11,853 research outputs found
Many Hard Examples in Exact Phase Transitions with Application to Generating Hard Satisfiable Instances
This paper first analyzes the resolution complexity of two random CSP models
(i.e. Model RB/RD) for which we can establish the existence of phase
transitions and identify the threshold points exactly. By encoding CSPs into
CNF formulas, it is proved that almost all instances of Model RB/RD have no
tree-like resolution proofs of less than exponential size. Thus, we not only
introduce new families of CNF formulas hard for resolution, which is a central
task of Proof-Complexity theory, but also propose models with both many hard
instances and exact phase transitions. Then, the implications of such models
are addressed. It is shown both theoretically and experimentally that an
application of Model RB/RD might be in the generation of hard satisfiable
instances, which is not only of practical importance but also related to some
open problems in cryptography such as generating one-way functions.
Subsequently, a further theoretical support for the generation method is shown
by establishing exponential lower bounds on the complexity of solving random
satisfiable and forced satisfiable instances of RB/RD near the threshold.
Finally, conclusions are presented, as well as a detailed comparison of Model
RB/RD with the Hamiltonian cycle problem and random 3-SAT, which, respectively,
exhibit three different kinds of phase transition behavior in NP-complete
problems.Comment: 19 pages, corrected mistakes in Theorems 5 and
Breaking the PPSZ Barrier for Unique 3-SAT
The PPSZ algorithm by Paturi, Pudl\'ak, Saks, and Zane (FOCS 1998) is the
fastest known algorithm for (Promise) Unique k-SAT. We give an improved
algorithm with exponentially faster bounds for Unique 3-SAT.
For uniquely satisfiable 3-CNF formulas, we do the following case
distinction: We call a clause critical if exactly one literal is satisfied by
the unique satisfying assignment. If a formula has many critical clauses, we
observe that PPSZ by itself is already faster. If there are only few clauses
allover, we use an algorithm by Wahlstr\"om (ESA 2005) that is faster than PPSZ
in this case. Otherwise we have a formula with few critical and many
non-critical clauses. Non-critical clauses have at least two literals
satisfied; we show how to exploit this to improve PPSZ.Comment: 13 pages; major revision with simplified algorithm but slightly worse
constant
On the Cryptographic Hardness of Local Search
We show new hardness results for the class of Polynomial Local Search problems (PLS):
- Hardness of PLS based on a falsifiable assumption on bilinear groups introduced by Kalai, Paneth, and Yang (STOC 2019), and the Exponential Time Hypothesis for randomized algorithms. Previous standard model constructions relied on non-falsifiable and non-standard assumptions.
- Hardness of PLS relative to random oracles. The construction is essentially different than previous constructions, and in particular is unconditionally secure. The construction also demonstrates the hardness of parallelizing local search.
The core observation behind the results is that the unique proofs property of incrementally-verifiable computations previously used to demonstrate hardness in PLS can be traded with a simple incremental completeness property
The shape of the proton at high energies
We present first calculations of the fluctuating gluon distribution in a
proton as a function of impact parameter and rapidity employing the functional
Langevin form of the JIMWLK renormalization group equation. We demonstrate that
when including effects of confinement by screening the long range Coulomb field
of the color charges, the evolution is unitary. The large-x structure of the
proton, characterized by the position of three valence quarks, retains an
effect on the proton shape down to very small values of x. We determine the
dipole scattering amplitude as a function of impact parameter and dipole size
and extract the rapidity evolution of the saturation scale and the proton
radius.Comment: 8 pages, 6 figure
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