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Documents authored by de Rezende, Susanna F.


Document
Invited Talk
Some Recent Advancements in Monotone Circuit Complexity (Invited Talk)

Authors: Susanna F. de Rezende

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 327, 42nd International Symposium on Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science (STACS 2025)


Abstract
In 1985, Razborov [Razborov, 1985] proved the first superpolynomial size lower bound for monotone Boolean circuits for the perfect matching the clique functions, and, independently, Andreev [Andreev, 1985] obtained exponential size lower bounds. These breakthroughs were soon followed by further advancements in monotone complexity, including better lower bounds for clique [Alon and Boppana, 1987; Ingo Wegener, 1987], superlogarithmic depth lower bounds for connectivity by Karchmer and Wigderson [Karchmer and Wigderson, 1990], and the separations mon-NC ≠ mon-P and that mon-NC^i ≠ mon-NC^{i+1} by Raz and McKenzie [Ran Raz and Pierre McKenzie, 1999]. Karchmer and Wigderson [Karchmer and Wigderson, 1990] proved their result by establishing a relation between communication complexity and (monotone) circuit depth, and Raz and McKenzie [Ran Raz and Pierre McKenzie, 1999] introduced a new technique, now called lifting theorems, for obtaining communication lower bounds from query complexity lower bounds, In this talk, we will survey recent advancements in monotone complexity driven by query-to-communication lifting theorems. A decade ago, Göös, Pitassi, and Watson [Mika Göös et al., 2018] brought to light the generality of the result of Raz and McKenzie [Ran Raz and Pierre McKenzie, 1999] and reignited this line of work. A notable extension is the lifting theorem [Ankit Garg et al., 2020] for a model of DAG-like communication [Alexander A. Razborov, 1995; Dmitry Sokolov, 2017] that corresponds to circuit size. These powerful theorems, in their different flavours, have been instrumental in addressing many open questions in monotone circuit complexity, including: optimal 2^Ω(n) lower bounds on the size of monotone Boolean formulas computing an explicit function in NP [Toniann Pitassi and Robert Robere, 2017]; a complete picture of the relation between the mon-AC and mon-NC hierarchies [Susanna F. de Rezende et al., 2016]; a near optimal separation between monotone circuit and monotone formula size [Susanna F. de Rezende et al., 2020]; exponential separation between NC^2 and mon-P [Ankit Garg et al., 2020; Mika Göös et al., 2019]; and better lower bounds for clique [de Rezende and Vinyals, 2025; Lovett et al., 2022], improving on [Cavalar et al., 2021]. Very recently, lifting theorems were also used to prove supercritical trade-offs for monotone circuits showing that there are functions computable by small circuits for which any small circuit must have superlinear or even superpolynomial depth [de Rezende et al., 2024; Göös et al., 2024]. We will explore these results and their implications, and conclude by discussing some open problems.

Cite as

Susanna F. de Rezende. Some Recent Advancements in Monotone Circuit Complexity (Invited Talk). In 42nd International Symposium on Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science (STACS 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 327, pp. 4:1-4:2, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)


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@InProceedings{derezende:LIPIcs.STACS.2025.4,
  author =	{de Rezende, Susanna F.},
  title =	{{Some Recent Advancements in Monotone Circuit Complexity}},
  booktitle =	{42nd International Symposium on Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science (STACS 2025)},
  pages =	{4:1--4:2},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-365-2},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{327},
  editor =	{Beyersdorff, Olaf and Pilipczuk, Micha{\l} and Pimentel, Elaine 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.2025.4},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-228291},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.STACS.2025.4},
  annote =	{Keywords: monotone circuit complexity, query complexity, lifting theorems}
}
Document
The Power of Negative Reasoning

Authors: Susanna F. de Rezende, Massimo Lauria, Jakob Nordström, and Dmitry Sokolov

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


Abstract
Semialgebraic proof systems have been studied extensively in proof complexity since the late 1990s to understand the power of Gröbner basis computations, linear and semidefinite programming hierarchies, and other methods. Such proof systems are defined alternately with only the original variables of the problem and with special formal variables for positive and negative literals, but there seems to have been no study how these different definitions affect the power of the proof systems. We show for Nullstellensatz, polynomial calculus, Sherali-Adams, and sums-of-squares that adding formal variables for negative literals makes the proof systems exponentially stronger, with respect to the number of terms in the proofs. These separations are witnessed by CNF formulas that are easy for resolution, which establishes that polynomial calculus, Sherali-Adams, and sums-of-squares cannot efficiently simulate resolution without having access to variables for negative literals.

Cite as

Susanna F. de Rezende, Massimo Lauria, Jakob Nordström, and Dmitry Sokolov. The Power of Negative Reasoning. In 36th Computational Complexity Conference (CCC 2021). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 200, pp. 40:1-40:24, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2021)


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@InProceedings{derezende_et_al:LIPIcs.CCC.2021.40,
  author =	{de Rezende, Susanna F. and Lauria, Massimo and Nordstr\"{o}m, Jakob and Sokolov, Dmitry},
  title =	{{The Power of Negative Reasoning}},
  booktitle =	{36th Computational Complexity Conference (CCC 2021)},
  pages =	{40:1--40:24},
  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.2021.40},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-143140},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.CCC.2021.40},
  annote =	{Keywords: Proof complexity, Polynomial calculus, Nullstellensatz, Sums-of-squares, Sherali-Adams}
}
Document
Exponential Resolution Lower Bounds for Weak Pigeonhole Principle and Perfect Matching Formulas over Sparse Graphs

Authors: Susanna F. de Rezende, Jakob Nordström, Kilian Risse, and Dmitry Sokolov

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


Abstract
We show exponential lower bounds on resolution proof length for pigeonhole principle (PHP) formulas and perfect matching formulas over highly unbalanced, sparse expander graphs, thus answering the challenge to establish strong lower bounds in the regime between balanced constant-degree expanders as in [Ben-Sasson and Wigderson '01] and highly unbalanced, dense graphs as in [Raz '04] and [Razborov '03, '04]. We obtain our results by revisiting Razborov’s pseudo-width method for PHP formulas over dense graphs and extending it to sparse graphs. This further demonstrates the power of the pseudo-width method, and we believe it could potentially be useful for attacking also other longstanding open problems for resolution and other proof systems.

Cite as

Susanna F. de Rezende, Jakob Nordström, Kilian Risse, and Dmitry Sokolov. Exponential Resolution Lower Bounds for Weak Pigeonhole Principle and Perfect Matching Formulas over Sparse Graphs. In 35th Computational Complexity Conference (CCC 2020). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 169, pp. 28:1-28:24, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2020)


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@InProceedings{derezende_et_al:LIPIcs.CCC.2020.28,
  author =	{de Rezende, Susanna F. and Nordstr\"{o}m, Jakob and Risse, Kilian and Sokolov, Dmitry},
  title =	{{Exponential Resolution Lower Bounds for Weak Pigeonhole Principle and Perfect Matching Formulas over Sparse Graphs}},
  booktitle =	{35th Computational Complexity Conference (CCC 2020)},
  pages =	{28:1--28:24},
  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.2020.28},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-125804},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.CCC.2020.28},
  annote =	{Keywords: proof complexity, resolution, weak pigeonhole principle, perfect matching, sparse graphs}
}
Document
Nullstellensatz Size-Degree Trade-offs from Reversible Pebbling

Authors: Susanna F. de Rezende, Jakob Nordström, Or Meir, and Robert Robere

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


Abstract
We establish an exactly tight relation between reversible pebblings of graphs and Nullstellensatz refutations of pebbling formulas, showing that a graph G can be reversibly pebbled in time t and space s if and only if there is a Nullstellensatz refutation of the pebbling formula over G in size t+1 and degree s (independently of the field in which the Nullstellensatz refutation is made). We use this correspondence to prove a number of strong size-degree trade-offs for Nullstellensatz, which to the best of our knowledge are the first such results for this proof system.

Cite as

Susanna F. de Rezende, Jakob Nordström, Or Meir, and Robert Robere. Nullstellensatz Size-Degree Trade-offs from Reversible Pebbling. In 34th Computational Complexity Conference (CCC 2019). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 137, pp. 18:1-18:16, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2019)


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@InProceedings{derezende_et_al:LIPIcs.CCC.2019.18,
  author =	{de Rezende, Susanna F. and Nordstr\"{o}m, Jakob and Meir, Or and Robere, Robert},
  title =	{{Nullstellensatz Size-Degree Trade-offs from Reversible Pebbling}},
  booktitle =	{34th Computational Complexity Conference (CCC 2019)},
  pages =	{18:1--18:16},
  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.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.CCC.2019.18},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-108403},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.CCC.2019.18},
  annote =	{Keywords: proof complexity, Nullstellensatz, pebble games, trade-offs, size, degree}
}
Document
Cumulative Space in Black-White Pebbling and Resolution

Authors: Joël Alwen, Susanna F. de Rezende, Jakob Nordström, and Marc Vinyals

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 67, 8th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2017)


Abstract
We study space complexity and time-space trade-offs with a focus not on peak memory usage but on overall memory consumption throughout the computation. Such a cumulative space measure was introduced for the computational model of parallel black pebbling by [Alwen and Serbinenko 2015] as a tool for obtaining results in cryptography. We consider instead the nondeterministic black-white pebble game and prove optimal cumulative space lower bounds and trade-offs, where in order to minimize pebbling time the space has to remain large during a significant fraction of the pebbling. We also initiate the study of cumulative space in proof complexity, an area where other space complexity measures have been extensively studied during the last 10-15 years. Using and extending the connection between proof complexity and pebble games in [Ben-Sasson and Nordström 2008, 2011], we obtain several strong cumulative space results for (even parallel versions of) the resolution proof system, and outline some possible future directions of study of this, in our opinion, natural and interesting space measure.

Cite as

Joël Alwen, Susanna F. de Rezende, Jakob Nordström, and Marc Vinyals. Cumulative Space in Black-White Pebbling and Resolution. In 8th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2017). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 67, pp. 38:1-38:21, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2017)


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@InProceedings{alwen_et_al:LIPIcs.ITCS.2017.38,
  author =	{Alwen, Jo\"{e}l and de Rezende, Susanna F. and Nordstr\"{o}m, Jakob and Vinyals, Marc},
  title =	{{Cumulative Space in Black-White Pebbling and Resolution}},
  booktitle =	{8th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2017)},
  pages =	{38:1--38:21},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-029-3},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2017},
  volume =	{67},
  editor =	{Papadimitriou, Christos H.},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2017.38},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-81918},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2017.38},
  annote =	{Keywords: pebble game, pebbling, proof complexity, space, cumulative space, clause space, resolution, parallel resolution}
}
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