Inventory of the 12 007 Low-Dimensional Pseudo-Boolean Landscapes Invariant to Rank, Translation, and Rotation

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Main Authors: Liefooghe, Arnaud, Verel, Sébastien
Format: Preprint
Published: 2026
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author Liefooghe, Arnaud
Verel, Sébastien
author_facet Liefooghe, Arnaud
Verel, Sébastien
contents Many randomized optimization algorithms are rank-invariant, relying solely on the relative ordering of solutions rather than absolute fitness values. We introduce a stronger notion of rank landscape invariance: two problems are equivalent if their ranking, but also their neighborhood structure and symmetries (translation and rotation), induce identical landscapes. This motivates the study of rank landscapes rather than individual functions. While prior work analyzed the rankings of injective function classes in isolation, we provide an exhaustive inventory of the invariant landscape classes for pseudo-Boolean functions of dimensions 1, 2, and 3, including non-injective cases. Our analysis reveals 12,007 classes in total, a significant reduction compared to rank-invariance alone. We find that non-injective functions yield far more invariant landscape classes than injective ones. In addition, complex combinations of topological landscape properties and algorithm behaviors emerge, particularly regarding deceptiveness, neutrality, and the performance of hill-climbing strategies. The inventory serves as a resource for pedagogical purposes and benchmark design, offering a foundation for constructing larger problems with controlled hardness and advancing our understanding of landscape difficulty and algorithm performance.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2604_05530
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Inventory of the 12 007 Low-Dimensional Pseudo-Boolean Landscapes Invariant to Rank, Translation, and Rotation
Liefooghe, Arnaud
Verel, Sébastien
Artificial Intelligence
Many randomized optimization algorithms are rank-invariant, relying solely on the relative ordering of solutions rather than absolute fitness values. We introduce a stronger notion of rank landscape invariance: two problems are equivalent if their ranking, but also their neighborhood structure and symmetries (translation and rotation), induce identical landscapes. This motivates the study of rank landscapes rather than individual functions. While prior work analyzed the rankings of injective function classes in isolation, we provide an exhaustive inventory of the invariant landscape classes for pseudo-Boolean functions of dimensions 1, 2, and 3, including non-injective cases. Our analysis reveals 12,007 classes in total, a significant reduction compared to rank-invariance alone. We find that non-injective functions yield far more invariant landscape classes than injective ones. In addition, complex combinations of topological landscape properties and algorithm behaviors emerge, particularly regarding deceptiveness, neutrality, and the performance of hill-climbing strategies. The inventory serves as a resource for pedagogical purposes and benchmark design, offering a foundation for constructing larger problems with controlled hardness and advancing our understanding of landscape difficulty and algorithm performance.
title Inventory of the 12 007 Low-Dimensional Pseudo-Boolean Landscapes Invariant to Rank, Translation, and Rotation
topic Artificial Intelligence
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.05530