Lifting theorems are used for transferring lower bounds between Boolean function complexity measures. Given a lower bound on a complexity measure $A$ for some function $f$, we compose $f$ with a carefully chosen gadget function $g$ and get essentially the same lower bound on a complexity measure $B$ for the ... more >>>

Hitting formulas have been studied in many different contexts at least since [Iwama 1989]. A hitting formula is a set of Boolean clauses such that any two of the clauses cannot be simultaneously falsified. [Peitl and Szeider 2022] conjectured that the family of unsatisfiable hitting formulas should contain the hardest ... more >>>

In this paper, we prove a super-cubic lower bound on the size of a communication protocol for generalized Karchmer-Wigderson game for some explicit function $f: \{0,1\}^n\to \{0,1\}^{\log n}$. Lower bounds for original Karchmer-Wigderson games correspond to De Morgan formula lower bounds, thus the best known size lower bound is cubic. ... more >>>

In this work, we continue the research started in [HIMS18], where the authors suggested to study the half-duplex communication complexity. Unlike the classical model of communication complexity introduced by Yao, in the half-duplex model, Alice and Bob can speak or listen simultaneously, as if they were talking using a walkie-talkie. ... more >>>

In this paper, we propose a new conjecture, the XOR-KRW conjecture, which is a relaxation of the Karchmer-Raz-Wigderson conjecture [KRW95]. This relaxation is still strong enough to imply $\mathbf{P} \not\subseteq \mathbf{NC}^1$ if proven. We also present a weaker version of this conjecture that might be used for breaking $n^3$ lower ... more >>>

Suppose Alice and Bob are communicating bits to each other in order to compute some function $f$, but instead of a classical communication channel they have a pair of walkie-talkie devices. They can use some classical communication protocol for $f$ where each round one player sends bit and the other ... more >>>

Let $X$ be a random variable distributed over $n$-bit strings with $H(X) \ge n - k$, where $k \ll n$. Using subadditivity we know that a random coordinate looks random. Meir and Wigderson [TR17-149] showed a random coordinate looks random to an adversary who is allowed to query around $n/k$ ... more >>>

Most of the known lower bounds for binary Boolean circuits with unrestricted depth are proved by the gate elimination method. The most efficient known algorithms for the #SAT problem on binary Boolean circuits use similar case analyses to the ones in gate elimination. Chen and Kabanets recently showed that the ... more >>>

The existence of optimal algorithms is not known for any decision problem in NP$\setminus$P. We consider the problem of testing the membership in the image of an injective function. We construct optimal heuristic algorithms for this problem in both randomized and deterministic settings (a heuristic algorithm can err on a ... more >>>

The existence of an optimal propositional proof system is a major open question in proof complexity; many people conjecture that such systems do not exist. Krajicek and Pudlak (1989) show that this question is equivalent to the existence of an algorithm that is optimal on all propositional tautologies. Monroe (2009) ... more >>>