Polynomial-time algorithms for the integer minimal principle for centrosymmetric structures

The minimal principle for structure determination from single-crystal X-ray diffraction measurements has recently been formulated as an integer linear optimization model for the case of centrosymmetric structures. Solution of this model via established combinatorial branch-and-bound algorithms provides the true global minimum of the minimal principle while operating exclusively in reciprocal space. However, integer programming techniques may require an exponential number of iterations to exhaust the search space. In this paper, a new approach is developed to solve the integer minimal principle to global optimality without requiring the solution of an optimization problem. Instead, properties of the solution of the optimization problem, as observed in a large number of computational experiments, are exploited in order to reduce the optimization formulation to a system of linear equations in the number field of two elements (F(2)). Two specialized Gaussian elimination algorithms are then developed to solve this system of equations in polynomial time in the number of atoms. Computational results on a collection of 38 structures demonstrate that the proposed approach provides very fast and accurate solutions to the phase problem for centrosymmetric structures. This approach also provided much better crystallographic R values than SHELXS for all 38 structures tested.