The Cohn-Umans (FOCS '03) group-theoretic framework for matrix multiplication produces fast matrix multiplication algorithms from three subsets of a finite group G satisfying a simple combinatorial condition (the Triple Product Property). The complexity of such an algorithm then depends on the representation theory of G. In this paper we extend the group-theoretic framework to the setting of infinite groups. In particular, this allows us to obtain constructions in Lie groups, with favorable parameters, that are provably impossible in finite groups of Lie type (Blasiak, Cohn, Grochow, Pratt, and Umans, ITCS '23). Previously the Lie group setting was investigated purely as an analogue of the finite group case; a key contribution in this paper is a fully developed framework for obtaining bona fide matrix multiplication algorithms directly from Lie group constructions. As part of this framework, we introduce "separating functions" as a necessary new design component, and show that when the underlying group is G = GL_n, these functions are polynomials with their degree being the key parameter. In particular, we show that a construction with "half-dimensional" subgroups and optimal degree would imply ω = 2. We then build up machinery that reduces the problem of constructing optimal-degree separating polynomials to the problem of constructing a single polynomial (and a corresponding set of group elements) in a ring of invariant polynomials determined by two out of the three subgroups that satisfy the Triple Product Property. This machinery combines border rank with the Lie algebras associated with the Lie subgroups in a critical way. We give several constructions illustrating the main components of the new framework, culminating in a construction in a special unitary group that achieves separating polynomials of optimal degree, meeting one of the key challenges. The subgroups in this construction have dimension approaching half the ambient dimension, but (just barely) too slowly. We argue that features of the classical Lie groups make it unlikely that constructions in these particular groups could produce nontrivial bounds on ω unless they prove ω = 2. One way to get ω = 2 via our new framework would be to lift our existing construction from the special unitary group to GL_n, and improve the dimension of the subgroups from (dim G)/2 - Θ(n) to (dim G)/2 - o(n).

In this paper we further explore the recently discovered connection by Björklund and Kaski [STOC 2024] and Pratt [STOC 2024] between the asymptotic rank conjecture of Strassen [Progr. Math. 1994] and the three-way partitioning problem. We show that under the asymptotic rank conjecture, the chromatic number of an n-vertex graph can be computed deterministically in O (1.99982n ) time, thus giving a conditional answer to a question of Zamir [ICALP 2021], and questioning the optimality of the 2n poly(n ) time algorithm for chromatic number by Björklund, Husfeldt, and Koivisto [SICOMP 2009].

We give a short proof that Strassen’s asymptotic rank conjecture implies that for every ε > 0 there exists a (3/22/3 + ε)n-time algorithm for set cover on a universe of size n with sets of bounded size. This strengthens and simplifies a recent result of Bj'orklund and Kaski that Strassen’s asymptotic rank conjecture implies that the set cover conjecture is false. From another perspective, we show that the set cover conjecture implies that a particular family of tensors Tn ∈ ℂN ⊗ ℂN ⊗ ℂN has asymptotic rank greater than N1.08. Furthermore, if one could improve a known upper bound of 8n on the tensor rank of Tn to 2/9 · n8n for any n, then the set cover conjecture is false.

Let $Φ$ be an irreducible root system (other than $G_2$) of rank at least $2$, let $\mathbb{F}$ be a finite field with $p = \operatorname{char} \mathbb{F} > 3$, and let $\mathrm{G}(Φ,\mathbb{F})$ be the corresponding Chevalley group. We describe a strongly explicit high-dimensional expander (HDX) family of dimension $\mathrm{rank}(Φ)$, where $\mathrm{G}(Φ,\mathbb{F})$ acts simply transitively on the top-dimensional faces; these are $λ$-spectral HDXs with $λ\to 0$ as $p \to \infty$. This generalizes a construction of Kaufman and Oppenheim (STOC 2018), which corresponds to the case $Φ= A_d$. Our work gives three new families of spectral HDXs of any dimension $\ge 2$, and four exceptional constructions of dimension $4$, $6$, $7$, and $8$.

We study the following problem and its applications: given a homogeneous degree-d polynomial g as an arithmetic circuit C, and a d × d matrix X whose entries are homogeneous linear polynomials, compute g(∂/∂ x₁, …, ∂/∂ x_n) det X. We show that this quantity can be computed using 2^{ω d}|C|poly(n,d) arithmetic operations, where ω is the exponent of matrix multiplication. In the case that C is skew, we improve this to 4^d|C| poly(n,d) operations, and if furthermore X is a Hankel matrix, to φ^{2d}|C| poly(n,d) operations, where φ = (1+√5)/2 is the golden ratio. Using these observations we give faster parameterized algorithms for the matroid k-parity and k-matroid intersection problems for linear matroids, and faster deterministic algorithms for several problems, including the first deterministic polynomial time algorithm for testing if a linear space of matrices of logarithmic dimension contains an invertible matrix. We also match the runtime of the fastest deterministic algorithm for detecting subgraphs of bounded pathwidth with a new and simple approach. Our approach generalizes several previous methods in parameterized algorithms and can be seen as a relaxation of Waring rank based methods [Pratt, FOCS19].

We show that the Waring rank (symmetric tensor rank) of a certain family of polynomials has intimate connections to the areas of parameterized and exact algorithms, generalizing some well-known methods and providing a concrete approach to obtain faster approximate counting and deterministic decision algorithms. To illustrate the amenability and utility of this approach, we give an algorithm for approximately counting subgraphs of bounded treewidth, improving on earlier work of Alon, Dao, Hajirasouliha, Hormozdiari, and Sahinalp. Along the way we give an exact answer to an open problem of Koutis and Williams and sharpen a lower bound on the size of perfectly balanced hash families given by Alon and Gutner.

We present an interactive tool for visualizing and experimenting with different circle packing algorithms.