113 research outputs found
On the power of counting the total number of computation paths of NPTMs
Complexity classes defined by modifying the acceptance condition of NP
computations have been extensively studied. For example, the class UP, which
contains decision problems solvable by non-deterministic polynomial-time Turing
machines (NPTMs) with at most one accepting path -- equivalently NP problems
with at most one solution -- has played a significant role in cryptography,
since P=/=UP is equivalent to the existence of one-way functions. In this
paper, we define and examine variants of several such classes where the
acceptance condition concerns the total number of computation paths of an NPTM,
instead of the number of accepting ones. This direction reflects the
relationship between the counting classes #P and TotP, which are the classes of
functions that count the number of accepting paths and the total number of
paths of NPTMs, respectively. The former is the well-studied class of counting
versions of NP problems, introduced by Valiant (1979). The latter contains all
self-reducible counting problems in #P whose decision version is in P, among
them prominent #P-complete problems such as Non-negative Permanent, #PerfMatch,
and #Dnf-Sat, thus playing a significant role in the study of approximable
counting problems.
We show that almost all classes introduced in this work coincide with their
'# accepting paths'-definable counterparts. As a result, we present a novel
family of complete problems for the classes parity-P, Modkp, SPP, WPP, C=P, and
PP that are defined via TotP-complete problems under parsimonious reductions.Comment: 19 pages, 1 figur
A complex analogue of Toda's Theorem
Toda \cite{Toda} proved in 1989 that the (discrete) polynomial time
hierarchy, , is contained in the class \mathbf{P}^{#\mathbf{P}},
namely the class of languages that can be decided by a Turing machine in
polynomial time given access to an oracle with the power to compute a function
in the counting complexity class #\mathbf{P}. This result, which illustrates
the power of counting is considered to be a seminal result in computational
complexity theory. An analogous result (with a compactness hypothesis) in the
complexity theory over the reals (in the sense of Blum-Shub-Smale real machines
\cite{BSS89}) was proved in \cite{BZ09}. Unlike Toda's proof in the discrete
case, which relied on sophisticated combinatorial arguments, the proof in
\cite{BZ09} is topological in nature in which the properties of the topological
join is used in a fundamental way. However, the constructions used in
\cite{BZ09} were semi-algebraic -- they used real inequalities in an essential
way and as such do not extend to the complex case. In this paper, we extend the
techniques developed in \cite{BZ09} to the complex projective case. A key role
is played by the complex join of quasi-projective complex varieties. As a
consequence we obtain a complex analogue of Toda's theorem. The results
contained in this paper, taken together with those contained in \cite{BZ09},
illustrate the central role of the Poincar\'e polynomial in algorithmic
algebraic geometry, as well as, in computational complexity theory over the
complex and real numbers -- namely, the ability to compute it efficiently
enables one to decide in polynomial time all languages in the (compact)
polynomial hierarchy over the appropriate field.Comment: 31 pages. Final version to appear in Foundations of Computational
Mathematic
Self-Specifying Machines
We study the computational power of machines that specify their own
acceptance types, and show that they accept exactly the languages that
\manyonesharp-reduce to NP sets. A natural variant accepts exactly the
languages that \manyonesharp-reduce to P sets. We show that these two classes
coincide if and only if \psone = \psnnoplusbigohone, where the latter class
denotes the sets acceptable via at most one question to \sharpp followed by
at most a constant number of questions to \np.Comment: 15 pages, to appear in IJFC
Recognizing When Heuristics Can Approximate Minimum Vertex Covers Is Complete for Parallel Access to NP
For both the edge deletion heuristic and the maximum-degree greedy heuristic,
we study the problem of recognizing those graphs for which that heuristic can
approximate the size of a minimum vertex cover within a constant factor of r,
where r is a fixed rational number. Our main results are that these problems
are complete for the class of problems solvable via parallel access to NP. To
achieve these main results, we also show that the restriction of the vertex
cover problem to those graphs for which either of these heuristics can find an
optimal solution remains NP-hard.Comment: 16 pages, 2 figure
A Second Step Towards Complexity-Theoretic Analogs of Rice's Theorem
Rice's Theorem states that every nontrivial language property of the
recursively enumerable sets is undecidable. Borchert and Stephan initiated the
search for complexity-theoretic analogs of Rice's Theorem. In particular, they
proved that every nontrivial counting property of circuits is UP-hard, and that
a number of closely related problems are SPP-hard.
The present paper studies whether their UP-hardness result itself can be
improved to SPP-hardness. We show that their UP-hardness result cannot be
strengthened to SPP-hardness unless unlikely complexity class containments
hold. Nonetheless, we prove that every P-constructibly bi-infinite counting
property of circuits is SPP-hard. We also raise their general lower bound from
unambiguous nondeterminism to constant-ambiguity nondeterminism.Comment: 14 pages. To appear in Theoretical Computer Scienc
The First Order Definability of Graphs with Separators via the Ehrenfeucht Game
We say that a first order formula defines a graph if is
true on and false on every graph non-isomorphic with . Let
be the minimal quantifier rank of a such formula. We prove that, if is a
tree of bounded degree or a Hamiltonian (equivalently, 2-connected) outerplanar
graph, then , where denotes the order of . This bound is
optimal up to a constant factor. If is a constant, for connected graphs
with no minor and degree , we prove the bound
. This result applies to planar graphs and, more generally, to
graphs of bounded genus.Comment: 17 page
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