Statistical-computational gap in multiple Gaussian graph alignment

Bertrand Even, Luca Ganassali
Proceedings of The 29th International Conference on Artificial Intelligence and Statistics, PMLR 300:3133-3141, 2026.

Abstract

We investigate the existence of a statistical-computational gap in multiple Gaussian graph alignment. We first generalize a previously established informational threshold from Vassaux and Massouli{é} (2025) to regimes where the number of observed graphs $p$ may also grow with the number of nodes $n$: when $p \leq O(n/\log(n))$, we recover the results from Vassaux and Massouli{é} (2025), and $p \geq \Omega(n/\log(n))$ corresponds to a regime where the problem is as difficult as aligning one single graph with some unknown "signal" graph. Moreover, when $p = \omega(n)$, the informational thresholds for partial and exact recovery no longer coincide, in contrast to the all-or-nothing phenomenon observed when $p=O(n)$. Then, we provide the first computational barrier in the low-degree framework for (multiple) Gaussian graph alignment. We prove that when the correlation $\rho$ is less than $1$, up to logarithmic terms, low degree non-trivial estimation fails. Our results suggest that the task of aligning $p$ graphs in polynomial time is as hard as the problem of aligning two graphs in polynomial time, up to logarithmic factors. These results characterize the existence of a statistical-computational gap and provide another example in which polynomial-time algorithms cannot handle complex combinatorial bi-dimensional structures.

Cite this Paper


BibTeX
@InProceedings{pmlr-v300-even26a, title = { Statistical-computational gap in multiple Gaussian graph alignment }, author = {Even, Bertrand and Ganassali, Luca}, booktitle = {Proceedings of The 29th International Conference on Artificial Intelligence and Statistics}, pages = {3133--3141}, year = {2026}, editor = {Khan, Emtiyaz and Li, Yingzhen and Solin, Arno and Ramdas, Aaditya}, volume = {300}, series = {Proceedings of Machine Learning Research}, month = {02--05 May}, publisher = {PMLR}, pdf = {https://raw.githubusercontent.com/mlresearch/v300/main/assets/even26a/even26a.pdf}, url = {https://proceedings.mlr.press/v300/even26a.html}, abstract = { We investigate the existence of a statistical-computational gap in multiple Gaussian graph alignment. We first generalize a previously established informational threshold from Vassaux and Massouli{é} (2025) to regimes where the number of observed graphs $p$ may also grow with the number of nodes $n$: when $p \leq O(n/\log(n))$, we recover the results from Vassaux and Massouli{é} (2025), and $p \geq \Omega(n/\log(n))$ corresponds to a regime where the problem is as difficult as aligning one single graph with some unknown "signal" graph. Moreover, when $p = \omega(n)$, the informational thresholds for partial and exact recovery no longer coincide, in contrast to the all-or-nothing phenomenon observed when $p=O(n)$. Then, we provide the first computational barrier in the low-degree framework for (multiple) Gaussian graph alignment. We prove that when the correlation $\rho$ is less than $1$, up to logarithmic terms, low degree non-trivial estimation fails. Our results suggest that the task of aligning $p$ graphs in polynomial time is as hard as the problem of aligning two graphs in polynomial time, up to logarithmic factors. These results characterize the existence of a statistical-computational gap and provide another example in which polynomial-time algorithms cannot handle complex combinatorial bi-dimensional structures. } }
Endnote
%0 Conference Paper %T Statistical-computational gap in multiple Gaussian graph alignment %A Bertrand Even %A Luca Ganassali %B Proceedings of The 29th International Conference on Artificial Intelligence and Statistics %C Proceedings of Machine Learning Research %D 2026 %E Emtiyaz Khan %E Yingzhen Li %E Arno Solin %E Aaditya Ramdas %F pmlr-v300-even26a %I PMLR %P 3133--3141 %U https://proceedings.mlr.press/v300/even26a.html %V 300 %X We investigate the existence of a statistical-computational gap in multiple Gaussian graph alignment. We first generalize a previously established informational threshold from Vassaux and Massouli{é} (2025) to regimes where the number of observed graphs $p$ may also grow with the number of nodes $n$: when $p \leq O(n/\log(n))$, we recover the results from Vassaux and Massouli{é} (2025), and $p \geq \Omega(n/\log(n))$ corresponds to a regime where the problem is as difficult as aligning one single graph with some unknown "signal" graph. Moreover, when $p = \omega(n)$, the informational thresholds for partial and exact recovery no longer coincide, in contrast to the all-or-nothing phenomenon observed when $p=O(n)$. Then, we provide the first computational barrier in the low-degree framework for (multiple) Gaussian graph alignment. We prove that when the correlation $\rho$ is less than $1$, up to logarithmic terms, low degree non-trivial estimation fails. Our results suggest that the task of aligning $p$ graphs in polynomial time is as hard as the problem of aligning two graphs in polynomial time, up to logarithmic factors. These results characterize the existence of a statistical-computational gap and provide another example in which polynomial-time algorithms cannot handle complex combinatorial bi-dimensional structures.
APA
Even, B. & Ganassali, L.. (2026). Statistical-computational gap in multiple Gaussian graph alignment . Proceedings of The 29th International Conference on Artificial Intelligence and Statistics, in Proceedings of Machine Learning Research 300:3133-3141 Available from https://proceedings.mlr.press/v300/even26a.html.

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