90 Search Results for "Nisan, Noam"


Document
The Communication Complexity of Combinatorial Auctions in Graphs

Authors: George Christodoulou, Elias Koutsoupias, Annamária Kovács, and Ioannis Vlachos

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 364, 43rd International Symposium on Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science (STACS 2026)


Abstract
We study truthful and non-truthful protocols for combinatorial auctions in which every item can be allocated to one of two agents (multigraphs), or more generally to a fixed number of agents (hypergraphs). We show some tight - both positive and impossibility - results for the communication complexity of approximating the optimal social welfare for general monotone, subadditive, or XOS valuations.

Cite as

George Christodoulou, Elias Koutsoupias, Annamária Kovács, and Ioannis Vlachos. The Communication Complexity of Combinatorial Auctions in Graphs. In 43rd International Symposium on Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science (STACS 2026). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 364, pp. 27:1-27:20, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)


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@InProceedings{christodoulou_et_al:LIPIcs.STACS.2026.27,
  author =	{Christodoulou, George and Koutsoupias, Elias and Kov\'{a}cs, Annam\'{a}ria and Vlachos, Ioannis},
  title =	{{The Communication Complexity of Combinatorial Auctions in Graphs}},
  booktitle =	{43rd International Symposium on Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science (STACS 2026)},
  pages =	{27:1--27:20},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-412-3},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2026},
  volume =	{364},
  editor =	{Mahajan, Meena and Manea, Florin and McIver, Annabelle and Thắng, Nguy\~{ê}n Kim},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.STACS.2026.27},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-255163},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.STACS.2026.27},
  annote =	{Keywords: Auctions, Communication Complexity, Mechanism Design, Graphs}
}
Document
Spectral Norm, Economical Sieve, and Linear Invariance Testing of Boolean Functions

Authors: Swarnalipa Datta, Arijit Ghosh, Chandrima Kayal, Manaswi Paraashar, and Manmatha Roy

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 364, 43rd International Symposium on Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science (STACS 2026)


Abstract
Given Boolean functions f, g : 𝔽₂ⁿ → {-1,+1}, we say they are linearly isomorphic if there exists A ∈ GL_n(𝔽₂) such that f(x) = g(Ax) for all x. We study this problem in the tolerant property testing framework under the known-unknown model, where g is given explicitly and f is accessible only via oracle queries, meaning the algorithm may adaptively request the value of f(x) for inputs x ∈ 𝔽₂ⁿ of its choice. Given parameters ε ≥ 0 and ω > 0, the goal is to distinguish whether there exists A ∈ GL_n(𝔽₂) such that the normalized Hamming distance between f and g(Ax) is at most ε, or whether for every A ∈ GL_n(𝔽₂) the distance is at least ε+ω. Our main result is a tolerant tester making Õ ((m/ω) ⁴) queries to f, where m is an upper bound on the spectral norm of g, improving the previous Õ ((m/ω) ^{24}) bound of Wimmer and Yoshida. We complement this with a nearly matching lower bound of Ω(m²) for constant ω (for example, ω = 1/4), improving the prior Ω(log m) lower bound of Grigorescu, Wimmer and Xie. A key technical ingredient on the algorithmic side is a query-efficient local list corrector. For the lower bound, we give a reduction from communication complexity using a novel subclass of Maiorana-McFarland functions from symmetric-key cryptography.

Cite as

Swarnalipa Datta, Arijit Ghosh, Chandrima Kayal, Manaswi Paraashar, and Manmatha Roy. Spectral Norm, Economical Sieve, and Linear Invariance Testing of Boolean Functions. In 43rd International Symposium on Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science (STACS 2026). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 364, pp. 30:1-30:21, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)


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@InProceedings{datta_et_al:LIPIcs.STACS.2026.30,
  author =	{Datta, Swarnalipa and Ghosh, Arijit and Kayal, Chandrima and Paraashar, Manaswi and Roy, Manmatha},
  title =	{{Spectral Norm, Economical Sieve, and Linear Invariance Testing of Boolean Functions}},
  booktitle =	{43rd International Symposium on Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science (STACS 2026)},
  pages =	{30:1--30:21},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-412-3},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2026},
  volume =	{364},
  editor =	{Mahajan, Meena and Manea, Florin and McIver, Annabelle and Thắng, Nguy\~{ê}n Kim},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.STACS.2026.30},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-255194},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.STACS.2026.30},
  annote =	{Keywords: Boolean Function, Isomorphism of Boolean Function, Fourier Analysis, Sublinear Algorithm, Property Testing}
}
Document
A Quantum Pigeonhole Principle and Two Semidefinite Relaxations of Communication Complexity

Authors: Pavel Dvořák, Bruno Loff, and Suhail Sherif

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 364, 43rd International Symposium on Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science (STACS 2026)


Abstract
We are interested in what happens when we take a Π₁ combinatorial statement, write its negation as a homogeneous quadratic feasibility problem (HQFP), and relax the problem into a positive semidefinite feasibility problem. This question is particularly interesting owing to the fact that any statement written as a PSD feasibility problem can be proven or disproven using a short proof. We investigate this for one very simple and one very complicated statement. The simple statement we look at is the pigeonhole principle. We prove that the relaxed negation of the PHP remains unsatisfiable and we thus obtain a new "quantum" pigeonhole principle (QPHP) which is a stronger statement than the vanilla PHP. It states that if we take n copies of the same state, and measure each copy using a measurement with only n-1 outcomes (the measurement can be different for different copies), then there will be an outcome j and two copies i₁, i₂ where the resulting states, obtained when the outcome is j for both copies, are not orthogonal. We then look at the statement "the deterministic communication complexity of f is ≤ k", where f could be either a function or a relation. We write this statement in two equivalent ways, using two different HQFPs. By relaxing to PSD feasibility, we increase the set of available protocols, and thus we always get a communication model which is stronger than deterministic communication complexity. An argument from proof complexity shows that any model obtained in this way will solve all Karchmer-Wigderson games efficiently. However, the argument is very indirect and does not give us an explicit protocol that solves the Karchmer-Wigderson games. We then work to find such protocols in the two communication models obtained by relaxing our two formulations. When relaxing the first of the two formulations we obtain a structured variant of the γ₂ norm. This communication model is to subunit γ₂ norm matrices like deterministic protocols are to rectangles, and so we call the protocols in this model γ₂ protocols. We show that log-inverse-discrepancy is a lower-bound for this model. We then show how to compute equality (deterministically) using O(1) bits of γ₂-communication, which implies that KW games are easy in the model. When relaxing the second of the two formulations we obtain what we call quantum lab protocols. This model happens to have a functional description, wherein Alice and Bob communicate solely via the outcomes of binary measurements of a shared quantum state (whose initial state is independent of the inputs). They are required to give the correct output with zero error probability. We use our QPHP to prove a lower-bound of n against two-round quantum lab protocols for equality. However we also show that any Boolean function f can be computed in three rounds and four measurements.

Cite as

Pavel Dvořák, Bruno Loff, and Suhail Sherif. A Quantum Pigeonhole Principle and Two Semidefinite Relaxations of Communication Complexity. In 43rd International Symposium on Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science (STACS 2026). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 364, pp. 35:1-35:20, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)


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@InProceedings{dvorak_et_al:LIPIcs.STACS.2026.35,
  author =	{Dvo\v{r}\'{a}k, Pavel and Loff, Bruno and Sherif, Suhail},
  title =	{{A Quantum Pigeonhole Principle and Two Semidefinite Relaxations of Communication Complexity}},
  booktitle =	{43rd International Symposium on Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science (STACS 2026)},
  pages =	{35:1--35:20},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-412-3},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2026},
  volume =	{364},
  editor =	{Mahajan, Meena and Manea, Florin and McIver, Annabelle and Thắng, Nguy\~{ê}n Kim},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.STACS.2026.35},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-255243},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.STACS.2026.35},
  annote =	{Keywords: Proofs, Semidefinite Programs, Quantum Pigeonhole Principle, Communication Complexity}
}
Document
Approximating q → p Norms of Non-Negative Matrices in Nearly-Linear Time

Authors: Etienne Objois and Adrian Vladu

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 364, 43rd International Symposium on Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science (STACS 2026)


Abstract
We provide the first nearly-linear time algorithm for approximating 𝓁_{q → p}-norms of non-negative matrices, for q ≥ p ≥ 1. Our algorithm returns a (1-ε)-approximation to the matrix norm in time Õ(1/(q ε) ⋅ nnz(A)), where A is the input matrix, and improves upon the previous state of the art, which either proved convergence only in the limit [Boyd '74], or had very high polynomial running times [Bhaskara-Vijayraghavan, SODA '11]. Our algorithm is extremely simple, and is largely inspired from the coordinate-scaling approach used for positive linear program solvers. Our algorithm can readily be used in the [Englert-Räcke, FOCS '09] to improve the running time of constructing O(log n)-competitive 𝓁_p-oblivious routings.

Cite as

Etienne Objois and Adrian Vladu. Approximating q → p Norms of Non-Negative Matrices in Nearly-Linear Time. In 43rd International Symposium on Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science (STACS 2026). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 364, pp. 69:1-69:19, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)


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@InProceedings{objois_et_al:LIPIcs.STACS.2026.69,
  author =	{Objois, Etienne and Vladu, Adrian},
  title =	{{Approximating q → p Norms of Non-Negative Matrices in Nearly-Linear Time}},
  booktitle =	{43rd International Symposium on Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science (STACS 2026)},
  pages =	{69:1--69:19},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-412-3},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2026},
  volume =	{364},
  editor =	{Mahajan, Meena and Manea, Florin and McIver, Annabelle and Thắng, Nguy\~{ê}n Kim},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.STACS.2026.69},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-255585},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.STACS.2026.69},
  annote =	{Keywords: matrix norm, Perron-Frobenius theory, oblivious routings, input-sparsity time, lp norm}
}
Document
Debordering Closure Results in Determinantal and Pfaffian Ideals

Authors: Anakin Dey and Zeyu Guo

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 362, 17th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2026)


Abstract
One important question in algebraic complexity is understanding the complexity of polynomial ideals (Grochow, Bulletin of EATCS 131, 2020). Andrews and Forbes (STOC 2022) studied the determinantal ideals I^{det}_{n,m,r} generated by the r× r minors of n× m matrices. Over fields of characteristic zero or of sufficiently large characteristic, they showed that for any nonzero f ∈ I^{det}_{n,m,r}, the determinant of a t × t matrix of variables with t = Θ{r^{1/3}} is approximately computed by a constant-depth, polynomial-size f-oracle algebraic circuit, in the sense that the determinant lies in the border of such circuits. An analogous result was also obtained for Pfaffians in the same paper. In this work, we deborder the result of Andrews and Forbes by showing that when f has polynomial degree, the determinant is in fact exactly computed by a constant-depth, polynomial-size f-oracle algebraic circuit. We further establish an analogous result for Pfaffian ideals. Our results are established using the isolation lemma, combined with a careful analysis of straightening-law expansions of polynomials in determinantal and Pfaffian ideals.

Cite as

Anakin Dey and Zeyu Guo. Debordering Closure Results in Determinantal and Pfaffian Ideals. In 17th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2026). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 362, pp. 49:1-49:24, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)


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@InProceedings{dey_et_al:LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.49,
  author =	{Dey, Anakin and Guo, Zeyu},
  title =	{{Debordering Closure Results in Determinantal and Pfaffian Ideals}},
  booktitle =	{17th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2026)},
  pages =	{49:1--49:24},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-410-9},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2026},
  volume =	{362},
  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.ITCS.2026.49},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-253363},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.49},
  annote =	{Keywords: Algebraic circuit complexity, Isolation lemma, Debordering}
}
Document
Efficient Catalytic Graph Algorithms

Authors: James Cook and Edward Pyne

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 362, 17th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2026)


Abstract
We give fast, simple, and implementable catalytic logspace algorithms for two fundamental graph problems. First, a randomized catalytic algorithm for s → t connectivity running in Õ(nm) time, and a deterministic catalytic algorithm for the same running in Õ(n³ m) time. The former algorithm is the first algorithmic use of randomization in CL. The algorithm uses one register per vertex and repeatedly "pushes" values along the edges in the graph. Second, a deterministic catalytic algorithm for simulating random walks which in Õ(m T² / ε) time estimates the probability a T-step random walk ends at a given vertex within ε additive error. The algorithm uses one register for each vertex and increments it at each visit to ensure repeated visits follow different outgoing edges. Prior catalytic algorithms for both problems did not have explicit runtime bounds beyond being polynomial in n.

Cite as

James Cook and Edward Pyne. Efficient Catalytic Graph Algorithms. In 17th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2026). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 362, pp. 43:1-43:22, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)


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@InProceedings{cook_et_al:LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.43,
  author =	{Cook, James and Pyne, Edward},
  title =	{{Efficient Catalytic Graph Algorithms}},
  booktitle =	{17th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2026)},
  pages =	{43:1--43:22},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-410-9},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2026},
  volume =	{362},
  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.ITCS.2026.43},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-253305},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.43},
  annote =	{Keywords: catalytic computing, graph algorithms, catalytic logspace}
}
Document
One-Way Functions and Boundary Hardness of Randomized Time-Bounded Kolmogorov Complexity

Authors: Yanyi Liu and Rafael Pass

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 362, 17th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2026)


Abstract
We revisit the question of whether worst-case hardness of the time-bounded Kolmogorov complexity problem, MINK^{poly} - that is, determining whether a string is "structured" (i.e., K^t(x) < n-1) or "random" (i.e., K^{poly(t)} ≥ n-1) - suffices to imply the existence of one-way functions (OWF). Liu-Pass (CRYPTO'25) recently showed that worst-case hardness of a boundary version of MINK^{poly} - where, roughly speaking, the goal is to decide whether given an instance x, (a) x is K^poly-random (i.e., K^{poly(t)}(x) ≥ n-1), or just close to K^poly-random (i.e., K^{t}(x) < n-1 but K^{poly(t)} > n - log n) - characterizes OWF, but with either of the following caveats (1) considering a non-standard notion of probabilistic K^t, as opposed to the standard notion of K^t, or (2) assuming somewhat strong, and non-standard, derandomization assumptions. In this paper, we present an alternative method for establishing their result which enables significantly weakening the caveats. First, we show that boundary hardness of the more standard randomized K^t problem suffices (where randomized K^t(x) is defined just like K^t(x) except that the program generating the string x may be randomized). As a consequence of this result, we can provide a characterization also in terms of just "plain" K^t under the most standard derandomization assumption (used to derandomize just BPP into P) - namely E ̸ ⊆ ioSIZE[2^{o(n)}]. Our proof relies on language compression schemes of Goldberg-Sipser (STOC'85); using the same technique, we also present the the first worst-case to average-case reduction for the exact MINK^{poly} problem (under the same standard derandomization assumption), improving upon Hirahara’s celebrated results (STOC'18, STOC'21) that only applied to a gap version of the MINK^{poly} problem, referred to as GapMINK^{poly}, where the goal is to decide whether K^t(x) ≤ n-O(log n)) or K^{poly(t)}(x) ≥ n-1 and under the same derandomization assumption.

Cite as

Yanyi Liu and Rafael Pass. One-Way Functions and Boundary Hardness of Randomized Time-Bounded Kolmogorov Complexity. In 17th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2026). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 362, pp. 97:1-97:19, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)


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@InProceedings{liu_et_al:LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.97,
  author =	{Liu, Yanyi and Pass, Rafael},
  title =	{{One-Way Functions and Boundary Hardness of Randomized Time-Bounded Kolmogorov Complexity}},
  booktitle =	{17th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2026)},
  pages =	{97:1--97:19},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-410-9},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2026},
  volume =	{362},
  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.ITCS.2026.97},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-253849},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.97},
  annote =	{Keywords: One-way functions, Time-Bounded Kolmogorov Complexity, Worst-case to Average-case Reductions}
}
Document
On Closure Properties of Read-Once Oblivious Algebraic Branching Programs

Authors: Robert Andrews, Jules Armand, Prateek Dwivedi, Magnus Rahbek Dalgaard Hansen, Nutan Limaye, Srikanth Srinivasan, and Sébastien Tavenas

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 362, 17th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2026)


Abstract
We investigate the closure properties of read-once oblivious Algebraic Branching Programs (roABPs) under various natural algebraic operations and prove the following. - Non-closure under factoring: There is a sequence of explicit polynomials (f_n(x₁,…, x_n))_n that have poly(n)-sized roABPs such that some irreducible factor of f_n requires roABPs of superpolynomial size in any order. - Non-closure under powering: There is a sequence of polynomials (f_n(x₁,…, x_n))_n with poly(n)-sized roABPs such that any super-constant power of f_n does not have roABPs of polynomial size in any order (and f_nⁿ requires exponential size in any order). - Non-closure under symmetric operations: There are symmetric polynomials (f_n(e₁,…, e_n))_n that have roABPs of polynomial size such that f_n(x₁,…, x_n) do not have roABPs of subexponential size. (Here, e₁,…, e_n denote the elementary symmetric polynomials in n variables.) These results should be viewed in light of known results on models such as algebraic circuits, (general) algebraic branching programs, formulas and constant-depth circuits, all of which are known to be closed under these operations. To prove non-closure under factoring, we construct hard polynomials based on expander graphs using gadgets that lift their hardness from sparse polynomials to roABPs. For symmetric compositions, we show that the circulant polynomial requires roABPs of exponential size in every variable order.

Cite as

Robert Andrews, Jules Armand, Prateek Dwivedi, Magnus Rahbek Dalgaard Hansen, Nutan Limaye, Srikanth Srinivasan, and Sébastien Tavenas. On Closure Properties of Read-Once Oblivious Algebraic Branching Programs. In 17th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2026). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 362, pp. 9:1-9:21, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)


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@InProceedings{andrews_et_al:LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.9,
  author =	{Andrews, Robert and Armand, Jules and Dwivedi, Prateek and Hansen, Magnus Rahbek Dalgaard and Limaye, Nutan and Srinivasan, Srikanth and Tavenas, S\'{e}bastien},
  title =	{{On Closure Properties of Read-Once Oblivious Algebraic Branching Programs}},
  booktitle =	{17th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2026)},
  pages =	{9:1--9:21},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-410-9},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2026},
  volume =	{362},
  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.ITCS.2026.9},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-252964},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.9},
  annote =	{Keywords: Factoring, Closure Properties, Sparsity Bounds, Symmetric Polynomials, roABP, Expander Graphs}
}
Document
The Hardness of Learning Quantum Circuits and Its Cryptographic Applications

Authors: Bill Fefferman, Soumik Ghosh, Makrand Sinha, and Henry Yuen

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 362, 17th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2026)


Abstract
We show that concrete hardness assumptions about learning or cloning the output state of a random quantum circuit can be used as the foundation for secure quantum cryptography. In particular, under these assumptions we construct secure one-way state generators (OWSGs), digital signature schemes, quantum bit commitments, and private key encryption schemes. We also discuss evidence for these hardness assumptions by analyzing the best-known quantum learning algorithms, as well as proving black-box lower bounds for cloning and learning given state preparation oracles. Our random circuit-based constructions provide concrete instantiations of quantum cryptographic primitives whose security do not depend on the existence of one-way functions. The use of random circuits in our constructions also opens the door to {NISQ-friendly quantum cryptography}. We discuss noise tolerant versions of our OWSG and digital signature constructions which can potentially be implementable on noisy quantum computers connected by a quantum network. On the other hand, they are still secure against {noiseless} quantum adversaries, raising the intriguing possibility of a useful implementation of an end-to-end cryptographic protocol on near-term quantum computers. Finally, our explorations suggest that the rich interconnections between learning theory and cryptography in classical theoretical computer science also extend to the quantum setting.

Cite as

Bill Fefferman, Soumik Ghosh, Makrand Sinha, and Henry Yuen. The Hardness of Learning Quantum Circuits and Its Cryptographic Applications. In 17th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2026). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 362, pp. 56:1-56:21, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)


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@InProceedings{fefferman_et_al:LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.56,
  author =	{Fefferman, Bill and Ghosh, Soumik and Sinha, Makrand and Yuen, Henry},
  title =	{{The Hardness of Learning Quantum Circuits and Its Cryptographic Applications}},
  booktitle =	{17th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2026)},
  pages =	{56:1--56:21},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-410-9},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2026},
  volume =	{362},
  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.ITCS.2026.56},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-253431},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.56},
  annote =	{Keywords: quantum learning, quantum circuits, cryptographic hardness, one-way state generators}
}
Document
Total Search Problems in ZPP

Authors: Noah Fleming, Stefan Grosser, Siddhartha Jain, Jiawei Li, Hanlin Ren, Morgan Shirley, and Weiqiang Yuan

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 362, 17th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2026)


Abstract
We initiate a systematic study of TFZPP, the class of total NP search problems solvable by polynomial time randomized algorithms. TFZPP contains a variety of important search problems such as Bertrand-Chebyshev (finding a prime between N and 2N), refuter problems for many circuit lower bounds, and Lossy-Code. The Lossy-Code problem has found prominence due to its fundamental connections to derandomization, catalytic computing, and the metamathematics of complexity theory, among other areas. While TFZPP collapses to FP under standard derandomization assumptions in the white-box setting, we are able to separate TFZPP from the major TFNP subclasses in the black-box setting. In fact, we are able to separate it from every uniform TFNP class assuming that NP is not in quasi-polynomial time. To do so, we extend the connection between proof complexity and black-box TFNP to randomized proof systems and randomized reductions. Next, we turn to developing a taxonomy of TFZPP problems. We highlight a problem called Nephew, originating from an infinity axiom in set theory. We show that Nephew is in PWPP∩ TFZPP and conjecture that it is not reducible to Lossy-Code. Intriguingly, except for some artificial examples, most other black-box TFZPP problems that we are aware of reduce to Lossy-Code: - We define a problem called Empty-Child capturing finding a leaf in a rooted (binary) tree, and show that this problem is equivalent to Lossy-Code. We also show that a variant of Empty-Child with "heights" is complete for the intersection of SOPL and Lossy-Code. - We strengthen Lossy-Code with several combinatorial inequalities such as the AM-GM inequality. Somewhat surprisingly, we show the resulting new problems are still reducible to Lossy-Code. A technical highlight of this result is that they are proved by formalizations in bounded arithmetic, specifically in Jeřábek’s theory APC₁ (JSL 2007). - Finally, we show that the Dense-Linear-Ordering problem reduces to Lossy-Code.

Cite as

Noah Fleming, Stefan Grosser, Siddhartha Jain, Jiawei Li, Hanlin Ren, Morgan Shirley, and Weiqiang Yuan. Total Search Problems in ZPP. In 17th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2026). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 362, pp. 60:1-60:26, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)


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@InProceedings{fleming_et_al:LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.60,
  author =	{Fleming, Noah and Grosser, Stefan and Jain, Siddhartha and Li, Jiawei and Ren, Hanlin and Shirley, Morgan and Yuan, Weiqiang},
  title =	{{Total Search Problems in ZPP}},
  booktitle =	{17th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2026)},
  pages =	{60:1--60:26},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-410-9},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2026},
  volume =	{362},
  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.ITCS.2026.60},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-253473},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.60},
  annote =	{Keywords: TFNP, lossy code, randomized proof systems, query complexity}
}
Document
Random Unitaries in Constant (Quantum) Time

Authors: Ben Foxman, Natalie Parham, Francisca Vasconcelos, and Henry Yuen

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 362, 17th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2026)


Abstract
Random unitaries are a central object of study in quantum information, with applications to quantum computation, quantum many-body physics, and quantum cryptography. Recent work has constructed unitary designs and pseudorandom unitaries (PRUs) using Θ(log log n)-depth unitary circuits with two-qubit gates. In this work, we show that unitary designs and PRUs can be efficiently constructed in several well-studied models of constant-time quantum computation (i.e., the time complexity on the quantum computer is independent of the system size). These models are constant-depth circuits augmented with certain nonlocal operations, such as (a) many-qubit TOFFOLI gates, (b) many-qubit FANOUT gates, or (c) mid-circuit measurements with classical feedforward control. Recent advances in quantum computing hardware suggest experimental feasibility of these models in the near future. Our results demonstrate that unitary designs and PRUs can be constructed in much weaker circuit models than previously thought. Furthermore, our construction of PRUs in constant-depth with many-qubit TOFFOLI gates shows that, under cryptographic assumptions, there is no polynomial-time learning algorithm for the circuit class QAC⁰. Finally, our results suggest a new approach towards proving that PARITY is not computable in QAC⁰, a long-standing question in quantum complexity theory.

Cite as

Ben Foxman, Natalie Parham, Francisca Vasconcelos, and Henry Yuen. Random Unitaries in Constant (Quantum) Time. In 17th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2026). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 362, pp. 61:1-61:25, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)


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@InProceedings{foxman_et_al:LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.61,
  author =	{Foxman, Ben and Parham, Natalie and Vasconcelos, Francisca and Yuen, Henry},
  title =	{{Random Unitaries in Constant (Quantum) Time}},
  booktitle =	{17th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2026)},
  pages =	{61:1--61:25},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-410-9},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2026},
  volume =	{362},
  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.ITCS.2026.61},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-253481},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.61},
  annote =	{Keywords: Quantum Information, Pseudorandomness, Circuit Complexity}
}
Document
One Action Too Many: Inapproximability of Budgeted Combinatorial Contracts

Authors: Michal Feldman, Yoav Gal-Tzur, Tomasz Ponitka, and Maya Schlesinger

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 362, 17th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2026)


Abstract
We study multi-agent contract design with combinatorial actions, under budget constraints, and for a broad class of objective functions, including profit (principal’s utility), reward, and welfare. Our first result is a strong impossibility: For submodular reward functions, no randomized poly-time algorithm can approximate the optimal budget-feasible value within any finite factor, even with demand-oracle access. This result rules out extending known constant-factor guarantees from either (i) unbudgeted settings with combinatorial actions or (ii) budgeted settings with binary actions, to their combination. The hardness is tight: It holds even when all but one agent have binary actions and the remaining agent has just one additional action. On the positive side, we show that gross substitutes rewards (a well-studied strict subclass of submodular functions) admit a deterministic poly-time O(1)-approximation, using only value queries. Our results thus draw the first sharp separation between budgeted and unbudgeted settings in combinatorial contracts, and identifies gross substitutes as a tractable frontier for budgeted combinatorial contracts. Finally, we present an FPTAS for additive rewards, demonstrating that arbitrary approximation is tractable under any budget. This constitutes the first FPTAS for the multi-agent combinatorial-actions setting, even in the absence of budget constraints.

Cite as

Michal Feldman, Yoav Gal-Tzur, Tomasz Ponitka, and Maya Schlesinger. One Action Too Many: Inapproximability of Budgeted Combinatorial Contracts. In 17th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2026). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 362, pp. 58:1-58:24, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)


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@InProceedings{feldman_et_al:LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.58,
  author =	{Feldman, Michal and Gal-Tzur, Yoav and Ponitka, Tomasz and Schlesinger, Maya},
  title =	{{One Action Too Many: Inapproximability of Budgeted Combinatorial Contracts}},
  booktitle =	{17th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2026)},
  pages =	{58:1--58:24},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-410-9},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2026},
  volume =	{362},
  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.ITCS.2026.58},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-253459},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.58},
  annote =	{Keywords: Combinatorial Contracts, Algorithmic Contract Design, Budget-Feasible Contracts}
}
Document
Identity Check Problem for Shallow Quantum Circuits

Authors: Sergey Bravyi, Natalie Parham, and Minh Tran

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 362, 17th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2026)


Abstract
Verifying that a quantum circuit correctly implements a desired transformation is essential for validating quantum algorithms. We consider the closely related identity check problem: given a quantum circuit U, estimate the diamond-norm distance between U and the identity channel. Ji and Wu showed that estimating this distance to within an additive 1/poly error is QMA-hard, even when U is constant-depth and 1D local - ruling out efficient algorithms in this regime. We show that this hardness barrier disappears if one seeks a constant multiplicative-approximation instead. We present a classical algorithm that, for shallow geometrically local D-dimensional circuits, approximates the distance to the identity within a factor α = D+1, provided that the circuit is sufficiently close to the identity. The runtime of the algorithm scales linearly with the number of qubits for any constant circuit depth and spatial dimension. We also show that the operator-norm distance to the identity ‖U-I‖ can be efficiently approximated within a factor α = 5 for shallow 1D circuits and, under a certain technical condition, within a factor α = 2D+3 for shallow D-dimensional circuits. A numerical implementation of the identity check algorithm is reported for 1D Trotter circuits with up to 100 qubits.

Cite as

Sergey Bravyi, Natalie Parham, and Minh Tran. Identity Check Problem for Shallow Quantum Circuits. In 17th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2026). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 362, pp. 27:1-27:17, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)


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@InProceedings{bravyi_et_al:LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.27,
  author =	{Bravyi, Sergey and Parham, Natalie and Tran, Minh},
  title =	{{Identity Check Problem for Shallow Quantum Circuits}},
  booktitle =	{17th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2026)},
  pages =	{27:1--27:17},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-410-9},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2026},
  volume =	{362},
  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.ITCS.2026.27},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-253147},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.27},
  annote =	{Keywords: Quantum computing, Identity check problem, quantum circuits, classical simulation of quantum computation, shallow circuits}
}
Document
Unconditional Pseudorandomness Against Shallow Quantum Circuits

Authors: Soumik Ghosh, Sathyawageeswar Subramanian, and Wei Zhan

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 362, 17th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2026)


Abstract
Quantum computational pseudorandomness has emerged as a fundamental notion that spans connections to complexity theory, cryptography and fundamental physics. However, all known constructions of efficient quantum-secure pseudorandom objects rely on complexity theoretic assumptions. In this work, we establish the first unconditionally secure efficient pseudorandom constructions against shallow-depth quantum circuit classes. We prove that: - Any quantum state 2-design yields unconditional pseudorandomness against both QNC⁰ circuits with arbitrarily many ancillae and AC⁰∘QNC⁰ circuits with nearly linear ancillae. - Random phased subspace states, where the phases are picked using a 4-wise independent function, are unconditionally pseudoentangled against the above circuit classes. - Any unitary 2-design yields unconditionally secure parallel-query pseudorandom unitaries against geometrically local QNC⁰ adversaries, even with limited AC⁰ postprocessing. Our results stand in stark contrast to the standard guarantee of the 2-design property, which only ensures that they cannot be distinguished from Haar random ensembles using two copies or queries. Our work demonstrates that quantum computational pseudorandomness can be achieved unconditionally for natural classes of restricted adversaries, opening new directions in quantum complexity theory.

Cite as

Soumik Ghosh, Sathyawageeswar Subramanian, and Wei Zhan. Unconditional Pseudorandomness Against Shallow Quantum Circuits. In 17th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2026). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 362, pp. 70:1-70:25, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)


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@InProceedings{ghosh_et_al:LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.70,
  author =	{Ghosh, Soumik and Subramanian, Sathyawageeswar and Zhan, Wei},
  title =	{{Unconditional Pseudorandomness Against Shallow Quantum Circuits}},
  booktitle =	{17th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2026)},
  pages =	{70:1--70:25},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-410-9},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2026},
  volume =	{362},
  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.ITCS.2026.70},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-253578},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.70},
  annote =	{Keywords: quantum pseudorandomness, shallow quantum circuits, pseudorandomness, t-designs}
}
Document
Characterizing Off-Chain Influence Proof Transaction Fee Mechanisms

Authors: Aadityan Ganesh, Clayton Thomas, and S. Matthew Weinberg

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 362, 17th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2026)


Abstract
Roughgarden [Roughgarden, 2020] initiates the study of Transaction Fee Mechanisms (TFMs), and posits that the on-chain game of a "good" TFM should be on-chain simple (OnC-S), i.e., incentive compatible for both the users and the miner. Recent work of Ganesh, Thomas an Weinberg [Ganesh et al., 2024] posit that they should additionally be Off-Chain Influence-Proof (OffC-IP), which means that the miner cannot achieve any additional revenue by separately conducting an off-chain auction to determine on-chain inclusion. They observe that a cryptographic second-price auction satisfies both properties, but leave open the question of whether other mechanisms (such as those not dependent on cryptography) satisfy these properties. In this paper, we characterize OffC-IP TFMs: They are those satisfying a burn identity relating the burn rule to the allocation rule. In particular, we show that auction is OffC-IP if and only if its (induced direct-revelation) allocation rule X̄(⋅) and burn rule B̅(⋅) (both of which take as input users' values v₁, … , v_n) are truthful when viewing (X̄(⋅), B̅(⋅)) as the allocation and pricing rule of a multi-item auction for a single additive buyer with values (φ(v₁),…, φ(v_n)) equal to the users' virtual values. Building on this burn identity, we characterize OffC-IP and OnC-S TFMs that are deterministic and do not use cryptography: They are posted-price mechanisms with specially-tuned burns. As a corollary, we show that such TFMs can only exist with infinite supply and prior-dependence. However, we show that for randomized TFMs, there are additional OnC-S and OffC-IP auctions that do not use cryptography (even when there is {finite} supply, under prior-dependence with a bounded prior distribution). Holistically, our results show that while OffC-IP is a fairly stringent requirement, families of OffC-IP mechanisms can be found for a variety of settings.

Cite as

Aadityan Ganesh, Clayton Thomas, and S. Matthew Weinberg. Characterizing Off-Chain Influence Proof Transaction Fee Mechanisms. In 17th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2026). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 362, pp. 65:1-65:23, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)


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@InProceedings{ganesh_et_al:LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.65,
  author =	{Ganesh, Aadityan and Thomas, Clayton and Weinberg, S. Matthew},
  title =	{{Characterizing Off-Chain Influence Proof Transaction Fee Mechanisms}},
  booktitle =	{17th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2026)},
  pages =	{65:1--65:23},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-410-9},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2026},
  volume =	{362},
  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.ITCS.2026.65},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-253527},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.65},
  annote =	{Keywords: Transaction Fee Mechanism Design, Off-Chain Influence Proofness, Blockchain, Decentralized Finance, Simple Auctions}
}
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