3,757 research outputs found
Verifying proofs in constant depth
In this paper we initiate the study of proof systems where verification of proofs proceeds by NC circuits. We investigate the question which languages admit proof systems in this very restricted model. Formulated alternatively, we ask which languages can be enumerated by NC functions. Our results show that the answer to this problem is not determined by the complexity of the language. On the one hand, we construct NC proof systems for a variety of languages ranging from regular to NP-complete. On the other hand, we show by combinatorial methods that even easy regular languages such as Exact-OR do not admit NC proof systems. We also present a general construction of proof systems for regular languages with strongly connected NFA's
String Matching: Communication, Circuits, and Learning
String matching is the problem of deciding whether a given n-bit string contains a given k-bit pattern. We study the complexity of this problem in three settings.
- Communication complexity. For small k, we provide near-optimal upper and lower bounds on the communication complexity of string matching. For large k, our bounds leave open an exponential gap; we exhibit some evidence for the existence of a better protocol.
- Circuit complexity. We present several upper and lower bounds on the size of circuits with threshold and DeMorgan gates solving the string matching problem. Similarly to the above, our bounds are near-optimal for small k.
- Learning. We consider the problem of learning a hidden pattern of length at most k relative to the classifier that assigns 1 to every string that contains the pattern. We prove optimal bounds on the VC dimension and sample complexity of this problem
Longest path distance in random circuits
We study distance properties of a general class of random directed acyclic
graphs (DAGs). In a DAG, many natural notions of distance are possible, for
there exists multiple paths between pairs of nodes. The distance of interest
for circuits is the maximum length of a path between two nodes. We give laws of
large numbers for the typical depth (distance to the root) and the minimum
depth in a random DAG. This completes the study of natural distances in random
DAGs initiated (in the uniform case) by Devroye and Janson (2009+). We also
obtain large deviation bounds for the minimum of a branching random walk with
constant branching, which can be seen as a simplified version of our main
result.Comment: 21 pages, 2 figure
One-way permutations, computational asymmetry and distortion
Computational asymmetry, i.e., the discrepancy between the complexity of
transformations and the complexity of their inverses, is at the core of one-way
transformations. We introduce a computational asymmetry function that measures
the amount of one-wayness of permutations. We also introduce the word-length
asymmetry function for groups, which is an algebraic analogue of computational
asymmetry. We relate boolean circuits to words in a Thompson monoid, over a
fixed generating set, in such a way that circuit size is equal to word-length.
Moreover, boolean circuits have a representation in terms of elements of a
Thompson group, in such a way that circuit size is polynomially equivalent to
word-length. We show that circuits built with gates that are not constrained to
have fixed-length inputs and outputs, are at most quadratically more compact
than circuits built from traditional gates (with fixed-length inputs and
outputs). Finally, we show that the computational asymmetry function is closely
related to certain distortion functions: The computational asymmetry function
is polynomially equivalent to the distortion of the path length in Schreier
graphs of certain Thompson groups, compared to the path length in Cayley graphs
of certain Thompson monoids. We also show that the results of Razborov and
others on monotone circuit complexity lead to exponential lower bounds on
certain distortions.Comment: 33 page
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