Abstract
Traditionally, computational complexity theory deals with sequential computations. In the computational models the underlying physics is hardly accounted for. This attitude has persisted in common models for parallel computations. Wrongly, as we shall argue, since the laws of physics intrude forcefully when we want to obtain realistic estimates of the performance of parallel or distributed algorithms. First, we shall explain why it is reasonable to abstract away from the physical details in sequential computations. Second, we show why certain common approaches in the theory of parallel complexity do not give useful information about the actual complexity of the parallel computation. Third, we give some examples of the interplay between physical considerations and actual complexity of distributed computations.
This work was supported in part by the Office of Naval Research under Contract N00014-85-K-0168, by the Office of Army Research under Contract DAAG29-84-K-0058, by the National Science Foundation under Grant DCR-83-02091, and by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) under Grant N00014-83-K-0125.
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Vitángi, P.M.B. (1986). Nonsequential computation and laws of nature. In: Makedon, F., Mehlhorn, K., Papatheodorou, T., Spirakis, P. (eds) VLSI Algorithms and Architectures. AWOC 1986. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 227. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-16766-8_10
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-16766-8_10
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