New methods for 3-SAT decision and worst-case analysis

We prove the worst-case upper bound 1:5045 n for the time complexity of 3-SAT decision, where n is the number of variables in the input formula, introducing new methods for the analysis as well as new algorithmic techniques. We add new 2- and 3-clauses, called "blocked clauses", generalizing the extension rule of "Extended Resolution." Our methods for estimating the size of trees lead to a refined measure of formula complexity of 3-clause-sets and can be applied also to arbitrary trees. Keywords: 3-SAT, worst-case upper bounds, analysis of algorithms, Extended Resolution, blocked clauses, generalized autarkness. 1 Introduction In this paper we study the exponential part of time complexity for 3-SAT decision and prove the worst-case upper bound 1:5044:: n for n the number of variables in the input formula, using new algorithmic methods as well as new methods for the analysis. These methods also deepen the already existing approaches in a systematically manner. The following results..

Classical-Quantum Mixing in the Random 2-Satisfiability Problem

Classical satisfiability (SAT) and quantum satisfiability (QSAT) are complete problems for the complexity classes NP and QMA which are believed to be intractable for classical and quantum computers, respectively. Statistical ensembles of instances of these problems have been studied previously in an attempt to elucidate their typical, as opposed to worst case, behavior. In this paper we introduce a new statistical ensemble that interpolates between classical and quantum. For the simplest 2-SAT/2-QSAT ensemble we find the exact boundary that separates SAT and UNSAT instances. We do so by establishing coincident lower and upper bounds, in the limit of large instances, on the extent of the UNSAT and SAT regions, respectively.Comment: Updated reference

Circuit Size Lower Bounds and #SAT Upper Bounds Through a General Framework

Most of the known lower bounds for binary Boolean circuits with unrestricted depth are proved by the gate elimination method. The most efficient known algorithms for the #SAT problem on binary Boolean circuits use similar case analyses to the ones in gate elimination. Chen and Kabanets recently showed that the known case analyses can also be used to prove average case circuit lower bounds, that is, lower bounds on the size of approximations of an explicit function. In this paper, we provide a general framework for proving worst/average case lower bounds for circuits and upper bounds for #SAT that is built on ideas of Chen and Kabanets. A proof in such a framework goes as follows. One starts by fixing three parameters: a class of circuits, a circuit complexity measure, and a set of allowed substitutions. The main ingredient of a proof goes as follows: by going through a number of cases, one shows that for any circuit from the given class, one can find an allowed substitution such that the given measure of the circuit reduces by a sufficient amount. This case analysis immediately implies an upper bound for #SAT. To~obtain worst/average case circuit complexity lower bounds one needs to present an explicit construction of a function that is a disperser/extractor for the class of sources defined by the set of substitutions under consideration. We show that many known proofs (of circuit size lower bounds and upper bounds for #SAT) fall into this framework. Using this framework, we prove the following new bounds: average case lower bounds of 3.24n and 2.59n for circuits over U_2 and B_2, respectively (though the lower bound for the basis B_2 is given for a quadratic disperser whose explicit construction is not currently known), and faster than 2^n #SAT-algorithms for circuits over U_2 and B_2 of size at most 3.24n and 2.99n, respectively. Here by B_2 we mean the set of all bivariate Boolean functions, and by U_2 the set of all bivariate Boolean functions except for parity and its complement

Non-polynomial Worst-Case Analysis of Recursive Programs

We study the problem of developing efficient approaches for proving worst-case bounds of non-deterministic recursive programs. Ranking functions are sound and complete for proving termination and worst-case bounds of nonrecursive programs. First, we apply ranking functions to recursion, resulting in measure functions. We show that measure functions provide a sound and complete approach to prove worst-case bounds of non-deterministic recursive programs. Our second contribution is the synthesis of measure functions in nonpolynomial forms. We show that non-polynomial measure functions with logarithm and exponentiation can be synthesized through abstraction of logarithmic or exponentiation terms, Farkas' Lemma, and Handelman's Theorem using linear programming. While previous methods obtain worst-case polynomial bounds, our approach can synthesize bounds of the form $\mathcal{O}(n\log n)$ as well as $\mathcal{O}(n^r)$ where $r$ is not an integer. We present experimental results to demonstrate that our approach can obtain efficiently worst-case bounds of classical recursive algorithms such as (i) Merge-Sort, the divide-and-conquer algorithm for the Closest-Pair problem, where we obtain $\mathcal{O}(n \log n)$ worst-case bound, and (ii) Karatsuba's algorithm for polynomial multiplication and Strassen's algorithm for matrix multiplication, where we obtain $\mathcal{O}(n^r)$ bound such that $r$ is not an integer and close to the best-known bounds for the respective algorithms.Comment: 54 Pages, Full Version to CAV 201