Incremental QBF Solving

We consider the problem of incrementally solving a sequence of quantified Boolean formulae (QBF). Incremental solving aims at using information learned from one formula in the process of solving the next formulae in the sequence. Based on a general overview of the problem and related challenges, we present an approach to incremental QBF solving which is application-independent and hence applicable to QBF encodings of arbitrary problems. We implemented this approach in our incremental search-based QBF solver DepQBF and report on implementation details. Experimental results illustrate the potential benefits of incremental solving in QBF-based workflows.Comment: revision (camera-ready, to appear in the proceedings of CP 2014, LNCS, Springer

Size, Cost and Capacity: A Semantic Technique for Hard Random QBFs

As a natural extension of the SAT problem, an array of proof systems for quantified Boolean formulas (QBF) have been proposed, many of which extend a propositional proof system to handle universal quantification. By formalising the construction of the QBF proof system obtained from a propositional proof system by adding universal reduction (Beyersdorff, Bonacina & Chew, ITCS'16), we present a new technique for proving proof-size lower bounds in these systems. The technique relies only on two semantic measures: the cost of a QBF, and the capacity of a proof. By examining the capacity of proofs in several QBF systems, we are able to use the technique to obtain lower bounds based on cost alone. As applications of the technique, we first prove exponential lower bounds for a new family of simple QBFs representing equality. The main application is in proving exponential lower bounds with high probability for a class of randomly generated QBFs, the first 'genuine' lower bounds of this kind, which apply to the QBF analogues of resolution, Cutting Planes, and Polynomial Calculus. Finally, we employ the technique to give a simple proof of hardness for a prominent family of QBFs

Frege systems for quantified Boolean logic

We define and investigate Frege systems for quantified Boolean formulas (QBF). For these new proof systems, we develop a lower bound technique that directly lifts circuit lower bounds for a circuit class C to the QBF Frege system operating with lines from C. Such a direct transfer from circuit to proof complexity lower bounds has often been postulated for propositional systems but had not been formally established in such generality for any proof systems prior to this work. This leads to strong lower bounds for restricted versions of QBF Frege, in particular an exponential lower bound for QBF Frege systems operating with AC0[p] circuits. In contrast, any non-trivial lower bound for propositional AC0[p]-Frege constitutes a major open problem. Improving these lower bounds to unrestricted QBF Frege tightly corresponds to the major problems in circuit complexity and propositional proof complexity. In particular, proving a lower bound for QBF Frege systems operating with arbitrary P/poly circuits is equivalent to either showing a lower bound for P/poly or for propositional extended Frege (which operates with P/poly circuits). We also compare our new QBF Frege systems to standard sequent calculi for QBF and establish a correspondence to intuitionistic bounded arithmetic.This research was supported by grant nos. 48138 and 60842 from the John Templeton Foundation, EPSRC grant EP/L024233/1, and a Doctoral Prize Fellowship from EPSRC (third author). The second author was funded by the European Research Council under the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007–2013)/ERC grant agreement no. 279611 and under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme/ERC grant agreement no. 648276 AUTAR. The fourth author was supported by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF) under project number P28699 and by the European Research Council under the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2014)/ERC Grant Agreement no. 61507. Part of this work was done when Beyersdorff and Pich were at the University of Leeds and Bonacina at Sapienza University Rome.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Proof complexity of resolution-based QBF calculi

Proof systems for quantified Boolean formulas (QBFs) provide a theoretical underpinning for the performance of important QBF solvers. However, the proof complexity of these proof systems is currently not well understood and in particular lower bound techniques are missing. In this paper we exhibit a new and elegant proof technique for showing lower bounds in QBF proof systems based on strategy extraction. This technique provides a direct transfer of circuit lower bounds to lengths of proofs lower bounds. We use our method to show the hardness of a natural class of parity formulas for Q-resolution and universal Q-resolution. Variants of the formulas are hard for even stronger systems as long-distance Q-resolution and extensions. With a completely different lower bound argument we show the hardness of the prominent formulas of Kleine Büning et al. [34] for the strong expansion-based calculus IR-calc. Our lower bounds imply new exponential separations between two different types of resolution-based QBF calculi: proof systems for CDCLbased solvers (Q-resolution, long-distance Q-resolution) and proof systems for expansion-based solvers (∀Exp+Res and its generalizations IR-calc and IRM-calc). The relations between proof systems from the two different classes were not known before

QBF Proof Complexity

Quantified Boolean Formulas (QBF) and their proof complexity are not as well understood as propositional formulas, yet remain an area of interest due to their relation to QBF solving. Proof systems for QBF provide a theoretical underpinning for the performance of these solvers. We define a novel calculus IR-calc, which enables unification of the principal existing resolution-based QBF calculi and applies to the more powerful Dependency QBF (DQBF). We completely reveal the relative power of important QBF resolution systems, settling in particular the relationship between the two different types of resolution-based QBF calculi. The most challenging part of this comparison is to exhibit hard formulas that underlie the exponential separations of the proof systems. In contrast to classical proof complexity we are currently short of lower bound techniques for QBF proof systems. To this end we exhibit a new proof technique for showing lower bounds in QBF proof systems based on strategy extraction. We also find that the classical lower bound techniques of the prover-delayer game and feasible interpolation can be lifted to a QBF setting and provide new lower bounds. We investigate more powerful proof systems such as extended resolution and Frege systems. We define and investigate new QBF proof systems that mix propositional rules with a reduction rule, we find the strategy extraction technique also works and directly lifts lower bounds from circuit complexity. Such a direct transfer from circuit to proof complexity lower bounds has often been postulated, but had not been formally established for propositional proof systems prior to this work. This leads to strong lower bounds for restricted versions of QBF Frege, in particular an exponential lower bound for QBF Frege systems operating with AC0[p] circuits. In contrast, any non-trivial lower bound for propositional AC0[p]-Frege constitutes a major open problem