The Logarithmic Funnel Heap: An Efficient Priority Queue For Extremely Large Sets

Abstract

For many data-processing applications, a comprehensive set of efficient operations for the management of priority values is required. Indexed priority queues are particularly promising to satisfy this requirement by design. In this work, we report the design and analysis of an efficient indexed priority queue with a comprehensive set of operations. In particular, $\mathtt{insert}$, $\mathtt{delete}$ and $\mathtt{decrease}$ all run in expected $O(\log^{*}{n})$ time, while $\mathtt{increase}$ is conjectured by means of Monte Carlo simulations to run in expected $O(\log\log{n})$ time. The space complexity as well as the time complexity for the construction of the empty heap data structure is $O(n)$. For certain massive computational problems, such as specific analyses of extremely large graphs and (chemical) simulations, this heap system may exhibit considerable utility.