Ten Publications

Each symmetric matrix A over C defines a graph homomorphism function ZA(·) on undirected graphs. The function ZA(·) is also called the partition function from statistical physics, and can encode many interesting graph properties, including counting vertex covers and k-colorings. We study the computational complexity of ZA(·) for arbitrary symmetric matrices A with algebraic complex values. Building on work by Dyer and Greenhill [Random Structures and Algorithms, 17 (2000), pp. 260–289], Bulatov and Grohe [Theoretical Computer Science, 348 (2005), pp. 148–186], and especially the recent beautiful work by Goldberg et al. [SIAM J. Comput., 39 (2010), pp. 3336– 3402], we prove a complete dichotomy theorem for this problem. We show that ZA(·) is either computable in polynomial-time or #P-hard, depending explicitly on the matrix A. We further prove that the tractability criterion on A is polynomial-time decidable.