A generalized method for proving polynomial calculus degree lower bounds

Publikation: Bidrag til bog/antologi/rapportKonferencebidrag i proceedingsForskningfagfællebedømt

We study the problem of obtaining lower bounds for polynomial calculus (PC) and polynomial calculus resolution (PCR) on proof degree, and hence by [Impagliazzo et al. '99] also on proof size. [Alekhnovich and Razborov'03] established that if the clause-variable incidence graph of a CNF formula F is a good enough expander, then proving that F is unsatisfiable requires high PC/PCR degree. We further develop the techniques in [AR03] to show that if one can "cluster" clauses and variables in a way that "respects the structure" of the formula in a certain sense, then it is sufficient that the incidence graph of this clustered version is an expander. As a corollary of this, we prove that the functional pigeonhole principle (FPHP) formulas require high PC/PCR degree when restricted to constant-degree expander graphs. This answers an open question in [Razborov'02], and also implies that the standard CNF encoding of the FPHP formulas require exponential proof size in polynomial calculus resolution. Thus, while Onto-FPHP formulas are easy for polynomial calculus, as shown in [Riis'93], both FPHP and Onto-PHP formulas are hard even when restricted to bounded-degree expanders.

OriginalsprogEngelsk
Titel30th Conference on Computational Complexity, CCC 2015
RedaktørerDavid Zuckerman
Antal sider21
ForlagSchloss Dagstuhl- Leibniz-Zentrum fur Informatik GmbH, Dagstuhl Publishing
Publikationsdato1 jun. 2015
Sider467-487
ISBN (Elektronisk)9783939897811
DOI
StatusUdgivet - 1 jun. 2015
Eksternt udgivetJa
Begivenhed30th Conference on Computational Complexity, CCC 2015 - Portland, USA
Varighed: 17 jun. 201519 jun. 2015

Konference

Konference30th Conference on Computational Complexity, CCC 2015
LandUSA
ByPortland
Periode17/06/201519/06/2015
SponsorMicrosoft Research
NavnLeibniz International Proceedings in Informatics, LIPIcs
Vol/bind33
ISSN1868-8969

ID: 251869007