For $3 \leq q < Q$ we consider the $\text{ApproxColoring}(q,Q)$ problem of deciding for a given graph $G$ whether $\chi(G) \leq q$ or $\chi(G) \geq Q$. It was show in [DMR06] that the problem $\text{ApproxColoring}(q,Q)$ is NP-hard for $q=3,4$ and arbitrary large constant $Q$ under variants of the Unique Games ... more >>>

In 1994, Reck et al. showed how to realize any linear-optical unitary transformation using a product of beamsplitters and phaseshifters. Here we show that any single beamsplitter that nontrivially mixes two modes, also densely generates the set of m by m unitary transformations (or orthogonal transformations, in the real case) ... more >>>

A predicate $f:\{-1,1\}^k \mapsto \{0,1\}$ with $\rho(f) = \frac{|f^{-1}(1)|}{2^k}$ is called {\it approximation resistant} if given a near-satisfiable instance of CSP$(f)$, it is computationally hard to find an assignment that satisfies at least $\rho(f)+\Omega(1)$ fraction of the constraints.

We present a complete characterization of approximation resistant predicates under the ... more >>>