Solving sparse rational linear systems

Abstract

We propose a new algorithm to find a rational solution to a sparse system of linear equations over the integers. This algorithm is based on a p-adic lifting technique combined with the use of block matrices with structured blocks. It achieves a sub-cubic complexity in terms of machine operations subject to a conjecture on the effectiveness of certain sparse projections. A LinBox-based implementation of this algorithm is demonstrated, and emphasizes the practical benefits of this new method over the previous state of the art.