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Documents authored by Pich, Ján


Document
Track A: Algorithms, Complexity and Games
Learning Algorithms Versus Automatability of Frege Systems

Authors: Ján Pich and Rahul Santhanam

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 229, 49th International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming (ICALP 2022)


Abstract
We connect learning algorithms and algorithms automating proof search in propositional proof systems: for every sufficiently strong, well-behaved propositional proof system P, we prove that the following statements are equivalent, - Provable learning. P proves efficiently that p-size circuits are learnable by subexponential-size circuits over the uniform distribution with membership queries. - Provable automatability. P proves efficiently that P is automatable by non-uniform circuits on propositional formulas expressing p-size circuit lower bounds. Here, P is sufficiently strong and well-behaved if I.-III. holds: I. P p-simulates Jeřábek’s system WF (which strengthens the Extended Frege system EF by a surjective weak pigeonhole principle); II. P satisfies some basic properties of standard proof systems which p-simulate WF; III. P proves efficiently for some Boolean function h that h is hard on average for circuits of subexponential size. For example, if III. holds for P = WF, then Items 1 and 2 are equivalent for P = WF. The notion of automatability in Item 2 is slightly modified so that the automating algorithm outputs a proof of a given formula (expressing a p-size circuit lower bound) in p-time in the length of the shortest proof of a closely related but different formula (expressing an average-case subexponential-size circuit lower bound). If there is a function h ∈ NE∩ coNE which is hard on average for circuits of size 2^{n/4}, for each sufficiently big n, then there is an explicit propositional proof system P satisfying properties I.-III., i.e. the equivalence of Items 1 and 2 holds for P.

Cite as

Ján Pich and Rahul Santhanam. Learning Algorithms Versus Automatability of Frege Systems. In 49th International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming (ICALP 2022). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 229, pp. 101:1-101:20, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2022)


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@InProceedings{pich_et_al:LIPIcs.ICALP.2022.101,
  author =	{Pich, J\'{a}n and Santhanam, Rahul},
  title =	{{Learning Algorithms Versus Automatability of Frege Systems}},
  booktitle =	{49th International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming (ICALP 2022)},
  pages =	{101:1--101:20},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-235-8},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2022},
  volume =	{229},
  editor =	{Boja\'{n}czyk, Miko{\l}aj and Merelli, Emanuela and Woodruff, David P.},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops-dev.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.ICALP.2022.101},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-164427},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ICALP.2022.101},
  annote =	{Keywords: learning algorithms, automatability, proof complexity}
}
Document
Beyond Natural Proofs: Hardness Magnification and Locality

Authors: Lijie Chen, Shuichi Hirahara, Igor C. Oliveira, Ján Pich, Ninad Rajgopal, and Rahul Santhanam

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


Abstract
Hardness magnification reduces major complexity separations (such as EXP ⊈ NC^1) to proving lower bounds for some natural problem Q against weak circuit models. Several recent works [Igor Carboni Oliveira and Rahul Santhanam, 2018; Dylan M. McKay et al., 2019; Lijie Chen and Roei Tell, 2019; Igor Carboni Oliveira et al., 2019; Lijie Chen et al., 2019; Igor Carboni Oliveira, 2019; Lijie Chen et al., 2019] have established results of this form. In the most intriguing cases, the required lower bound is known for problems that appear to be significantly easier than Q, while Q itself is susceptible to lower bounds but these are not yet sufficient for magnification. In this work, we provide more examples of this phenomenon, and investigate the prospects of proving new lower bounds using this approach. In particular, we consider the following essential questions associated with the hardness magnification program: - Does hardness magnification avoid the natural proofs barrier of Razborov and Rudich [Alexander A. Razborov and Steven Rudich, 1997]? - Can we adapt known lower bound techniques to establish the desired lower bound for Q? We establish that some instantiations of hardness magnification overcome the natural proofs barrier in the following sense: slightly superlinear-size circuit lower bounds for certain versions of the minimum circuit size problem MCSP imply the non-existence of natural proofs. As a corollary of our result, we show that certain magnification theorems not only imply strong worst-case circuit lower bounds but also rule out the existence of efficient learning algorithms. Hardness magnification might sidestep natural proofs, but we identify a source of difficulty when trying to adapt existing lower bound techniques to prove strong lower bounds via magnification. This is captured by a locality barrier: existing magnification theorems unconditionally show that the problems Q considered above admit highly efficient circuits extended with small fan-in oracle gates, while lower bound techniques against weak circuit models quite often easily extend to circuits containing such oracles. This explains why direct adaptations of certain lower bounds are unlikely to yield strong complexity separations via hardness magnification.

Cite as

Lijie Chen, Shuichi Hirahara, Igor C. Oliveira, Ján Pich, Ninad Rajgopal, and Rahul Santhanam. Beyond Natural Proofs: Hardness Magnification and Locality. In 11th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2020). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 151, pp. 70:1-70:48, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2020)


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@InProceedings{chen_et_al:LIPIcs.ITCS.2020.70,
  author =	{Chen, Lijie and Hirahara, Shuichi and Oliveira, Igor C. and Pich, J\'{a}n and Rajgopal, Ninad and Santhanam, Rahul},
  title =	{{Beyond Natural Proofs: Hardness Magnification and Locality}},
  booktitle =	{11th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2020)},
  pages =	{70:1--70:48},
  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-dev.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2020.70},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-117550},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2020.70},
  annote =	{Keywords: Hardness Magnification, Natural Proofs, Minimum Circuit Size Problem, Circuit Lower Bounds}
}
Document
Hardness Magnification near State-Of-The-Art Lower Bounds

Authors: Igor Carboni Oliveira, Ján Pich, and Rahul Santhanam

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 137, 34th Computational Complexity Conference (CCC 2019)


Abstract
This work continues the development of hardness magnification. The latter proposes a new strategy for showing strong complexity lower bounds by reducing them to a refined analysis of weaker models, where combinatorial techniques might be successful. We consider gap versions of the meta-computational problems MKtP and MCSP, where one needs to distinguish instances (strings or truth-tables) of complexity <= s_1(N) from instances of complexity >= s_2(N), and N = 2^n denotes the input length. In MCSP, complexity is measured by circuit size, while in MKtP one considers Levin’s notion of time-bounded Kolmogorov complexity. (In our results, the parameters s_1(N) and s_2(N) are asymptotically quite close, and the problems almost coincide with their standard formulations without a gap.) We establish that for Gap-MKtP[s_1,s_2] and Gap-MCSP[s_1,s_2], a marginal improvement over the state-of-the-art in unconditional lower bounds in a variety of computational models would imply explicit super-polynomial lower bounds. Theorem. There exists a universal constant c >= 1 for which the following hold. If there exists epsilon > 0 such that for every small enough beta > 0 (1) Gap-MCSP[2^{beta n}/c n, 2^{beta n}] !in Circuit[N^{1 + epsilon}], then NP !subseteq Circuit[poly]. (2) Gap-MKtP[2^{beta n}, 2^{beta n} + cn] !in TC^0[N^{1 + epsilon}], then EXP !subseteq TC^0[poly]. (3) Gap-MKtP[2^{beta n}, 2^{beta n} + cn] !in B_2-Formula[N^{2 + epsilon}], then EXP !subseteq Formula[poly]. (4) Gap-MKtP[2^{beta n}, 2^{beta n} + cn] !in U_2-Formula[N^{3 + epsilon}], then EXP !subseteq Formula[poly]. (5) Gap-MKtP[2^{beta n}, 2^{beta n} + cn] !in BP[N^{2 + epsilon}], then EXP !subseteq BP[poly]. (6) Gap-MKtP[2^{beta n}, 2^{beta n} + cn] !in (AC^0[6])[N^{1 + epsilon}], then EXP !subseteq AC^0[6]. These results are complemented by lower bounds for Gap-MCSP and Gap-MKtP against different models. For instance, the lower bound assumed in (1) holds for U_2-formulas of near-quadratic size, and lower bounds similar to (3)-(5) hold for various regimes of parameters. We also identify a natural computational model under which the hardness magnification threshold for Gap-MKtP lies below existing lower bounds: U_2-formulas that can compute parity functions at the leaves (instead of just literals). As a consequence, if one managed to adapt the existing lower bound techniques against such formulas to work with Gap-MKtP, then EXP !subseteq NC^1 would follow via hardness magnification.

Cite as

Igor Carboni Oliveira, Ján Pich, and Rahul Santhanam. Hardness Magnification near State-Of-The-Art Lower Bounds. In 34th Computational Complexity Conference (CCC 2019). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 137, pp. 27:1-27:29, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2019)


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@InProceedings{oliveira_et_al:LIPIcs.CCC.2019.27,
  author =	{Oliveira, Igor Carboni and Pich, J\'{a}n and Santhanam, Rahul},
  title =	{{Hardness Magnification near State-Of-The-Art Lower Bounds}},
  booktitle =	{34th Computational Complexity Conference (CCC 2019)},
  pages =	{27:1--27:29},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-116-0},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2019},
  volume =	{137},
  editor =	{Shpilka, Amir},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops-dev.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.CCC.2019.27},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-108494},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.CCC.2019.27},
  annote =	{Keywords: Circuit Complexity, Minimum Circuit Size Problem, Kolmogorov Complexity}
}
Document
Reasons for Hardness in QBF Proof Systems

Authors: Olaf Beyersdorff, Luke Hinde, and Ján Pich

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 93, 37th IARCS Annual Conference on Foundations of Software Technology and Theoretical Computer Science (FSTTCS 2017)


Abstract
We aim to understand inherent reasons for lower bounds for QBF proof systems, and revisit and compare two previous approaches in this direction. The first of these relates size lower bounds for strong QBF Frege systems to circuit lower bounds via strategy extraction (Beyersdorff & Pich, LICS'16). Here we show a refined version of strategy extraction and thereby for any QBF proof system obtain a trichotomy for hardness: (1) via circuit lower bounds, (2) via propositional Resolution lower bounds, or (3) `genuine' QBF lower bounds. The second approach tries to explain QBF lower bounds through quantifier alternations in a system called relaxing QU-Res (Chen, ICALP'16). We prove a strong lower bound for relaxing QU-Res, which also exhibits significant shortcomings of that model. Prompted by this we propose an alternative, improved version, allowing more flexible oracle queries in proofs. We show that lower bounds in our new model correspond to the trichotomy obtained via strategy extraction.

Cite as

Olaf Beyersdorff, Luke Hinde, and Ján Pich. Reasons for Hardness in QBF Proof Systems. In 37th IARCS Annual Conference on Foundations of Software Technology and Theoretical Computer Science (FSTTCS 2017). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 93, pp. 14:1-14:15, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2018)


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@InProceedings{beyersdorff_et_al:LIPIcs.FSTTCS.2017.14,
  author =	{Beyersdorff, Olaf and Hinde, Luke and Pich, J\'{a}n},
  title =	{{Reasons for Hardness in QBF Proof Systems}},
  booktitle =	{37th IARCS Annual Conference on Foundations of Software Technology and Theoretical Computer Science (FSTTCS 2017)},
  pages =	{14:1--14:15},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-055-2},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2018},
  volume =	{93},
  editor =	{Lokam, Satya and Ramanujam, R.},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops-dev.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.FSTTCS.2017.14},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-83824},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.FSTTCS.2017.14},
  annote =	{Keywords: proof complexity, quantified Boolean formulas, resolution, lower bounds}
}
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