Alexander Invariants of Complex Hyperplane Arrangements

Let A be an arrangement of complex hyperplanes. The fundamental group of the complement of A is determined by a braid monodromy homomorphism from a finitely generated free group to the pure braid group. Using the Gassner representation of the pure braid group, we find an explicit presentation for the Alexander invariant of A. From this presentation, we obtain combinatorial lower bounds for the ranks of the Chen groups of A. We also provide a combinatorial criterion for when these lower bounds are attained.Comment: 26 pages; LaTeX2e with amscd, amssymb package

Limitations of Algebraic Approaches to Graph Isomorphism Testing

We investigate the power of graph isomorphism algorithms based on algebraic reasoning techniques like Gr\"obner basis computation. The idea of these algorithms is to encode two graphs into a system of equations that are satisfiable if and only if if the graphs are isomorphic, and then to (try to) decide satisfiability of the system using, for example, the Gr\"obner basis algorithm. In some cases this can be done in polynomial time, in particular, if the equations admit a bounded degree refutation in an algebraic proof systems such as Nullstellensatz or polynomial calculus. We prove linear lower bounds on the polynomial calculus degree over all fields of characteristic different from 2 and also linear lower bounds for the degree of Positivstellensatz calculus derivations. We compare this approach to recently studied linear and semidefinite programming approaches to isomorphism testing, which are known to be related to the combinatorial Weisfeiler-Lehman algorithm. We exactly characterise the power of the Weisfeiler-Lehman algorithm in terms of an algebraic proof system that lies between degree-k Nullstellensatz and degree-k polynomial calculus

A straightening algorithm for row-convex tableaux

We produce a new basis for the Schur and Weyl modules associated to a row-convex shape, D. The basis is indexed by new class of "straight" tableaux which we introduce by weakening the usual requirements for standard tableaux. Spanning is proved via a new straightening algorithm for expanding elements of the representation into this basis. For skew shapes, this algorithm specializes to the classical straightening law. The new straight basis is used to produce bases for flagged Schur and Weyl modules, to provide Groebner and sagbi bases for the homogeneous coordinate rings of some configuration varieties and to produce a flagged branching rule for row-convex representations. Systematic use of supersymmetric letterplace techniques enables the representation theoretic results to be applied to representations of the general linear Lie superalgebra as well as to the general linear group.Comment: 31 pages, latex2e, submitted to J. Algebr

On the Complexity of Hilbert Refutations for Partition

Given a set of integers W, the Partition problem determines whether W can be divided into two disjoint subsets with equal sums. We model the Partition problem as a system of polynomial equations, and then investigate the complexity of a Hilbert's Nullstellensatz refutation, or certificate, that a given set of integers is not partitionable. We provide an explicit construction of a minimum-degree certificate, and then demonstrate that the Partition problem is equivalent to the determinant of a carefully constructed matrix called the partition matrix. In particular, we show that the determinant of the partition matrix is a polynomial that factors into an iteration over all possible partitions of W.Comment: Final versio

Short Proofs Are Hard to Find

We obtain a streamlined proof of an important result by Alekhnovich and Razborov [Michael Alekhnovich and Alexander A. Razborov, 2008], showing that it is hard to automatize both tree-like and general Resolution. Under a different assumption than [Michael Alekhnovich and Alexander A. Razborov, 2008], our simplified proof gives improved bounds: we show under ETH that these proof systems are not automatizable in time n^f(n), whenever f(n) = o(log^{1/7 - epsilon} log n) for any epsilon > 0. Previously non-automatizability was only known for f(n) = O(1). Our proof also extends fairly straightforwardly to prove similar hardness results for PCR and Res(r)

Trade-Offs Between Size and Degree in Polynomial Calculus

Building on [Clegg et al. \u2796], [Impagliazzo et al. \u2799] established that if an unsatisfiable k-CNF formula over n variables has a refutation of size S in the polynomial calculus resolution proof system, then this formula also has a refutation of degree k + O(?(n log S)). The proof of this works by converting a small-size refutation into a small-degree one, but at the expense of increasing the proof size exponentially. This raises the question of whether it is possible to achieve both small size and small degree in the same refutation, or whether the exponential blow-up is inherent. Using and extending ideas from [Thapen \u2716], who studied the analogous question for the resolution proof system, we prove that a strong size-degree trade-off is necessary

Polynomial Calculus for MaxSAT

MaxSAT is the problem of finding an assignment satisfying the maximum number of clauses in a CNF formula. We consider a natural generalization of this problem to generic sets of polynomials and propose a weighted version of Polynomial Calculus to address this problem. Weighted Polynomial Calculus is a natural generalization of MaxSAT-Resolution and weighted Resolution that manipulates polynomials with coefficients in a finite field and either weights in ? or ?. We show the soundness and completeness of these systems via an algorithmic procedure. Weighted Polynomial Calculus, with weights in ? and coefficients in ??, is able to prove efficiently that Tseitin formulas on a connected graph are minimally unsatisfiable. Using weights in ?, it also proves efficiently that the Pigeonhole Principle is minimally unsatisfiable

Space proof complexity for random 3-CNFs

We investigate the space complexity of refuting 3-CNFs in Resolution and algebraic systems. We prove that every Polynomial Calculus with Resolution refutation of a random 3-CNF φ in n variables requires, with high probability, distinct monomials to be kept simultaneously in memory. The same construction also proves that every Resolution refutation of φ requires, with high probability, clauses each of width to be kept at the same time in memory. This gives a lower bound for the total space needed in Resolution to refute φ. These results are best possible (up to a constant factor) and answer questions about space complexity of 3-CNFs