The goal of this course is to provide an overview of the main advances and techniques used for the development of fixed-parameter algorithms and to introduce students to the rapidly developing paradigm of parameterized complexity. After finishing the course, students should be able to understand recent scientific advances in the field, develop basic kernelization and fixed-parameter algorithms for various problems, and also have access to techniques which can rule out the existence of such algorithms under certain conditions.
Fixed-parameter algorithms provide a powerful approach for efficiently solving many NP-hard problems by exploiting structural aspects of problem instances in terms of a problem parameter. This course provides an overview of the main techniques for developing fixed-parameter algorithms (including bounded search trees, kernelization, color coding, modulators) as well as the fundamentals of parameterized complexity theory (such as the Weft-hierarchy, XP and para-NP-hardness, kernelization lower bounds) which allows to provide strong evidence that certain problems cannot be solved by a fixed-parameter algorithm.
The course information meeting and first lecture start on Monday 7 January at 12:00 in the von Neumann seminar room.
The course will be held blocked in January 2019 and all lectures except for the first will take place in library/seminar room of the Algorithms and Complexity Group (room HB0408 at Favoritenstrasse 9-11). The course will take place:
There will be a break in the middle of each block (specific timing is up for discussion).
This course requires basic knowledge on the design and analysis of algorithms as well as basic complexity theory. Knowledge of the topics covered in the Algorithmics course is an advantage.
