Exponential Lower Bounds for Polytopes in Combinatorial Optimization

We solve a 20-year old problem posed by Yannakakis and prove that there exists no polynomial-size linear program (LP) whose associated polytope projects to the traveling salesman polytope, even if the LP is not required to be symmetric. Moreover, we prove that this holds also for the cut polytope and the stable set polytope. These results were discovered through a new connection that we make between one-way quantum communication protocols and semidefinite programming reformulations of LPs.Comment: 19 pages, 4 figures. This version of the paper will appear in the Journal of the ACM. The earlier conference version in STOC'12 had the title "Linear vs. Semidefinite Extended Formulations: Exponential Separation and Strong Lower Bounds

A Semidefinite Approach to the KiK_i Cover Problem

We apply theta body relaxations to the $K_i$-cover problem and show polynomial time solvability for certain classes of graphs. In particular, we give an effective relaxation where all $K_i$-$p$-hole facets are valid, and study its relation to an open question of Conforti et al. For the triangle free problem, we show for $K_n$ that the theta body relaxations do not converge by $(n-2)/4$ steps; we also prove for all $G$ an integrality gap of 2 for the second theta body