Let $X$ be a set of items of size $n$ , which may contain some defective items denoted by $I$, where $I \subseteq X$. In group testing, a {\it test} refers to a subset of items $Q \subset X$. The test outcome is $1$ (positive) if $Q$ contains at least one defective item, i.e., $Q\cap I \neq \emptyset$, and $0$ (negative) otherwise. We give a novel approach to obtaining tight lower bounds in non-adaptive randomized group testing. Employing this new method, we can prove the following result. Any non-adaptive randomized algorithm that, for any set of defective items $I$, with probability at least $2/3$, returns an estimate of the number of defective items $|I|$ to within a constant factor requires at least $\Omega({\log n})$ tests. Our result matches the upper bound of $O(\log n)$ and solves the open problem posed by Damaschke and Sheikh Muhammad.
翻译:设 $X$ 是一个大小为 $n$ 的物品集合,其中可能包含一些缺陷物品,记为 $I$,满足 $I \subseteq X$。在群体测试中,{\it 测试} 指的是 $X$ 的一个子集 $Q \subset X$。如果 $Q$ 包含至少一个缺陷物品(即 $Q\cap I \neq \emptyset$),则测试结果为 $1$(阳性);否则为 $0$(阴性)。我们提出了一种新方法,用于在非自适应随机群体测试中获得紧的下界。利用这一新方法,我们可以证明以下结果:任何非自适应随机算法,对于任意缺陷物品集合 $I$,以至少 $2/3$ 的概率返回缺陷物品数量 $|I|$ 的估计值(误差在常数因子内),至少需要 $\Omega(\log n)$ 次测试。我们的结果与 $O(\log n)$ 的上界匹配,并解决了 Damaschke 和 Sheikh Muhammad 提出的开放问题。