No Arabic abstract
Limits on the number of satisfying assignments for CNS instances with n variables and m clauses are derived from various inequalities. Some bounds can be calculated in polynomial time, sharper bounds demand information about the distribution of the number of unsatisfied clauses. Quite generally, the number of satisfying assignments involve variance and mean of this distribution. For large formulae, m>>1, bounds vary with 2**n/n, so they may be of use only for instances with a large number of satisfying assignments.
We introduce a new algebraic proof system, which has tight connections to (algebraic) circuit complexity. In particular, we show that any super-polynomial lower bound on any Boolean tautology in our proof system implies that the permanent does not have polynomial-size algebraic circuits (VNP is not equal to VP). As a corollary to the proof, we also show that super-polynomial lower bounds on the number of lines in Polynomial Calculus proofs (as opposed to the usual measure of number of monomials) imply the Permanent versus Determinant Conjecture. Note that, prior to our work, there was no proof system for which lower bounds on an arbitrary tautology implied any computational lower bound. Our proof system helps clarify the relationships between previous algebraic proof systems, and begins to shed light on why proof complexity lower bounds for various proof systems have been so much harder than lower bounds on the corresponding circuit classes. In doing so, we highlight the importance of polynomial identity testing (PIT) for understanding proof complexity. More specifically, we introduce certain propositional axioms satisfied by any Boolean circuit computing PIT. We use these PIT axioms to shed light on AC^0[p]-Frege lower bounds, which have been open for nearly 30 years, with no satisfactory explanation as to their apparent difficulty. We show that either: a) Proving super-polynomial lower bounds on AC^0[p]-Frege implies VNP does not have polynomial-size circuits of depth d - a notoriously open question for d at least 4 - thus explaining the difficulty of lower bounds on AC^0[p]-Frege, or b) AC^0[p]-Frege cannot efficiently prove the depth d PIT axioms, and hence we have a lower bound on AC^0[p]-Frege. Using the algebraic structure of our proof system, we propose a novel way to extend techniques from algebraic circuit complexity to prove lower bounds in proof complexity.
A generalized 1-in-3SAT problem is defined and found to be in complexity class P when restricted to a certain subset of CNF expressions. In particular, 1-in-kSAT with no restrictions on the number of literals per clause can be decided in polynomial time when restricted to exact READ-3 formulas with equal number of clauses (m) and variables (n), and no pure literals. Also individual instances can be checked for easiness with respect to a given SAT problem. By identifying whole classes of formulas as being solvable efficiently the approach might be of interest also in the complementary search for hard instances.
The aim of this short note is mainly pedagogical. It summarizes some knowledge about Boolean satisfiability (SAT) and the P=NP? problem in an elementary mathematical language. A convenient scheme to visualize and manipulate CNF formulae is introduced. Also some results like the formulae for the number of unsatisfied clauses and the number of solutions might be unknown.
We present a (full) derandomization of HSSW algorithm for 3-SAT, proposed by Hofmeister, Schoning, Schuler, and Watanabe in [STACS02]. Thereby, we obtain an O(1.3303^n)-time deterministic algorithm for 3-SAT, which is currently fastest.
The notion of compliance in Multiset Rewriting Models (MSR) has been introduced for untimed models and for models with discrete time. In this paper we revisit the notion of compliance and adapt it to fit with additional nondeterminism specific for dense time domains. Existing MSR with dense time are extended with critical configurations and non-critical traces, that is, traces involving no critical configurations. Complexity of related {em non-critical reachability problem} is investigated. Although this problem is undecidable in general, we prove that for balanced MSR with dense time the non-critical reachability problem is PSPACE-complete.