15 Search Results for "Ilango, Rahul"


Document
RANDOM
Avoiding Range via Turan-Type Bounds

Authors: Neha Kuntewar and Jayalal Sarma

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 353, Approximation, Randomization, and Combinatorial Optimization. Algorithms and Techniques (APPROX/RANDOM 2025)


Abstract
Given a circuit C : {0,1}^n → {0,1}^m from a circuit class 𝒞, with m > n, finding a y ∈ {0,1}^m such that ∀ x ∈ {0,1}ⁿ, C(x) ≠ y, is the range avoidance problem (denoted by C-Avoid). Deterministic polynomial time algorithms (even with access to NP oracles) solving this problem are known to imply explicit constructions of various pseudorandom objects like hard Boolean functions, linear codes, PRGs etc. Deterministic polynomial time algorithms are known for NC⁰₂-Avoid when m > n, and for NC⁰₃-Avoid when m ≥ n²/log n, where NC⁰_k is the class of circuits with bounded fan-in which have constant depth and the output depends on at most k of the input bits. On the other hand, it is also known that NC⁰₃-Avoid when m = n+O(n^{2/3}) is at least as hard as explicit construction of rigid matrices. In fact, algorithms for solving range avoidance for even NC⁰₄ circuits imply new circuit lower bounds. In this paper, we propose a new approach to solving the range avoidance problem via hypergraphs. We formulate the problem in terms of Turan-type problems in hypergraphs of the following kind: for a fixed k-uniform hypergraph H, what is the maximum number of edges that can exist in H_C, which does not have a sub-hypergraph isomorphic to H? We show the following: - We first demonstrate the applicability of this approach by showing alternate proofs of some of the known results for the range avoidance problem using this framework. - We then use our approach to show (using several different hypergraph structures for which Turan-type bounds are known in the literature) that there is a constant c such that Monotone-NC⁰₃-Avoid can be solved in deterministic polynomial time when m > cn². - To improve the stretch constraint to linear, more precisely, to m > n, we show a new Turan-type theorem for a hypergraph structure (which we call the loose X_{2ℓ}-cycles). More specifically, we prove that any connected 3-uniform linear hypergraph with m > n edges must contain a loose X_{2ℓ} cycle. This may be of independent interest. - Using this, we show that Monotone-NC⁰₃-Avoid can be solved in deterministic polynomial time when m > n, thus improving the known bounds of NC⁰₃-Avoid for the case of monotone circuits. In contrast, we note that efficient algorithms for solving Monotone-NC⁰₆-Avoid, already imply explicit constructions for rigid matrices. - We also generalise our argument to solve the special case of range avoidance for NC⁰_k where each output function computed by the circuit is the majority function on its inputs, where m > n².

Cite as

Neha Kuntewar and Jayalal Sarma. Avoiding Range via Turan-Type Bounds. In Approximation, Randomization, and Combinatorial Optimization. Algorithms and Techniques (APPROX/RANDOM 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 353, pp. 62:1-62:21, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)


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@InProceedings{kuntewar_et_al:LIPIcs.APPROX/RANDOM.2025.62,
  author =	{Kuntewar, Neha and Sarma, Jayalal},
  title =	{{Avoiding Range via Turan-Type Bounds}},
  booktitle =	{Approximation, Randomization, and Combinatorial Optimization. Algorithms and Techniques (APPROX/RANDOM 2025)},
  pages =	{62:1--62:21},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-397-3},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{353},
  editor =	{Ene, Alina and Chattopadhyay, Eshan},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.APPROX/RANDOM.2025.62},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-244281},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.APPROX/RANDOM.2025.62},
  annote =	{Keywords: circuit lower bounds, explicit constructions, range avoidance, linear hypergraphs, Tur\'{a}n number of hypergraphs}
}
Document
Witness Encryption and NP-Hardness of Learning

Authors: Halley Goldberg and Valentine Kabanets

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 339, 40th Computational Complexity Conference (CCC 2025)


Abstract
We study connections between two fundamental questions from computer science theory. (1) Is witness encryption possible for NP [Sanjam Garg et al., 2013]? That is, given an instance x of an NP-complete language L, can one encrypt a secret message with security contingent on the ability to provide a witness for x ∈ L? (2) Is computational learning (in the sense of [Leslie G. Valiant, 1984; Michael J. Kearns et al., 1994]) hard for NP? That is, is there a polynomial-time reduction from instances of L to instances of learning? Our main contribution is that certain formulations of NP-hardness of learning characterize the existence of witness encryption for NP. More specifically, we show: - witness encryption for a language L ∈ NP is equivalent to a half-Levin reduction from L to the Computational Gap Learning problem (denoted CGL [Benny Applebaum et al., 2008]), where a half-Levin reduction is the same as a Levin reduction but only required to preserve witnesses in one direction, and CGL formalizes agnostic learning as a decision problem. We show versions of the statement above for witness encryption secure against non-uniform and uniform adversaries. We also show that witness encryption for NP with ciphertexts of logarithmic length, along with a circuit lower bound for E, are together equivalent to NP-hardness of a generalized promise version of MCSP. We complement the above with a number of unconditional NP-hardness results for agnostic PAC learning. Extending a result of [Shuichi Hirahara, 2022] to the standard setting of boolean circuits, we show NP-hardness of "semi-proper" learning. Namely: - for some polynomial s, it is NP-hard to agnostically learn circuits of size s(n) by circuits of size s(n)⋅ n^{1/(log log n)^O(1)}. Looking beyond the computational model of standard boolean circuits enables us to prove NP-hardness of improper learning (ie. without a restriction on the size of hypothesis returned by the learner). We obtain such results for: - learning circuits with oracle access to a given randomly sampled string, and - learning RAM programs. In particular, we show that a variant of MINLT [Ker-I Ko, 1991] for RAM programs is NP-hard with parameters corresponding to the setting of improper learning. We view these results as partial progress toward the ultimate goal of showing NP-hardness of learning boolean circuits in an improper setting. Lastly, we give some consequences of NP-hardness of learning for private- and public-key cryptography. Improving a main result of [Benny Applebaum et al., 2008], we show that if improper agnostic PAC learning is NP-hard under a randomized non-adaptive reduction (with some restrictions), then NP ⊈ BPP implies the existence of i.o. one-way functions. In contrast, if CGL is NP-hard under a half-Levin reduction, then NP ⊈ BPP implies the existence of i.o. public-key encryption.

Cite as

Halley Goldberg and Valentine Kabanets. Witness Encryption and NP-Hardness of Learning. In 40th Computational Complexity Conference (CCC 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 339, pp. 34:1-34:43, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)


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@InProceedings{goldberg_et_al:LIPIcs.CCC.2025.34,
  author =	{Goldberg, Halley and Kabanets, Valentine},
  title =	{{Witness Encryption and NP-Hardness of Learning}},
  booktitle =	{40th Computational Complexity Conference (CCC 2025)},
  pages =	{34:1--34:43},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-379-9},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{339},
  editor =	{Srinivasan, Srikanth},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.CCC.2025.34},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-237281},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.CCC.2025.34},
  annote =	{Keywords: agnostic PAC learning, witness encryption, NP-hardness}
}
Document
How to Construct Random Strings

Authors: Oliver Korten and Rahul Santhanam

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 339, 40th Computational Complexity Conference (CCC 2025)


Abstract
We address the following fundamental question: is there an efficient deterministic algorithm that, given 1ⁿ, outputs a string of length n that has polynomial-time bounded Kolmogorov complexity Ω̃(n) or even n - o(n)? Under plausible complexity-theoretic assumptions, stating for example that there is an ε > 0 for which TIME[T(n)] ̸ ⊆ TIME^NP[T(n)^ε]/2^(εn) for appropriately chosen time-constructible T, we show that the answer to this question is positive (answering a question of [Hanlin Ren et al., 2022]), and that the Range Avoidance problem [Robert Kleinberg et al., 2021; Oliver Korten, 2021; Hanlin Ren et al., 2022] is efficiently solvable for uniform sequences of circuits with close to minimal stretch (answering a question of [Rahul Ilango et al., 2023]). We obtain our results by giving efficient constructions of pseudo-random generators with almost optimal seed length against algorithms with small advice, under assumptions of the form mentioned above. We also apply our results to give the first complexity-theoretic evidence for explicit constructions of objects such as rigid matrices (in the sense of Valiant) and Ramsey graphs with near-optimal parameters.

Cite as

Oliver Korten and Rahul Santhanam. How to Construct Random Strings. In 40th Computational Complexity Conference (CCC 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 339, pp. 35:1-35:32, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)


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@InProceedings{korten_et_al:LIPIcs.CCC.2025.35,
  author =	{Korten, Oliver and Santhanam, Rahul},
  title =	{{How to Construct Random Strings}},
  booktitle =	{40th Computational Complexity Conference (CCC 2025)},
  pages =	{35:1--35:32},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-379-9},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{339},
  editor =	{Srinivasan, Srikanth},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.CCC.2025.35},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-237290},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.CCC.2025.35},
  annote =	{Keywords: Explicit Constructions, Kolmogorov Complexity, Derandomization}
}
Document
Partial Minimum Branching Program Size Problem Is ETH-Hard

Authors: Ludmila Glinskih and Artur Riazanov

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 325, 16th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2025)


Abstract
We show that assuming the Exponential Time Hypothesis, the Partial Minimum Branching Program Size Problem ({MBPSP}^{*}) requires superpolynomial time. This result also applies to the partial minimization problems for many interesting subclasses of branching programs, such as read-k branching programs and OBDDs. Combining these results with the recent unconditional lower bounds for {MCSP} [Ludmila Glinskih and Artur Riazanov, 2022], we obtain an unconditional superpolynomial lower bound on the size of Read-Once Nondeterministic Branching Programs (1- NBP) computing the total versions of the minimum BP, read-k-BP, and OBDD size problems. Additionally we show that it is NP-hard to check whether a given BP computing a partial Boolean function can be compressed to a BP of a given size.

Cite as

Ludmila Glinskih and Artur Riazanov. Partial Minimum Branching Program Size Problem Is ETH-Hard. In 16th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 325, pp. 54:1-54:22, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)


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@InProceedings{glinskih_et_al:LIPIcs.ITCS.2025.54,
  author =	{Glinskih, Ludmila and Riazanov, Artur},
  title =	{{Partial Minimum Branching Program Size Problem Is ETH-Hard}},
  booktitle =	{16th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2025)},
  pages =	{54:1--54:22},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-361-4},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{325},
  editor =	{Meka, Raghu},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2025.54},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-226822},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2025.54},
  annote =	{Keywords: MCSP, branching programs, meta-complexity, lower bounds}
}
Document
Track A: Algorithms, Complexity and Games
Impagliazzo’s Worlds Through the Lens of Conditional Kolmogorov Complexity

Authors: Zhenjian Lu and Rahul Santhanam

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 297, 51st International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming (ICALP 2024)


Abstract
We develop new characterizations of Impagliazzo’s worlds Algorithmica, Heuristica and Pessiland by the intractability of conditional Kolmogorov complexity 𝖪 and conditional probabilistic time-bounded Kolmogorov complexity pK^t. In our first set of results, we show that NP ⊆ BPP iff pK^t(x ∣ y) can be computed efficiently in the worst case when t is sublinear in |x| + |y|; DistNP ⊆ HeurBPP iff pK^t(x ∣ y) can be computed efficiently over all polynomial-time samplable distributions when t is sublinear in |x| + |y|; and infinitely-often one-way functions fail to exist iff pK^t(x ∣ y) can be computed efficiently over all polynomial-time samplable distributions for t a sufficiently large polynomial in |x| + |y|. These results characterize Impagliazzo’s worlds Algorithmica, Heuristica and Pessiland purely in terms of the tractability of conditional pK^t. Notably, the results imply that Pessiland fails to exist iff the average-case intractability of conditional pK^t is insensitive to the difference between sublinear and polynomially bounded t. As a corollary, while we prove conditional pK^t to be NP-hard for sublinear t, showing NP-hardness for large enough polynomially bounded t would eliminate Pessiland as a possible world of average-case complexity. In our second set of results, we characterize Impagliazzo’s worlds Algorithmica, Heuristica and Pessiland by the distributional tractability of a natural problem, i.e., approximating the conditional Kolmogorov complexity, that is provably intractable in the worst case. We show that NP ⊆ BPP iff conditional Kolmogorov complexity can be approximated in the semi-worst case; and DistNP ⊆ HeurBPP iff conditional Kolmogorov complexity can be approximated on average over all independent polynomial-time samplable distributions. It follows from a result by Ilango, Ren, and Santhanam (STOC 2022) that infinitely-often one-way functions fail to exist iff conditional Kolmogorov complexity can be approximated on average over all polynomial-time samplable distributions. Together, these results yield the claimed characterizations. Our techniques, combined with previous work, also yield a characterization of auxiliary-input one-way functions and equivalences between different average-case tractability assumptions for conditional Kolmogorov complexity and its variants. Our results suggest that novel average-case tractability assumptions such as tractability in the semi-worst case and over independent polynomial-time samplable distributions might be worthy of further study.

Cite as

Zhenjian Lu and Rahul Santhanam. Impagliazzo’s Worlds Through the Lens of Conditional Kolmogorov Complexity. In 51st International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming (ICALP 2024). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 297, pp. 110:1-110:17, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2024)


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@InProceedings{lu_et_al:LIPIcs.ICALP.2024.110,
  author =	{Lu, Zhenjian and Santhanam, Rahul},
  title =	{{Impagliazzo’s Worlds Through the Lens of Conditional Kolmogorov Complexity}},
  booktitle =	{51st International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming (ICALP 2024)},
  pages =	{110:1--110:17},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-322-5},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2024},
  volume =	{297},
  editor =	{Bringmann, Karl and Grohe, Martin and Puppis, Gabriele and Svensson, Ola},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.ICALP.2024.110},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-202538},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ICALP.2024.110},
  annote =	{Keywords: meta-complexity, Kolmogorov complexity, one-way functions, average-case complexity}
}
Document
On Randomized Reductions to the Random Strings

Authors: Michael Saks and Rahul Santhanam

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 234, 37th Computational Complexity Conference (CCC 2022)


Abstract
We study the power of randomized polynomial-time non-adaptive reductions to the problem of approximating Kolmogorov complexity and its polynomial-time bounded variants. As our first main result, we give a sharp dichotomy for randomized non-adaptive reducibility to approximating Kolmogorov complexity. We show that any computable language L that has a randomized polynomial-time non-adaptive reduction (satisfying a natural honesty condition) to ω(log(n))-approximating the Kolmogorov complexity is in AM ∩ coAM. On the other hand, using results of Hirahara [Shuichi Hirahara, 2020], it follows that every language in NEXP has a randomized polynomial-time non-adaptive reduction (satisfying the same honesty condition as before) to O(log(n))-approximating the Kolmogorov complexity. As our second main result, we give the first negative evidence against the NP-hardness of polynomial-time bounded Kolmogorov complexity with respect to randomized reductions. We show that for every polynomial t', there is a polynomial t such that if there is a randomized time t' non-adaptive reduction (satisfying a natural honesty condition) from SAT to ω(log(n))-approximating K^t complexity, then either NE = coNE or 𝖤 has sub-exponential size non-deterministic circuits infinitely often.

Cite as

Michael Saks and Rahul Santhanam. On Randomized Reductions to the Random Strings. In 37th Computational Complexity Conference (CCC 2022). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 234, pp. 29:1-29:30, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2022)


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@InProceedings{saks_et_al:LIPIcs.CCC.2022.29,
  author =	{Saks, Michael and Santhanam, Rahul},
  title =	{{On Randomized Reductions to the Random Strings}},
  booktitle =	{37th Computational Complexity Conference (CCC 2022)},
  pages =	{29:1--29:30},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-241-9},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2022},
  volume =	{234},
  editor =	{Lovett, Shachar},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.CCC.2022.29},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-165912},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.CCC.2022.29},
  annote =	{Keywords: Kolmogorov complexity, randomized reductions}
}
Document
On One-Way Functions from NP-Complete Problems

Authors: Yanyi Liu and Rafael Pass

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 234, 37th Computational Complexity Conference (CCC 2022)


Abstract
We present the first natural NP-complete problem whose average-case hardness w.r.t. the uniform distribution over instances is equivalent to the existence of one-way functions (OWFs). The problem, which originated in the 1960s, is the Conditional Time-Bounded Kolmogorov Complexity Problem: let K^t(x∣z) be the length of the shortest "program" that, given the "auxiliary input" z, outputs the string x within time t(|x|), and let McK^tP[ζ] be the set of strings (x,z,k) where |z| = ζ(|x|), |k| = log |x| and K^t(x∣z) < k, where, for our purposes, a "program" is defined as a RAM machine. Our main result shows that for every polynomial t(n) ≥ n², there exists some polynomial ζ such that McK^tP[ζ] is NP-complete. We additionally extend the result of Liu-Pass (FOCS'20) to show that for every polynomial t(n) ≥ 1.1n, and every polynomial ζ(⋅), mild average-case hardness of McK^tP[ζ] is equivalent to the existence of OWFs. Taken together, these results provide the following crisp characterization of what is required to base OWFs on NP ⊈ BPP: There exists concrete polynomials t,ζ such that "Basing OWFs on NP ⊈ BPP" is equivalent to providing a "worst-case to (mild) average-case reduction for McK^tP[ζ]". In other words, the "holy-grail" of Cryptography (i.e., basing OWFs on NP ⊈ BPP) is equivalent to a basic question in algorithmic information theory. As an independent contribution, we show that our NP-completeness result can be used to shed new light on the feasibility of the polynomial-time bounded symmetry of information assertion (Kolmogorov'68).

Cite as

Yanyi Liu and Rafael Pass. On One-Way Functions from NP-Complete Problems. In 37th Computational Complexity Conference (CCC 2022). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 234, pp. 36:1-36:24, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2022)


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@InProceedings{liu_et_al:LIPIcs.CCC.2022.36,
  author =	{Liu, Yanyi and Pass, Rafael},
  title =	{{On One-Way Functions from NP-Complete Problems}},
  booktitle =	{37th Computational Complexity Conference (CCC 2022)},
  pages =	{36:1--36:24},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-241-9},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2022},
  volume =	{234},
  editor =	{Lovett, Shachar},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.CCC.2022.36},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-165981},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.CCC.2022.36},
  annote =	{Keywords: One-way Functions, NP-Completeness, Kolmogorov Complexity}
}
Document
Average-Case Hardness of NP and PH from Worst-Case Fine-Grained Assumptions

Authors: Lijie Chen, Shuichi Hirahara, and Neekon Vafa

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 215, 13th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2022)


Abstract
What is a minimal worst-case complexity assumption that implies non-trivial average-case hardness of NP or PH? This question is well motivated by the theory of fine-grained average-case complexity and fine-grained cryptography. In this paper, we show that several standard worst-case complexity assumptions are sufficient to imply non-trivial average-case hardness of NP or PH: - NTIME[n] cannot be solved in quasi-linear time on average if UP ̸ ⊆ DTIME[2^{Õ(√n)}]. - Σ₂TIME[n] cannot be solved in quasi-linear time on average if Σ_kSAT cannot be solved in time 2^{Õ(√n)} for some constant k. Previously, it was not known if even average-case hardness of Σ₃SAT implies the average-case hardness of Σ₂TIME[n]. - Under the Exponential-Time Hypothesis (ETH), there is no average-case n^{1+ε}-time algorithm for NTIME[n] whose running time can be estimated in time n^{1+ε} for some constant ε > 0. Our results are given by generalizing the non-black-box worst-case-to-average-case connections presented by Hirahara (STOC 2021) to the settings of fine-grained complexity. To do so, we construct quite efficient complexity-theoretic pseudorandom generators under the assumption that the nondeterministic linear time is easy on average, which may be of independent interest.

Cite as

Lijie Chen, Shuichi Hirahara, and Neekon Vafa. Average-Case Hardness of NP and PH from Worst-Case Fine-Grained Assumptions. In 13th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2022). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 215, pp. 45:1-45:16, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2022)


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@InProceedings{chen_et_al:LIPIcs.ITCS.2022.45,
  author =	{Chen, Lijie and Hirahara, Shuichi and Vafa, Neekon},
  title =	{{Average-Case Hardness of NP and PH from Worst-Case Fine-Grained Assumptions}},
  booktitle =	{13th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2022)},
  pages =	{45:1--45:16},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-217-4},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2022},
  volume =	{215},
  editor =	{Braverman, Mark},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2022.45},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-156411},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2022.45},
  annote =	{Keywords: Average-case complexity, worst-case to average-case reduction}
}
Document
One-Way Functions and a Conditional Variant of MKTP

Authors: Eric Allender, Mahdi Cheraghchi, Dimitrios Myrisiotis, Harsha Tirumala, and Ilya Volkovich

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 213, 41st IARCS Annual Conference on Foundations of Software Technology and Theoretical Computer Science (FSTTCS 2021)


Abstract
One-way functions (OWFs) are central objects of study in cryptography and computational complexity theory. In a seminal work, Liu and Pass (FOCS 2020) proved that the average-case hardness of computing time-bounded Kolmogorov complexity is equivalent to the existence of OWFs. It remained an open problem to establish such an equivalence for the average-case hardness of some natural NP-complete problem. In this paper, we make progress on this question by studying a conditional variant of the Minimum KT-complexity Problem (MKTP), which we call McKTP, as follows. 1) First, we prove that if McKTP is average-case hard on a polynomial fraction of its instances, then there exist OWFs. 2) Then, we observe that McKTP is NP-complete under polynomial-time randomized reductions. 3) Finally, we prove that the existence of OWFs implies the nontrivial average-case hardness of McKTP. Thus the existence of OWFs is inextricably linked to the average-case hardness of this NP-complete problem. In fact, building on recently-announced results of Ren and Santhanam [Rahul Ilango et al., 2021], we show that McKTP is hard-on-average if and only if there are logspace-computable OWFs.

Cite as

Eric Allender, Mahdi Cheraghchi, Dimitrios Myrisiotis, Harsha Tirumala, and Ilya Volkovich. One-Way Functions and a Conditional Variant of MKTP. In 41st IARCS Annual Conference on Foundations of Software Technology and Theoretical Computer Science (FSTTCS 2021). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 213, pp. 7:1-7:19, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2021)


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@InProceedings{allender_et_al:LIPIcs.FSTTCS.2021.7,
  author =	{Allender, Eric and Cheraghchi, Mahdi and Myrisiotis, Dimitrios and Tirumala, Harsha and Volkovich, Ilya},
  title =	{{One-Way Functions and a Conditional Variant of MKTP}},
  booktitle =	{41st IARCS Annual Conference on Foundations of Software Technology and Theoretical Computer Science (FSTTCS 2021)},
  pages =	{7:1--7:19},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-215-0},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2021},
  volume =	{213},
  editor =	{Boja\'{n}czyk, Miko{\l}aj and Chekuri, Chandra},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.FSTTCS.2021.7},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-155181},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.FSTTCS.2021.7},
  annote =	{Keywords: Kolmogorov complexity, KT Complexity, Minimum KT-complexity Problem, MKTP, Conditional KT Complexity, Minimum Conditional KT-complexity Problem, McKTP, one-way functions, OWFs, average-case hardness, pseudorandom generators, PRGs, pseudorandom functions, PRFs, distinguishers, learning algorithms, NP-completeness, reductions}
}
Document
Hardness of Constant-Round Communication Complexity

Authors: Shuichi Hirahara, Rahul Ilango, and Bruno Loff

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 200, 36th Computational Complexity Conference (CCC 2021)


Abstract
How difficult is it to compute the communication complexity of a two-argument total Boolean function f:[N]×[N] → {0,1}, when it is given as an N×N binary matrix? In 2009, Kushilevitz and Weinreb showed that this problem is cryptographically hard, but it is still open whether it is NP-hard. In this work, we show that it is NP-hard to approximate the size (number of leaves) of the smallest constant-round protocol for a two-argument total Boolean function f:[N]×[N] → {0,1}, when it is given as an N×N binary matrix. Along the way to proving this, we show a new deterministic variant of the round elimination lemma, which may be of independent interest.

Cite as

Shuichi Hirahara, Rahul Ilango, and Bruno Loff. Hardness of Constant-Round Communication Complexity. In 36th Computational Complexity Conference (CCC 2021). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 200, pp. 31:1-31:30, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2021)


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@InProceedings{hirahara_et_al:LIPIcs.CCC.2021.31,
  author =	{Hirahara, Shuichi and Ilango, Rahul and Loff, Bruno},
  title =	{{Hardness of Constant-Round Communication Complexity}},
  booktitle =	{36th Computational Complexity Conference (CCC 2021)},
  pages =	{31:1--31:30},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-193-1},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2021},
  volume =	{200},
  editor =	{Kabanets, Valentine},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.CCC.2021.31},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-143055},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.CCC.2021.31},
  annote =	{Keywords: NP-completeness, Communication Complexity, Round Elimination Lemma, Meta-Complexity}
}
Document
Track A: Algorithms, Complexity and Games
An Efficient Coding Theorem via Probabilistic Representations and Its Applications

Authors: Zhenjian Lu and Igor C. Oliveira

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 198, 48th International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming (ICALP 2021)


Abstract
A probabilistic representation of a string x ∈ {0,1}ⁿ is given by the code of a randomized algorithm that outputs x with high probability [Igor C. Oliveira, 2019]. We employ probabilistic representations to establish the first unconditional Coding Theorem in time-bounded Kolmogorov complexity. More precisely, we show that if a distribution ensemble 𝒟_m can be uniformly sampled in time T(m) and generates a string x ∈ {0,1}^* with probability at least δ, then x admits a time-bounded probabilistic representation of complexity O(log(1/δ) + log (T) + log(m)). Under mild assumptions, a representation of this form can be computed from x and the code of the sampler in time polynomial in n = |x|. We derive consequences of this result relevant to the study of data compression, pseudodeterministic algorithms, time hierarchies for sampling distributions, and complexity lower bounds. In particular, we describe an instance-based search-to-decision reduction for Levin’s Kt complexity [Leonid A. Levin, 1984] and its probabilistic analogue rKt [Igor C. Oliveira, 2019]. As a consequence, if a string x admits a succinct time-bounded representation, then a near-optimal representation can be generated from x with high probability in polynomial time. This partially addresses in a time-bounded setting a question from [Leonid A. Levin, 1984] on the efficiency of computing an optimal encoding of a string.

Cite as

Zhenjian Lu and Igor C. Oliveira. An Efficient Coding Theorem via Probabilistic Representations and Its Applications. In 48th International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming (ICALP 2021). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 198, pp. 94:1-94:20, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2021)


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@InProceedings{lu_et_al:LIPIcs.ICALP.2021.94,
  author =	{Lu, Zhenjian and Oliveira, Igor C.},
  title =	{{An Efficient Coding Theorem via Probabilistic Representations and Its Applications}},
  booktitle =	{48th International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming (ICALP 2021)},
  pages =	{94:1--94:20},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-195-5},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2021},
  volume =	{198},
  editor =	{Bansal, Nikhil and Merelli, Emanuela and Worrell, James},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.ICALP.2021.94},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-141630},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ICALP.2021.94},
  annote =	{Keywords: computational complexity, randomized algorithms, Kolmogorov complexity}
}
Document
NP-Hardness of Circuit Minimization for Multi-Output Functions

Authors: Rahul Ilango, Bruno Loff, and Igor C. Oliveira

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 169, 35th Computational Complexity Conference (CCC 2020)


Abstract
Can we design efficient algorithms for finding fast algorithms? This question is captured by various circuit minimization problems, and algorithms for the corresponding tasks have significant practical applications. Following the work of Cook and Levin in the early 1970s, a central question is whether minimizing the circuit size of an explicitly given function is NP-complete. While this is known to hold in restricted models such as DNFs, making progress with respect to more expressive classes of circuits has been elusive. In this work, we establish the first NP-hardness result for circuit minimization of total functions in the setting of general (unrestricted) Boolean circuits. More precisely, we show that computing the minimum circuit size of a given multi-output Boolean function f : {0,1}^n → {0,1}^m is NP-hard under many-one polynomial-time randomized reductions. Our argument builds on a simpler NP-hardness proof for the circuit minimization problem for (single-output) Boolean functions under an extended set of generators. Complementing these results, we investigate the computational hardness of minimizing communication. We establish that several variants of this problem are NP-hard under deterministic reductions. In particular, unless 𝖯 = 𝖭𝖯, no polynomial-time computable function can approximate the deterministic two-party communication complexity of a partial Boolean function up to a polynomial. This has consequences for the class of structural results that one might hope to show about the communication complexity of partial functions.

Cite as

Rahul Ilango, Bruno Loff, and Igor C. Oliveira. NP-Hardness of Circuit Minimization for Multi-Output Functions. In 35th Computational Complexity Conference (CCC 2020). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 169, pp. 22:1-22:36, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2020)


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@InProceedings{ilango_et_al:LIPIcs.CCC.2020.22,
  author =	{Ilango, Rahul and Loff, Bruno and Oliveira, Igor C.},
  title =	{{NP-Hardness of Circuit Minimization for Multi-Output Functions}},
  booktitle =	{35th Computational Complexity Conference (CCC 2020)},
  pages =	{22:1--22:36},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-156-6},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2020},
  volume =	{169},
  editor =	{Saraf, Shubhangi},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.CCC.2020.22},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-125744},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.CCC.2020.22},
  annote =	{Keywords: MCSP, circuit minimization, communication complexity, Boolean circuit}
}
Document
Connecting Perebor Conjectures: Towards a Search to Decision Reduction for Minimizing Formulas

Authors: Rahul Ilango

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 169, 35th Computational Complexity Conference (CCC 2020)


Abstract
A longstanding open question is whether there is an equivalence between the computational task of determining the minimum size of any circuit computing a given function and the task of producing a minimum-sized circuit for a given function. While it is widely conjectured that both tasks require "perebor," or brute-force search, researchers have not yet ruled out the possibility that the search problem requires exponential time but the decision problem has a linear time algorithm. In this paper, we make progress in connecting the search and decision complexity of minimizing formulas. Let MFSP denote the problem that takes as input the truth table of a Boolean function f and an integer size parameter s and decides whether there is a formula for f of size at most s. Let Search- denote the corresponding search problem where one has to output some optimal formula for computing f. Our main result is that given an oracle to MFSP, one can solve Search-MFSP in time polynomial in the length N of the truth table of f and the number t of "near-optimal" formulas for f, in particular O(N⁶t²)-time. While the quantity t is not well understood, we use this result (and some extensions) to prove that given an oracle to MFSP: - there is a deterministic 2^O(N/(log log N))-time oracle algorithm for solving Search-MFSP on all but a o(1)-fraction of instances, and - there is a randomized O(2^.67N)-time oracle algorithm for solving Search-MFSP on all instances. Intriguingly, the main idea behind our algorithms is in some sense a "reverse application" of the gate elimination technique.

Cite as

Rahul Ilango. Connecting Perebor Conjectures: Towards a Search to Decision Reduction for Minimizing Formulas. In 35th Computational Complexity Conference (CCC 2020). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 169, pp. 31:1-31:35, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2020)


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@InProceedings{ilango:LIPIcs.CCC.2020.31,
  author =	{Ilango, Rahul},
  title =	{{Connecting Perebor Conjectures: Towards a Search to Decision Reduction for Minimizing Formulas}},
  booktitle =	{35th Computational Complexity Conference (CCC 2020)},
  pages =	{31:1--31:35},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-156-6},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2020},
  volume =	{169},
  editor =	{Saraf, Shubhangi},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.CCC.2020.31},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-125834},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.CCC.2020.31},
  annote =	{Keywords: minimum circuit size problem, minimum formula size problem, gate elimination, search to decision reduction, self-reducibility}
}
Document
Approaching MCSP from Above and Below: Hardness for a Conditional Variant and AC^0[p]

Authors: Rahul Ilango

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 151, 11th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2020)


Abstract
The Minimum Circuit Size Problem (MCSP) asks whether a given Boolean function has a circuit of at most a given size. MCSP has been studied for over a half-century and has deep connections throughout theoretical computer science including to cryptography, computational learning theory, and proof complexity. For example, we know (informally) that if MCSP is easy to compute, then most cryptography can be broken. Despite this cryptographic hardness connection and extensive research, we still know relatively little about the hardness of MCSP unconditionally. Indeed, until very recently it was unknown whether MCSP can be computed in AC^0[2] (Golovnev et al., ICALP 2019). Our main contribution in this paper is to formulate a new "oracle" variant of circuit complexity and prove that this problem is NP-complete under randomized reductions. In more detail, we define the Minimum Oracle Circuit Size Problem (MOCSP) that takes as input the truth table of a Boolean function f, a size threshold s, and the truth table of an oracle Boolean function O, and determines whether there is a circuit with O-oracle gates and at most s wires that computes f. We prove that MOCSP is NP-complete under randomized polynomial-time reductions. We also extend the recent AC^0[p] lower bound against MCSP by Golovnev et al. to a lower bound against the circuit minimization problem for depth-d formulas, (AC^0_d)-MCSP. We view this result as primarily a technical contribution. In particular, our proof takes a radically different approach from prior MCSP-related hardness results.

Cite as

Rahul Ilango. Approaching MCSP from Above and Below: Hardness for a Conditional Variant and AC^0[p]. In 11th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2020). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 151, pp. 34:1-34:26, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2020)


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@InProceedings{ilango:LIPIcs.ITCS.2020.34,
  author =	{Ilango, Rahul},
  title =	{{Approaching MCSP from Above and Below: Hardness for a Conditional Variant and AC^0\lbrackp\rbrack}},
  booktitle =	{11th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2020)},
  pages =	{34:1--34:26},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-134-4},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2020},
  volume =	{151},
  editor =	{Vidick, Thomas},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2020.34},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-117191},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2020.34},
  annote =	{Keywords: Minimum Circuit Size Problem, reductions, NP-completeness, circuit lower bounds}
}
Document
Track A: Algorithms, Complexity and Games
AC^0[p] Lower Bounds Against MCSP via the Coin Problem

Authors: Alexander Golovnev, Rahul Ilango, Russell Impagliazzo, Valentine Kabanets, Antonina Kolokolova, and Avishay Tal

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 132, 46th International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming (ICALP 2019)


Abstract
Minimum Circuit Size Problem (MCSP) asks to decide if a given truth table of an n-variate boolean function has circuit complexity less than a given parameter s. We prove that MCSP is hard for constant-depth circuits with mod p gates, for any prime p >= 2 (the circuit class AC^0[p]). Namely, we show that MCSP requires d-depth AC^0[p] circuits of size at least exp(N^{0.49/d}), where N=2^n is the size of an input truth table of an n-variate boolean function. Our circuit lower bound proof shows that MCSP can solve the coin problem: distinguish uniformly random N-bit strings from those generated using independent samples from a biased random coin which is 1 with probability 1/2+N^{-0.49}, and 0 otherwise. Solving the coin problem with such parameters is known to require exponentially large AC^0[p] circuits. Moreover, this also implies that MAJORITY is computable by a non-uniform AC^0 circuit of polynomial size that also has MCSP-oracle gates. The latter has a few other consequences for the complexity of MCSP, e.g., we get that any boolean function in NC^1 (i.e., computable by a polynomial-size formula) can also be computed by a non-uniform polynomial-size AC^0 circuit with MCSP-oracle gates.

Cite as

Alexander Golovnev, Rahul Ilango, Russell Impagliazzo, Valentine Kabanets, Antonina Kolokolova, and Avishay Tal. AC^0[p] Lower Bounds Against MCSP via the Coin Problem. In 46th International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming (ICALP 2019). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 132, pp. 66:1-66:15, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2019)


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@InProceedings{golovnev_et_al:LIPIcs.ICALP.2019.66,
  author =	{Golovnev, Alexander and Ilango, Rahul and Impagliazzo, Russell and Kabanets, Valentine and Kolokolova, Antonina and Tal, Avishay},
  title =	{{AC^0\lbrackp\rbrack Lower Bounds Against MCSP via the Coin Problem}},
  booktitle =	{46th International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming (ICALP 2019)},
  pages =	{66:1--66:15},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-109-2},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2019},
  volume =	{132},
  editor =	{Baier, Christel and Chatzigiannakis, Ioannis and Flocchini, Paola and Leonardi, Stefano},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.ICALP.2019.66},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-106422},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ICALP.2019.66},
  annote =	{Keywords: Minimum Circuit Size Problem (MCSP), circuit lower bounds, AC0\lbrackp\rbrack, coin problem, hybrid argument, MKTP, biased random boolean functions}
}
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