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1. On a Traveling Salesman Problem for Points in the Unit Cube

   https://doi.org/10.1007/s00453-024-01257-w  

   Balogh, József; Clemen, Felix Christian; Dumitrescu, Adrian (September 2024, Algorithmica)

   Abstract LetXbe ann-element point set in thek-dimensional unit cube$$[0,1]^k$$ ${[0,1]}^k$where$$k \ge 2$$ $k\ge 2$. According to an old result of Bollobás and Meir (Oper Res Lett 11:19–21, 1992) , there exists a cycle (tour)$$x_1, x_2, \ldots , x_n$$ $x_1,x_2,\dots ,x_n$through thenpoints, such that$$\left( \sum _{i=1}^n |x_i - x_{i+1}|^k \right) ^{1/k} \le c_k$$ ${\left({\sum }_{i=1}^n,{|x_i-x_{i+1}|}^k\right)}^{1/k}\le c_k$, where$$|x-y|$$ $|x-y|$is the Euclidean distance betweenxandy, and$$c_k$$ $c_k$is an absolute constant that depends only onk, where$$x_{n+1} \equiv x_1$$ $x_{n+1}\equiv x_1$. From the other direction, for every$$k \ge 2$$ $k\ge 2$and$$n \ge 2$$ $n\ge 2$, there existnpoints in$$[0,1]^k$$ ${[0,1]}^k$, such that their shortest tour satisfies$$\left( \sum _{i=1}^n |x_i - x_{i+1}|^k \right) ^{1/k} = 2^{1/k} \cdot \sqrt{k}$$ ${\left({\sum }_{i=1}^n,{|x_i-x_{i+1}|}^k\right)}^{1/k}=2^{1/k}·\sqrt{k}$. For the plane, the best constant is$$c_2=2$$ $c_2=2$and this is the only exact value known. Bollobás and Meir showed that one can take$$c_k = 9 \left( \frac{2}{3} \right) ^{1/k} \cdot \sqrt{k}$$ $c_k=9{\left(\frac{2}{3}\right)}^{1/k}·\sqrt{k}$for every$$k \ge 3$$ $k\ge 3$and conjectured that the best constant is$$c_k = 2^{1/k} \cdot \sqrt{k}$$ $c_k=2^{1/k}·\sqrt{k}$, for every$$k \ge 2$$ $k\ge 2$. Here we significantly improve the upper bound and show that one can take$$c_k = 3 \sqrt{5} \left( \frac{2}{3} \right) ^{1/k} \cdot \sqrt{k}$$ $c_k=3\sqrt{5}{\left(\frac{2}{3}\right)}^{1/k}·\sqrt{k}$or$$c_k = 2.91 \sqrt{k} \ (1+o_k(1))$$ $c_k=2.91\sqrt{k}(1+o_k\left(1\right))$. Our bounds are constructive. We also show that$$c_3 \ge 2^{7/6}$$ $c_3\ge 2^{7/6}$, which disproves the conjecture for$$k=3$$ $k=3$. Connections to matching problems, power assignment problems, related problems, including algorithms, are discussed in this context. A slightly revised version of the Bollobás–Meir conjecture is proposed. 

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2. Improved Merlin–Arthur Protocols for Central Problems in Fine-Grained Complexity

   https://doi.org/10.1007/s00453-023-01102-6  

   Akmal, Shyan; Chen, Lijie; Jin, Ce; Raj, Malvika; Williams, Ryan (February 2023, Algorithmica)

   Abstract In a Merlin–Arthur proof system, the proof verifier (Arthur) accepts valid proofs (from Merlin) with probability 1, and rejects invalid proofs with probability arbitrarily close to 1. The running time of such a system is defined to be the length of Merlin’s proof plus the running time of Arthur. We provide new Merlin–Arthur proof systems for some key problems in fine-grained complexity. In several cases our proof systems have optimal running time. Our main results include:Certifying that a list ofnintegers has no 3-SUM solution can be done in Merlin–Arthur time$$\tilde{O}(n)$$ $\tilde{O}\left(n\right)$. Previously, Carmosino et al. [ITCS 2016] showed that the problem has a nondeterministic algorithm running in$$\tilde{O}(n^{1.5})$$ $\tilde{O}\left(n^{1.5}\right)$time (that is, there is a proof system with proofs of length$$\tilde{O}(n^{1.5})$$ $\tilde{O}\left(n^{1.5}\right)$and a deterministic verifier running in$$\tilde{O}(n^{1.5})$$ $\tilde{O}\left(n^{1.5}\right)$time).Counting the number ofk-cliques with total edge weight equal to zero in ann-node graph can be done in Merlin–Arthur time$${\tilde{O}}(n^{\lceil k/2\rceil })$$ $\tilde{O}\left(n^{\lceil k/2\rceil }\right)$(where$$k\ge 3$$ $k\ge 3$). For oddk, this bound can be further improved for sparse graphs: for example, counting the number of zero-weight triangles in anm-edge graph can be done in Merlin–Arthur time$${\tilde{O}}(m)$$ $\tilde{O}\left(m\right)$. Previous Merlin–Arthur protocols by Williams [CCC’16] and Björklund and Kaski [PODC’16] could only countk-cliques in unweighted graphs, and had worse running times for smallk.Computing the All-Pairs Shortest Distances matrix for ann-node graph can be done in Merlin–Arthur time$$\tilde{O}(n^2)$$ $\tilde{O}\left(n^2\right)$. Note this is optimal, as the matrix can have$$\Omega (n^2)$$ $\Omega \left(n^2\right)$nonzero entries in general. Previously, Carmosino et al. [ITCS 2016] showed that this problem has an$$\tilde{O}(n^{2.94})$$ $\tilde{O}\left(n^{2.94}\right)$nondeterministic time algorithm.Certifying that ann-variablek-CNF is unsatisfiable can be done in Merlin–Arthur time$$2^{n/2 - n/O(k)}$$ $2^{n/2-n/O\left(k\right)}$. We also observe an algebrization barrier for the previous$$2^{n/2}\cdot \textrm{poly}(n)$$ $2^{n/2}·\text{poly}\left(n\right)$-time Merlin–Arthur protocol of R. Williams [CCC’16] for$$\#$$ $\#$SAT: in particular, his protocol algebrizes, and we observe there is no algebrizing protocol fork-UNSAT running in$$2^{n/2}/n^{\omega (1)}$$ $2^{n/2}/n^{\omega \left(1\right)}$time. Therefore we have to exploit non-algebrizing properties to obtain our new protocol.Certifying a Quantified Boolean Formula is true can be done in Merlin–Arthur time$$2^{4n/5}\cdot \textrm{poly}(n)$$ $2^{4n/5}·\text{poly}\left(n\right)$. Previously, the only nontrivial result known along these lines was an Arthur–Merlin–Arthur protocol (where Merlin’s proof depends on some of Arthur’s coins) running in$$2^{2n/3}\cdot \textrm{poly}(n)$$ $2^{2n/3}·\text{poly}\left(n\right)$time.Due to the centrality of these problems in fine-grained complexity, our results have consequences for many other problems of interest. For example, our work implies that certifying there is no Subset Sum solution tonintegers can be done in Merlin–Arthur time$$2^{n/3}\cdot \textrm{poly}(n)$$ $2^{n/3}·\text{poly}\left(n\right)$, improving on the previous best protocol by Nederlof [IPL 2017] which took$$2^{0.49991n}\cdot \textrm{poly}(n)$$ $2^{0.49991n}·\text{poly}\left(n\right)$time. 

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3. CUPID, the Cuore upgrade with particle identification

   https://doi.org/10.1140/epjc/s10052-025-14352-1  

   Alfonso, K; Armatol, A; Augier, C; Avignone_III, F T; Azzolini, O; Barabash, A S; Bari, G; Barresi, A; Baudin, D; Bellini, F; et al (July 2025, The European Physical Journal C)

   Abstract CUPID, the CUORE Upgrade with Particle Identification, is a next-generation experiment to search for neutrinoless double beta decay ($$0\mathrm {\nu \beta \beta }$$ $0\nu \beta \beta$) and other rare events using enriched Li$$_{2}$$ $_2^{}$$$^{100}$$ $_{}^{100}$MoO$$_{4}$$ $_4^{}$scintillating bolometers. It will be hosted by the CUORE cryostat located at the Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso in Italy. The main physics goal of CUPID is to search for$$0\mathrm {\nu \beta \beta }$$ $0\nu \beta \beta$of$$^{100}$$ $_{}^{100}$Mo with a discovery sensitivity covering the full neutrino mass regime in the inverted ordering scenario, as well as the portion of the normal ordering regime with lightest neutrino mass larger than 10 meV. With a conservative background index of 10$$^{-4}$$ $_{}^{-4}$ cts$$/($$ $/($keV$$\cdot $$ $·$kg$$\cdot $$ $·$yr$$)$$ $)$, 240 kg isotope mass, 5 keV FWHM energy resolution at 3 MeV and 10 live-years of data taking, CUPID will have a 90% C.L. half-life exclusion sensitivity of$$1.8\cdot 10^{27}$$ $1.8·{10}^{27}$ yr, corresponding to an effective Majorana neutrino mass ($$m_{\beta \beta }$$ $m_{\beta \beta }$) sensitivity of 9–15 meV, and a$$3\sigma $$ $3\sigma$discovery sensitivity of$$1\cdot 10^{27}$$ $1·{10}^{27}$ yr, corresponding to an$$m_{\beta \beta }$$ $m_{\beta \beta }$range of 12–21 meV. 

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4. An Efficient ZK Compiler from SIMD Circuits to General Circuits

   https://doi.org/10.1007/s00145-024-09531-4  

   Bui, Dung; Chu, Haotian; Couteau, Geoffroy; Wang, Xiao; Weng, Chenkai; Yang, Kang; Yu, Yu (January 2025, Journal of Cryptology)

   Abstract We propose a generic compiler that can convert any zero-knowledge (ZK) proof for SIMD circuits to general circuits efficiently, and an extension that can preserve the space complexity of the proof systems. Our compiler can immediately produce new results improving upon state of the art.By plugging in our compiler to Antman, an interactive sublinear-communication protocol, we improve the overall communication complexity for general circuits from$$\mathcal {O}(C^{3/4})$$ $O\left(C^{3/4}\right)$to$$\mathcal {O}(C^{1/2})$$ $O\left(C^{1/2}\right)$. Our implementation shows that for a circuit of size$$2^{27}$$ $2^{27}$, it achieves up to$$83.6\times $$ $83.6\times$improvement on communication compared to the state-of-the-art implementation. Its end-to-end running time is at least$$70\%$$ $70\%$faster in a 10Mbps network.Using the recent results on compressed$$\varSigma $$ $\Sigma$-protocol theory, we obtain a discrete-log-based constant-round zero-knowledge argument with$$\mathcal {O}(C^{1/2})$$ $O\left(C^{1/2}\right)$communication and common random string length, improving over the state of the art that has linear-size common random string and requires heavier computation.We improve the communication of a designatedn-verifier zero-knowledge proof from$$\mathcal {O}(nC/B+n^2B^2)$$ $O(nC/B+n^2{B}^2)$to$$\mathcal {O}(nC/B+n^2)$$ $O(nC/B+n^2)$.To demonstrate the scalability of our compilers, we were able to extract a commit-and-prove SIMD ZK from Ligero and cast it in our framework. We also give one instantiation derived from LegoSNARK, demonstrating that the idea of CP-SNARK also fits in our methodology. 

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5. Well-Posedness for Ohkitani Model and Long-Time Existence for Surface Quasi-geostrophic Equations

   https://doi.org/10.1007/s00220-025-05257-x  

   Chae, Dongho; Jeong, In-Jee; Na, Jungkyoung; Oh, Sung-Jin (April 2025, Communications in Mathematical Physics)

   Abstract We consider the Cauchy problem for the logarithmically singular surface quasi-geostrophic (SQG) equation, introduced by Ohkitani,$$\begin{aligned} \begin{aligned} \partial _t \theta - \nabla ^\perp \log (10+(-\Delta )^{\frac{1}{2}})\theta \cdot \nabla \theta = 0, \end{aligned} \end{aligned}$$ $\begin{array}{c}\begin{array}{c}{\partial }_t\theta -{\nabla }^{\perp }log(10+{(-\Delta )}^{\frac{1}{2}})\theta ·\nabla \theta =0,\end{array}\end{array}$and establish local existence and uniqueness of smooth solutions in the scale of Sobolev spaces with exponent decreasing with time. Such a decrease of the Sobolev exponent is necessary, as we have shown in the companion paper (Chae et al. in Illposedness via degenerate dispersion for generalized surface quasi-geostrophic equations with singular velocities,arXiv:2308.02120) that the problem is strongly ill-posed in any fixed Sobolev spaces. The time dependence of the Sobolev exponent can be removed when there is a dissipation term strictly stronger than log. These results improve wellposedness statements by Chae et al. (Comm Pure Appl Math 65(8):1037–1066, 2012). This well-posedness result can be applied to describe the long-time dynamics of the$$\delta $$ $\delta$-SQG equations, defined by$$\begin{aligned} \begin{aligned} \partial _t \theta + \nabla ^\perp (10+(-\Delta )^{\frac{1}{2}})^{-\delta }\theta \cdot \nabla \theta = 0, \end{aligned} \end{aligned}$$ $\begin{array}{c}\begin{array}{c}{\partial }_t\theta +{\nabla }^{\perp }{(10+{(-\Delta )}^{\frac{1}{2}})}^{-\delta }\theta ·\nabla \theta =0,\end{array}\end{array}$for all sufficiently small$$\delta >0$$ $\delta >0$depending on the size of the initial data. For the same range of$$\delta $$ $\delta$, we establish global well-posedness of smooth solutions to the dissipative SQG equations. 

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