Let $f:\{0,1\}^n \rightarrow \{0,1\}$ be a Boolean function. The certificate complexity $C(f)$ is a complexity measure that is quadratically tight for the zero-error randomized query complexity $R_0(f)$: $C(f) \leq R_0(f) \leq C(f)^2$. In this paper we study a new complexity measure that we call expectational certificate complexity $EC(f)$, which is ... more >>>

In a recent work of Bei, Chen and Zhang (STOC 2013), a trial and error model of computing was introduced, and applied to some constraint satisfaction problems. In this model the input is hidden by an oracle which, for a candidate assignment, reveals some information about a violated constraint if ... more >>>

We design two deterministic polynomial time algorithms for variants of a problem introduced by Edmonds in 1967: determine the rank of a matrix $M$ whose entries are homogeneous linear polynomials over the integers. Given a linear subspace $\mathcal{B}$ of the $n \times n$ matrices over some field $\mathbb{F}$, we consider ... more >>>

Let $\mathcal{M}$ be a bridgeless matroid on ground set $\{1,\ldots, n\}$ and $f_{\mathcal{M}}: \{0,1\}^n \to \{0, 1\}$ be the indicator function of its independent sets. A folklore fact is that $f_\mathcal{M}$ is ``evasive," i.e., $D(f_\mathcal{M}) = n$ where $D(f)$ denotes the deterministic decision tree complexity of $f.$ Here we prove ... more >>>

We consider the randomized decision tree complexity of the recursive 3-majority function. For evaluating a height $h$ formulae, we prove a lower bound for the $\delta$-two-sided-error randomized decision tree complexity of $(1-2\delta)(5/2)^h$, improving the lower bound of $(1-2\delta)(7/3)^h$ given by Jayram et al. (STOC '03). We also state a conjecture ... more >>>

In the late 80's Blum, Luby, Rubinfeld, Kannan et al. pioneered
the theory of self-testing as an alternative way of dealing with
the problem of software reliability.
Over the last decade this theory played a crucial role in
the construction of probabilistically checkable proofs and
the ... more >>>