A Hierarchy of Local Decision
Résumé
We extend the notion of \emph{distributed decision} in the framework of distributed network computing, inspired by recent results on so-called \emph{distributed graph automata}. We show that, by using distributed decision mechanisms based on the interaction between a \emph{prover} and a \emph{disprover}, the size of the certificates distributed to the nodes for certifying a given network property can be drastically reduced. For instance, we prove that minimum spanning tree can be certified with $O(\log n)$-bit certificates in $n$-node graphs, with just one interaction between the prover and the disprover, while it is known that certifying MST requires $\Omega(\log^2n)$-bit certificates if only the prover can act. The improvement can even be exponential for some simple graph properties. For instance, it is known that certifying the existence of a nontrivial automorphism requires $\Omega(n^2)$ bits if only the prover can act. We show that there is a protocol with two interactions between the prover and the disprover enabling to certify nontrivial automorphism with $O(\log n)$-bit certificates. These results are achieved by defining and analysing a \emph{local hierarchy} of decision which generalizes the classical notions of \emph{proof-labelling schemes} and \emph{locally checkable proofs}.