We show that there is a constant $k$ such that Buss's intuitionistic theory $\mathbf{IS}^1_2$ does not prove that SAT requires co-nondeterministic circuits of size at least $n^k$. To our knowledge, this is the first unconditional unprovability result in bounded arithmetic in the context of worst-case fixed-polynomial size circuit lower bounds. ... more >>>

Reverse mathematics is a program in mathematical logic that seeks to determine which axioms are necessary to prove a given theorem. In this work, we systematically explore the reverse mathematics of complexity lower bounds. We explore reversals in the setting of bounded arithmetic, with Cook's theory $\mathbf{PV}_1$ as the base ... more >>>

A randomized algorithm for a search problem is *pseudodeterministic* if it produces a fixed canonical solution to the search problem with high probability. In their seminal work on the topic, Gat and Goldwasser posed as their main open problem whether prime numbers can be pseudodeterministically constructed in polynomial time.

We establish new separations between the power of monotone and general (non-monotone) Boolean circuits:

- For every $k \geq 1$, there is a monotone function in ${\rm AC^0}$ (constant-depth poly-size circuits) that requires monotone circuits of depth $\Omega(\log^k n)$. This significantly extends a classical result of Okol'nishnikova (1982) and Ajtai ... more >>>

Symmetry of Information (SoI) is a fundamental property of Kolmogorov complexity that relates the complexity of a pair of strings and their conditional complexities. Understanding if this property holds in the time-bounded setting is a longstanding open problem. In the nineties, Longpré and Mocas (1993) and Longpré and Watanabe (1995) ... more >>>

While there has been progress in establishing the unprovability of complexity statements in lower fragments of bounded arithmetic, understanding the limits of Jerabek's theory $\textbf{APC}_1$ (2007) and of higher levels of Buss's hierarchy $\textbf{S}^i_2$ (1986) has been a more elusive task. Even in the more restricted setting of Cook's theory ... more >>>

The classical coding theorem in Kolmogorov complexity states that if an $n$-bit string $x$ is sampled with probability $\delta$ by an algorithm with prefix-free domain then K$(x) \leq \log(1/\delta) + O(1)$. In a recent work, Lu and Oliveira [LO21] established an unconditional time-bounded version of this result, by showing that ... more >>>

A probabilistic representation of a string $x \in \{0,1\}^n$ is given by the code of a randomized algorithm that outputs $x$ with high probability [Oliveira, ICALP 2019]. We employ probabilistic representations to establish the first unconditional Coding Theorem in time-bounded Kolmogorov complexity. More precisely, we show that if a distribution ... more >>>

We develop a general framework that characterizes strong average-case lower bounds against circuit classes $\mathcal{C}$ contained in $\mathrm{NC}^1$, such as $\mathrm{AC}^0[\oplus]$ and $\mathrm{ACC}^0$. We apply this framework to show:

- Generic seed reduction: Pseudorandom generators (PRGs) against $\mathcal{C}$ of seed length $\leq n -1$ and error $\varepsilon(n) = n^{-\omega(1)}$ can ... more >>>

We connect the study of pseudodeterministic algorithms to two major open problems about the structural complexity of $BPTIME$: proving hierarchy theorems and showing the existence of complete problems. Our main contributions can be summarised as follows.

1. A new pseudorandom generator and its consequences: We build on techniques developed to ... more >>>

Can we design efficient algorithms for finding fast algorithms? This question is captured by various circuit minimization problems, and algorithms for the corresponding tasks have significant practical applications. Following the work of Cook and Levin in the early 1970s, a central question is whether minimizing the circuit size of an ... more >>>

Hardness magnification reduces major complexity separations (such as $EXP \not\subseteq NC^1$) to proving lower bounds for some natural problem $Q$ against weak circuit models. Several recent works [OS18, MMW19, CT19, OPS19, CMMW19, Oli19, CJW19a] have established results of this form. In the most intriguing cases, the required lower bound is ... more >>>

Proving that there are problems in $P^{NP}$ that require boolean circuits of super-linear size is a major frontier in complexity theory. While such lower bounds are known for larger complexity classes, existing results only show that the corresponding problems are hard on infinitely many input lengths. For instance, proving almost-everywhere ... more >>>

We study the complexity of computing symmetric and threshold functions by constant-depth circuits with Parity gates, also known as AC$^0[\oplus]$ circuits. Razborov (1987) and Smolensky (1987, 1993) showed that Majority requires depth-$d$ AC$^0[\oplus]$ circuits of size $2^{\Omega(n^{1/2(d-1)})}$. By using a divide-and-conquer approach, it is easy to show that Majority can ... more >>>

We introduce randomized time-bounded Kolmogorov complexity (rKt), a natural extension of Levin's notion of Kolmogorov complexity from 1984. A string w of low rKt complexity can be decompressed from a short representation via a time-bounded algorithm that outputs w with high probability.

This complexity measure gives rise to a ... more >>>

We introduce new forms of attack on expander-based cryptography, and in particular on Goldreich's pseudorandom generator and one-way function. Our attacks exploit low circuit complexity of the underlying expander's neighbor function and/or of the local predicate. Our two key conceptual contributions are:

* The security of Goldreich's PRG and OWF ... more >>>

This work continues the development of hardness magnification. The latter proposes a strategy for showing strong complexity lower bounds by reducing them to a refined analysis of weaker models, where combinatorial techniques might be successful.

We consider gap versions of the meta-computational problems MKtP and MCSP, where one needs ... more >>>

We show that for several natural problems of interest, complexity lower bounds that are barely non-trivial imply super-polynomial or even exponential lower bounds in strong computational models. We term this phenomenon "hardness magnification". Our examples of hardness magnification include:

1. Let MCSP$[s]$ be the decision problem whose YES instances are ... more >>>

We continue the study of pseudo-deterministic algorithms initiated by Gat and Goldwasser
[GG11]. A pseudo-deterministic algorithm is a probabilistic algorithm which produces a fixed
output with high probability. We explore pseudo-determinism in the settings of learning and ap-
proximation. Our goal is to simulate known randomized algorithms in these settings ... more >>>

The Minimum Circuit Size Problem (MCSP) asks for the size of the smallest boolean circuit that computes a given truth table. It is a prominent problem in NP that is believed to be hard, but for which no proof of NP-hardness has been found. A significant number of works have ... more >>>

In a seminal work, Williams [Wil14] showed that NEXP (non-deterministic exponential time) does not have polynomial-size ACC^0 circuits. Williams' technique inherently gives a worst-case lower bound, and until now, no average-case version of his result was known.

We show that there is a language L in NEXP (resp. EXP^NP) ... more >>>

We prove several results giving new and stronger connections between learning theory, circuit complexity and pseudorandomness. Let C be any typical class of Boolean circuits, and C[s(n)] denote n-variable C-circuits of size at most s(n). We show:

Learning Speedups: If C[$n^{O(1)}$] admits a randomized weak learning algorithm under the uniform ... more >>>

We study {\it pseudodeterministic constructions}, i.e., randomized algorithms which output the {\it same solution} on most computation paths. We establish unconditionally that there is an infinite sequence $\{p_n\}_{n \in \mathbb{N}}$ of increasing primes and a randomized algorithm $A$ running in expected sub-exponential time such that for each $n$, on input ... more >>>

We establish unconditionally that for every integer $k \geq 1$ there is a language $L \in P$ such that it is consistent with Cook's theory PV that $L \notin SIZE(n^k)$. Our argument is non-constructive and does not provide an explicit description of this language.

Let $U_{k,N}$ denote the Boolean function which takes as input $k$ strings of $N$ bits each, representing $k$ numbers $a^{(1)},\dots,a^{(k)}$ in $\{0,1,\dots,2^{N}-1\}$, and outputs 1 if and only if $a^{(1)} + \cdots + a^{(k)} \geq 2^N.$ Let THR$_{t,n}$ denote a monotone unweighted threshold gate, i.e., the Boolean function which takes ... more >>>

The study of monotonicity and negation complexity for Boolean functions has been prevalent in complexity theory as well as in computational learning theory, but little attention has been given to it in the cryptographic context. Recently, Goldreich and Izsak (2012) have initiated a study of whether cryptographic primitives can be ... more >>>

We consider $\cal C$-compression games, a hybrid model between computational and communication complexity. A $\cal C$-compression game for a function $f \colon \{0,1\}^n \to \{0,1\}$ is a two-party communication game, where the first party Alice knows the entire input $x$ but is restricted to use strategies computed by $\cal C$-circuits, ... more >>>

Monotone Boolean functions, and the monotone Boolean circuits that compute them, have been intensively studied in complexity theory. In this paper we study the structure of Boolean functions in terms of the minimum number of negations in any circuit computing them, a complexity measure that interpolates between monotone functions and ... more >>>