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Fionn Mc Inerney

Possible papers associated with this exact author name in Arrow. This page groups case-insensitive exact name matches and is not a full identity disambiguation profile.

17 papers
2 author rows

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17

IJCAI Conference 2025 Conference Paper

A Structural Complexity Analysis of Hierarchical Task Network Planning

  • Cornelius Brand
  • Robert Ganian
  • Fionn Mc Inerney
  • Simon Wietheger

We perform a refined complexity-theoretic analysis of three classical problems in the context of Hierarchical Task Network Planning: the verification of a provided plan, whether an executable plan exists, and whether a given state can be reached. Our focus lies on identifying structural properties which yield tractability. We obtain new polynomial algorithms for all three problems on a natural class of primitive networks, along with corresponding lower bounds. We also obtain an algorithmic meta-theorem for lifting polynomial-time solvability from primitive to general task networks, and prove that its preconditions are tight. Finally, we analyze the parameterized complexity of the three problems.

AAAI Conference 2025 Conference Paper

Parameterized Complexity of Caching in Networks

  • Robert Ganian
  • Fionn Mc Inerney
  • Dimitra Tsigkari

The fundamental caching problem in networks asks to find an allocation of contents to a network of caches with the aim of maximizing the cache hit rate. Despite the problem's importance to a variety of research areas - including not only content delivery, but also edge intelligence and inference - and the extensive body of work on empirical aspects of caching, very little is known about the exact boundaries of tractability for the problem beyond its general NP-hardness. We close this gap by performing a comprehensive complexity-theoretic analysis of the problem through the lens of the parameterized complexity paradigm, which is designed to provide more precise statements regarding algorithmic tractability than classical complexity. Our results include algorithmic lower and upper bounds which together establish the conditions under which the caching problem becomes tractable.

AIJ Journal 2025 Journal Article

The complexity of optimizing atomic congestion

  • Cornelius Brand
  • Robert Ganian
  • Subrahmanyam Kalyanasundaram
  • Fionn Mc Inerney

Atomic congestion games are a classic topic in network design, routing, and algorithmic game theory, and are capable of modeling congestion and flow optimization tasks in various application areas. While both the price of anarchy for such games as well as the computational complexity of computing their Nash equilibria are by now well-understood, the computational complexity of computing a system-optimal set of strategies -- that is, a centrally planned routing that minimizes the average cost of agents -- is severely understudied in the literature. We close this gap by identifying the exact boundaries of tractability for the problem through the lens of the parameterized complexity paradigm. After showing that the problem remains highly intractable even on extremely simple networks, we obtain a set of results which demonstrate that the structural parameters which control the computational (in)tractability of the problem are not vertex-separator based in nature (such as, e. g. , treewidth), but rather based on edge separators. We conclude by extending our analysis towards the (even more challenging) min-max variant of the problem.

ICLR Conference 2025 Conference Paper

The Computational Complexity of Positive Non-Clashing Teaching in Graphs

  • Robert Ganian
  • Liana Khazaliya
  • Fionn Mc Inerney
  • Mathis Rocton

We study the classical and parameterized complexity of computing the positive non-clashing teaching dimension of a set of concepts, that is, the smallest number of examples per concept required to successfully teach an intelligent learner under the considered, previously established model. For any class of concepts, it is known that this problem can be effortlessly transferred to the setting of balls in a graph $G$. We establish (1) the NP-hardness of the problem even when restricted to instances with positive non-clashing teaching dimension $k=2$ and where all balls in the graph are present, (2) near-tight running time upper and lower bounds for the problem on general graphs, (3) fixed-parameter tractability when parameterized by the vertex integrity of $G$, and (4) a lower bound excluding fixed-parameter tractability when parameterized by the feedback vertex number and pathwidth of $G$, even when combined with $k$. Our results provide a nearly complete understanding of the complexity landscape of computing the positive non-clashing teaching dimension and answer open questions from the literature.

NeurIPS Conference 2025 Conference Paper

The Parameterized Complexity of Computing the VC-Dimension

  • Florent Foucaud
  • Harmender Gahlawat
  • Fionn Mc Inerney
  • Prafullkumar Tale

The VC-dimension is a well-studied and fundamental complexity measure of a set system (or hypergraph) that is central to many areas of machine learning. We establish several new results on the complexity of computing the VC-dimension. In particular, given a hypergraph $\mathcal{H}=(\mathcal{V}, \mathcal{E})$, we prove that the naive $2^{\mathcal{O}(|\mathcal{V}|)}$-time algorithm is asymptotically tight under the Exponential Time Hypothesis (ETH). We then prove that the problem admits a $1$-additive fixed-parameter approximation algorithm when parameterized by the maximum degree of $\mathcal{H}$ and a fixed-parameter algorithm when parameterized by its dimension, and that these are essentially the only such exploitable structural parameters. Lastly, we consider a generalization of the problem, formulated using graphs, which captures the VC-dimension of both set systems and graphs. We design a $2^{\mathcal{O}(\texttt{tw}\cdot \log \texttt{tw})}\cdot |V|$-time algorithm for any graph $G=(V, E)$ of treewidth $\texttt{tw}$ (which, for a set system, applies to the treewidth of its incidence graph). This is in contrast with closely related problems that require a double-exponential dependency on the treewidth (assuming the ETH).

TCS Journal 2024 Journal Article

Smash and grab: The 0 ⋅ 6 scoring game on graphs

  • Éric Duchêne
  • Valentin Gledel
  • Sylvain Gravier
  • Fionn Mc Inerney
  • Mehdi Mhalla
  • Aline Parreau

In this paper, we introduce and study a new scoring game on graphs called smash and grab. In this game, two players, called Left and Right, take turns removing a vertex of the graph as well as all of its neighbours that become isolated by this removal. For each player and each of their turns, they score the number of vertices that were removed on their turn. The game ends when there are no more vertices remaining, and the player with the highest final score wins. We denote by L s ( G ) the difference between Left and Right's final scores in G when Left starts and both players play optimally (they both aim to maximise their scores). We mainly study this parameter for different graph classes. We notably prove that L s ( F ) ≥ 0 for any forest F (i. e. , the first player cannot lose). We then use this result to compute the exact value of L s ( G ) for particular forests such as unions of paths and subdivided stars. The result in paths then solves the case of a unique cycle. Finally, we prove that, for a generalisation of the game, computing the score is PSPACE-complete.

AAAI Conference 2024 Conference Paper

The Complexity of Optimizing Atomic Congestion

  • Cornelius Brand
  • Robert Ganian
  • Subrahmanyam Kalyanasundaram
  • Fionn Mc Inerney

Atomic congestion games are a classic topic in network design, routing, and algorithmic game theory, and are capable of modeling congestion and flow optimization tasks in various application areas. While both the price of anarchy for such games as well as the computational complexity of computing their Nash equilibria are by now well-understood, the computational complexity of computing a system-optimal set of strategies - that is, a centrally planned routing that minimizes the average cost of agents - is severely understudied in the literature. We close this gap by identifying the exact boundaries of tractability for the problem through the lens of the parameterized complexity paradigm. After showing that the problem remains highly intractable even on extremely simple networks, we obtain a set of results which demonstrate that the structural parameters which control the computational (in)tractability of the problem are not vertex-separator based in nature (such as, e.g., treewidth), but rather based on edge separators. We conclude by extending our analysis towards the (even more challenging) min-max variant of the problem.

TCS Journal 2023 Journal Article

The Maker-Breaker Largest Connected Subgraph game

  • Julien Bensmail
  • Foivos Fioravantes
  • Fionn Mc Inerney
  • Nicolas Nisse
  • Nacim Oijid

Given a graph G and k ∈ N, we introduce the following game played in G. Each round, Alice colours an uncoloured vertex of G red, and then Bob colours one blue (if any remain). Once every vertex is coloured, Alice wins if there is a connected red component of order at least k, and otherwise, Bob wins. This is a Maker-Breaker version of the Largest Connected Subgraph game introduced in [Bensmail et al. , The largest connected subgraph game, Algorithmica 84 (9) (2022) 2533–2555]. We want to compute c g ( G ), which is the maximum k such that Alice wins in G, regardless of Bob's strategy. Given a graph G and k ∈ N, we prove that deciding whether c g ( G ) ≥ k is PSPACE-complete, even if G is a bipartite, split, or planar graph. To better understand the Largest Connected Subgraph game, we then focus on A-perfect graphs, which are the graphs G for which c g ( G ) = ⌈ | V ( G ) | / 2 ⌉, i. e. , those in which Alice can ensure that the red subgraph is connected. We give sufficient conditions, in terms of the minimum and maximum degrees or the number of edges, for a graph to be A-perfect. Also, we show that, for any d ≥ 4, there are arbitrarily large A-perfect d-regular graphs, but no cubic graph with order at least 18 is A-perfect. Lastly, we show that c g ( G ) is computable in linear time when G is a P 4 -sparse graph (a superclass of cographs).

SODA Conference 2023 Conference Paper

Tight Complexity Bounds for Counting Generalized Dominating Sets in Bounded-Treewidth Graphs

  • Jacob Focke
  • Dániel Marx
  • Fionn Mc Inerney
  • Daniel Neuen
  • Govind S. Sankar
  • Philipp Schepper
  • Philip Wellnitz

We investigate how efficiently a well-studied family of domination-type problems can be solved on bounded-treewidth graphs. For sets σ, ρ of non-negative integers, a (σ, ρ)-set of a graph G is a set S of vertices such that | N ( u ) ∩ S | ∈ σ for every u ∈ S, and | N ( v ) ∩ S | ∈ ρ for every v ∉ S. The problem of finding a (σ, ρ)-set (of a certain size) unifies standard problems such as INDEPENDENT SET, DOMINATING SET, INDEPENDENT DOMINATING SET, and many others. For all pairs of finite or cofinite sets (σ, ρ), we determine (under standard complexity assumptions) the best possible value c σ, ρ such that there is an algorithm that counts (σ, ρ)-sets in time c tw σ, ρ · n O(1) (if a tree decomposition of width tw is given in the input). Let s top denote the largest element of σ if σ is finite, or the largest missing integer +1 if σ is cofinite; r top is defined analogously for ρ. Surprisingly, c σ, ρ is often significantly smaller than the natural bound s top + r top + 2 achieved by existing algorithms [van Rooij, 2020]. Toward defining c σ, ρ, we say that (σ, ρ) is m -structured if there is a pair (α, β) such that every integer in σ equals α mod m, and every integer in ρ equals β mod m. Then, setting • c σ, ρ = s top + r top +2 if (σ, ρ) is not m-structured for any m ≥ 2 • c σ, ρ = max{ s top, r top } + 2 if (σ, ρ) is 2-structured, but not m-structured for any m ≥ 3, and s top = r top is even, and • c σ, ρ = max{ s top, r top } + 1, otherwise we provide algorithms counting (σ, ρ)-sets in time c tw σ, ρ · n O(1). For example, for the EXACT INDEPENDENT DOMINATING SET problem (also known as PERFECT CODE) corresponding to σ = {0} and ρ = {1}, this improves the 3 tw · n O(1) algorithm of van Rooij to 2 tw · n O(1). Despite the unusually delicate definition of c σ, ρ, we show that our algorithms are most likely optimal, i. e. , for any pair (σ, ρ) of finite or cofinite sets where the problem is non-trivial, and any ε > 0, a ( c σ, ρ — ε) tw · n O(1) - algorithm counting the number of (σ, ρ)-sets would violate the COUNTING STRONG EXPONENTIAL-TIME HYPOTHESIS (#SETH). For finite sets σ and ρ, our lower bounds also extend to the decision version, showing that our algorithms are optimal in this setting as well. In contrast, for many cofinite sets, we show that further significant improvements for the decision and optimization versions are possible using the technique of representative sets. * The full version of this work can be accessed at https: //arxiv. org/abs/2211. 04278. Research supported by the European Research Council (ERC) consolidator grant No. 725978 SYSTEMATICGRAPH.

MFCS Conference 2022 Conference Paper

Metric Dimension Parameterized by Feedback Vertex Set and Other Structural Parameters

  • Esther Galby
  • Liana Khazaliya
  • Fionn Mc Inerney
  • Roohani Sharma
  • Prafullkumar Tale

For a graph G, a subset S ⊆ V(G) is called a resolving set if for any two vertices u, v ∈ V(G), there exists a vertex w ∈ S such that d(w, u) ≠ d(w, v). The Metric Dimension problem takes as input a graph G and a positive integer k, and asks whether there exists a resolving set of size at most k. This problem was introduced in the 1970s and is known to be NP-hard [GT 61 in Garey and Johnson’s book]. In the realm of parameterized complexity, Hartung and Nichterlein [CCC 2013] proved that the problem is W[2]-hard when parameterized by the natural parameter k. They also observed that it is FPT when parameterized by the vertex cover number and asked about its complexity under smaller parameters, in particular the feedback vertex set number. We answer this question by proving that Metric Dimension is W[1]-hard when parameterized by the feedback vertex set number. This also improves the result of Bonnet and Purohit [IPEC 2019] which states that the problem is W[1]-hard parameterized by the treewidth. Regarding the parameterization by the vertex cover number, we prove that Metric Dimension does not admit a polynomial kernel under this parameterization unless NP ⊆ coNP/poly. We observe that a similar result holds when the parameter is the distance to clique. On the positive side, we show that Metric Dimension is FPT when parameterized by either the distance to cluster or the distance to co-cluster, both of which are smaller parameters than the vertex cover number.

TCS Journal 2022 Journal Article

On a vertex-capturing game

  • Julien Bensmail
  • Fionn Mc Inerney

In this paper, we study the recently introduced scoring game played on graphs called the Edge-Balanced Index Game. This game is played on a graph by two players, Alice and Bob, who take turns colouring an uncoloured edge of the graph. Alice plays first and colours edges red, while Bob colours edges blue. The game ends once all the edges have been coloured. A player captures a vertex if more than half of its incident edges are coloured by that player, and the player that captures the most vertices wins. Using classical arguments from the field, we first prove general properties of this game. Namely, we prove that there is no graph in which Bob can win (if Alice plays optimally), while Alice can never capture more than 2 more vertices than Bob (if Bob plays optimally). Through dedicated arguments, we then investigate more specific properties of the game, and focus on its outcome when played in particular graph classes. Specifically, we determine the outcome of the game in paths, cycles, complete bipartite graphs, and Cartesian grids, and give partial results for trees and complete graphs.

MFCS Conference 2022 Conference Paper

Sample Compression Schemes for Balls in Graphs

  • Jérémie Chalopin
  • Victor Chepoi
  • Fionn Mc Inerney
  • Sébastien Ratel
  • Yann Vaxès

One of the open problems in machine learning is whether any set-family of VC-dimension d admits a sample compression scheme of size O(d). In this paper, we study this problem for balls in graphs. For balls of arbitrary radius r, we design proper sample compression schemes of size 4 for interval graphs, of size 6 for trees of cycles, and of size 22 for cube-free median graphs. We also design approximate sample compression schemes of size 2 for balls of δ-hyperbolic graphs.

TCS Journal 2021 Journal Article

On the role of 3s for the 1-2-3 Conjecture

  • Julien Bensmail
  • Foivos Fioravantes
  • Fionn Mc Inerney

The 1-2-3 Conjecture states that every connected graph different from K 2 admits a proper 3-(edge-)labelling, i. e. , can have its edges labelled with 1, 2, 3 so that no two adjacent vertices are incident to the same sum of labels. In connection with some recent optimisation variants of this conjecture, in this paper we investigate the role of the label 3 in proper 3-labellings of graphs. An intuition from previous investigations is that, in general, it should always be possible to produce proper 3-labellings assigning label 3 to a only few edges. We prove that, for every p ≥ 0, there are various graphs needing at least p 3s in their proper 3-labellings. Actually, deciding whether a given graph can be properly 3-labelled with p 3s is NP-complete for every p ≥ 0. We also focus on classes of 3-chromatic graphs. For various classes of such graphs (cacti, cubic graphs, triangle-free planar graphs, etc.), we prove that there is no p ≥ 1 such that all their graphs admit proper 3-labellings assigning label 3 to at most p edges. In such cases, we provide lower and upper bounds on the number of 3s needed.

TCS Journal 2021 Journal Article

The game of Cops and Eternal Robbers

  • Anthony Bonato
  • Melissa A. Huggan
  • Trent G. Marbach
  • Fionn Mc Inerney

We introduce the game of Cops and Eternal Robbers played on graphs, where there are infinitely many robbers that appear sequentially over distinct plays of the game. A positive integer t is fixed, and the cops are required to capture the robber in at most t time-steps in each play. The associated optimization parameter is the eternal cop number, denoted by c t ∞, which equals the eternal domination number in the case t = 1, and the cop number for sufficiently large t. We study the complexity of Cops and Eternal Robbers, and show that the game is NP-hard when t is a fixed constant and EXPTIME-complete for large values of t. We determine precise values of c t ∞ for paths and cycles. The eternal cop number is studied for retracts, and this approach is applied to give bounds for trees, as well as for strong and Cartesian grids.

TCS Journal 2019 Journal Article

The orthogonal colouring game

  • Stephan Dominique Andres
  • Melissa Huggan
  • Fionn Mc Inerney
  • Richard J. Nowakowski

We introduce the orthogonal colouring game, in which two players alternately colour vertices (from a choice of m ∈ N colours) of a pair of isomorphic graphs while respecting the properness and the orthogonality of the colouring. Each player aims to maximise her score, which is the number of coloured vertices in the copy of the graph she owns. The main result of this paper is that the second player has a strategy to force a draw in this game for any m ∈ N for graphs that admit a strictly matched involution. An involution σ of a graph G is strictly matched if its fixed point set induces a clique and any non-fixed point v ∈ V ( G ) is connected with its image σ ( v ) by an edge. We give a structural characterisation of graphs admitting a strictly matched involution and bounds for the number of such graphs. Examples of such graphs are the graphs associated with Latin squares and sudoku squares.

TCS Journal 2018 Journal Article

Spy-game on graphs: Complexity and simple topologies

  • Nathann Cohen
  • Nícolas A. Martins
  • Fionn Mc Inerney
  • Nicolas Nisse
  • Stéphane Pérennes
  • Rudini Sampaio

We define and study the following two-player game on a graph G. Let k ∈ N ⁎. A set of k guards is occupying some vertices of G while one spy is standing at some node. At each turn, first the spy may move along at most s edges, where s ∈ N ⁎ is his speed. Then, each guard may move along one edge. The spy and the guards may occupy the same vertices. The spy has to escape the surveillance of the guards, i. e. , must reach a vertex at distance more than d ∈ N (a predefined distance) from every guard. Can the spy win against k guards? Similarly, what is the minimum distance d such that k guards may ensure that at least one of them remains at distance at most d from the spy? This game generalizes two well-studied games: Cops and robber games (when s = 1 ) and Eternal Dominating Set (when s is unbounded). We consider the computational complexity of the problem, showing that it is NP-hard (for every speed s and distance d) and that some variant of it is PSPACE-hard in DAGs. Then, we establish tight tradeoffs between the number of guards, the speed s of the spy and the required distance d when G is a path or a cycle.

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