29,613 research outputs found
New developments in the theory of Groebner bases and applications to formal verification
We present foundational work on standard bases over rings and on Boolean
Groebner bases in the framework of Boolean functions. The research was
motivated by our collaboration with electrical engineers and computer
scientists on problems arising from formal verification of digital circuits. In
fact, algebraic modelling of formal verification problems is developed on the
word-level as well as on the bit-level. The word-level model leads to Groebner
basis in the polynomial ring over Z/2n while the bit-level model leads to
Boolean Groebner bases. In addition to the theoretical foundations of both
approaches, the algorithms have been implemented. Using these implementations
we show that special data structures and the exploitation of symmetries make
Groebner bases competitive to state-of-the-art tools from formal verification
but having the advantage of being systematic and more flexible.Comment: 44 pages, 8 figures, submitted to the Special Issue of the Journal of
Pure and Applied Algebr
ADAM: Analysis of Discrete Models of Biological Systems Using Computer Algebra
Background: Many biological systems are modeled qualitatively with discrete
models, such as probabilistic Boolean networks, logical models, Petri nets, and
agent-based models, with the goal to gain a better understanding of the system.
The computational complexity to analyze the complete dynamics of these models
grows exponentially in the number of variables, which impedes working with
complex models. Although there exist sophisticated algorithms to determine the
dynamics of discrete models, their implementations usually require
labor-intensive formatting of the model formulation, and they are oftentimes
not accessible to users without programming skills. Efficient analysis methods
are needed that are accessible to modelers and easy to use. Method: By
converting discrete models into algebraic models, tools from computational
algebra can be used to analyze their dynamics. Specifically, we propose a
method to identify attractors of a discrete model that is equivalent to solving
a system of polynomial equations, a long-studied problem in computer algebra.
Results: A method for efficiently identifying attractors, and the web-based
tool Analysis of Dynamic Algebraic Models (ADAM), which provides this and other
analysis methods for discrete models. ADAM converts several discrete model
types automatically into polynomial dynamical systems and analyzes their
dynamics using tools from computer algebra. Based on extensive experimentation
with both discrete models arising in systems biology and randomly generated
networks, we found that the algebraic algorithms presented in this manuscript
are fast for systems with the structure maintained by most biological systems,
namely sparseness, i.e., while the number of nodes in a biological network may
be quite large, each node is affected only by a small number of other nodes,
and robustness, i.e., small number of attractors
Polynomial-time Solvable #CSP Problems via Algebraic Models and Pfaffian Circuits
A Pfaffian circuit is a tensor contraction network where the edges are
labeled with changes of bases in such a way that a very specific set of
combinatorial properties are satisfied. By modeling the permissible changes of
bases as systems of polynomial equations, and then solving via computation, we
are able to identify classes of 0/1 planar #CSP problems solvable in
polynomial-time via the Pfaffian circuit evaluation theorem (a variant of L.
Valiant's Holant Theorem). We present two different models of 0/1 variables,
one that is possible under a homogeneous change of basis, and one that is
possible under a heterogeneous change of basis only. We enumerate a series of
1,2,3, and 4-arity gates/cogates that represent constraints, and define a class
of constraints that is possible under the assumption of a ``bridge" between two
particular changes of bases. We discuss the issue of planarity of Pfaffian
circuits, and demonstrate possible directions in algebraic computation for
designing a Pfaffian tensor contraction network fragment that can simulate a
swap gate/cogate. We conclude by developing the notion of a decomposable
gate/cogate, and discuss the computational benefits of this definition
On the Complexity of Solving Quadratic Boolean Systems
A fundamental problem in computer science is to find all the common zeroes of
quadratic polynomials in unknowns over . The
cryptanalysis of several modern ciphers reduces to this problem. Up to now, the
best complexity bound was reached by an exhaustive search in
operations. We give an algorithm that reduces the problem to a combination of
exhaustive search and sparse linear algebra. This algorithm has several
variants depending on the method used for the linear algebra step. Under
precise algebraic assumptions on the input system, we show that the
deterministic variant of our algorithm has complexity bounded by
when , while a probabilistic variant of the Las Vegas type
has expected complexity . Experiments on random systems show
that the algebraic assumptions are satisfied with probability very close to~1.
We also give a rough estimate for the actual threshold between our method and
exhaustive search, which is as low as~200, and thus very relevant for
cryptographic applications.Comment: 25 page
Contextuality in Measurement-based Quantum Computation
We show, under natural assumptions for qubit systems, that measurement-based
quantum computations (MBQCs) which compute a non-linear Boolean function with
high probability are contextual. The class of contextual MBQCs includes an
example which is of practical interest and has a super-polynomial speedup over
the best known classical algorithm, namely the quantum algorithm that solves
the Discrete Log problem.Comment: Version 3: probabilistic version of Theorem 1 adde
Inferring Biologically Relevant Models: Nested Canalyzing Functions
Inferring dynamic biochemical networks is one of the main challenges in
systems biology. Given experimental data, the objective is to identify the
rules of interaction among the different entities of the network. However, the
number of possible models fitting the available data is huge and identifying a
biologically relevant model is of great interest. Nested canalyzing functions,
where variables in a given order dominate the function, have recently been
proposed as a framework for modeling gene regulatory networks. Previously we
described this class of functions as an algebraic toric variety. In this paper,
we present an algorithm that identifies all nested canalyzing models that fit
the given data. We demonstrate our methods using a well-known Boolean model of
the cell cycle in budding yeast
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