3,279 research outputs found
Cognitive networks: brains, internet, and civilizations
In this short essay, we discuss some basic features of cognitive activity at
several different space-time scales: from neural networks in the brain to
civilizations. One motivation for such comparative study is its heuristic
value. Attempts to better understand the functioning of "wetware" involved in
cognitive activities of central nervous system by comparing it with a computing
device have a long tradition. We suggest that comparison with Internet might be
more adequate. We briefly touch upon such subjects as encoding, compression,
and Saussurean trichotomy langue/langage/parole in various environments.Comment: 16 page
Using Program Synthesis for Program Analysis
In this paper, we identify a fragment of second-order logic with restricted
quantification that is expressive enough to capture numerous static analysis
problems (e.g. safety proving, bug finding, termination and non-termination
proving, superoptimisation). We call this fragment the {\it synthesis
fragment}. Satisfiability of a formula in the synthesis fragment is decidable
over finite domains; specifically the decision problem is NEXPTIME-complete. If
a formula in this fragment is satisfiable, a solution consists of a satisfying
assignment from the second order variables to \emph{functions over finite
domains}. To concretely find these solutions, we synthesise \emph{programs}
that compute the functions. Our program synthesis algorithm is complete for
finite state programs, i.e. every \emph{function} over finite domains is
computed by some \emph{program} that we can synthesise. We can therefore use
our synthesiser as a decision procedure for the synthesis fragment of
second-order logic, which in turn allows us to use it as a powerful backend for
many program analysis tasks. To show the tractability of our approach, we
evaluate the program synthesiser on several static analysis problems.Comment: 19 pages, to appear in LPAR 2015. arXiv admin note: text overlap with
arXiv:1409.492
Secret Key Agreement from Correlated Data, with No Prior Information
A fundamental question that has been studied in cryptography and in
information theory is whether two parties can communicate confidentially using
exclusively an open channel. We consider the model in which the two parties
hold inputs that are correlated in a certain sense. This model has been studied
extensively in information theory, and communication protocols have been
designed which exploit the correlation to extract from the inputs a shared
secret key. However, all the existing protocols are not universal in the sense
that they require that the two parties also know some attributes of the
correlation. In other words, they require that each party knows something about
the other party's input. We present a protocol that does not require any prior
additional information. It uses space-bounded Kolmogorov complexity to measure
correlation and it allows the two legal parties to obtain a common key that
looks random to an eavesdropper that observes the communication and is
restricted to use a bounded amount of space for the attack. Thus the protocol
achieves complexity-theoretical security, but it does not use any unproven
result from computational complexity. On the negative side, the protocol is not
efficient in the sense that the computation of the two legal parties uses more
space than the space allowed to the adversary.Comment: Several small errors have been fixed and the presentation has been
improved, following the reviewers' observation
Lower Bounds on Quantum Query Complexity
Shor's and Grover's famous quantum algorithms for factoring and searching
show that quantum computers can solve certain computational problems
significantly faster than any classical computer. We discuss here what quantum
computers_cannot_ do, and specifically how to prove limits on their
computational power. We cover the main known techniques for proving lower
bounds, and exemplify and compare the methods.Comment: survey, 23 page
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