An Optimal Distributed $(Δ+1)$-Coloring Algorithm?

Vertex coloring is one of the classic symmetry breaking problems studied in distributed computing. In this paper we present a new algorithm for $(\Delta+1)$-list coloring in the randomized ${\sf LOCAL}$ model running in $O(\mathsf{Det}_{\scriptscriptstyle d}(\text{poly} \log n))$ time, where $\mathsf{Det}_{\scriptscriptstyle d}(n')$ is the deterministic complexity of $(\text{deg}+1)$-list coloring on $n'$-vertex graphs. (In this problem, each $v$ has a palette of size $\text{deg}(v)+1$.) This improves upon a previous randomized algorithm of Harris, Schneider, and Su [STOC'16, JACM'18] with complexity $O(\sqrt{\log \Delta} + \log\log n + \mathsf{Det}_{\scriptscriptstyle d}(\text{poly} \log n))$, and, for some range of $\Delta$, is much faster than the best known deterministic algorithm of Fraigniaud, Heinrich, and Kosowski [FOCS'16] and Barenboim, Elkin, and Goldenberg [PODC'18], with complexity $O(\sqrt{\Delta\log \Delta}\log^\ast \Delta + \log^* n)$. Our algorithm "appears to be" optimal, in view of the $\Omega(\mathsf{Det}(\text{poly} \log n))$ randomized lower bound due to Chang, Kopelowitz, and Pettie [FOCS'16], where $\mathsf{Det}$ is the deterministic complexity of $(\Delta+1)$-list coloring. At present, the best upper bounds on $\mathsf{Det}_{\scriptscriptstyle d}(n')$ and $\mathsf{Det}(n')$ are both $2^{O(\sqrt{\log n'})}$ and use a black box application of network decompositions (Panconesi and Srinivasan [Journal of Algorithms'96]). It is quite possible that the true complexities of both problems are the same, asymptotically, which would imply the randomized optimality of our $(\Delta+1)$-list coloring algorithm.