. We give a new polynomial-time algorithm for constructing O(log k / log log k) cut and flow sparsifiers, matching the best existential upper bound on the quality of a sparsifier, and improving the previous algorithmic upper bound of O(log^2 k / log log k). We show that flow sparsifiers can be obtained from linear operators approximating minimum metric extensions. We introduce the notion of (linear) metric extension operators, prove that they exist, and give an exact polynomial-time algorithm for finding optimal operators. We then establish a direct connection between flow and cut sparsifiers and Lipschitz extendability of maps in Banach spaces, a notion studied in functional analysis since 1930s. Using this connection, we prove a lower bound of Omega(sqrt{log k/log log k}) for flow sparsifiers and a lower bound of Omega(sqrt{log k}/log log k) for cut sparsifiers. We show that if a certain open question posed by Ball in 1992 has a positive answer, then there exist tilde O(sqrt{log k}) cut sparsifiers. On the other hand, any lower bound on cut sparsifiers better than tilde Omega(sqrt{log k}) would imply a negative answer to this question.

How to Play Unique Games on Expanders

In this note we improve a recent result by Arora, Khot, Kolla, Steurer, Tulsiani, and Vishnoi on solving the Unique Games problem on expanders. Given a $(1-varepsilon)$-satisfiable instance of Unique Games with the constraint graph $G$, our algorithm finds an assignment satisfying at least a $1- C varepsilon/h_G$ fraction of all constraints if $varepsilon < c lambda_G$ where $h_G$ is the edge expansion of $G$, $lambda_G$ is the second smallest eigenvalue of the Laplacian of $G$, and $C$ and $c$ are some absolute constants.