Skip to content
Preprint

Costs of Arbitrary Real Matrix Factorizations for Pure-DP Continual Counting

Jul 2026 · 1 citation · ⚡ 1 influential · 22 references
Computer Science Mathematics

TL;DR

The theorem below establishes the order for arbitrary real factors under the factorization contract of Arkhipov and Kalinin, who prove the matching lower order for factors with entries in $\{0,1\}$ and state the arbitrary-factor extension as open.

Abstract

Let $T_n$ be the lower-triangular prefix-sum matrix and let $c_{\mathrm{F}}(T_n)$ and $c_2(T_n)$ be the factorization costs that govern the mean and maximum per-coordinate squared error of the Laplace matrix mechanism under pure $\varepsilon$-differential privacy, for $\varepsilon>0$. We prove $c_{\mathrm{F}}(T_n),c_2(T_n)=\Theta((\log(n+1))^{3/2})$ with no sign, sparsity, or squareness restriction and with arbitrary finite inner dimension. Consequently, within the pure-$\varepsilon$-DP matrix-mechanism class, the optimized maximum and mean squared errors are both $\Theta(\varepsilon^{-2}\log^3(n+1))$. Under the factorization contract of Arkhipov and Kalinin (arXiv:2607.08963v1), who prove the matching lower order for factors with entries in $\{0,1\}$ and state the arbitrary-factor extension as open, the theorem below establishes the order for arbitrary real factors. The lower bound runs through a $p$-nuclear obstruction: an aggregate column-width estimate $D_k(T_n)\asymp n^{3/2}k^{-1/2}$, valid in the low-rank range $1\leq k\leq n/16$, for the prefix chain, fed into the classical approximation-space conversion of Pietsch and Hinrichs--Pietsch, becomes harmonic at the critical exponent $p=2/3$, and H\"older's inequality transfers it to both factorization costs. The same computation determines $\mathfrak{n}_p(T_n)$ for each fixed $0<p<1$: order $n$ below $2/3$, $n\log n$ at $2/3$, and $n^{3p/2}$ above. A Fenwick interval factorization supplies matching upper bounds. The claims are confined to pure-$\varepsilon$-DP Laplace matrix mechanisms and the two stated squared-error criteria; they do not cover non-matrix continual mechanisms, approximate-DP sensitivity, or expected maxima across coordinates.

View source

Similar papers

Preprint Aug 2026

A Near-Optimal Lower Bound for Prefix-Matrix Factorizations

For the $n\times n$ lower-triangular all-ones matrix $Q$, we prove a near-optimal lower bound \[ \gamma_{2,1}(Q) := \inf_{Q=AB} \|A\|_{2\to\infty}\|B\|_{1\to1} = \Omega\!\left( \frac{\log^{3/2}n}{(\log\log n)^{3/2}} \right), \] where the infimum ranges over real factorizations of arbitrary finite inner dimension. This cost is a central parameter in space bounds for factorization-based rank and quantile estimation in turnstile streams and in error bounds for matrix mechanisms for continual counting under pure differential privacy. The proof combines right-sided Haar projections with a scale-dependent numerical-sparsity decomposition of the rows of $B$. At each scale, a rank--Frobenius argument shows that the numerically sparse rows cannot account for all of the required Schatten $2/3$ mass, while a Haar projection estimate bounds the contribution of the remaining rows. Summing these bounds over the dyadic scales yields the result. The proof was obtained using a fully automated Gemini-based agentic system developed internally at Google. The authors verified the proof and made minor revisions.

Honghao Lin, V. Mirrokni, David P. Woodruff · 0 citations
Preprint Aug 2026

Tensor-normal maximum likelihood estimation at the operator-norm sample threshold

Let $X_1,\ldots,X_n$ be independent Gaussian tensors in $\mathbb{R}^{d_1}\otimes\cdots\otimes\mathbb{R}^{d_k}$ with a common covariance matrix given by the Kronecker product of $k$ unknown positive-definite factors, and let $D=\prod_{a=1}^k d_a$ and $d_{\max}=\max_a d_a$. Franks et al. (2026) established condition-number-free guarantees for the tensor-normal maximum likelihood estimator under the sample-size condition $nD\gtrsim k^2 d_{\max}^3$ and asked whether the cubic dependence on $d_{\max}$ could be reduced to a quadratic one. We answer this question affirmatively. For $t\geq 1$, if $nD\geq C k^2 d_{\max}^2 t^2$, then with high probability the maximum likelihood estimator exists, is unique, and satisfies $d_{\rm FR}(\widehat\Theta,\Theta)\leq C t \sqrt{k} d_{\max}/\sqrt{n}$ and $d_{\rm FR}(\widehat\Theta_a,\Theta_a)\leq C t\sqrt{k d_a} d_{\max}/\sqrt{nD}$ for every mode $a$. For every mode $a$ with $d_a=d_{\max}$, we further establish the sharp Thompson-metric bound $d_{\rm op}(\widehat\Theta_a,\Theta_a)\leq C t d_{\max}/\sqrt{nD}$. These guarantees are uniform over the unknown covariance factors and require neither condition-number bounds nor sparsity assumptions. Gaussian submodel lower bounds match the full and largest-factor Fisher--Rao rates up to a factor of $\sqrt{k}$ and the largest-factor Thompson rate up to universal constants. Consequently, for fixed $k$, the quadratic dependence of the sample-size threshold on $d_{\max}$ is optimal. GPT-5.6 Sol and Claude Fable 5 were used to assist with proof development, verification, and manuscript preparation.

Hengzhi He, Guang Cheng · 0 citations
Preprint Jul 2026

Trellis State Complexity as an Exact Tropical Factorization Rank

Let $C\subseteq\F_2^m$ be a binary linear code and let $[m]=L\sqcup R$ be a bipartition of its coordinates. The \emph{conditional decoding matrix} of $C$ at this cut is the matrix $W$ indexed by $\F_2^{L}\times\F_2^{R}$ whose entry $W(x_L,x_R)$ is the coset-leader weight $d\bigl((x_L,x_R),C\bigr)$, the minimum Hamming distance from the word $(x_L,x_R)$ to the code. We prove that the min-plus factorization rank (Barvinok rank) of $W$, and likewise its tropical rank, equal $2^{s}$ exactly, where $s=\dim C-\dim C_L-\dim C_R$ is the classical state complexity of the minimal trellis of $C$ at the cut. The upper bound is a two-party reading of Viterbi decoding on the minimal trellis; the contribution is the matching lower bound, which holds against arbitrary min-plus factorizations rather than only sequential trellis realizations, and is obtained from an explicit $2^{s}\times 2^{s}$ tropically nonsingular submatrix built from a transversal of codewords. Specializing $C$ to the cut space of a graph identifies $W$ with the conditional ground-state energy of Ising signings (the frustration index), and yields natural graph families whose conditional matrices have min-plus rank exponential in the number of vertices; for these families we also record the contrasting local statement that all bounded-radius views of a signing are switching-trivial, so the exponential rank is carried entirely by non-local structure. We note explicitly that this rank measures representational incompressibility, not computational hardness: planar families attain the same exponential rank while their ground states are computable in polynomial time.

Karthik Sheshadri · 0 citations
Preprint Aug 2026

The Maximum of $\operatorname{per}(I-A)$ in Odd Order

Let $\Omega_n$ denote the set of $n\times n$ doubly stochastic matrices. Kim and Roush conjectured in 1981 that, for $n=2k+1>1$, $ \max_{A\in\Omega_{2k+1}}\operatorname{per}(I-A)=3\cdot 2^{k-2}$. They proposed the block construction $A_\star=\frac12(J_3-I_3)\oplus P_2^{\oplus(k-1)}$, where $P_2=\begin{pmatrix}0&1\\1&0\end{pmatrix}$. Here $J_3$ is the $3\times3$ all-ones matrix. They did not claim uniqueness. We fully prove their conjecture and classify equality: the maximizers are exactly the simultaneous-permutation conjugates of $A_\star$.

Yair Lavi · 0 citations
Preprint Jul 2026

A Unifying Framework for Quasi-Polynomial Optimization of Fixed-degree Polynomials

We study the simultaneous approximation of constant-degree polynomials over convex sets. For any family of $m$ degree-$d$ polynomials and any convex set ${H} \subseteq \mathbb{R}_{\ge0}^n$, we construct an $\epsilon$-Cover of the joint value set $\{(f_1(x), \dots, f_m(x)) : x \in {H}\}$ in the $\ell_\infty$-norm. This cover is of size $n^{O(\log(mn)/\epsilon^2)}$, provided the polynomials have constant range over the smallest $\ell_1$-ball inscribing ${H}$. Our approach extends classical net-based sparsifications for linear functions (e.g., Lipton, Markakis, and Mehta [2003]) to arbitrary families of constant-degree polynomials over general convex sets. We use a two-step scheme: first, we construct a quasi-polynomial pre-cover of the family on the smallest $\ell_1$-ball containing ${H}$ by using a concentration argument and leveraging a connection between Bernstein approximation and multinomial distributions; we then compress the pre-cover to ${H}$ by using a recursive degree reduction and feasibility programs anchored at points of the pre-cover. The existence of these covers immediately yields a unified framework for Quasi-Polynomial Time Approximation Schemes (QPTAS) across a wide range of a problems, including fixed-degree polynomial minimization over polyhedral sets, Constraint Satisfaction Problems (CSPs), Free Games, variational inequalities with polynomial operators (which implies guarantees for local Nash equilibria in polynomial games), and additive approximation for normalized densest $k$-subhypergraph on $O(1)$-uniform hypergraphs.

Martino Bernasconi, Matteo Castiglioni, Andrea Celli et al. · 0 citations
Preprint Jul 2026

Superlinear complexity of the $(3/2)^n$ steering word

Write $(3/2)^n = m_n + \varepsilon_n$ with $m_n$ the nearest integer and $\varepsilon_n\in[-\tfrac12,\tfrac12)$, and let $T=(t_n)$, $t_n=2m_{n+1}-3m_n$, be the resulting \emph{steering word}: the step-by-step record of the map $x\mapsto\tfrac32 x$ on the orbit of 1, coded by nearest-integer rounding. Using results by Corvaja--Zannier and Nair--Kumar--Rout we prove that the subword complexity $p_{T}(k)$ of $T$ is superlinear, $p_{T}(k)/k\to\infty$. The argument is completely formalized in Lean~4 and rests on a single external input, the Evertse--Schlickewei $S$-arithmetic subspace theorem, from which both cited results are themselves derived within the formalization.

R. Stephan · 1 citation