We investigate the power of Algebraic Branching Programs (ABPs) augmented with help polynomials, and constant-depth Boolean circuits augmented with help functions. We relate the problem of proving explicit lower bounds in both these models to the Remote Point Problem (introduced by Alon, Panigrahy, and Yekhanin (RANDOM '09)). More precisely, proving ... more >>>

In this paper we study algebraic branching programs (ABPs) with restrictions on the order and the number of reads of variables in the program. Given a permutation $\pi$ of $n$ variables, for a $\pi$-ordered ABP ($\pi$-OABP), for any directed path $p$ from source to sink, a variable can appear at ... more >>>

An algebraic branching program (ABP) is given by a directed acyclic graph with source and sink vertices $s$ and $t$, respectively, and where edges are labeled by variables or field constants. An ABP computes the sum of weights of all directed paths from $s$ to $t$, where the weight of ... more >>>

For two polynomials $f \in \mathbb{F}[x_1, x_2, \ldots, x_n, y]$ and $p \in \mathbb{F}[x_1, x_2, \ldots, x_n]$, we say that $p$ is a root of $f$, if $f(x_1, x_2, \ldots, x_n, p) \equiv 0$. We study the relation between the arithmetic circuit sizes of $f$ and $p$ for general circuits ... more >>>

We show that there are families of polynomials having small depth-two arithmetic circuits that cannot be expressed by algebraic branching programs of width two. This clarifies the complexity of the problem of computing the product of a sequence of two-by-two matrices, which arises in several
settings.

An algebraic branching program (ABP) is a directed acyclic graph, with a start vertex $s$, and end vertex $t$ and each edge having a weight which is an affine form in $\F[x_1, x_2, \ldots, x_n]$. An ABP computes a polynomial in a natural way, as the sum of weights of ... more >>>

Let us call a matrix $X$ as a linear matrix if its entries are affine forms, i.e. degree one polynomials. What is a minimal-sized representation of a given matrix $F$ as a product of linear matrices? Finding such a minimal representation is closely related to finding an optimal way to ... more >>>

This paper studies lower bounds for arithmetic circuits computing (non-commutative) polynomials. Our conceptual contribution is an exact correspondence between circuits and weighted automata: algebraic branching programs are captured by weighted automata over words, and circuits with unique parse trees by weighted automata over trees.

The key notion for understanding the ... more >>>

We show that any Algebraic Branching Program (ABP) computing the polynomial $\sum_{i = 1}^n x_i^n$ has at least $\Omega(n^2)$ vertices. This improves upon the lower bound of $\Omega(n\log n)$, which follows from the classical result of Baur and Strassen [Str73, BS83], and extends the results by Kumar [Kum19], which showed ... more >>>

Nisan showed in 1991 that the width of a smallest noncommutative single-(source,sink) algebraic branching program (ABP) to compute a noncommutative polynomial is given by the ranks of specific matrices. This means that the set of noncommutative polynomials with ABP width complexity at most $k$ is Zariski-closed, an important property in ... more >>>

Given a multivariate polynomial computed by an arithmetic branching program (ABP) of size $s$, we show that all its factors can be computed by arithmetic branching programs of size $\text{poly}(s)$. Kaltofen gave a similar result for polynomials computed by arithmetic circuits. The previously known best upper bound for ABP-factors was ... more >>>

The determinantal complexity of a polynomial $P \in \mathbb{F}[x_1, \ldots, x_n]$ over a field $\mathbb{F}$ is the dimension of the smallest matrix $M$ whose entries are affine functions in $\mathbb{F}[x_1, \ldots, x_n]$ such that $P = Det(M)$. We prove that the determinantal complexity of the polynomial $\sum_{i = 1}^n x_i^n$ ... more >>>

In this paper we study the problem of efficiently factorizing polynomials in the free noncommutative ring F of polynomials in noncommuting variables x_1,x_2,…,x_n over the field F. We obtain the following result:

Given a noncommutative arithmetic formula of size s computing a noncommutative polynomial f in F as input, where ... more >>>

In this paper, we prove the first super-polynomial and, in fact, exponential lower bound for the model of sum of read-once oblivious algebraic branching programs (ROABPs). In particular, we give an explicit polynomial such that any sum of ROABPs
(equivalently, sum of *ordered* set-multilinear branching programs, each with a ... more >>>