Genuine Lower Bounds for QBF Expansion

We propose the first general technique for proving genuine lower bounds in expansion-based QBF proof systems. We present the technique in a framework centred on natural properties of winning strategies in the 'evaluation game' interpretation of QBF semantics. As applications, we prove an exponential proof-size lower bound for a whole class of formula families, and demonstrate the power of our approach over existing methods by providing alternative short proofs of two known hardness results. We also use our technique to deduce a result with manifest practical import: in the absence of propositional hardness, formulas separating the two major QBF expansion systems must have unbounded quantifier alternations

Hard QBFs for Merge Resolution

We prove the first proof size lower bounds for the proof system Merge Resolution (MRes [Olaf Beyersdorff et al., 2020]), a refutational proof system for prenex quantified Boolean formulas (QBF) with a CNF matrix. Unlike most QBF resolution systems in the literature, proofs in MRes consist of resolution steps together with information on countermodels, which are syntactically stored in the proofs as merge maps. As demonstrated in [Olaf Beyersdorff et al., 2020], this makes MRes quite powerful: it has strategy extraction by design and allows short proofs for formulas which are hard for classical QBF resolution systems. Here we show the first exponential lower bounds for MRes, thereby uncovering limitations of MRes. Technically, the results are either transferred from bounds from circuit complexity (for restricted versions of MRes) or directly obtained by combinatorial arguments (for full MRes). Our results imply that the MRes approach is largely orthogonal to other QBF resolution models such as the QCDCL resolution systems QRes and QURes and the expansion systems ?Exp+Res and IR

Are Short Proofs Narrow? QBF Resolution is not so Simple

The ground-breaking paper “Short Proofs Are Narrow -- Resolution Made Simple” by Ben-Sasson and Wigderson (J. ACM 2001) introduces what is today arguably the main technique to obtain resolution lower bounds: to show a lower bound for the width of proofs. Another important measure for resolution is space, and in their fundamental work, Atserias and Dalmau (J. Comput. Syst. Sci. 2008) show that lower bounds for space again can be obtained via lower bounds for width. In this article, we assess whether similar techniques are effective for resolution calculi for quantified Boolean formulas (QBFs). There are a number of different QBF resolution calculi like Q-resolution (the classical extension of propositional resolution to QBF) and the more recent calculi ∀Exp+Res and IR-calc. For these systems, a mixed picture emerges. Our main results show that the relations both between size and width and between space and width drastically fail in Q-resolution, even in its weaker tree-like version. On the other hand, we obtain positive results for the expansion-based resolution systems ∀Exp+Res and IR-calc, however, only in the weak tree-like models. Technically, our negative results rely on showing width lower bounds together with simultaneous upper bounds for size and space. For our positive results, we exhibit space and width-preserving simulations between QBF resolution calculi

Conformant Planning as a Case Study of Incremental QBF Solving

We consider planning with uncertainty in the initial state as a case study of incremental quantified Boolean formula (QBF) solving. We report on experiments with a workflow to incrementally encode a planning instance into a sequence of QBFs. To solve this sequence of incrementally constructed QBFs, we use our general-purpose incremental QBF solver DepQBF. Since the generated QBFs have many clauses and variables in common, our approach avoids redundancy both in the encoding phase and in the solving phase. Experimental results show that incremental QBF solving outperforms non-incremental QBF solving. Our results are the first empirical study of incremental QBF solving in the context of planning and motivate its use in other application domains.Comment: added reference to extended journal article; revision (camera-ready, to appear in the proceedings of AISC 2014, volume 8884 of LNAI, Springer

Lower Bound Techniques for QBF Proof Systems

How do we prove that a false QBF is inded false? How big a proof is needed? The special case when all quantifiers are existential is the well-studied setting of propositional proof complexity. Expectedly, universal quantifiers change the game significantly. Several proof systems have been designed in the last couple of decades to handle QBFs. Lower bound paradigms from propositional proof complexity cannot always be extended - in most cases feasible interpolation and consequent transfer of circuit lower bounds works, but obtaining lower bounds on size by providing lower bounds on width fails dramatically. A new paradigm with no analogue in the propositional world has emerged in the form of strategy extraction, allowing for transfer of circuit lower bounds, as well as obtaining independent genuine QBF lower bounds based on a semantic cost measure. This talk will provide a broad overview of some of these developments

Understanding Cutting Planes for QBFs

We define a cutting planes system CP+8red for quantified Boolean formulas (QBF) and analyse the proof-theoretic strength of this new calculus. While in the propositional case, Cutting Planes is of intermediate strength between resolution and Frege, our findings here show that the situation in QBF is slightly more complex: while CP+8red is again weaker than QBF Frege and stronger than the CDCL-based QBF resolution systems Q-Res and QU-Res, it turns out to be incomparable to even the weakest expansion-based QBF resolution system 8Exp+Res. Technically, our results establish the effectiveness of two lower boun

Feasible Interpolation for QBF Resolution Calculi

In sharp contrast to classical proof complexity we are currently short of lower bound techniques for QBF proof systems. In this paper we establish the feasible interpolation technique for all resolution-based QBF systems, whether modelling CDCL or expansion-based solving. This both provides the first general lower bound method for QBF proof systems as well as largely extends the scope of classical feasible interpolation. We apply our technique to obtain new exponential lower bounds to all resolution-based QBF systems for a new class of QBF formulas based on the clique problem. Finally, we show how feasible interpolation relates to the recently established lower bound method based on strategy extraction