Polynomial Time Algorithms for the Kadison-Singer Problem

Abstract

Marcus, Spielman, and Srivastava [MSS15] established the existence of Kadison--Singer partitions. We provide polynomial-time algorithms for the Kadison--Singer problem. For Hermitian matrices $A_1,\ldots,A_m\in\mathbb C^{n\times n}$ of rank at most one, we give two algorithms that find signs $\sigma\in\{\pm1\}^m$ satisfying $\|\sum_i \sigma_iA_i\|\le C\|\sum_i A_i^2\|^{1/2}$. The deterministic algorithm achieves $C=3.3443$ using $\widetilde O(mn^2+n^{4.75})$ arithmetic operations. The randomized algorithm achieves $C=4.8628$ using $\widetilde O(mn^2+n^{3.58})$ arithmetic operations in expectation. For vectors satisfying $\sum_i a_ia_i^*=I$ and $\|a_i\|^2\le\alpha$, the algorithms yield partitions $[m]=I_1\cup I_2$ satisfying $\|\sum_{i\in I_j}a_ia_i^*-I/2\|\le (C/2)\sqrt\alpha$ for $j=1,2$.