An algebraic branching program (ABP) A can be modelled as a product expression $X_1\cdot X_2\cdot \dots \cdot X_d$, where $X_1$ and $X_d$ are $1 \times w$ and $w \times 1$ matrices respectively, and every other $X_k$ is a $w \times w$ matrix; the entries of these matrices are linear forms ... more >>>

Various combinatorial/algebraic parameters are used to quantify the complexity of a Boolean function. Among them, sensitivity is one of the simplest and block sensitivity is one of the most useful. Nisan (1989) and Nisan and Szegedy (1991) showed that block sensitivity and several other parameters, such as certificate complexity, decision ... more >>>

We show an $\Omega \left(\frac{n^3}{(\ln n)^2}\right)$ lower bound on the size of any depth three ($\SPS$) arithmetic circuit computing an explicit multilinear polynomial in $n$ variables over any field. This improves upon the previously known quadratic lower bound by Shpilka and Wigderson.

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Let $r \geq 1$ be an integer. Let us call a polynomial $f(x_1, x_2,\ldots, x_N) \in \mathbb{F}[\mathbf{x}]$ as a multi-$r$-ic polynomial if the degree of $f$ with respect to any variable is at most $r$ (this generalizes the notion of multilinear polynomials). We investigate arithmetic circuits in which the output ... more >>>