This paper concerns the open problem of Lovasz and
Saks regarding the relationship between the communication complexity
of a boolean function and the rank of the associated matrix.
We first give an example exhibiting the largest gap known. We then
prove two related theorems.

We prove an unexpected upper bound on a communication game proposed
by Jeff Edmonds and Russell Impagliazzo as an approach for
proving lower bounds for time-space tradeoffs for branching programs.
Our result is based on a generalization of a construction of Erdos,
Frankl and Rodl of a large 3-hypergraph ... more >>>

We develop an analytic framework based on
linear approximation and point out how a number of complexity
related questions --
on circuit and communication
complexity lower bounds, as well as
pseudorandomness, learnability, and general combinatorics
of Boolean functions --
fit neatly into this framework. ... more >>>

--
Scalar product estimates have so far been used in
proving several unweighted threshold lower bounds.
We show that if a basis set of Boolean functions satisfies
certain weak stability conditions, then
scalar product estimates
yield lower bounds for the size of weighted thresholds
of these basis functions.
Stable ... more >>>

Tiwari (1987) considered the following scenario: k+1 processors P_0,...,P_k,
connected by k links to form a linear array, compute a function f(x,y), for
inputs (x,y) from a finite domain X x Y, where x is only known to P_0 and
y is only known to P_k; the intermediate ... more >>>

We introduce a notion of a "real game"
(a generalization of the Karchmer - Wigderson game),
and "real communication complexity",
and relate them to the size of monotone real formulas
and circuits. We give an exponential lower bound
for tree-like monotone protocols of small real
communication complexity ... more >>>

The study of the computational power of randomized
computations is one of the central tasks of complexity theory. The
main goal of this paper is the comparison of the power of Las Vegas
computation and deterministic respectively nondeterministic
computation. We investigate the power of Las Vegas computation for ... more >>>

Using a notion of real communication complexity recently
introduced by J. Krajicek, we prove a lower bound on the depth of
monotone real circuits and the size of monotone real formulas for
st-connectivity. This implies a super-polynomial speed-up of dag-like
over tree-like Cutting Planes proofs.

We extend the tools for proving lower bounds for randomized branching
programs by presenting a new technique for the read-once case which is
applicable to a large class of functions. This technique fills the gap
between simple methods only applicable for OBDDs and the well-known
"rectangle technique" of Borodin, Razborov ... more >>>

We obtain improved lower bounds for a class of static and dynamic
data structure problems that includes several problems of searching
sorted lists as special cases.

These lower bounds nearly match the upper bounds given by recent
striking improvements in searching algorithms given by Fredman and
Willard's ... more >>>

The superposition (or composition) problem is a problem of
representation of a function $f$ by a superposition of "simpler" (in a
different meanings) set $\Omega$ of functions. In terms of circuits
theory this means a possibility of computing $f$ by a finite circuit
with 1 fan-out gates $\Omega$ of functions. ... more >>>

A regular $(1,+k)$-branching program ($(1,+k)$-ReBP) is an
ordinary branching program with the following restrictions: (i)
along every consistent path at most $k$ variables are tested more
than once, (ii) for each node $v$ on all paths from the source to
$v$ the same set $X(v)\subseteq X$ of variables is ... more >>>

One of the great challenges of complexity theory is the problem of
analyzing the dependence of the complexity of Boolean functions on the
resources nondeterminism and randomness. So far, this problem could be
solved only for very few models of computation. For so-called
partitioned binary decision diagrams, which are a ... more >>>

This paper deals with the number of monochromatic combinatorial
rectangles required to approximate a Boolean function on a constant
fraction of all inputs, where each rectangle may be defined with
respect to its own partition of the input variables. The main result
of the paper is that the number of ... more >>>

While deterministic finite automata seem to be well understood, surprisingly
many important problems
concerning nondeterministic finite automata (nfa's) remain open.

One such problem area is the study of different measures of nondeterminism in
finite automata and the
estimation of the sizes of minimal nondeterministic finite automata. In this
paper the ... more >>>

A fundamental question of complexity theory is the direct product
question. Namely weather the assumption that a function $f$ is hard on
average for some computational class (meaning that every algorithm from
the class has small advantage over random guessing when computing $f$)
entails that computing $f$ on ... more >>>

Normally, communication Complexity deals with how many bits
Alice and Bob need to exchange to compute f(x,y)
(Alice has x, Bob has y). We look at what happens if
Alice has x_1,x_2,...,x_n and Bob has y_1,...,y_n
and they want to compute f(x_1,y_1)... f(x_n,y_n).
THis seems hard. We look at various ... more >>>

We show that recognizing the $K_3$-freeness and $K_4$-freeness of
graphs is hard, respectively, for two-player nondeterministic
communication protocols with exponentially many partitions and for
nondeterministic (syntactic) read-$s$ times branching programs.

The key ingradient is a generalization of a coloring lemma, due to
Papadimitriou and Sipser, which says that for every ... more >>>

In model checking, program correctness on all inputs is verified
by considering the transition system underlying a given program.
In practice, the system can be intractably large.
In property testing, a property of a single input is verified
by looking at a small subset of that input.
We ... more >>>

In the simultaneous message model, two parties holding $n$-bit integers
$x,y$ send messages to a third party, the {\it referee}, enabling
him to compute a boolean function $f(x,y)$. Buhrman et al
[BCWW01] proved the remarkable result that, when $f$ is the
equality function, the referee can solve this problem by ... more >>>

We study the problem of representing symmetric Boolean functions as symmetric polynomials over Z_m. We show an equivalence between such
representations and simultaneous communication protocols. Computing a function with a polynomial of degree d modulo m=pq is equivalent to a two player protocol where one player is given the first ... more >>>

We consider the approximate nearest neighbour search problem on the
Hamming Cube $\b^d$. We show that a randomised cell probe algorithm that
uses polynomial storage and word size $d^{O(1)}$ requires a worst case
query time of $\Omega(\log\log d/\log\log\log d)$. The approximation
factor may be as loose as $2^{\log^{1-\eta}d}$ for any ... more >>>

We study private computations in information-theoretical settings on
networks that are not 2-connected. Non-2-connected networks are
``non-private'' in the sense that most functions cannot privately be
computed on such networks. We relax the notion of privacy by
introducing lossy private protocols, which generalize private
protocols. We measure the information each ... more >>>

Communication complexity is concerned with the question: how much information do the participants of a communication system need to exchange in order to perform certain tasks? The minimum number of bits that must be communicated is the deterministic communication complexity of $f$. This complexity measure was introduced by Yao \cite{1} ... more >>>

Entanglement is an essential resource for quantum communication and quantum computation, similar to shared random bits in the classical world. Entanglement distillation extracts nearly-perfect entanglement from imperfect entangled state. The classical communication complexity of these protocols is the minimal amount of classical information that needs to be exchanged for the ... more >>>

We study deterministic one-way communication complexity
of functions with Hankel communication matrices.
Some structural properties of such matrices are established
and applied to the one-way two-party communication complexity
of symmetric Boolean functions.
It is shown that the number of required communication bits
does not depend on ... more >>>

We study the problem of non-interactive correlation distillation
(NICD). Suppose Alice and Bob each has a string, denoted by
$A=a_0a_1\cdots a_{n-1}$ and $B=b_0b_1\cdots b_{n-1}$,
respectively. Furthermore, for every $k=0,1,...,n-1$, $(a_k,b_k)$ is
independently drawn from a distribution $\noise$, known as the ``noise
mode''. Alice and Bob wish to ``distill'' the correlation
more >>>

We give the first exponential separation between quantum and bounded-error randomized one-way communication complexity. Specifically, we define the Hidden Matching Problem HM_n: Alice gets as input a string x in {0,1}^n and Bob gets a perfect matching M on the n coordinates. Bob's goal is to output a tuple (i,j,b) ... more >>>

A strong direct product theorem says that if we want to compute
k independent instances of a function, using less than k times
the resources needed for one instance, then our overall success
probability will be exponentially small in k.
We establish such theorems for the classical as well as ... more >>>

A celebrated 1976 theorem of Aumann asserts that honest, rational
Bayesian agents with common priors will never "agree to disagree": if
their opinions about any topic are common knowledge, then those
opinions must be equal. Economists have written numerous papers
examining the assumptions behind this theorem. But two key questions
more >>>

We consider the P versus NP\cap coNP question for the classical two-party communication protocols: if both a boolean function and its negation have small nondeterministic communication complexity, what is then its deterministic and/or probabilistic communication complexity? In the fixed (worst) partition case this question was answered by Aho, Ullman and ... more >>>

Alice and Bob want to know if two strings of length $n$ are
almost equal. That is, do they differ on at most $a$ bits?
Let $0\le a\le n-1$.
We show that any deterministic protocol, as well as any
error-free quantum protocol ($C^*$ version), for this problem
requires at ... more >>>

We prove that an \omega(log^3 n) lower bound for the three-party number-on-the-forehead (NOF) communication complexity of the set-disjointness function implies an n^\omega(1) size lower bound for tree-like Lovasz-Schrijver systems that refute unsatisfiable CNFs. More generally, we prove that an n^\Omega(1) lower bound for the (k+1)-party NOF communication complexity of set-disjointness ... more >>>

A private approximation of a function f is defined to be another function F that approximates f in the usual sense, but does not reveal any information about the input x other than what can be deduced from f(x). We give the first two-party private approximation of the Euclidean distance ... more >>>

This paper introduces a new technique for removing existential quantifiers
over quantum states. Using this technique, we show that there is no way
to pack an exponential number of bits into a polynomial-size quantum
state, in such a way that the value of any one of those bits ... more >>>

A two server private information retrieval (PIR) scheme
allows a user U to retrieve the i-th bit of an
n-bit string x replicated between two servers while each
server individually learns no information about i. The main
parameter of interest in a PIR scheme is its communication
complexity, namely the ... more >>>

We consider computationally-efficient incentive-compatible
mechanisms that use the VCG payment scheme, and study how well they
can approximate the social welfare in auction settings. We obtain a
$2$-approximation for multi-unit auctions, and show that this is
best possible, even though from a purely computational perspective
an FPTAS exists. For combinatorial ... more >>>

We give an exponential separation between one-way quantum and classical communication complexity for a Boolean function. Earlier such a separation was known only for a relation. A very similar result was obtained earlier but independently by Kerenidis and Raz [KR06]. Our version of the result gives an example in the ... more >>>

We give a tight lower bound of Omega(\sqrt{n}) for the randomized one-way communication complexity of the Boolean Hidden Matching Problem [BJK04]. Since there is a quantum one-way communication complexity protocol of O(log n) qubits for this problem, we obtain an exponential separation of quantum and classical one-way communication complexity for ... more >>>

Traditional quantum state tomography requires a number of measurements that grows exponentially with the number of qubits n. But using ideas from computational learning theory, we show that "for most practical purposes" one can learn a state using a number of measurements that grows only linearly with n. Besides possible ... more >>>

We study languages with bounded communication complexity in the multiparty "input on the forehead" model with worst-case partition. In the two party case, it is known that such languages are exactly those that are recognized by programs over commutative monoids. This can be used to show that these languages can ... more >>>

We examine the communication required for generating random variables
remotely. One party Alice will be given a distribution D, and she
has to send a message to Bob, who is then required to generate a
value with distribution exactly D. Alice and Bob are allowed
to share random bits generated ... more >>>

We consider the $k$-layer pointer jumping problem in the one-way
multi-party number-on-the-forehead communication model. In this problem,
the input is a layered directed graph with each vertex having outdegree
$1$, shared amongst $k$ players: Player~$i$ knows all layers {\em
except} the $i$th. The players must communicate, in the order
$1,2,\ldots,k$, ... more >>>

The Earth Mover Distance (EMD) between two equal-size sets
of points in R^d is defined to be the minimum cost of a
bipartite matching between the two pointsets. It is a natural metric
for comparing sets of features, and as such, it has received
significant interest in computer vision. Motivated ... more >>>

A basic question in complexity theory is whether the computational
resources required for solving k independent instances of the same
problem scale as k times the resources required for one instance.
We investigate this question in various models of classical
communication complexity.

We define a new measure, the subdistribution bound, ... more >>>

We solve an open problem of Kushilevitz and Nisan
(1997) in communication complexity. Let $R_{eps}(f)$
and $D^{mu}_{eps}(f)$ denote the randomized and
$mu$-distributional communication complexities of
f, respectively ($eps$ a small constant). Yao's
well-known Minimax Principle states that
R_{eps}(f) = max_{mu} { D^{mu}_{eps}(f) }.
Kushilevitz and Nisan (1997) ask whether ... more >>>

We give the first exponential separation between quantum and
classical multi-party
communication complexity in the (non-interactive) one-way and
simultaneous message
passing settings.
For every k, we demonstrate a relational communication problem
between k parties
that can be solved exactly by a quantum simultaneous message passing
protocol of
cost ... more >>>

In this paper we study the one-way multi-party communication model,
in which every party speaks exactly once in its turn. For every
fixed $k$, we prove a tight lower bound of
$\Omega{n^{1/(k-1)}}$ on the probabilistic communication
complexity of pointer jumping in a $k$-layered tree, where the
pointers of the $i$-th ... more >>>

We study multilinear formulas, monotone arithmetic circuits, maximal-partition discrepancy, best-partition communication complexity and extractors constructions. We start by proving lower bounds for an explicit polynomial for the following three subclasses of syntactically multilinear arithmetic formulas over the field C and the set of variables {x1,...,xn}:

1. Noise-resistant. A syntactically multilinear ... more >>>

In a breakthrough result, Razborov (2003) gave optimal
lower bounds on the communication complexity of every function f
of the form f(x,y)=D(|x AND y|) for some D:{0,1,...,n}->{0,1}, in
the bounded-error quantum model with and without prior entanglement.
This was proved by the _multidimensional_ discrepancy method. We
give an entirely ... more >>>

The sign-rank of a real matrix M is the least rank
of a matrix R in which every entry has the same sign as the
corresponding entry of M. We determine the sign-rank of every
matrix of the form M=[ D(|x AND y|) ]_{x,y}, where
D:{0,1,...,n}->{-1,+1} is given and ... more >>>

Any proof of P!=NP will have to overcome two barriers: relativization
and natural proofs. Yet over the last decade, we have seen circuit
lower bounds (for example, that PP does not have linear-size circuits)
that overcome both barriers simultaneously. So the question arises of
whether there ... more >>>

We provide a non-explicit separation of the number-on-forehead communication complexity classes RP and NP when the number of players is up to \delta log(n) for any \delta<1. Recent lower bounds on Set-Disjointness [LS08,CA08] provide an explicit separation between these classes when the number of players is only up to o(loglog(n)).

The sign-rank of a matrix A=[A_{ij}] with +/-1 entries
is the least rank of a real matrix B=[B_{ij}] with A_{ij}B_{ij}>0
for all i,j. We obtain the first exponential lower bound on the
sign-rank of a function in AC^0. Namely, let
f(x,y)=\bigwedge_{i=1}^m\bigvee_{j=1}^{m^2} (x_{ij}\wedge y_{ij}).
We show that the matrix [f(x,y)]_{x,y} has ... more >>>

Recently, an extension of the standard data stream model has been introduced in which an algorithm can create and manipulate multiple read/write streams in addition to its input data stream. Like the data stream model, the most important parameter for this model is the amount of internal memory used by ... more >>>

Representations of Boolean functions by real polynomials
play an important role in complexity theory. Typically,
one is interested in the least degree of a polynomial
p(x_1,...,x_n) that approximates or sign-represents
a given Boolean function f(x_1,...,x_n). This article
surveys a new and growing body of work in communication
complexity that centers ... more >>>

We prove n^Omega(1) lower bounds on the multiparty communication complexity of AC^0 functions in the number-on-forehead (NOF) model for up to Theta(log n) players. These are the first lower bounds for any AC^0 function for omega(loglog n) players. In particular we show that there are families of depth 3 read-once ... more >>>

We prove an n^{Omega(1)}/2^{O(k)} lower bound on the randomized k-party communication complexity of read-once depth 4 AC^0 functions in the number-on-forehead (NOF) model for O(log n) players. These are the first non-trivial lower bounds for general NOF multiparty communication complexity for any AC^0 function for omega(log log n) players. For ... more >>>

A very important problem in quantum communication complexity is to show that there is, or isn?t, an exponential gap between randomized and quantum complexity for a total function. There are currently no clear candidate functions for such a separation; and there are fewer and fewer randomized lower bound techniques that ... more >>>

We prove lower bounds on the randomized two-party communication complexity of functions that arise from read-once boolean formulae.

A read-once boolean formula is a formula in propositional logic with the property that every variable appears exactly once. Such a formula can be represented by a tree, where the leaves correspond ... more >>>

The Gap-Hamming-Distance problem arose in the context of proving space
lower bounds for a number of key problems in the data stream model. In
this problem, Alice and Bob have to decide whether the Hamming distance
between their $n$-bit input strings is large (i.e., at least $n/2 +
\sqrt n$) ... more >>>

We define a hierarchy of complexity classes that lie between P and RP, yielding a new way of quantifying partial progress towards the derandomization of RP. A standard approach in derandomization is to reduce the number of random bits an algorithm uses. We instead focus on a model of computation ... more >>>

Does computing n copies of a function require n times the computational effort? In this work, we

give the first non-trivial answer to this question for the model of randomized communication

complexity.

We show that:

1. Computing n copies of a function requires sqrt{n} times the ... more >>>

We present a generic method for converting any family of unsatisfiable CNF formulas that require large resolution rank into CNF formulas whose refutation requires large rank for proof systems that manipulate polynomials or polynomial threshold functions of degree at most $k$ (known as ${\rm Th}(k)$ proofs). Such systems include: Lovasz-Schrijver ... more >>>

This paper makes three main contributions to the theory of communication complexity and stream computation. First, we present new bounds on the information complexity of AUGMENTED-INDEX. In contrast to analogous results for INDEX by Jain, Radhakrishnan and Sen [J. ACM, 2009], we have to overcome the significant technical challenge that ... more >>>

In an unpublished Russian manuscript Razborov proved that a matrix family with high
rigidity over a finite field would yield a language outside the polynomial hierarchy
in communication complexity.

We present an alternative proof that strengthens the original result in several ways.
In particular, we replace rigidity by the strictly ... more >>>

We prove an optimal $\Omega(n)$ lower bound on the randomized
communication complexity of the much-studied
Gap-Hamming-Distance problem. As a consequence, we
obtain essentially optimal multi-pass space lower bounds in the
data stream model for a number of fundamental problems, including
the estimation of frequency moments.

The Gap-Hamming-Distance problem is a ... more >>>

In STOC 1999, Raz presented a (partial) function for which there is a quantum protocol
communicating only $O(\log n)$ qubits, but for which any classical (randomized, bounded-error) protocol requires $\poly(n)$ bits of communication. That quantum protocol requires two rounds of communication. Ever since Raz's paper it was open whether the ... more >>>

We study the communication complexity of symmetric XOR functions, namely functions $f: \{0,1\}^n \times \{0,1\}^n \rightarrow \{0,1\}$ that can be formulated as $f(x,y)=D(|x\oplus y|)$ for some predicate $D: \{0,1,...,n\} \rightarrow \{0,1\}$, where $|x\oplus y|$ is the Hamming weight of the bitwise XOR of $x$ and $y$. We give a public-coin ... more >>>

In 1992, Schulman proved a coding theorem for interactive communication and demonstrated that interactive communication protocols can be made robust to noise with only a constant slow-down (for a sufficiently small error rate) through a black-box reduction. However, this scheme is not computationally {\em efficient}: the running time to construct ... more >>>

We study the communication complexity of evaluating functions when the input data is randomly allocated (according to some known distribution) amongst two or more players, possibly with information overlap. This naturally extends previously studied variable partition models such as the best-case and worst-case partition models. We aim to understand whether ... more >>>

In the gap Hamming distance problem, two parties must
determine whether their respective strings $x,y\in\{0,1\}^n$
are at Hamming distance less than $n/2-\sqrt n$ or greater
than $n/2+\sqrt n.$ In a recent tour de force, Chakrabarti and
Regev (STOC '11) proved the long-conjectured $\Omega(n)$ bound
on the randomized communication ... more >>>

We study differential privacy in a distributed setting where two parties would like to perform analysis of their joint data while preserving privacy for both datasets. Our results imply almost tight lower bounds on the accuracy of such data analyses, both for specific natural functions (such as Hamming distance) and ... more >>>

Let $C$ be a (fan-in $2$) Boolean circuit of size $s$ and depth $d$, and let $x$ be an input for $C$. Assume that a verifier that knows $C$ but doesn't know $x$ can access the low degree extension of $x$ at one random point. Two competing provers try to ... more >>>

The primary goal of this paper is to define and study the interactive information complexity of functions. Let $f(x,y)$ be a function, and suppose Alice is given $x$ and Bob is given $y$. Informally, the interactive information complexity $IC(f)$ of $f$ is the least amount of information Alice and Bob ... more >>>

Suppose each of $k \le n^{o(1)}$ players holds an $n$-bit number $x_i$ in its hand. The players wish to determine if $\sum_{i \le k} x_i = s$. We give a public-coin protocol with error $1\%$ and communication $O(k \lg k)$. The communication bound is independent of $n$, and for $k ... more >>>

We study the $k$-party `number on the forehead' communication complexity of composed functions $f \circ \vec{g}$, where $f:\{0,1\}^n \to \{\pm 1\}$, $\vec{g} = (g_1,\ldots,g_n)$, $g_i : \{0,1\}^k \to \{0,1\}$ and for $(x_1,\ldots,x_k) \in (\{0,1\}^n)^k$, $f \circ \vec{g}(x_1,\ldots,x_k) = f(\ldots,g_i(x_{1,i},\ldots,x_{k,i}), \ldots)$. When $\vec{g} = (g,g,\ldots,g)$ we denote $f \circ \vec{g}$ by ... more >>>

This work is in the line of designing efficient checkers for testing the reliability of some massive data structures. Given a sequential access to the insert/extract operations on such a structure, one would like to decide, a posteriori only, if it corresponds to the evolution of a reliable structure. In ... more >>>

The \textsc{equality} problem is usually one's first encounter with
communication complexity and is one of the most fundamental problems in the
field. Although its deterministic and randomized communication complexity
were settled decades ago, we find several new things to say about the
problem by focusing on two subtle aspects. The ... more >>>

We consider the task of compression of information when the source of the information and the destination do not agree on the prior, i.e., the distribution from which the information is being generated. This setting was considered previously by Kalai et al. (ICS 2011) who suggested that this was a ... more >>>

We develop a new local characterization of the zero-error information complexity function for two party communication problems, and use it to compute the exact internal and external information complexity of the 2-bit AND function: $IC(AND,0) = C_{\wedge}\approx 1.4923$ bits, and $IC^{ext}(AND,0) = \log_2 3 \approx 1.5839$ bits. This leads to ... more >>>

We use self-reduction methods to prove strong information lower bounds on two of the most studied functions in the communication complexity literature: Gap Hamming Distance (GHD) and Inner Product (IP). In our first result we affirm the conjecture that the information cost of GHD is linear even under the uniform ... more >>>

We study the interactive channel capacity of an $\epsilon$-noisy channel. The interactive channel capacity $C(\epsilon)$ is defined as the minimal ratio between the communication complexity of a problem (over a non-noisy channel), and the communication complexity of the same problem over the binary symmetric channel with noise rate $\epsilon$, where ... more >>>

We prove $n^{1+\Omega(1/p)}/p^{O(1)}$ lower bounds for the space complexity of $p$-pass streaming algorithms solving the following problems on $n$-vertex graphs:

* testing if an undirected graph has a perfect matching (this implies lower bounds for computing a maximum matching or even just the maximum matching size),

* testing if two ... more >>>

Communication complexity of XOR functions $f (x \oplus y)$ has attracted increasing attention in recent years, because of its connections to Fourier analysis, and its exhibition of exponential separations between classical and quantum communication complexities of total functions.However, the complexity of certain basic functions still seems elusive especially in the ... more >>>

We consider an instance of the following problem: Parties $P_1,..., P_k$ each receive an input $x_i$, and a coordinator (distinct from each of these parties) wishes to compute $f(x_1,..., x_k)$ for some predicate $f$. We are interested in one-round protocols where each party sends a single message to the coordinator; ... more >>>

Communication complexity is a central model of computation introduced by Yao in 1979, where
two players, Alice and Bob, receive inputs x and y respectively and want to compute $f(x; y)$ for some fixed
function f with the least amount of communication. Recently people have revisited the question of the ... more >>>

We study the power of Arthur-Merlin probabilistic proof systems in the data stream model. We show a canonical $\mathcal{AM}$ streaming algorithm for a wide class of data stream problems. The algorithm offers a tradeoff between the length of the proof and the space complexity that is needed to verify it.

We study the complexity of computing Boolean functions on general
Boolean domains by polynomial threshold functions (PTFs). A typical
example of a general Boolean domain is $\{1,2\}^n$. We are mainly
interested in the length (the number of monomials) of PTFs, with
their degree and weight being of secondary interest. We ... more >>>

We obtain a strong direct product theorem for two-party bounded round communication complexity.
Let suc_r(\mu,f,C) denote the maximum success probability of an r-round communication protocol that uses
at most C bits of communication in computing f(x,y) when (x,y)~\mu.
Jain et al. [JPY12] have recently showed that if
more >>>

We introduce strong, and in many cases optimal, lower bounds for the number of queries required to nonadaptively test three fundamental properties of functions $ f : [n]^d \rightarrow \mathbb R$ on the hypergrid: monotonicity, convexity, and the Lipschitz property.
Our lower bounds also apply to the more restricted setting ... more >>>

We study shared randomness in the context of multi-party number-in-hand communication protocols in the simultaneous message passing model. We show that with three or more players, shared randomness exhibits new interesting properties that have no direct analogues in the two-party case.

First, we demonstrate a hierarchy of modes of shared ... more >>>

In 1989, Babai, Nisan and Szegedy [BNS92] gave a construction of a pseudorandom generator for logspace, based on lower bounds for multiparty communication complexity. The seed length of their pseudorandom generator was $2^{\Theta(\sqrt n)}\,\,\,$, because the best lower bounds for multiparty communication complexity are relatively weak. Subsequently, pseudorandom generators for ... more >>>

A couple of years ago, Blais, Brody, and Matulef put forward a methodology for proving lower bounds on the query complexity
of property testing via communication complexity. They provided a restricted formulation of their methodology
(via ``simple combining operators'')
and also hinted towards a more general formulation, which we spell ... more >>>

We prove that any total boolean function of rank $r$ can be computed by a deterministic communication protocol of complexity $O(\sqrt{r} \cdot \log(r))$. Equivalently, any graph whose adjacency matrix has rank $r$ has chromatic number at most $2^{O(\sqrt{r} \cdot \log(r))}$. This gives a nearly quadratic improvement in the dependence on ... more >>>

We draw two incomplete, biased maps of challenges in
computational complexity lower bounds. Our aim is to put
these challenges in perspective, and to present some
connections which do not seem widely known.

We precisely characterize the role of private randomness in the ability of Alice to send a message to Bob while minimizing the amount of information revealed to him. We show that if using private randomness a message can be transmitted while revealing $I$ bits of information, the transmission can be ... more >>>

We establish a generic form of hardness amplification for the approximability of constant-depth Boolean circuits by polynomials. Specifically, we show that if a Boolean circuit cannot be pointwise approximated by low-degree polynomials to within constant error in a certain one-sided sense, then an OR of disjoint copies of that circuit ... more >>>

We give new characterizations and lower bounds relating classes in the communication complexity polynomial hierarchy and circuit complexity to limited memory communication models.

We introduce the notion of rectangle overlay complexity of a function $f: \{0,1\}^n\times \{0,1\}^n\to\{0,1\}$. This is a natural combinatorial complexity measure in terms of combinatorial rectangles in ... more >>>

The threshold degree of a Boolean function $f$ is the minimum degree of
a real polynomial $p$ that represents $f$ in sign: $f(x)\equiv\mathrm{sgn}\; p(x)$. In a seminal 1969
monograph, Minsky and Papert constructed a polynomial-size constant-depth
$\{\wedge,\vee\}$-circuit in $n$ variables with threshold degree $\Omega(n^{1/3}).$ This bound underlies ... more >>>

We show an exponential gap between communication complexity and information complexity, by giving an explicit example for a communication task (relation), with information complexity $\leq O(k)$, and distributional communication complexity $\geq 2^k$. This shows that a communication protocol cannot always be compressed to its internal information. By a result of ... more >>>

We provide the first communication lower bounds that are sensitive to the network topology for computing natural and simple functions by point to point message passing protocols for the `Number in Hand' model. All previous lower bounds were either for the broadcast model or assumed full connectivity of the network. ... more >>>

We show an exponential gap between communication complexity and information complexity for boolean functions, by giving an explicit example of a partial function with information complexity $\leq O(k)$, and distributional communication complexity $\geq 2^k$. This shows that a communication protocol for a partial boolean function cannot always be compressed to ... more >>>

A few years ago, Blais, Brody, and Matulef (2012) presented a methodology for proving lower bounds for property testing problems by reducing them from problems in communication complexity. Recently, Bhrushundi, Chakraborty, and Kulkarni (2014) showed that some reductions of this type can be deconstructed to two separate reductions, from communication ... more >>>

We show that $T$ rounds of interaction over the binary symmetric channel $BSC_{1/2-\epsilon}$ with feedback can be simulated with $O(\epsilon^2 T)$ rounds of interaction over a noiseless channel. We also introduce a more general "energy cost'' model of interaction over a noisy channel. We show energy cost to be equivalent ... more >>>

We study the maximum possible sign rank of $N \times N$ sign matrices with a given VC dimension $d$. For $d=1$, this maximum is $3$. For $d=2$, this maximum is $\tilde{\Theta}(N^{1/2})$. Similar (slightly less accurate) statements hold for $d>2$ as well. We discuss the tightness of our methods, and describe ... more >>>

The communication complexity of many fundamental problems reduces greatly
when the communicating parties share randomness that is independent of the
inputs to the communication task. Natural communication processes (say between
humans) however often involve large amounts of shared correlations among the
communicating players, but rarely allow for perfect sharing of ... more >>>

The information complexity of a function $f$ is the minimum amount of information Alice and Bob need to exchange to compute the function $f$. In this paper we provide an algorithm for approximating the information complexity of an arbitrary function $f$ to within any additive error $\alpha>0$, thus resolving an ... more >>>

We study the relationship between communication and information in 2-party communication protocols when the information is asymmetric. If $I^A$ denotes the number of bits of information revealed by the first party, $I^B$ denotes the information revealed by the second party, and $C$ is the number of bits of communication in ... more >>>

Information complexity is the interactive analogue of Shannon's classical information theory. In recent years this field has emerged as a powerful tool for proving strong communication lower bounds, and for addressing some of the major open problems in communication complexity and circuit complexity. A notable achievement of information complexity is ... more >>>

Motivated by the quest for a broader understanding of communication complexity of simple functions, we introduce the class of ''permutation-invariant'' functions. A partial function $f:\{0,1\}^n \times \{0,1\}^n\to \{0,1,?\}$ is permutation-invariant if for every bijection $\pi:\{1,\ldots,n\} \to \{1,\ldots,n\}$ and every $\mathbf{x}, \mathbf{y} \in \{0,1\}^n$, it is the case that $f(\mathbf{x}, \mathbf{y}) ... more >>>

We show an exponential gap between communication complexity and external information complexity, by analyzing a communication task suggested as a candidate by Braverman [Bra13]. Previously, only a separation of communication complexity and internal information complexity was known [GKR14,GKR15].

More precisely, we obtain an explicit example of a search problem with ... more >>>

We show how to compress communication in distributed protocols in which parties do not have private inputs. More specifically, we present a generic method for converting any protocol in which parties do not have private inputs, into another protocol where each message is "short" while preserving the same number of ... more >>>

Set cover, over a universe of size $n$, may be modelled as a
data-streaming problem, where the $m$ sets that comprise the instance
are to be read one by one. A semi-streaming algorithm is allowed only
$O(n \text{ poly}\{\log n, \log m\})$ space to process this ... more >>>

If a concept class can be represented with a certain amount of memory, can it be efficiently learned with the same amount of memory? What concepts can be efficiently learned by algorithms that extract only a few bits of information from each example? We introduce a formal framework for studying ... more >>>

We give a self contained proof of a logarithmic lower bound on the communication complexity of any non redundant function, given that there is no access to shared randomness. This bound was first stated in Yao's seminal paper [STOC 1979], but no full proof appears in the literature.

Our proof ... more >>>

The threshold degree of a Boolean function $f$ is the minimum degree of
a real polynomial $p$ that represents $f$ in sign: $f(x)\equiv\mathrm{sgn}\; p(x)$. Introduced
in the seminal work of Minsky and Papert (1969), this notion is central to
some of the strongest algorithmic and complexity-theoretic results for
more >>>

This document collects the lecture notes from my course ``Communication Complexity (for Algorithm Designers),'' taught at
Stanford in the winter quarter of 2015. The two primary goals of the course are:

1. Learn several canonical problems that have proved the most useful for proving lower bounds (Disjointness, Index, Gap-Hamming, etc.). ... more >>>

We study the interactive compression problem: Given a two-party communication protocol with small information cost, can it be compressed so that the total number of bits communicated is also small? We consider the case where the parties have inputs that are independent of each other, and give a simulation protocol ... more >>>

In this paper three complexity measures are studied: (i) internal information, (ii) external information, and (iii) a measure called here "output information". Internal information (i) measures the counter-party privacy-loss inherent in a communication protocol. Similarly, the output information (iii) measures the reduction in input-privacy that is inherent when the output ... more >>>

Suppose Alice holds a uniformly random string $X \in \{0,1\}^N$ and Bob holds a noisy version $Y$ of $X$ where each bit of $X$ is flipped independently with probability $\epsilon \in [0,1/2]$. Alice and Bob would like to extract a common random string of min-entropy at least $k$. In this ... more >>>

Let $f:\{0,1\}^n \to \{0,1\}$ be a boolean function. Its associated XOR function is the two-party function $f_\oplus(x,y) = f(x \oplus y)$.
We show that, up to polynomial factors, the deterministic communication complexity of $f_{\oplus}$ is equal to the parity decision tree complexity of $f$.
This relies on a novel technique ... more >>>

While exponential separations are known between quantum and randomized communication complexity for partial functions, e.g. Raz [1999], the best known separation between these measures for a total function is quadratic, witnessed by the disjointness function. We give the first super-quadratic separation between quantum and randomized
communication complexity for a ... more >>>

The sign-rank of a matrix $A$ with entries in $\{-1, +1\}$ is the least rank of a real matrix $B$ with $A_{ij} \cdot B_{ij} > 0$ for all $i, j$. Razborov and Sherstov (2008) gave the first exponential lower bounds on the sign-rank of a function in AC$^0$, answering an ... more >>>

We study the problem of compressing interactive communication to its
information content $I$, defined as the amount of information that the
participants learn about each other's inputs. We focus on the case when
the participants' inputs are distributed independently and show how to
compress the communication to $O(I\log^{2}I)$ bits, with ... more >>>

Let $G=(V,E)$ be a connected undirected graph with $k$ vertices. Suppose
that on each vertex of the graph there is a player having an $n$-bit
string. Each player is allowed to communicate with its neighbors according
to an agreed communication protocol, and the players must decide,
deterministically, if their inputs ... more >>>

We study the composition question for bounded-error randomized query complexity: Is R(f o g) = Omega(R(f) R(g)) for all Boolean functions f and g? We show that inserting a simple Boolean function h, whose query complexity is only Theta(log R(g)), in between f and g allows us to prove R(f ... more >>>

We show that a simple function has small unbounded error communication complexity in the $k$-party number-on-forehead (NOF) model but every probabilistic protocol that solves it with sub-exponential advantage over random guessing has cost essentially $\Omega\left(\frac{\sqrt{n}}{4^k}\right)$ bits. Such a separation was first shown for $k=2$ independently by Buhrman et al. ['07] ... more >>>

Threshold weight, margin complexity, and Majority-of-Threshold circuit size are basic complexity measures of Boolean functions that arise in learning theory, communication complexity, and circuit complexity. Each of these measures might exhibit a chasm at depth three: namely, all polynomial size Boolean circuits of depth two have polynomial complexity under the ... more >>>

We prove tight network topology dependent bounds on the round complexity of computing well studied $k$-party functions such as set disjointness and element distinctness. Unlike the usual case in the CONGEST model in distributed computing, we fix the function and then vary the underlying network topology. This complements the recent ... more >>>

In both query and communication complexity, we give separations between the class NISZK, containing those problems with non-interactive statistical zero knowledge proof systems, and the class UPP, containing those problems with randomized algorithms with unbounded error. These results significantly improve on earlier query separations of Vereschagin [Ver95] and Aaronson [Aar12] ... more >>>

We define the Streaming Communication model that combines the main aspects of communication complexity and streaming. We consider two agents that want to compute some function that depends on inputs that are distributed to each agent. The inputs arrive as data streams and each agent has a bounded memory. Agents ... more >>>

We prove an essentially sharp $\tilde\Omega(n/k)$ lower bound on the $k$-round distributional complexity of the $k$-step pointer chasing problem under the uniform distribution, when Bob speaks first. This is an improvement over Nisan and Wigderson's $\tilde \Omega(n/k^2)$ lower bound. A key part of the proof is using triangular discrimination instead ... more >>>

We compare two methods for proving lower bounds on standard two-party model of communication complexity, the Rank method and Fooling set method. We present bounds on the number of functions $f(x,y)$, $x,y\in\{0,1\}^n$, with rank of size $k$ and fooling set of size at least k, $k\in [1,2^n]$. Using these bounds ... more >>>

We prove a randomized communication-complexity lower bound for a composed OrderedSearch $\circ$ IP — by lifting the randomized query-complexity lower-bound of OrderedSearch to the communication-complexity setting. We do this by extending ideas from a paper of Raz and Wigderson. We think that the techniques we develop will be useful in ... more >>>

The approximate degree of a Boolean function $f \colon \{-1, 1\}^n \rightarrow \{-1, 1\}$ is the least degree of a real polynomial that approximates $f$ pointwise to error at most $1/3$. We introduce a generic method for increasing the approximate degree of a given function, while preserving its computability by ... more >>>

Interactive coding, pioneered by Schulman (FOCS 1992, STOC 1993), is concerned with making communication protocols resilient to adversarial noise. The canonical model allows the adversary to alter a small constant fraction of symbols, chosen at the adversary's discretion, as they pass through the communication channel. Braverman, Gelles, Mao, and Ostrovsky ... more >>>

We study common randomness where two parties have access to i.i.d. samples from a known random source, and wish to generate a shared random key using limited (or no) communication with the largest possible probability of agreement. This problem is at the core of secret key generation in cryptography, with ... more >>>

We study the parameterized complexity of approximating the $k$-Dominating Set (domset) problem where an integer $k$ and a graph $G$ on $n$ vertices are given as input, and the goal is to find a dominating set of size at most $F(k) \cdot k$ whenever the graph $G$ has a dominating ... 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 >>>

We study the role of interaction in the Common Randomness Generation (CRG) and Secret Key Generation (SKG) problems. In the CRG problem, two players, Alice and Bob, respectively get samples $X_1,X_2,\dots$ and $Y_1,Y_2,\dots$ with the pairs $(X_1,Y_1)$, $(X_2, Y_2)$, $\dots$ being drawn independently from some known probability distribution $\mu$. They ... more >>>

We show a deterministic simulation (or lifting) theorem for composed problems $f \circ EQ_n$ where the inner function (the gadget) is Equality on $n$ bits. When $f$ is a total function on $p$ bits, it is easy to show via a rank argument that the communication complexity of $f\circ EQ_n$ ... more >>>

The threshold degree of a Boolean function $f\colon\{0,1\}^n\to\{0,1\}$ is the minimum degree of a real polynomial $p$ that represents $f$ in sign: $\mathrm{sgn}\; p(x)=(-1)^{f(x)}.$ A related notion is sign-rank, defined for a Boolean matrix $F=[F_{ij}]$ as the minimum rank of a real matrix $M$ with $\mathrm{sgn}\; M_{ij}=(-1)^{F_{ij}}$. Determining the maximum ... more >>>

We show that any Boolean function with approximate rank $r$ can be computed by bounded error quantum protocols without prior entanglement of complexity $O( \sqrt{r} \log r)$. In addition, we show that any Boolean function with approximate rank $r$ and discrepancy $\delta$ can be computed by deterministic protocols of complexity ... more >>>

We prove a sharp lower bound on the distributional communication complexity of the exact gap-hamming problem.

The class $FORMULA[s] \circ \mathcal{G}$ consists of Boolean functions computable by size-$s$ de Morgan formulas whose leaves are any Boolean functions from a class $\mathcal{G}$. We give lower bounds and (SAT, Learning, and PRG) algorithms for $FORMULA[n^{1.99}]\circ \mathcal{G}$, for classes $\mathcal{G}$ of functions with low communication complexity. Let $R^{(k)}(\mathcal{G})$ be ... 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 >>>

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 >>>

We study the $n$-party noisy broadcast channel with a constant fraction of malicious parties. Specifically, we assume that each non-malicious party holds an input bit, and communicates with the others in order to learn the input bits of all non-malicious parties. In each communication round, one of the parties broadcasts ... more >>>

How difficult is it to compute the communication complexity of a two-argument total Boolean function $f:[N]\times[N]\to\{0,1\}$, when it is given as an $N\times N$ binary matrix? In 2009, Kushilevitz and Weinreb showed that this problem is cryptographically hard, but it is still open whether it is NP-hard.

In this ... more >>>

We study the error resilience of the message exchange task: Two parties, each holding a private input, want to exchange their inputs. However, the channel connecting them is governed by an adversary that may corrupt a constant fraction of the transmissions. What is the maximum fraction of corruptions that still ... more >>>

The purpose of this article is to initiate a systematic study of dimension-free relations between basic communication and query complexity measures and various matrix norms. In other words, our goal is to obtain inequalities that bound a parameter solely as a function of another parameter. This is in contrast to ... more >>>

We investigate the randomized and quantum communication complexities of the well-studied Equality function with small error probability $\epsilon$, getting the optimal constant factors in the leading terms in a number of different models.

The following are our results in the randomized model:

1) We give a general technique to convert ... more >>>

This paper aims to derandomize the following problems in the smoothed analysis of Spielman and Teng. Learn Disjunctive Normal Form (DNF), invert Fourier Transforms (FT), and verify small circuits' unsatisfiability. Learning algorithms must predict a future observation from the only $m$ i.i.d. samples of a fixed but unknown joint-distribution $P(G(x),y)$ ... more >>>

In this survey we describe progress over the last decade or so in understanding the complexity of solving constraint satisfaction problems (CSPs) approximately in the streaming and sketching models of computation. After surveying some of the results we give some sketches of the proofs and in particular try to explain ... more >>>

The sign-rank of a matrix $A$ with $\pm 1$ entries is the smallest rank of a real matrix with the same sign pattern as $A$. To the best of our knowledge, there are only three known methods for proving lower bounds on the sign-rank of explicit matrices: (i) Sign-rank is ... more >>>

The approximate degree of a Boolean function $f\colon\{0,1\}^n\to\{0,1\}$ is the minimum degree of a real polynomial $p$ that approximates $f$ pointwise: $|f(x)-p(x)|\leq1/3$ for all $x\in\{0,1\}^n.$ For every $\delta>0,$ we construct CNF and DNF formulas of polynomial size with approximate degree $\Omega(n^{1-\delta}),$ essentially matching the trivial upper bound of $n.$ This ... more >>>

Relations between the decision tree complexity and various other complexity measures of Boolean functions is a thriving topic of research in computational complexity. While decision tree complexity is long known to be polynomially related with many other measures, the optimal exponents of many of these relations are not known. It ... more >>>

We consider the problem of finding a maximal independent set (MIS) in the shared blackboard communication model with vertex-partitioned inputs. There are $n$ players corresponding to vertices of an undirected graph, and each player sees the edges incident on its vertex -- this way, each edge is known by both ... more >>>

A matrix is blocky if it is a blowup of a permutation matrix. The blocky rank of a matrix M is the minimum number of blocky matrices that linearly span M. Hambardzumyan, Hatami and Hatami defined blocky rank and showed that it is connected to communication complexity and operator theory. ... more >>>

Query-to-communication lifting theorems, which connect the query complexity of a Boolean function to the communication complexity of an associated `lifted' function obtained by composing the function with many copies of another function known as a gadget, have been instrumental in resolving many open questions in computational complexity. Several important complexity ... more >>>

The approximate degree of a Boolean function is the minimum degree of real polynomial that approximates it pointwise. For any Boolean function, its approximate degree serves as a lower bound on its quantum query complexity, and generically lifts to a quantum communication lower bound for a related function.

We ... more >>>

We study the two-party communication complexity of functions with large outputs, and show that the communication complexity can greatly vary depending on what output model is considered. We study a variety of output models, ranging from the open model, in which an external observer can compute the outcome, to the ... more >>>

One of the major open problems in complexity theory is to demonstrate an explicit function which requires super logarithmic depth, to tackle this problem Karchmer, Raz and Wigderson proposed the KRW conjecture about composition of two functions. While this conjecture seems out of our current reach, some relaxed conjectures are ... more >>>

The seminal work of Ahn, Guha, and McGregor in 2012 introduced the graph sketching technique and used it to present the first streaming algorithms for various graph problems over dynamic streams with both insertions and deletions of edges. This includes algorithms for cut sparsification, spanners, matchings, and minimum spanning trees ... more >>>

Several theorems and conjectures in communication complexity state or speculate that the complexity of a matrix in a given communication model is controlled by a related analytic or algebraic matrix parameter, e.g., rank, sign-rank, discrepancy, etc. The forward direction is typically easy as the structural implications of small complexity often ... more >>>

Information complexity is one of the most powerful tools to prove information-theoretical lower bounds, with broad applications in communication complexity and streaming algorithms. A core notion in information complexity analysis is the Shannon entropy. Though it has some convenient properties, such as chain rules, Shannon entropy still has inherent limitations. ... more >>>

We fully determine the communication complexity of approximating matrix rank, over any finite field $\mathbb{F}$. We study the most general version of this problem, where $0\leq r < R\leq n$ are given integers, Alice and Bob's inputs are matrices $A,B\in\mathbb{F}^{n\times n}$, respectively, and they need to distinguish between the cases ... more >>>