823 research outputs found
On the existence of complete disjoint NP-pairs
Disjoint NP-pairs are an interesting model of computation with important applications in cryptography and proof complexity. The question whether there exists a complete disjoint NP-pair was posed by Razborov in 1994 and is one of the most important problems in the field. In this paper we prove that there exists a many-one hard disjoint NP-pair which is computed with access to a very weak oracle (a tally NP-oracle). In addition, we exhibit candidates for complete NP-pairs and apply our results to a recent line of research on the construction of hard tautologies from pseudorandom generators
Nondeterministic functions and the existence of optimal proof systems
We provide new characterizations of two previously studied questions on nondeterministic function classes: Q1: Do nondeterministic functions admit efficient deterministic refinements? Q2: Do nondeterministic function classes contain complete functions? We show that Q1 for the class is equivalent to the question whether the standard proof system for SAT is p-optimal, and to the assumption that every optimal proof system is p-optimal. Assuming only the existence of a p-optimal proof system for SAT, we show that every set with an optimal proof system has a p-optimal proof system. Under the latter assumption, we also obtain a positive answer to Q2 for the class . An alternative view on nondeterministic functions is provided by disjoint sets and tuples. We pursue this approach for disjoint -pairs and its generalizations to tuples of sets from and with disjointness conditions of varying strength. In this way, we obtain new characterizations of Q2 for the class . Question Q1 for is equivalent to the question of whether every disjoint -pair is easy to separate. In addition, we characterize this problem by the question of whether every propositional proof system has the effective interpolation property. Again, these interpolation properties are intimately connected to disjoint -pairs, and we show how different interpolation properties can be modeled by -pairs associated with the underlying proof system
Epistemic virtues, metavirtues, and computational complexity
I argue that considerations about computational complexity show that all finite agents need characteristics like those that have been called epistemic virtues. The necessity of these virtues follows in part from the nonexistence of shortcuts, or efficient ways of finding shortcuts, to cognitively expensive routines. It follows that agents must possess the capacities – metavirtues –of developing in advance the cognitive virtues they will need when time and memory are at a premium
Alternation-Trading Proofs, Linear Programming, and Lower Bounds
A fertile area of recent research has demonstrated concrete polynomial time
lower bounds for solving natural hard problems on restricted computational
models. Among these problems are Satisfiability, Vertex Cover, Hamilton Path,
Mod6-SAT, Majority-of-Majority-SAT, and Tautologies, to name a few. The proofs
of these lower bounds follow a certain proof-by-contradiction strategy that we
call alternation-trading. An important open problem is to determine how
powerful such proofs can possibly be.
We propose a methodology for studying these proofs that makes them amenable
to both formal analysis and automated theorem proving. We prove that the search
for better lower bounds can often be turned into a problem of solving a large
series of linear programming instances. Implementing a small-scale theorem
prover based on this result, we extract new human-readable time lower bounds
for several problems. This framework can also be used to prove concrete
limitations on the current techniques.Comment: To appear in STACS 2010, 12 page
Query Answering in Probabilistic Data and Knowledge Bases
Probabilistic data and knowledge bases are becoming increasingly important in academia and industry. They are continuously extended with new data, powered by modern information extraction tools that associate probabilities with knowledge base facts. The state of the art to store and process such data is founded on probabilistic database systems, which are widely and successfully employed. Beyond all the success stories, however, such systems still lack the fundamental machinery to convey some of the valuable knowledge hidden in them to the end user, which limits their potential applications in practice. In particular, in their classical form, such systems are typically based on strong, unrealistic limitations, such as the closed-world assumption, the closed-domain assumption, the tuple-independence assumption, and the lack of commonsense knowledge. These limitations do not only lead to unwanted consequences, but also put such systems on weak footing in important tasks, querying answering being a very central one. In this thesis, we enhance probabilistic data and knowledge bases with more realistic data models, thereby allowing for better means for querying them. Building on the long endeavor of unifying logic and probability, we develop different rigorous semantics for probabilistic data and knowledge bases, analyze their computational properties and identify sources of (in)tractability and design practical scalable query answering algorithms whenever possible. To achieve this, the current work brings together some recent paradigms from logics, probabilistic inference, and database theory
The Complexity of Enriched Mu-Calculi
The fully enriched μ-calculus is the extension of the propositional
μ-calculus with inverse programs, graded modalities, and nominals. While
satisfiability in several expressive fragments of the fully enriched
μ-calculus is known to be decidable and ExpTime-complete, it has recently
been proved that the full calculus is undecidable. In this paper, we study the
fragments of the fully enriched μ-calculus that are obtained by dropping at
least one of the additional constructs. We show that, in all fragments obtained
in this way, satisfiability is decidable and ExpTime-complete. Thus, we
identify a family of decidable logics that are maximal (and incomparable) in
expressive power. Our results are obtained by introducing two new automata
models, showing that their emptiness problems are ExpTime-complete, and then
reducing satisfiability in the relevant logics to these problems. The automata
models we introduce are two-way graded alternating parity automata over
infinite trees (2GAPTs) and fully enriched automata (FEAs) over infinite
forests. The former are a common generalization of two incomparable automata
models from the literature. The latter extend alternating automata in a similar
way as the fully enriched μ-calculus extends the standard μ-calculus.Comment: A preliminary version of this paper appears in the Proceedings of the
33rd International Colloquium on Automata, Languages and Programming (ICALP),
2006. This paper has been selected for a special issue in LMC
Enriched MU-Calculi Module Checking
The model checking problem for open systems has been intensively studied in
the literature, for both finite-state (module checking) and infinite-state
(pushdown module checking) systems, with respect to Ctl and Ctl*. In this
paper, we further investigate this problem with respect to the \mu-calculus
enriched with nominals and graded modalities (hybrid graded Mu-calculus), in
both the finite-state and infinite-state settings. Using an automata-theoretic
approach, we show that hybrid graded \mu-calculus module checking is solvable
in exponential time, while hybrid graded \mu-calculus pushdown module checking
is solvable in double-exponential time. These results are also tight since they
match the known lower bounds for Ctl. We also investigate the module checking
problem with respect to the hybrid graded \mu-calculus enriched with inverse
programs (Fully enriched \mu-calculus): by showing a reduction from the domino
problem, we show its undecidability. We conclude with a short overview of the
model checking problem for the Fully enriched Mu-calculus and the fragments
obtained by dropping at least one of the additional constructs
Strong ETH Breaks With Merlin and Arthur: Short Non-Interactive Proofs of Batch Evaluation
We present an efficient proof system for Multipoint Arithmetic Circuit
Evaluation: for every arithmetic circuit of size and
degree over a field , and any inputs ,
the Prover sends the Verifier the values and a proof of length, and
the Verifier tosses coins and can check the proof in about time, with probability of error less than .
For small degree , this "Merlin-Arthur" proof system (a.k.a. MA-proof
system) runs in nearly-linear time, and has many applications. For example, we
obtain MA-proof systems that run in time (for various ) for the
Permanent, Circuit-SAT for all sublinear-depth circuits, counting
Hamiltonian cycles, and infeasibility of - linear programs. In general,
the value of any polynomial in Valiant's class can be certified
faster than "exhaustive summation" over all possible assignments. These results
strongly refute a Merlin-Arthur Strong ETH and Arthur-Merlin Strong ETH posed
by Russell Impagliazzo and others.
We also give a three-round (AMA) proof system for quantified Boolean formulas
running in time, nearly-linear time MA-proof systems for
counting orthogonal vectors in a collection and finding Closest Pairs in the
Hamming metric, and a MA-proof system running in -time for
counting -cliques in graphs.
We point to some potential future directions for refuting the
Nondeterministic Strong ETH.Comment: 17 page
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