FPTAS for #BIS with Degree Bounds on One Side

Abstract

Counting the number of independent sets for a bipartite graph (#BIS) plays a crucial role in the study of approximate counting. It has been conjectured that there is no fully polynomial-time (randomized) approximation scheme (FPTAS/FPRAS) for #BIS, and it was proved that the problem for instances with a maximum degree of 6 is already as hard as the general problem. In this paper, we obtain a surprising tractability result for a family of #BIS instances. We design a very simple deterministic fully polynomial-time approximation scheme (FPTAS) for #BIS when the maximum degree for one side is no larger than 5. There is no restriction for the degrees on the other side, which do not even have to be bounded by a constant. Previously, FPTAS was only known for instances with a maximum degree of 5 for both sides.