2013/11/01 by Christopher J. Hillar, Lek-Heng Lim, Lek‐Heng Lim · 125 citations
Mathematics · Computer Science · #Tensor decomposition and applications #Numerical Methods and Algorithms #Matrix Theory and Algorithms
paper · doi:10.1145/2512329
We prove that multilinear (tensor) analogues of many efficiently computable problems in numerical linear algebra are NP-hard. Our list includes: determining the feasibility of a system of bilinear equations, deciding whether a 3-tensor possesses a given eigenvalue, singular value, or spectral norm; approximating an eigenvalue, eigenvector, singular vector, or the spectral norm; and determining the rank or best rank-1 approximation of a 3-tensor. Furthermore, we show that restricting these problems to symmetric tensors does not alleviate their NP-hardness. We also explain how deciding nonnegative definiteness of a symmetric 4-tensor is NP-hard and how computing the combinatorial hyperdeterminant is NP-, #P-, and VNP-hard.