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Documents authored by Knop, Alexander


Document
Proof Complexity of Systems of (Non-Deterministic) Decision Trees and Branching Programs

Authors: Sam Buss, Anupam Das, and Alexander Knop

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 152, 28th EACSL Annual Conference on Computer Science Logic (CSL 2020)


Abstract
This paper studies propositional proof systems in which lines are sequents of decision trees or branching programs, deterministic or non-deterministic. Decision trees (DTs) are represented by a natural term syntax, inducing the system LDT, and non-determinism is modelled by including disjunction, ∨, as primitive (system LNDT). Branching programs generalise DTs to dag-like structures and are duly handled by extension variables in our setting, as is common in proof complexity (systems eLDT and eLNDT). Deterministic and non-deterministic branching programs are natural nonuniform analogues of log-space (L) and nondeterministic log-space (NL), respectively. Thus eLDT and eLNDT serve as natural systems of reasoning corresponding to L and NL, respectively. The main results of the paper are simulation and non-simulation results for tree-like and dag-like proofs in LDT, LNDT, eLDT and eLNDT. We also compare them with Frege systems, constant-depth Frege systems and extended Frege systems.

Cite as

Sam Buss, Anupam Das, and Alexander Knop. Proof Complexity of Systems of (Non-Deterministic) Decision Trees and Branching Programs. In 28th EACSL Annual Conference on Computer Science Logic (CSL 2020). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 152, pp. 12:1-12:17, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2020)


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@InProceedings{buss_et_al:LIPIcs.CSL.2020.12,
  author =	{Buss, Sam and Das, Anupam and Knop, Alexander},
  title =	{{Proof Complexity of Systems of (Non-Deterministic) Decision Trees and Branching Programs}},
  booktitle =	{28th EACSL Annual Conference on Computer Science Logic (CSL 2020)},
  pages =	{12:1--12:17},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-132-0},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2020},
  volume =	{152},
  editor =	{Fern\'{a}ndez, Maribel and Muscholl, Anca},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.CSL.2020.12},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-116553},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.CSL.2020.12},
  annote =	{Keywords: proof complexity, decision trees, branching programs, logspace, sequent calculus, non-determinism, low-depth complexity}
}
Document
Reordering Rule Makes OBDD Proof Systems Stronger

Authors: Sam Buss, Dmitry Itsykson, Alexander Knop, and Dmitry Sokolov

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 102, 33rd Computational Complexity Conference (CCC 2018)


Abstract
Atserias, Kolaitis, and Vardi showed that the proof system of Ordered Binary Decision Diagrams with conjunction and weakening, OBDD(^, weakening), simulates CP^* (Cutting Planes with unary coefficients). We show that OBDD(^, weakening) can give exponentially shorter proofs than dag-like cutting planes. This is proved by showing that the Clique-Coloring tautologies have polynomial size proofs in the OBDD(^, weakening) system. The reordering rule allows changing the variable order for OBDDs. We show that OBDD(^, weakening, reordering) is strictly stronger than OBDD(^, weakening). This is proved using the Clique-Coloring tautologies, and by transforming tautologies using coded permutations and orification. We also give CNF formulas which have polynomial size OBDD(^) proofs but require superpolynomial (actually, quasipolynomial size) resolution proofs, and thus we partially resolve an open question proposed by Groote and Zantema. Applying dag-like and tree-like lifting techniques to the mentioned results, we completely analyze which of the systems among CP^*, OBDD(^), OBDD(^, reordering), OBDD(^, weakening) and OBDD(^, weakening, reordering) polynomially simulate each other. For dag-like proof systems, some of our separations are quasipolynomial and some are exponential; for tree-like systems, all of our separations are exponential.

Cite as

Sam Buss, Dmitry Itsykson, Alexander Knop, and Dmitry Sokolov. Reordering Rule Makes OBDD Proof Systems Stronger. In 33rd Computational Complexity Conference (CCC 2018). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 102, pp. 16:1-16:24, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2018)


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@InProceedings{buss_et_al:LIPIcs.CCC.2018.16,
  author =	{Buss, Sam and Itsykson, Dmitry and Knop, Alexander and Sokolov, Dmitry},
  title =	{{Reordering Rule Makes OBDD Proof Systems Stronger}},
  booktitle =	{33rd Computational Complexity Conference (CCC 2018)},
  pages =	{16:1--16:24},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-069-9},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2018},
  volume =	{102},
  editor =	{Servedio, Rocco A.},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.CCC.2018.16},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-88720},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.CCC.2018.16},
  annote =	{Keywords: Proof complexity, OBDD, Tseitin formulas, the Clique-Coloring principle, lifting theorems}
}
Document
On OBDD-Based Algorithms and Proof Systems That Dynamically Change Order of Variables

Authors: Dmitry Itsykson, Alexander Knop, Andrey Romashchenko, and Dmitry Sokolov

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 66, 34th Symposium on Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science (STACS 2017)


Abstract
In 2004 Atserias, Kolaitis and Vardi proposed OBDD-based propositional proof systems that prove unsatisfiability of a CNF formula by deduction of identically false OBDD from OBDDs representing clauses of the initial formula. All OBDDs in such proofs have the same order of variables. We initiate the study of OBDD based proof systems that additionally contain a rule that allows to change the order in OBDDs. At first we consider a proof system OBDD(and, reordering) that uses the conjunction (join) rule and the rule that allows to change the order. We exponentially separate this proof system from OBDD(and)-proof system that uses only the conjunction rule. We prove two exponential lower bounds on the size of OBDD(and, reordering)-refutations of Tseitin formulas and the pigeonhole principle. The first lower bound was previously unknown even for OBDD(and)-proofs and the second one extends the result of Tveretina et al. from OBDD(and) to OBDD(and, reordering). In 2004 Pan and Vardi proposed an approach to the propositional satisfiability problem based on OBDDs and symbolic quantifier elimination (we denote algorithms based on this approach as OBDD(and, exists)-algorithms. We notice that there exists an OBDD(and, exists)-algorithm that solves satisfiable and unsatisfiable Tseitin formulas in polynomial time. In contrast, we show that there exist formulas representing systems of linear equations over F_2 that are hard for OBDD(and, exists, reordering)-algorithms. Our hard instances are satisfiable formulas representing systems of linear equations over F_2 that correspond to some checksum matrices of error correcting codes.

Cite as

Dmitry Itsykson, Alexander Knop, Andrey Romashchenko, and Dmitry Sokolov. On OBDD-Based Algorithms and Proof Systems That Dynamically Change Order of Variables. In 34th Symposium on Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science (STACS 2017). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 66, pp. 43:1-43:14, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2017)


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@InProceedings{itsykson_et_al:LIPIcs.STACS.2017.43,
  author =	{Itsykson, Dmitry and Knop, Alexander and Romashchenko, Andrey and Sokolov, Dmitry},
  title =	{{On OBDD-Based Algorithms and Proof Systems That Dynamically Change Order of Variables}},
  booktitle =	{34th Symposium on Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science (STACS 2017)},
  pages =	{43:1--43:14},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-028-6},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2017},
  volume =	{66},
  editor =	{Vollmer, Heribert and Vall\'{e}e, Brigitte},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.STACS.2017.43},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-69914},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.STACS.2017.43},
  annote =	{Keywords: Proof complexity, OBDD, error-correcting codes, Tseitin formulas, expanders}
}
Document
Complexity of Distributions and Average-Case Hardness

Authors: Dmitry Itsykson, Alexander Knop, and Dmitry Sokolov

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 64, 27th International Symposium on Algorithms and Computation (ISAAC 2016)


Abstract
We address the following question in the average-case complexity: does there exists a language L such that for all easy distributions D the distributional problem (L, D) is easy on the average while there exists some more hard distribution D' such that (L, D') is hard on the average? We consider two complexity measures of distributions: the complexity of sampling and the complexity of computing the distribution function. For the complexity of sampling of distribution, we establish a connection between the above question and the hierarchy theorem for sampling distribution recently studied by Thomas Watson. Using this connection we prove that for every 0 < a < b there exist a language L, an ensemble of distributions D samplable in n^{log^b n} steps and a linear-time algorithm A such that for every ensemble of distribution F that samplable in n^{log^a n} steps, A correctly decides L on all inputs from {0, 1}^n except for a set that has infinitely small F-measure, and for every algorithm B there are infinitely many n such that the set of all elements of {0, 1}^n for which B correctly decides L has infinitely small D-measure. In case of complexity of computing the distribution function we prove the following tight result: for every a > 0 there exist a language L, an ensemble of polynomial-time computable distributions D, and a linear-time algorithm A such that for every computable in n^a steps ensemble of distributions F , A correctly decides L on all inputs from {0, 1}^n except for a set that has F-measure at most 2^{-n/2} , and for every algorithm B there are infinitely many n such that the set of all elements of {0, 1}^n for which B correctly decides L has D-measure at most 2^{-n+1}.

Cite as

Dmitry Itsykson, Alexander Knop, and Dmitry Sokolov. Complexity of Distributions and Average-Case Hardness. In 27th International Symposium on Algorithms and Computation (ISAAC 2016). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 64, pp. 38:1-38:12, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2016)


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@InProceedings{itsykson_et_al:LIPIcs.ISAAC.2016.38,
  author =	{Itsykson, Dmitry and Knop, Alexander and Sokolov, Dmitry},
  title =	{{Complexity of Distributions and Average-Case Hardness}},
  booktitle =	{27th International Symposium on Algorithms and Computation (ISAAC 2016)},
  pages =	{38:1--38:12},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-026-2},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2016},
  volume =	{64},
  editor =	{Hong, Seok-Hee},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.ISAAC.2016.38},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-68083},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ISAAC.2016.38},
  annote =	{Keywords: average-case complexity, hierarchy theorem, sampling distributions, diagonalization}
}
Document
On the Limits of Gate Elimination

Authors: Alexander Golovnev, Edward A. Hirsch, Alexander Knop, and Alexander S. Kulikov

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 58, 41st International Symposium on Mathematical Foundations of Computer Science (MFCS 2016)


Abstract
Although a simple counting argument shows the existence of Boolean functions of exponential circuit complexity, proving superlinear circuit lower bounds for explicit functions seems to be out of reach of the current techniques. There has been a (very slow) progress in proving linear lower bounds with the latest record of 3 1/86*n-o(n). All known lower bounds are based on the so-called gate elimination technique. A typical gate elimination argument shows that it is possible to eliminate several gates from an optimal circuit by making one or several substitutions to the input variables and repeats this inductively. In this note we prove that this method cannot achieve linear bounds of cn beyond a certain constant c, where c depends only on the number of substitutions made at a single step of the induction.

Cite as

Alexander Golovnev, Edward A. Hirsch, Alexander Knop, and Alexander S. Kulikov. On the Limits of Gate Elimination. In 41st International Symposium on Mathematical Foundations of Computer Science (MFCS 2016). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 58, pp. 46:1-46:13, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2016)


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@InProceedings{golovnev_et_al:LIPIcs.MFCS.2016.46,
  author =	{Golovnev, Alexander and Hirsch, Edward A. and Knop, Alexander and Kulikov, Alexander S.},
  title =	{{On the Limits of Gate Elimination}},
  booktitle =	{41st International Symposium on Mathematical Foundations of Computer Science (MFCS 2016)},
  pages =	{46:1--46:13},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-016-3},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2016},
  volume =	{58},
  editor =	{Faliszewski, Piotr and Muscholl, Anca and Niedermeier, Rolf},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.MFCS.2016.46},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-64593},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.MFCS.2016.46},
  annote =	{Keywords: circuit complexity, lower bounds, gate elimination}
}
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