Complexity analysis of generalized and fractional hypertree decompositions

<p>Hypertree decompositions (HDs), as well as the more powerful generalized hypertree decompositions (GHDs), and the yet more general fractional hypertree decompositions (FHDs) are hypergraph decomposition methods successfully used for answering conjunctive queries and for solving constraint s...

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Main Authors: Gottlob, G, Lanzinger, M, Pichler, R, Razgon, I
Format: Journal article
Language:English
Published: Association for Computing Machinery 2021
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author Gottlob, G
Lanzinger, M
Pichler, R
Razgon, I
author_facet Gottlob, G
Lanzinger, M
Pichler, R
Razgon, I
author_sort Gottlob, G
collection OXFORD
description <p>Hypertree decompositions (HDs), as well as the more powerful generalized hypertree decompositions (GHDs), and the yet more general fractional hypertree decompositions (FHDs) are hypergraph decomposition methods successfully used for answering conjunctive queries and for solving constraint satisfaction problems. Every hypergraph H has a width relative to each of these methods: its hypertree width hw(H), its generalized hypertree width ghw(H), and its fractional hypertree width fhw(H), respectively. It is known that hw(H)≤ k can be checked in polynomial time for fixed k, while checking ghw(H)≤ k is NP-complete for k ≥ 3. The complexity of checking fhw(H)≤ k for a fixed k has been open for over a decade.</p> <p>We settle this open problem by showing that checking fhw(H)≤ k is NP-complete, even for k=2. The same construction allows us to prove also the NP-completeness of checking ghw(H)≤ k for k=2. After that, we identify meaningful restrictions that make checking for bounded ghw or fhw tractable or allow for an efficient approximation of the fhw.</p>
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spelling oxford-uuid:1b42a85b-9353-480d-9b4e-f0f6b00eefe82022-03-26T10:59:27ZComplexity analysis of generalized and fractional hypertree decompositionsJournal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:1b42a85b-9353-480d-9b4e-f0f6b00eefe8EnglishSymplectic ElementsAssociation for Computing Machinery2021Gottlob, GLanzinger, MPichler, RRazgon, I<p>Hypertree decompositions (HDs), as well as the more powerful generalized hypertree decompositions (GHDs), and the yet more general fractional hypertree decompositions (FHDs) are hypergraph decomposition methods successfully used for answering conjunctive queries and for solving constraint satisfaction problems. Every hypergraph H has a width relative to each of these methods: its hypertree width hw(H), its generalized hypertree width ghw(H), and its fractional hypertree width fhw(H), respectively. It is known that hw(H)≤ k can be checked in polynomial time for fixed k, while checking ghw(H)≤ k is NP-complete for k ≥ 3. The complexity of checking fhw(H)≤ k for a fixed k has been open for over a decade.</p> <p>We settle this open problem by showing that checking fhw(H)≤ k is NP-complete, even for k=2. The same construction allows us to prove also the NP-completeness of checking ghw(H)≤ k for k=2. After that, we identify meaningful restrictions that make checking for bounded ghw or fhw tractable or allow for an efficient approximation of the fhw.</p>
spellingShingle Gottlob, G
Lanzinger, M
Pichler, R
Razgon, I
Complexity analysis of generalized and fractional hypertree decompositions
title Complexity analysis of generalized and fractional hypertree decompositions
title_full Complexity analysis of generalized and fractional hypertree decompositions
title_fullStr Complexity analysis of generalized and fractional hypertree decompositions
title_full_unstemmed Complexity analysis of generalized and fractional hypertree decompositions
title_short Complexity analysis of generalized and fractional hypertree decompositions
title_sort complexity analysis of generalized and fractional hypertree decompositions
work_keys_str_mv AT gottlobg complexityanalysisofgeneralizedandfractionalhypertreedecompositions
AT lanzingerm complexityanalysisofgeneralizedandfractionalhypertreedecompositions
AT pichlerr complexityanalysisofgeneralizedandfractionalhypertreedecompositions
AT razgoni complexityanalysisofgeneralizedandfractionalhypertreedecompositions