Distributed Computing Column 79: Using Round Elimination to Understand Locality

AbstractIn this edition of the column, we have an exciting contribution by Jukka Suomela, who provides an overview of his recent work revisiting a key concept in the theory of distributed computing: locality. Specifically, the column covers Jukka's recent work with Alkida Balliu, Sebastian Brandt, Juho Hirvonen, and Mikaël Rabie which provided new lower bounds for maximal matchings and maximal independent sets, and in the process won the Best Paper Award at the 2019 Symposium on Foundations of Computer Science (FOCS 2019). Jukka's column provides a gentle yet rigorous introduction to the topic, complete with examples, extensions, and open questions. Many thanks to Jukka for his contribution!