The communication complexity of the inevitable intersection problem

Abstract

Set disjointness is a central problem in communication complexity. Here Alice and Bob each receive a subset of an n-element universe, and they need to decide whether their inputs intersect or not. The communication complexity of this problem is relatively well understood, and in most models, including $-$ most famously $-$ interactive randomised communication with bounded error, the problem requires much communication. In this work we were looking for a variation of the set disjointness problem, as natural and simple as possible, for which the known lower bound methods would fail, and thus a new approach would be required in order to understand its complexity. The problem that we have found is a relational one: each player receives a subset as input, and the goal is to find an element that belongs to both players. We call it inevitable intersection.