\emph{Text-to-Pattern Hamming Distances} is one of the most studied problems in string algorithms: given a text $T$ of length~$n$ and a pattern~$P$, the task is to compute the Hamming distance between~$P$ and every length-$|P|$ substring of~$T$. As exact algorithms have been stuck at time~$\tilde O(n^{3/2})$ for decades, a long line of work has turned to the $(1+ε)$-approximate version of the problem. Milestones include Karloff's $\tilde O(ε^{-2} n)$-time algorithm [IPL '93], followed by randomized improvements to $\tilde O(ε^{-1} n)$ by Kopelowitz and Porat [FOCS '15] and recently to $\tilde O(ε^{-0.915} n)$ by Chan, Jin, Vassilevska W., and Xu [FOCS '23]. In this work, we significantly improve this bound to $\tilde O(ε^{-2/3} n)$, using a considerably simpler algorithm. Our algorithm follows the framework of Chan, Jin, Vassilevska W., and Xu, which reduces the problem to a variant of 3SUM that we call \emph{Sumset Estimation}. We solve Sumset Estimation optimally (up to logarithmic factors) by replacing their matrix multiplication techniques with ideas from sparse recovery. Specifically, we adapt the classic Count Sketch by replacing its random signs with random complex roots of unity---a simple idea that may find further applications for other additive problems. Finally, we give evidence that our running time might in fact be optimal: we show that the $ε^{-2/3}$ dependence is \emph{best possible} for a certain natural class of algorithms, including ours and all previous algorithms.
Efficient graph algorithms often use techniques that are specific to integer-valued inputs and do not work for real-valued versions of the problems. Is it a limitation of current techniques, or are the real-valued variants inherently harder? One way to study this question is through real-to-integer reductions. We give (randomized, combinatorial) subcubic real-to-integer reductions for two central graph problems in fine-grained complexity: All-Pairs Shortest Paths and Exact Triangle. That is, we show that if the integer variants of these problems can be solved in truly subcubic time, then the real variants can also be solved in truly subcubic time. Our work extends and combines techniques from three previous works: (1) our real-to-integer reduction for the 3SUM problem (Fischer, Polak, Schmidt, FOCS 2026), which itself combines the Frank--Tardos theorem from optimization with Freiman's theorem from additive combinatorics; (2) universe reduction for APSP (Fischer, STOC 2026), which we generalize to reals and use to reduce the doubling of the set of edge weights; and (3) the ``Fredman's trick meets dominance product'' technique (Chan, Vassilevska Williams, Xu, STOC 2023), which is needed to adapt the prior real-to-integer framework from equality constraints to inequalities. As a corollary, our reduction combined with Yuval's fast Integer APSP algorithm in the real RAM model with multiplication (IPL 1976) shows that the Real APSP Hypothesis is false in this model, which also follows from the very recent breakthrough by Alman and Vassilevska Williams using a very different approach.
The Hyperclique Hypothesis postulates that, for all constants $k > h \geq 3$, detecting a $k$-clique in an $h$-uniform hypergraph with $n$ vertices requires time $n^{k-o(1)}$. This hypothesis is false: there is an algebraic algorithm that detects (and even counts) $k$-cliques in $h$-uniform hypergraphs in time $O(n^{(1-ε_h)k})$. Via known reductions, this also refutes the recently proposed $k$-AP Hypothesis. As a consequence, many problems with conditional lower bounds based on these two hypotheses may admit faster algorithms after all. This result is almost entirely due to AI.