We prove that for every constant $c$ and $\epsilon = (\log n)^{-c}$, there is no polynomial time algorithm that when given an instance of 3LIN with $n$ variables where an $(1 - \epsilon)$-fraction of the clauses are satisfiable, finds an assignment that satisfies at least $(\frac{1}{2} + \epsilon)$-fraction of clauses ... more >>>

Dinur's celebrated proof of the PCP theorem alternates two main steps in several iterations: gap amplification to increase the soundness gap by a large constant factor (at the expense of much larger alphabet size), and a composition step that brings back the alphabet size to an absolute constant (at the ... more >>>

In [12] (CCC 2013), the authors presented an algorithm for the reachability problem over directed planar graphs that runs in polynomial-time and uses $O(n^{1/2+\epsilon})$ space. A critical ingredient of their algorithm is a polynomial-time, $\tldO(\sqrt{n})$-space algorithm to compute a separator of a planar graph. The conference version provided a sketch ... more >>>