  Fundamental local symmetry breaking problems such as Maximal Independent Set
(MIS) and coloring have been recognized as important by the community, and
studied extensively in (standard) graphs. In particular, fast (i.e.,
logarithmic run time) randomized algorithms are well-established for MIS and
$\Delta +1$-coloring in both the LOCAL and CONGEST distributed computing
models. On the other hand, comparatively much less is known on the complexity
of distributed symmetry breaking in {\em hypergraphs}. In particular, a key
question is whether a fast (randomized) algorithm for MIS exists for
hypergraphs.
  In this paper, we study the distributed complexity of symmetry breaking in
hypergraphs by presenting distributed randomized algorithms for a variety of
fundamental problems under a natural distributed computing model for
hypergraphs. We first show that MIS in hypergraphs (of arbitrary dimension) can
be solved in $O(\log^2 n)$ rounds ($n$ is the number of nodes of the
hypergraph) in the LOCAL model. We then present a key result of this paper ---
an $O(\Delta^{\epsilon}\text{polylog}(n))$-round hypergraph MIS algorithm in
the CONGEST model where $\Delta$ is the maximum node degree of the hypergraph
and $\epsilon > 0$ is any arbitrarily small constant.
  To demonstrate the usefulness of hypergraph MIS, we present applications of
our hypergraph algorithm to solving problems in (standard) graphs. In
particular, the hypergraph MIS yields fast distributed algorithms for the {\em
balanced minimal dominating set} problem (left open in Harris et al. [ICALP
2013]) and the {\em minimal connected dominating set problem}. We also present
distributed algorithms for coloring, maximal matching, and maximal clique in
hypergraphs.
