We give a new simple proof for the Isolation Lemma, with slightly better parameters, that also gives non-trivial results even when the weight domain $m$ is smaller than the number of variables $n$.

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We prove that random $n$-by-$n$ Toeplitz (alternatively Hankel) matrices over $GF(2)$ have rigidity $\Omega(\frac{n^3}{r^2\log n})$ for rank $r \ge \sqrt{n}$, with high probability. This improves, for $r = o(n/\log n \log\log n)$, over the $\Omega(\frac{n^2}{r} \cdot\log(\frac{n}{r}))$ bound that is known for many explicit matrices.

Our result implies that the explicit ... more >>>

We study the problem of obtaining lower bounds for polynomial calculus (PC) and polynomial calculus resolution (PCR) on proof degree, and hence by [Impagliazzo et al. '99] also on proof size. [Alekhnovich and Razborov '03] established that if the clause-variable incidence graph of a CNF formula F is a good ... more >>>