arXiv · 2507.09324
The Network Satisfaction Problem for Relation Algebras with at most 4 Atoms
Abstract
Andréka and Maddux classified the relation algebras with at most 3 atoms, and in particular they showed that all of them are representable. Hirsch and Cristiani showed that the network satisfaction problem (NSP) for each of these algebras is in P or NP-hard. The literature contains many results on representations of relation algebras; in particular, some relation algebras with four atoms are not representable. We extend the result of Cristiani and Hirsch to relation algebras with at most 4 atoms: the NSP is always either in P or NP-hard. To this end, we construct universal, fully universal, or even normal representations for these algebras, whenever possible.
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Manuel Bodirsky, Moritz Jahn, Simon Knäuer, Matěj Konečný, Paul Winkler. 2026-06-17. The Network Satisfaction Problem for Relation Algebras with at most 4 Atoms. https://arxiv.org/abs/2507.09324
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