The complexity of finite-valued CSPs

Abstract

We study the computational complexity of exact minimisation of rational-valued discrete functions. Let $\Gamma$ be a set of rational-valued functions on a fixed finite domain; such a set is called a finite-valued constraint language. The valued constraint satisfaction problem, $\operatorname{VCSP}(\Gamma)$, is the problem of minimising a function given as a sum of functions from $\Gamma$. We establish a dichotomy theorem with respect to exact solvability for all finite-valued constraint languages defined on domains of arbitrary finite size. We show that every constraint language $\Gamma$ either admits a binary symmetric fractional polymorphism in which case the basic linear programming relaxation solves any instance of $\operatorname{VCSP}(\Gamma)$ exactly, or $\Gamma$ satisfies a simple hardness condition that allows for a polynomial-time reduction from Max-Cut to $\operatorname{VCSP}(\Gamma)$.