The constraint satisfaction problem (CSP) is concerned with homomorphisms between two structures. For CSPs with restricted left-hand side structures, the results of Dalmau, Kolaitis, and Vardi [CP'02], Grohe [FOCS'03 JACM'07], and Atserias, Bulatov, and Dalmau [ICALP'07] establish the precise borderline of polynomial-time solvability (subject to complexity-theoretic assumptions) and of solvability by bounded-consistency algorithms (unconditionally) as bounded treewidth modulo homomorphic equivalence. The general-valued constraint satisfaction problem (VCSP) is a generalisation of the CSP concerned with homomorphisms between two valued structures. For VCSPs with restricted left-hand side valued structures, we establish the precise borderline of polynomial-time solvability (subject to complexity-theoretic assumptions) and of solvability by the k-th level of the Sherali-Adams LP hierarchy (unconditionally). We also obtain results on related problems concerned with finding a solution and recognising the tractable cases; the latter has an application in database theory.
In his PhD thesis @cite_2 , F "arnqvist studied the complexity of VCSP( @math , @math ) and also some fragments of VCSPs (see also @cite_24 @cite_45 ). He considered a very specific framework that only allows for particular types of classes @math 's to be classified. For these classes, he showed that only bounded treewidth gives rise to tractability (assuming bounded arity) and asked about more general classes. In particular, decision CSPs do fit in his framework and Grohe's classification @cite_21 is not implied by F "arnqvist's work. In contrast, our characterisation (of classes @math 's of valued structures) gives rise to new tractable cases going beyond those identified by F "arnqvist. Moreover, we can derive both Grohe's classification and F "arnqvist's classification directly from our results, as explained in .
@cite_24 @cite_45 @cite_21 @cite_2
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The valued constraint satisfaction problem (VCSP) is an optimization framework originating from artificial intelligence which generalizes the classical constraint satisfaction problem (CSP). In this paper, we are interested in structural properties that can make problems from the VCSP framework, as well as other CSP variants, solvable to optimality in polynomial time. So far, the largest structural class that is known to be polynomial-time solvable to optimality is the class of bounded hypertree width instances introduced by Here, larger classes of tractable instances are singled out by using dynamic programming and structural decompositions based on a hypergraph invariant proposed by Grohe and Marx. In the second part of the paper, we take a different view on our optimization problems; instead of considering fixed arbitrary values for some structural invariant of the (hyper)graph structure of the constraints, we consider the problems parameterized by the tree-width of primal, dual, and incidence graphs, combined with several other basic parameters such as domain size and arity. Such parameterizations of plain CSPs have been studied by Samer and Szeider. Here, we extend their framework to encompass our optimization problems, by coupling it with further non-trivial machinery and new reductions. By doing so, we are able to determine numerous combinations of the considered parameters that make our optimization problems admit fixed-parameter algorithms. We give a complexity theoretic classification of homomorphism problems for graphs and, more generally, relational structures obtained by restricting the left hand side structure in a homomorphism. For every class C of structures, let HOM(C,−) be the problem of deciding whether a given structure A ∈C has a homomorphism to a given (arbitrary) structure s. We prove that, under some complexity theoretic assumption from parameterized complexity theory, HOM(C,−) is in polynomial time if and only if C has bounded tree width modulo homomorphic equivalence. Translated into the language of constraint satisfaction problems, our result yields a characterization of the tractable structural restrictions of constraint satisfaction problems. Translated into the language of database theory, it implies a characterization of the tractable instances of the evaluation problem for conjunctive queries over relational databases. In this thesis we investigate the computational complexity and approximability of computational problems from the constraint satisfaction framework. An instance of a constraint satisfaction problem ...