We prove that the integrality gap after tightening the standard LP relaxation for Vertex Cover with Omega(sqrt(log n/log log n)) rounds of the SDP LS+ system is 2-o(1).

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Lovasz and Schrijver described a generic method of tightening the LP and SDP relaxation for any 0-1 optimization problem. These tightened relaxations were the basis of several celebrated approximation algorithms (such as for MAX-CUT, MAX-3SAT, and SPARSEST CUT).

We prove strong nonapproximability results in this model for well-known problems such ... more >>>