Repository logo
 

Approximations of isomorphism and logics with linear-algebraic operators

Published version
Peer-reviewed

Type

Conference Object

Change log

Authors

Grädel, E 
Pakusa, W 

Abstract

Invertible map equivalences are approximations of graph isomorphism that refine the well-known Weisfeiler-Leman method. They are parametrised by a number k and a set Q of primes. The intuition is that two graphs G and H which are equivalent with respect to k-Q-IM-equivalence cannot be distinguished by a refinement of k-tuples given by linear operators acting on vector spaces over fields of characteristic p, for any p in Q. These equivalences first appeared in the study of rank logic, but in fact they can be used to delimit the expressive power of any extension of fixed-point logic with linear-algebraic operators. We define an infinitary logic with k variables and all linear-algebraic operators over finite vector spaces of characteristic p in Q and show that the k-Q-IM-equivalence is the natural notion of elementary equivalence for this logic. By means of a new and much deeper algebraic analysis of a generalized variant, for any prime p, of the CFI-structures due to Cai, F"urer, and Immerman, we prove that, as long as Q is not the set of all primes, there is no k such that k-Q-IM-equivalence is the same as isomorphism. It follows that there are polynomial-time properties of graphs which are not definable in the infinitary logic with all Q-linear-algebraic operators and finitely many variables, which implies that no extension of fixed-point logic with linear-algebraic operators can capture PTIME, unless it includes such operators for all prime characteristics. Our analysis requires substantial algebraic machinery, including a homogeneity property of CFI-structures and Maschke's Theorem, an important result from the representation theory of finite groups.

Description

Keywords

cs.LO, cs.LO, cs.CC, math.LO, 03C13, 03C80, 68Q19, F.4.1

Journal Title

Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics, LIPIcs

Conference Name

46th International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming (ICALP 2019)

Journal ISSN

1868-8969

Volume Title

132

Publisher

Schloss Dagstuhl--Leibniz-Zentrum fuer Informatik
Sponsorship
Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EP/S03238X/1)