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A topological approach to evasiveness

Conference Paper  in  Combinatorica · December 1983

DOI: 10.1109/SFCS.1983.4 · Source: IEEE Xplore

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 COMBINATORICA4 (4) (1984) 297--306

A TOPOLOGICAL APPROACH TO EVASIVENESS

Jeff K A H N 1, M i c h a e l S A K S 2 a n d D e a n S T U R T E V A N T
Received 5 July 1983
Revised 5 January 1984

The complexity of a digraph property is the number of entries of the vertex adjacency matrix
of a digraph which must be examined in worst case to determine whether the graph has the property.
Rivest and Vuillemin proved the result (conjectured by Aanderaa and Rosenberg) that every graph
property that is monotone (preserved by addition of edges) and nontrivial (holds for some but not
all graphs) has complexity £2(v~) where v is the number of vertices. Karp conjectured that every such
property is evasive, i.e., requires that every entry of the incidence matrix be examined. In this paper
the truth of Karp's conjecture is shown to follow from another conjecture concerning group actions
on topological spaces. A special case of the conjecture is proved which is applied to prove Karp's
conjecture for the case of properties of graphs on a prime power number of vertices.

1. Introduction

S u p p o s e we are given a d i g r a p h D on v vertices via an oracle which answers

q u e s t i o n s o f the f o r m " i s (x, y) an edge o f D ? " (We m a y think o f this oracle as the
a d j a c e n c y m a t r i x o f D.) O u r objective is to d e t e r m i n e whether D h a s a given (iso-
m o r p h i s m i n v a r i a n t ) p r o p e r t y P while minimizing the worst case n u m b e r o f queries
to t h e oracle. This m i n i m u m is called the complexity o f P, d e n o t e d c(P). W h e n
c(P) is as large as possible, i.e., e q u a l to v ( v - 1), P is said to be evasive. A n a l o g o u s
definitions can be m a d e for ( i s o m o r p h i s m - i n v a r i a n t ) p r o p e r t i e s o f u n d i r e c t e d
g r a p h s - - - h e n c e f o r t h graph properties--and in p a r t i c u l a r such a p r o p e r t y is evasive

if its c o m p l e x i t y is 1~1.
In 1973 S. A a n d e r a a a n d R. L. R o s e n b e r g [14] p r o p o s e d the

Aanderaa--Rosenberg conjecture. There is a constant e > 0 such that an3: nontrivial

monotone digraph property on v vertices has complexity at least ev~.

A nontrivial p r o p e r t y is one which h o l d s for s o m e , b u t n o t all digraphs. A

monotone p r o p e r t y is one which is n o t d e s t r o y e d by a d d i t i o n o f edges. ( R o s e n b e r g ' s

Supported in part by an NSF postdoctoral fellowship

Supported in part by NSF under grant No. MCS---8102248
AMS subject classification (1980): 05 C 99, 55 U 05
298 J. KAHN, M. SAKS, D. STURTEVANT

original version of the conjecture, which Aanderaa disproved, did not assume mono-
tonicity.)
The Aanderaa--Rosenberg conjecture was proved by Rivest and Vuillemin
[12]. Their value of e= 1/16 was subsequently improved by Kleitman and Kwiat-
kowski [8] to e=l/9. (Note: These papers and most later work deal with ~raph,
rather than digraph, properties. In fact, the digraph results follow from the (not
entirely trivial) observation that if m(v) and M(v) are respectively the minimum com-
plexities of monotone graph and digraph properties on v vertices, then re(v)<=
<=M(v) <_2m (v). )
As we shall see, the main results of this paper easily imply the A - - R conjec-
ture "asymptotically" for any e < l / 4 ; precisely:
m(v) > v2/4+o(v~').
But such improvements are really of secondary interest, since, remarkably, no coun-
terexample is known to the following conjecture, which Rosenberg attributes to
Karp.
Conjecture 2. Every nontrivial monotone digraph property is evasive.
This "Karp conjecture" was the starting point for our investigations. It (or
strictly speaking the analogue for undirected graphs) is known to hold for a number
of specific properties (see [1], [2], [7], [10], and also [3, chap. 8] for a survey of results
in this area). Here we will prove, inter alia,
Theorem 1. If v is a prime power then every nontrivial monotone graph or digraph
property on v vertices is evasive.
The notion of evasiveness generalizes naturally as follows. We are given a
a Boolean function f of variables tl . . . . . t, and wish to evaluate f (for fixed but un-
known values of the t;) by asking questions of the form "what is the value of tfi"
Alternately, we may associate with each vector (tl . . . . . t,) the subset {xi: ti= 1} of
X = {xl . . . . , x,}, and take F to be the collection of subsets of X whose associated
vectors have f-value 1, to obtain the equivalent, but for us more convenient formula-
tion: given a collection F of subsets of X and a fixed but unknown subset A of X,
determine whether A is in F by asking questions of the form "is x~ an element of A ?"
As before, a function f o r collection F is evasive if every questioning strategy requires
n questions in worst case. The definitions of nontriviality and monotonicity are like-
wise extended in the obvious ways (for instance, F is monotone if A ~ B E F=~AE F).
We will usually refer to F as a set property, meaning that A has the property iff
AEF.
Of course we recover the original digraph problem by taking X to be the
collection of ordered pairs of distinct elements of the set V= {1..... v} (and equating
a digraph D with its edge set). But observe that digraph properties are distinguished
from arbitrary set properties by their symmetry: the group So acts transitively on the
v ( v - 1 ) elements of X, while preserving the set of digraphs having a given property.
This suggests the following generalization of Conjecture 2.
Conjecture 3. If F is any nontrivial monotone set property for which there exists a
transitive group F of permutations of X preserving F, then 17 is evasive.
 A TOPOLOGICAL APPROACH TO EVASIVENESS 299

(As usual, F acts on subsets of J( by {x, y . . . . , z}r = {x~, v ~. . . . , zr}, and is

said to preserve F if AEF, ?EF~A~EF.) This was shown by Rivest and Vuillemin
[12] in case IX] is a prime power, a fact which forms the basis for their proof of the
Aanderaa--Rosenberg Conjecture. (In fact, they proposed a somewhat stronger
version o f Conjecture 3 in which monotonicity was replaced by the weaker condition:
F contains exactly one of 0, X; a counterexample to this was provided by Illies [6].)
The approach of the present paper is topological. We regard the collection of
sets not belonging to F a s an (abstract) simplicial complex, and after suitable prelimi-
naries this allows us to invoke known results concerning finite group actions on topo-
logical spaces to prove Conjecture 3 under an additional hypothesis on F (see Theo-
rem 2). Theorem 1 above is an easy consequence of this general result.
These developments are described in section 3, section 2 being devoted to a
brief review of some topological background. Finally in section 4 we apply the ideas
of section 3 to prove Conjecture 2 for undirected graphs when v = 6 . (The reader
may wish to convince himself of the difficulty of a barehanded approach to even this
seemingly small problem.)

2. Topological prerequisites
Recall that an (abstract simplicial) complex on a set X (always assumed to be
finite) is just a collection A o f subsets o f Xwith the property that A C=BEA implies
A E A. The members of A are called faces. The dimension of a face A is [AI-I. (Thus
the empty set has dimension - 1 . ) Faces of dimension 0 are called vertices. If J]
is the number of faces of A o f dimension i, then the Euler characteristic of A is

z(a) = Z ( - lyf,.
i_~O

It is often helpful to think o f A in terms o f its associated geometric realization IA]:

if x = {xl . . . . . x,}, we think of each xi as coinciding with the standard basis vector e/
in R", and take ]A] to be the union of all the convex hulls IA]=conv ({e/: xiEA})
with A a face of A. (See e.g. [16], § 3 - 1 . ) The automorphism group of A, denoted
Aut (A), is the collection of permutations of X which preserve A. Aut (A) also acts
on ]A[ as a group of (piecewise linear) homeomorphisms, namely by regarding
7EAut (A) as the map which for each AEA sends the convex combination ~ ' 2ie~
x~EA
to ~, ;t~e~(~), where we write x~(o=x"f.
.~IEA
With each x E X there are associated two complexes on X \ { x } which arise
naturally in the context of evasiveness. These are the link and contrastar of x, given
respectively by
L I N K ( x ) = L I N K (x, A) = {A ~ X \ { x } : A U {x}EA}
and
COST (x) = COST (x, A) = {A c= X \ { x } :
A free face o f A is a non-maximal face which is contained in a unique maximal
face. An elementary (simplicial) collapse o f A is the process of removing from A some
free face A together with all faces containing A. (This definition makes more sense
300 J. ~ , M. SAKS, D. STURTEVANT

when thought of in terms of ]A 1.) We say that A collapses to a complex A' if A" can
be obtained from A by a sequence of elementary collapses, and that A is collapsible
if it collapses to the empty complex. For further information on collapsibility,
see [4].
We do not define here the more familiar notions of homology and contracti-
bility. (The standard text is [16], but see [9] or [17] for a less forbidding introduction
to the subject. For the moment, the untopologized reader should still be able to follow
our line of reasoning (taking certain results on faith), but of course the picture will be
rather incomplete.) For an abelian group G (here either Z or Zp) we will say A is
G-acyclic if the (nonreduced) homology groups of A are:
Ho(A, G) = G,
H,(A, G) = 0 i > O.
It is easy to see ([4], p. 49) that if a nonempty complex A is collapsible, then it is also
contractible, and we recall that we always have the additional implications
contractible ~ Z-acyclic =~ Zp-acyclic.
Finally we define a complex A*, called the dual of A, by
a * = {At=X: X\ACA},
and remark that the dual of A* is A.

3. Proofs

For a family Fofsubsets of Xit is clear that the problem of testing membership
in F(as in the introduction) is equivalent to testing membership in the complementary
family A of subsets of X not belonging to F. This trivial modification is in fact quite
helpful; for saying that F is monotone is the same as saying that A is a simplicial
complex, so that shifting our attention to A allows us to think topologically. So we
are now faced with the problem: given a complex A on the set X and an (unknown)
subset A o f X, determine whether A is a face of A by asking questions of the form
"is x in A ?" As usual we say A is evasive if there is no strategy which always decides
membership in A in fewer than n questions, and trivial if it is empty or a simplex (i.e.
consists o f a//subsets o f X). In this setting we find it convenient to reformulate Con-
jecture 3 as
Conjecture 3'. I f A is a nonempty, nonevasive simplicial complex on X, and Aut (A) is
transitive on X, then A is a simplex.
The topological connection is provided by
Proposition 1. A nonevasive complex is collapsible.
Proof. If A is not trivial then there is some x E X for which "is x in A?" is a good
first question, i.e. the first question in a strategy which always decides membership in A
in fewer than n questions. Having asked this question we have two possibilities: if the
answer is "x~[A", then A belongs to A iff it belongs to COST(A); if the answer is
"xCA", then A belongs to A iff A \ { x } belongs to LINK(A). In either case we have
 A T O P O L O G I C A L A P P R O A C H TO EVASIVENESS 301

(by our choice o f x) a strategy which decides membership in the new complex in fewer
than n - 1 questions. In other words, if A is nonevasive and nontrivial, then there is
some xE X .['or which both COST(x) and L I N K ( x ) are nonevasive.
The p r o o f of Proposition I is now an easy induction on IX]. If X is trivial
(notice this includes the basis step), then it is also collapsible ([4], p. 49). Otherwise
we may by induction and the above remark choose x ~ X with both LINK(x) and
COST(x) collapsible. Now if A1 .... , Ak is a sequence of free faces used to collapse
LINK(x), then A1 (3 {x}. . . . . Ak U {x}) (= {x}) is a sequence of free faces which col-
lapses A to COST(x), so the collapsibility of A follows from that of COST(x). II
Although we cannot give a specific example, the converse of this proposition
is false because the dual (see section 2) o f a nonevasive complex is again nonevasive,
whereas the dual of a collapsible complex may fail to be collapsible. (The first o f
these assertions is an easy exercise. The second is seen as follows. It is known (see [4],
p. 69) that a collapsible A may be collapsed to a noncollapsible 27. On the other hand,
it is an easy consequence o f the definitions that if A collapses to 27, then Z* collapses
to A* (* is a contravariant functor), so in our case either 27* is collapsible or A* is
not, and this proves the second assertion).
We do not make use of the full power o f Proposition 1 : as often happens we
are unable to exploit directly either the collapsibility or consequent contractibility
o f A, and our conclusions are limited to what we can glean from
Corollary 1. Any nonevasive complex is acyclic over the integers. 1
A direct proof o f this can be given along the lines o f Proposition 1 ; but in
view o f the similarity between nonevasiveness and collapsibility it seems worthwhile
pointing out how they are related.
At this point one can hardly avoid posing
Conjectures 4, 5, 6. I f A ~ O is a collapsib& resp. contractible resp. Z-acyclic
complex on X and Aut (A) is transitive on X then A is a simplex.
Surprisingly, nothing beyond what we say here appears to be known about
these very natural questions. (Incidentally, the authors believe that Conjectures 5
and 6 are probably false.)
Let us take f9 to be the collection o f all groups F in which there exists sub-
groups El, F2 satisfying
(i) F I < F 2 < F ('-,a' means 'is a normal subgroup of'), and
(ii) F1 is a p-group, F2/F1 is cyclic, and F/F2 is a q-group, with p and q (not ne-
cessarily distinct) primes,
and fgo the collection o f those F in f9 for which Fz (as above) is equal to F. What we
can show regarding Conjecture 3 and the variants suggested above is
Theorem 2. Let A be a nonempty Z-acyclic complex on X and F a vertex-transitive
subgroup o f A u t (A). Then if F is a member off9, A is a simplex.

Of course this implies the corresponding results for contractible, collapsible

and nonevasive A, so in particular we have
Corollary. Conjectures 3 - - 6 are true whenever F is a member o f fg.
302 J. K A H N , M. SAKS, D. STURTEVANT

Before proving Theorem 2, we observe that Theorem 1 is indeed a special

case. For let P be a digraph property on the vertex set V, with IV[ =p~ a prime power.
Identifying V with GF(p~), we find that the "affine group"

F = {x ~ a x + b : a, bEGF (p~), a¢0}.

is doubly transitive on V, i.e. is transitive on our set E of ordered pairs of distinct
elements o f IT. Moreover, the translation subgroup

F = {x-+ x + b : bEGF(p~)}
is a normal p-subgroup of F, and F / F I ~ G F ( p ' ) ~ is cyclic; that is, FErn. Thus
Theorem 2 contains Theorem I. 1
Now to prove Theorem 2, observe that we need only show that there is some
nonempty AEA satisfying A~=A for all 7EF; for the transitivity o f F implies
that such an A must be equal to X.
On the other hand, we will have A r = A if (and only if) y acting on IA] (sec-
tion 2) fixes some xE IA[° (the relative interior of ]A]). So writing IA [r for the space o f
fixed points of F, i.e.
Izllr = {x~lAl: x~ = x , V ~ E r } ,
we see that Theorem 2 is true provided ]A]r~0.
We pause here to describe an abstract version of lair which will be of use
especially in section 4. For A, F as above, define a complex A r by:
(i) the vertices of A r are the minimal nonempty F-invariant faces of A (or
equivalently, those F-orbits on X which are faces of A).
(ii) If AI ..... A k are vertices of A t , then {A1, ..., Ak} is a face of A if
A~U...UAk is a lace of A.
Thus the f'~ces ofA r are just the F-invariant faces of A. regarded in the natural
way as subsets ol" tile minimal nonempty F-invariant faces. The reader will easily see
that if we identify each vertcx A~ of Ar with the barycenter of iA~I in ]A], then the
geometric realization of" Arl, constructed as in section 2, is just lair.
We now return to complete the proof of Theorem 2, which we have seen
requires only that IAIt/-0. In fact, this is known to be true, being a consequence of
a theory of fixed points of finite group actions on topological spaces whose founda-
tion is the following result of P. A. Smith [15].
Theorem 3. I f F is a p-group acting on a Zp-acyclic complex A, then IA ]r is again
Zp-acyclic. I
As observed in [11], this leads quickly, via the Hopf-Lefschetz trace formula
[16, p. 195], to
Theorem 4. I f the group F acts on the Zp-acyclic complex A, and if F contains a normal
p-subgroup Fx such that F / F 1 is cyclic, then z([Alr)= 1. I
It is this result which we shall find most useful in the arguments of section 4.
Observe also that it provides sufficient power for the proof of Theorem 1 given above.
 A TOPOLOGICAL APPROACH TO EVASIVENESS 303

The extra refinement which yields Theorem 2 is contained in the following result of
R. G. Oliver [11], which serves also to define the limits of the present approach.
Theorem 5. I f kCf9 acts on the Zp-acyclic complex A, then lair#0. II
(Here the prime p is as in the definition of f¢.)
We conclude this section with the asymptotic result claimed in the introduction.
Theorem 6. Any nontrivial montone property of graphs (or digraphs) on v vertices has
complexity at least v2/4 + o(v~).
Proof. We will prove this for (ordinary) graphs; the result for digraphs will then
follow from the observation made earlier relating the complexities of graph and
digraph properties.
The key result here is a lemma of Kleitman and Kwiatkowski [8] which states
that m(v)->_min { m ( v - l ) , q(v-q)} where q is the prime power nearest to v/2.
Using this lemma and Theorem 1 we see that m(v)>=q'(q+ 1 - q ' ) where q is the lar-
gest prime power less than v and q' is the prime power nearest to ( q + 1)/2. It is an
easy consequence of the prime number theorem [cf. 5] that there is a real function
6(x)=o(x) with the property that for all x there is a prime between x and x + f ( x ) .
We conclude that m(v)>=v2/4+o(v2). II

4. Graphs on six vertices

In this section we give some further illustration of the application of the ideas
introduced above by sketching a proof of Conjecture 2 for undirected graphs in the
case v = 6. Incidentally, the truth o f the Conjecture in this case was asserted in [12]
but no proof was given there; indeed, we see no manageable approach which does
not use the present machinery.
From now on we take A to be a nonevasive monotone decreasing graph prop-
erty on 6 vertices, i.e. a nonevasive complex on the 15 two-element subsets of
{1. . . . . 6} invariant under the natural action o f Se. If H is a graph we use "A contains
H " , " H belongs to A", etc. to mean that any (equivalently, some) graph on {1. . . . . 6}
isomorphic to H is a face of A. We assume for a contradiction that H is neither empty
nor a simplex. Observe that our situation at this point is self-dual: our assumptions
on A are also true of A*, and so anything we can say of one must also apply to
the other.
Our p r o o f proceeds by considering the actions of various subgroups F of Ss
and applying Theorems 4 and 5 to the complexes Ar. Verifications are for the most
part left to the reader.
(1) Perfect matchings belong to A.
Proof. Let F be the stabilizer in Se o f the set of pairs M={{12}, {34}, {56}} (e.g.
(14)(23)(56)EF). Then FEf# (we may take FI~Z'~ and F/FI~S3), and has preci-
sely two orbits, M and M. At least one of these is in A, by Theorem 5; but i f . ~ is in
A, then so is M, since it is (isomorphic to) a subgraph of M. II
(2) Exactly one of 2K3, K,3 belongs to A.
304 J. I¢.¢d-lN,M.SANS,D.STURTEVANT
(Here 2K3 is the union of two disjoint triangles, and Ka.~is as usual the complete bi-
partite graph.)
Proof. Let F=((123), (456), (14)(25)(36)). Then FEll0 and the orbits o f F are the
copies of 2Kz and K33 shown in figure 1. So by Theorem 5, at least one of 2K3, K3a
belongs to A. But if both did, then Theorem 4 would force their union to belong to A,
and A would be a simplex. I

6 1 6 1

Fig. 1. The two orbits under the action of the group ((123), (456), (14) (25) (36))

Notice that (by the definition of A*) whichever of the graphs in (2) belongs to
A must also be the one belonging to A*.
Suppose first that 2K3EA (and A*), and let F=((153624)). Then FEN0,
and the orbits of F are (the edge sets of) the graphs shown in figure 2. We know that
A, BEA, and it follows that CEA; since otherwise Theorem 4 forces A UBEA, and
then C, being isomorphic to a subgraph of A UB, must also be in A. But now we
have a contradiction: Everything so far asserted for A is also valid for A*; so we have
A,B, CEA* and so A = B U C , B = A U C and C=AUBf[A, which contradicts
Theorem 4. I

6 1 6 1 '3 1

50 '~/t~.. ~ "~ 2

A B C

Fig. 2. The three orbits under the action o f the group ((153624))
Now suppose that K3~EA (and A*). We first assert that
(3) Ka cannot belong to both of A, A*.
For let F=((123), (456)). Then FEfq0 and the orbits of F are as shown in figure 3.
If K3EA, then we have A, B, CEA, so by Theorem 3 A U B ( ~ A U C ) E A . But then
A U B = C cannot belong to A*, and this proves (3). ]
We may thus assume that K3~A. Now let F=((12), (3456), (35)) (the direct
product of ((12)) and a dihedral group on {3, 4, 5, 6}). Then FEN0, and the orbits
of F are as in figure 4.
(4) The faces of Ar are O,A,B, C, AUB, AUC.
 A TOPOLOOICAL APPROACH TO EVASIVENESS 305

6 1 6 1 ~ 1

5 ~ ~ 2 5 O2 50 2

. . . . O3 40
A B C

Fig. 3. The three orbits under the action o f the group ((123). (456))

I 6 I

50 ~2 5 O2

&O O3 - .3
A

6 1 6 1

5 .4.'"
4,1~"~3 o2 5 2

C D

Fig. 4. The four orbits under the action of the group ((12), (3456), (35))

Proof. Each of the graphs listed is contained in K33, so a face of Ar. On the other
hand, A U D, B U D, C U D and B U C all contain/Ca so do not belong to A. Finally,
Theorem 4 implies that D ~ A r . I
Now the vertex A of A is fixed by F, so that F acts on L I N K (A, A). The fixed
points of this action are given by

(LINK (A, A)) r = L I N K (A, At),

the latter being a complex with two vertices and no edges. On the other hand,
L I N K (A, A) is nonevasive. (This is true of some vertex of A, as in the proof of
Proposition 1 of section 3; but then it must be true of every vertex since Aut (A)
is transitive.) So by Theorem 4, (LINK (A, A))r must have Euler characteristic 1,
a contradiction which completes our proof. I
Note added in proof. R. G. Oliver (personal communication) has recently provided
a counterexample to Conjectures 5 and 6 and a plausibility argument for the falsity
of Conjecture 4.
306 J. KAHN, M. SAKS, D. STURTEVANT: A TOPOLOGICAL APPROACH TO EVASIVENESS

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Jeff Kahn, Michael Saks Dean Sturtevant

Department of Mathematics Department of Mathematics
l~utgers University University of Illinois
New Brunswick, NJ 08903 Chicago
U.S.A. U.S.A.

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