We consider the problem of estimating a $p$ -dimensional vector $\beta$ from $n$ observations $Y=X\beta+W$ , where $\beta_{j}\mathop{\sim}^{\mathrm{i.i.d}.}\pi$ for a real-valued distribution $\pi$ with zero mean and unit variance’ $X_{ij}\mathop{\sim}^{\mathrm{i.i.d}.}\mathcal{N}(0,1)$ , and $W_{i}\mathop{\sim}^{\mathrm{i.i.d}.}\mathcal{N}(0,\ \sigma^{2})$ . In the asymptotic regime where $n/p\rightarrow\delta$ and $p/\sigma^{2}\rightarrow$ snr for two fixed constants $\delta,\ \mathsf{snr}\in(0,\ \infty)$ as $p\rightarrow\infty$ , the limiting (normalized) minimum mean-squared error (MMSE) has been characterized by a single-letter (additive Gaussian scalar) channel. In this paper, we show that if the MMSE function of the single-letter channel converges to a step function, then the limiting MMSE of estimating $\beta$ converges to a step function which jumps from 1 to 0 at a critical threshold. Moreover, we establish that the limiting mean-squared error of the (MSE-optimal) approximate message passing algorithm also converges to a step function with a larger threshold, providing evidence for the presence of a computational-statistical gap between the two thresholds.
more »
« less
This content will become publicly available on July 21, 2025
Private Vector Mean Estimation in the Shuffle Model: Optimal Rates Require Many Messages
We study the problem of private vector mean estimation in the shuffle model of privacy where n users each have a unit vector v^{(i)} in R^d. We propose a new multi-message protocol that achieves the optimal error using O~(min(n*epsilon^2, d)) messages per user. Moreover, we show that any (unbiased) protocol that achieves optimal error requires each user to send Omega(min(n*epsilon^2,d)/log(n)) messages, demonstrating the optimality of our message complexity up to logarithmic factors.
Additionally, we study the single-message setting and design a protocol that achieves mean squared error O(dn^{d/(d+2)} * epsilon^{-4/(d+2)}). Moreover, we show that any single-message protocol must incur mean squared error Omega(dn^{d/(d+2)}), showing that our protocol is optimal in the standard setting where epsilon = Theta(1). Finally, we study robustness to malicious users and show that malicious users can incur large additive error with a single shuffler.
more »
« less
- Award ID(s):
- 2311649
- PAR ID:
- 10542750
- Publisher / Repository:
- Proceedings of Machine Learning Research
- Date Published:
- Volume:
- 235
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 1945-1970
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
More Like this
-
-
This paper focuses on showing time-message trade-offs in distributed algorithms for fundamental problems such as leader election, broadcast, spanning tree (ST), minimum spanning tree (MST), minimum cut, and many graph verification problems. We consider the synchronous CONGEST distributed computing model and assume that each node has initial knowledge of itself and the identifiers of its neighbors - the so-called KT_1 model - a well-studied model that also naturally arises in many applications. Recently, it has been established that one can obtain (almost) singularly optimal algorithms, i.e., algorithms that have simultaneously optimal time and message complexity (up to polylogarithmic factors), for many fundamental problems in the standard KT_0 model (where nodes have only local knowledge of themselves and not their neighbors). The situation is less clear in the KT_1 model. In this paper, we present several new distributed algorithms in the KT_1 model that trade off between time and message complexity. Our distributed algorithms are based on a uniform and general approach which involves constructing a sparsified spanning subgraph of the original graph - called a danner - that trades off the number of edges with the diameter of the sparsifier. In particular, a key ingredient of our approach is a distributed randomized algorithm that, given a graph G and any delta in [0,1], with high probability constructs a danner that has diameter O~(D + n^{1-delta}) and O~(min{m,n^{1+delta}}) edges in O~(n^{1-delta}) rounds while using O~(min{m,n^{1+delta}}) messages, where n, m, and D are the number of nodes, edges, and the diameter of G, respectively. Using our danner construction, we present a family of distributed randomized algorithms for various fundamental problems that exhibit a trade-off between message and time complexity and that improve over previous results. Specifically, we show the following results (all hold with high probability) in the KT_1 model, which subsume and improve over prior bounds in the KT_1 model (King et al., PODC 2014 and Awerbuch et al., JACM 1990) and the KT_0 model (Kutten et al., JACM 2015, Pandurangan et al., STOC 2017 and Elkin, PODC 2017): 1) Leader Election, Broadcast, and ST. These problems can be solved in O~(D+n^{1-delta}) rounds using O~(min{m,n^{1+delta}}) messages for any delta in [0,1]. 2) MST and Connectivity. These problems can be solved in O~(D+n^{1-delta}) rounds using O~(min{m,n^{1+delta}}) messages for any delta in [0,0.5]. In particular, for delta = 0.5 we obtain a distributed MST algorithm that runs in optimal O~(D+sqrt{n}) rounds and uses O~(min{m,n^{3/2}}) messages. We note that this improves over the singularly optimal algorithm in the KT_0 model that uses O~(D+sqrt{n}) rounds and O~(m) messages. 3) Minimum Cut. O(log n)-approximate minimum cut can be solved in O~(D+n^{1-delta}) rounds using O~(min{m,n^{1+delta}}) messages for any delta in [0,0.5]. 4) Graph Verification Problems such as Bipartiteness, Spanning Subgraph etc. These can be solved in O~(D+n^{1-delta}) rounds using O~(min{m,n^{1+delta}}) messages for any delta in [0,0.5].more » « less
-
We study local symmetry breaking problems in the Congest model, focusing on ruling set problems, which generalize the fundamental Maximal Independent Set (MIS) problem. The time (round) complexity of MIS (and ruling sets) have attracted much attention in the Local model. Indeed, recent results (Barenboim et al., FOCS 2012, Ghaffari SODA 2016) for the MIS problem have tried to break the long-standing O(log n)-round "barrier" achieved by Luby's algorithm, but these yield o(log n)-round complexity only when the maximum degree Delta is somewhat small relative to n. More importantly, these results apply only in the Local model. In fact, the best known time bound in the Congest model is still O(log n) (via Luby's algorithm) even for moderately small Delta (i.e., for Delta = Omega(log n) and Delta = o(n)). Furthermore, message complexity has been largely ignored in the context of local symmetry breaking. Luby's algorithm takes O(m) messages on m-edge graphs and this is the best known bound with respect to messages. Our work is motivated by the following central question: can we break the Theta(log n) time complexity barrier and the Theta(m) message complexity barrier in the Congest model for MIS or closely-related symmetry breaking problems? This paper presents progress towards this question for the distributed ruling set problem in the Congest model. A beta-ruling set is an independent set such that every node in the graph is at most beta hops from a node in the independent set. We present the following results: - Time Complexity: We show that we can break the O(log n) "barrier" for 2- and 3-ruling sets. We compute 3-ruling sets in O(log n/log log n) rounds with high probability (whp). More generally we show that 2-ruling sets can be computed in O(log Delta (log n)^(1/2 + epsilon) + log n/log log n) rounds for any epsilon > 0, which is o(log n) for a wide range of Delta values (e.g., Delta = 2^(log n)^(1/2-epsilon)). These are the first 2- and 3-ruling set algorithms to improve over the O(log n)-round complexity of Luby's algorithm in the Congest model. - Message Complexity: We show an Omega(n^2) lower bound on the message complexity of computing an MIS (i.e., 1-ruling set) which holds also for randomized algorithms and present a contrast to this by showing a randomized algorithm for 2-ruling sets that, whp, uses only O(n log^2 n) messages and runs in O(Delta log n) rounds. This is the first message-efficient algorithm known for ruling sets, which has message complexity nearly linear in n (which is optimal up to a polylogarithmic factor).more » « less
-
We study the menu complexity of optimal and approximately-optimal auctions in the context of the ``FedEx'' problem, a so-called ``one-and-a-half-dimensional'' setting where a single bidder has both a value and a deadline for receiving an item [FGKK 16]. The menu complexity of an auction is equal to the number of distinct (allocation, price) pairs that a bidder might receive [HN 13]. We show the following when the bidder has $n$ possible deadlines: 1) Exponential menu complexity is necessary to be exactly optimal: There exist instances where the optimal mechanism has menu complexity $\geq 2^n-1$. This matches exactly the upper bound provided by Fiat et al.'s algorithm, and resolves one of their open questions [FGKK 16]. 2) Fully polynomial menu complexity is necessary and sufficient for approximation: For all instances, there exists a mechanism guaranteeing a multiplicative $(1-\epsilon)$-approximation to the optimal revenue with menu complexity $O(n^{3/2}\sqrt{\frac{\min\{n/\epsilon,\ln(v_{\max})\}}{\epsilon}}) = O(n^2/\epsilon)$, where $v_{\max}$ denotes the largest value in the support of integral distributions. \item There exist instances where any mechanism guaranteeing a multiplicative $(1-O(1/n^2))$-approximation to the optimal revenue requires menu complexity $\Omega(n^2)$. Our main technique is the polygon approximation of concave functions [Rote 91], and our results here should be of independent interest. We further show how our techniques can be used to resolve an open question of [DW 17] on the menu complexity of optimal auctions for a budget-constrained buyer.more » « less
-
In the problem of cache-aided Multiuser Private Information Retrieval (MuPIR), a set of Ku cache-aided users wish to download their desired messages from a set of N distributed non-colluding databases each holding a library of K independent messages. The communication load of this problem is defined as the total number of bits downloaded (normalized by the message length) by the users. The goal is to find the optimal memory-load trade-off under the constraint of user demand privacy, which ensures that any individual database learns nothing about the demands of the users. In this paper, for the MuPIR problem with K = 2 messages, K u = 2 users and N ≥ 2 databases, we provide achievability for the memory-load pairs (N-1/2N, N+1/N) and(2(N-1)/2N-1,N+1/2N-1) by constructing specific achievable schemes based on the novel idea of Private Cacheaided Interference Alignment (PCIA). We prove that the proposed scheme is optimal if the cache placement is uncoded (i.e., users directly cache a subset of the library bits). Computer-aided investigation also shows that the proposed schemes are optimal in general when N = 2, 3.more » « less
