Sublinear Update Complexity

Definition ∞ Sublinear update complexity describes a computational characteristic where the time required to modify a data structure grows at a rate slower than linear with respect to the size of the structure. This means that as the data structure becomes larger, updating it remains relatively efficient. It is a desirable property for scalable systems.
Context ∞ Sublinear update complexity is a crucial performance metric for authenticated data structures used in blockchains, such as Merkle trees or Verkle trees. Achieving this property allows for efficient state transitions and updates to the global ledger, even as the blockchain grows considerably. This efficiency is vital for improving the scalability and throughput of decentralized networks.