311 research outputs found
Generic algorithms for halting problem and optimal machines revisited
The halting problem is undecidable --- but can it be solved for "most"
inputs? This natural question was considered in a number of papers, in
different settings. We revisit their results and show that most of them can be
easily proven in a natural framework of optimal machines (considered in
algorithmic information theory) using the notion of Kolmogorov complexity. We
also consider some related questions about this framework and about asymptotic
properties of the halting problem. In particular, we show that the fraction of
terminating programs cannot have a limit, and all limit points are Martin-L\"of
random reals. We then consider mass problems of finding an approximate solution
of halting problem and probabilistic algorithms for them, proving both positive
and negative results. We consider the fraction of terminating programs that
require a long time for termination, and describe this fraction using the busy
beaver function. We also consider approximate versions of separation problems,
and revisit Schnorr's results about optimal numberings showing how they can be
generalized.Comment: a preliminary version was presented at the ICALP 2015 conferenc
Random strings and tt-degrees of Turing complete C.E. sets
We investigate the truth-table degrees of (co-)c.e.\ sets, in particular,
sets of random strings. It is known that the set of random strings with respect
to any universal prefix-free machine is Turing complete, but that truth-table
completeness depends on the choice of universal machine. We show that for such
sets of random strings, any finite set of their truth-table degrees do not meet
to the degree~0, even within the c.e. truth-table degrees, but when taking the
meet over all such truth-table degrees, the infinite meet is indeed~0. The
latter result proves a conjecture of Allender, Friedman and Gasarch. We also
show that there are two Turing complete c.e. sets whose truth-table degrees
form a minimal pair.Comment: 25 page
Kolmogorov complexity and the Recursion Theorem
Several classes of DNR functions are characterized in terms of Kolmogorov
complexity. In particular, a set of natural numbers A can wtt-compute a DNR
function iff there is a nontrivial recursive lower bound on the Kolmogorov
complexity of the initial segments of A. Furthermore, A can Turing compute a
DNR function iff there is a nontrivial A-recursive lower bound on the
Kolmogorov complexity of the initial segements of A. A is PA-complete, that is,
A can compute a {0,1}-valued DNR function, iff A can compute a function F such
that F(n) is a string of length n and maximal C-complexity among the strings of
length n. A solves the halting problem iff A can compute a function F such that
F(n) is a string of length n and maximal H-complexity among the strings of
length n. Further characterizations for these classes are given. The existence
of a DNR function in a Turing degree is equivalent to the failure of the
Recursion Theorem for this degree; thus the provided results characterize those
Turing degrees in terms of Kolmogorov complexity which do no longer permit the
usage of the Recursion Theorem.Comment: Full version of paper presented at STACS 2006, Lecture Notes in
Computer Science 3884 (2006), 149--16
Depth, Highness and DNR degrees
We study Bennett deep sequences in the context of recursion theory; in
particular we investigate the notions of O(1)-deepK, O(1)-deepC , order-deep K
and order-deep C sequences. Our main results are that Martin-Loef random sets
are not order-deepC , that every many-one degree contains a set which is not
O(1)-deepC , that O(1)-deepC sets and order-deepK sets have high or DNR Turing
degree and that no K-trival set is O(1)-deepK.Comment: journal version, dmtc
The complexity and distribution of computationally useful problems
The solutions of certain natural decision problems such as the halting problem and the boolean satisfiability problem contain large amounts of useful information about computation that is highly organized and readily available to efficient computational processes. Such problems are computationally useful. This dissertation investigates the complexity and distribution of these computationally useful problems. The main results of this dissertation are of the following three general types. (1) Useful problems contain highly organized information. (2) Very useful problems are so highly organized that they are unusually simple and hence rare. (3) Useful problems are, as a whole, not rare and thus are not necessarily simple;A result of type (1) is proven in Chapter 3. Bennett recently extended algorithmic information theory to include a notion of computational depth that appears to quantify the level of organization in binary strings and sequences. The main result of Chapter 3 states that every weakly useful sequence is strongly deep. (A sequence x is weakly useful if a non-negligible set of recursive problems are decidable within a fixed recursive time bound when given access to x.);Results of type (2) are presented in Chapters 4 and 5. These results say that the ≤[subscript]sp m P-complete problems for E = DTIME(2[superscript] linear) and the ≤[subscript]sp m p/poly-complete problems for ESPACE = DSPACE(2[superscript] linear) are unusually simple and hence rare. Complete problems are very useful because every problem in E or ESPACE is efficiently decidable when given access to one of these problems;Chapter 6 develops a result of type (3). This result says that the weakly ≤[subscript]sp m P-complete problems for E and ESPACE are not rare and hence are not necessarily simple. Weakly complete problems are useful because every problem in a non-negligible subset of E or ESPACE is efficiently decidable when given access to one of these problems;The above results (and others along the way) are obtained through a systematic investigation of the measure-theoretic structure of complexity classes
An Algorithmic Argument for Nonadaptive Query Complexity Lower Bounds on Advised Quantum Computation
This paper employs a powerful argument, called an algorithmic argument, to
prove lower bounds of the quantum query complexity of a multiple-block ordered
search problem in which, given a block number i, we are to find a location of a
target keyword in an ordered list of the i-th block. Apart from much studied
polynomial and adversary methods for quantum query complexity lower bounds, our
argument shows that the multiple-block ordered search needs a large number of
nonadaptive oracle queries on a black-box model of quantum computation that is
also supplemented with advice. Our argument is also applied to the notions of
computational complexity theory: quantum truth-table reducibility and quantum
truth-table autoreducibility.Comment: 16 pages. An extended abstract will appear in the Proceedings of the
29th International Symposium on Mathematical Foundations of Computer Science,
Lecture Notes in Computer Science, Springer-Verlag, Prague, August 22-27,
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