Aaronson (STOC 2010) conjectured that almost $k$-wise independence fools constant-depth circuits; he called this the generalised Linial-Nisan conjecture. Aaronson himself later found a counterexample for depth-3 circuits. We give here an improved counterexample for depth-2 circuits (DNFs). This shows, for instance, that Bazzi's celebrated result ($k$-wise independence fools DNFs) cannot ... more >>>

Direct sum theorems state that the cost of solving $k$ instances of a problem is at least $\Omega(k)$ times
the cost of solving a single instance. We prove the first such results in the randomised parity
decision tree model. We show that a direct sum theorem holds whenever (1) the ... more >>>

We use results from communication complexity, both new and old ones, to prove lower bounds for unambiguous finite automata (UFAs). We show three results.

$\textbf{Complement:}$ There is a language $L$ recognised by an $n$-state UFA such that the complement language $\overline{L}$ requires NFAs with $n^{\tilde{\Omega}(\log n)}$ states. This improves on ... more >>>

Let $f: \{0,1\}^n \to \{0, 1\}$ be a boolean function, and let $f_\land (x, y) = f(x \land y)$ denote the AND-function of $f$, where $x \land y$ denotes bit-wise AND. We study the deterministic communication complexity of $f_\land$ and show that, up to a $\log n$ factor, it is ... more >>>