On the cavity method for decimated random constraint satisfaction problems and the analysis of belief propagation guided decimation algorithms

We introduce a version of the cavity method for diluted mean field spin models that allows the computation of thermodynamic quantities similar to the Franz-Parisi quenched potential in sparse random graph models. This method is developed in the particular case of partially decimated random constraint satisfaction problems. This allows us to develop a theoretical understanding of a class of algorithms for solving constraint satisfaction problems, in which elementary degrees of freedom are sequentially assigned according to the results of a message passing procedure (belief propagation). We confront this theoretical analysis with the results of extensive numerical simulations.