Abstract
This paper introduces the notion of distributed verification without preprocessing. It focuses on the Minimum-weight Spanning Tree (MST) verification problem and establishes tight upper and lower bounds for the time and message complexities of this problem. Specifically, we provide an MST verification algorithm that achieves simultaneously \(\tilde{O}(m)\) messages and \(\tilde{O}(\sqrt{n} + D)\) time, where m is the number of edges in the given graph G, n is the number of nodes, and D is G’s diameter. On the other hand, we show that any MST verification algorithm must send \(\tilde{\varOmega}(m)\) messages and incur \(\tilde{\varOmega}(\sqrt{n} + D)\) time in worst case.
Our upper bound result appears to indicate that the verification of an MST may be easier than its construction, since for MST construction, both lower bounds of \(\tilde{\varOmega}(m)\) messages and \(\tilde{\varOmega}(\sqrt{n} + D)\) time hold, but at the moment there is no known distributed algorithm that constructs an MST and achieves simultaneously \(\tilde{O}(m)\) messages and \(\tilde{O}(\sqrt{n} + D)\) time. Specifically, the best known time-optimal algorithm (using \({\tilde{O}}(\sqrt {n} + D)\) time) requires O(m+n 3/2) messages, and the best known message-optimal algorithm (using \({\tilde{O}}(m)\) messages) requires O(n) time. On the other hand, our lower bound results indicate that the verification of an MST is not significantly easier than its construction.
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
\(\tilde{\varOmega}\) (respectively \(\tilde{O}\)) is a relaxed variant of the Ω (rep., O) notation that ignores polylog factors.
Equivalently, we may consider also disconnected graphs, and require T to be a spanning forest of G.
References
Afek, Y., Kutten, S., Yung, M.: The local detection paradigm and its applications to self stabilization. Theor. Comput. Sci. 186(1–2), 199–230 (1997)
Awerbuch, B.: Optimal distributed algorithms for minimum weight spanning tree, counting, leader election, and related problems. In: Proc. 19th ACM Symp. on Theory of Computing (STOC), NY, pp. 230–240 (1987)
Awerbuch, B., Patt-Shamir, B., Varghese, G.: Self-stabilization by local checking and correction. In: Proc. IEEE Symp. on the Foundations of Computer Science, pp. 268–277 (1991)
Awerbuch, B., Goldreich, O., Vainish, R., Peleg, D.: A trade-off between information and communication in broadcast protocols. J. ACM 37(2), 238–256 (1990)
Buchsbaum, A.L., Georgiadis, L., Kaplan, H., Rogers, A., Tarjan, R.E., Westbrook, J.R.: Linear-time algorithms for dominators and other path-evaluation problems. SIAM J. Comput. 38(4), 1533–1573 (2008)
Burns, J.E.: A formal model for message passing systems. Technical report TR-91, Computer Science Dept., Indiana University, Bloomington (1980)
Cidon, I., Gopal, I., Kaplan, M., Kutten, S.: A distributed control architecture of high-speed networks. IEEE Trans. Commun. 43(5), 1950–1960 (1995)
Das Sarma, A., Holzer, S., Kor, L., Korman, A., Nanongkai, D., Pandurangan, G., Peleg, D., Wattenhofer, R.: Distributed verification and hardness of distributed approximation. In: Proc. 43th ACM Symp. on Theory of Computing (STOC) (2011)
Das Sarma, A., Nanongkai, D., Pandurangan, G.: A tight unconditional lower bound on distributed random walk computation. In: Proc. 30th ACM SIGACT-SIGOPS Symp. on Principles of Distributed Computing (PODC) (2011)
Dixon, B., Rauch, M., Tarjan, R.E.: Verification and sensitivity analysis of minimum spanning trees in linear time. SIAM J. Comput. 21(6), 1184–1192 (1992)
Dixon, B., Tarjan, R.E.: Optimal parallel verification of minimum spanning trees in logarithmic time. Algorithmica 17(1), 11–18 (1997)
Dolev, S., Gouda, M., Schneider, M.: Requirements for silent stabilization. Acta Inform. 36(6), 447–462 (1999)
Fraigniaud, P., Korman, A., Peleg, D.: Local distributed decision. In: FOCS, pp. 708–717 (2011)
Fraigniaud, P., Korman, A., Parter, M., Peleg, D.: Randomized distributed decision. In: DISC, pp. 371–385 (2012)
Frederickson, G.N., Lynch, N.A.: The impact of synchronous communication on the problem of electing a leader in a ring. In: Proc. 16th ACM Symp. on Theory of Computing (STOC), NY, pp. 493–503 (1984)
Fredman, M.L., Willard, D.E.: Trans-dichotomous algorithms for minimum spanning trees and shortest paths. In: Proc. 31st IEEE FOCS, pp. 719–725 (1990)
Gallager, R.G., Humblet, P.A., Spira, P.M.: A distributed algorithm for minimum-weight spanning trees. ACM Trans. Program. Lang. Syst. 5(1), 66–77 (1983)
Garay, J., Kutten, S.A., Peleg, D.: A sub-linear time distributed algorithm for minimum-weight spanning trees. SIAM J. Comput. 27(1), 302–316 (1998)
Graham, R.L., Hell, P.: On the history of the minimum spanning tree problem. Ann. Hist. Comput. 7(1), 43–47 (1985)
Harel, D.: A linear time algorithm for finding dominators in flow graphs and related problems. In: Proc. 17th ACM Symp. on Theory of Computing (STOC), pp. 185–194 (1985)
Karger, D.R., Klein, P.N., Tarjan, R.E.: A randomized linear-time algorithm to find minimum spanning trees. J. ACM 42(2), 321–328 (1995)
Katz, M., Katz, N.A., Korman, A., Peleg, D.: Labeling schemes for flow and connectivity. SIAM J. Comput. 34(1), 23–40 (2005)
King, V.: A simpler minimum spanning tree verification algorithm. Algorithmica 18, 263–270 (1997)
King, V., Poon, C.K., Ramachandran, V., Sinha, S.: An optimal EREW PRAM algorithm for minimum spanning tree verification. Inf. Process. Lett. 62(3), 153–159 (1997)
Komlös, J.: Linear verification for spanning trees. Combinatorica 5, 57–65 (1985)
Korman, A., Kutten, S.: Distributed verification of minimum spanning trees. Distrib. Comput. 20(4), 253–266 (2007)
Korman, A., Kutten, S., Peleg, D.: Proof labeling schemes. Distrib. Comput. 22(4), 215–233 (2010)
Kushilevitz, E., Nisan, N.: Communication Complexity. Cambridge Univ. Press, New York (1997)
Kutten, S., Peleg, D.: Fast distributed construction of small k-dominating sets and applications. J. Algorithms 28(1), 40–66 (1998)
Kutten, S., Pandurangan, G., Peleg, D., Robinson, P., Trehan, A.: Universal bounds for leader election. Unpublished manuscript (2012)
Lotker, Z., Patt-Shamir, B., Peleg, D.: Distributed mst for constant diameter graphs. In: Proc. 20th ACM Symp. on Principles of Distributed Computing (PODC), NY, pp. 63–71 (2001)
Peleg, D., Rubinovich, V.: A near-tight lower bound on the time complexity of distributed minimum-weight spanning tree construction. SIAM J. Comput. 30(5), 1427–1442 (2000)
Pettie, S., Ramachandran, V.: An optimal minimum spanning tree algorithm. J. ACM 49(1), 16–34 (2002)
Rubinovich, V.: Distributed minimum spanning tree construction. Master’s thesis, Department of Computer Science and Applied Mathematics, The Weizmann Institute of Science (1999)
Tarjan, R.E.: Applications of path compression on balanced trees. J. ACM 26, 690–715 (1979)
Tarjan, R.E.: Data Structures and Network Algorithms. SIAM, Philadelphia (1983)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
L.K. and D.P. are supported by a grant from the United States-Israel Binational Science Foundation (BSF).
A.K. is supported by the ANR project DISPLEXITY, and by the INRIA project GANG.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Kor, L., Korman, A. & Peleg, D. Tight Bounds for Distributed Minimum-Weight Spanning Tree Verification. Theory Comput Syst 53, 318–340 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00224-013-9479-7
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00224-013-9479-7