I discuss recent progress in developing and exploiting connections between
SAT algorithms and circuit lower bounds. The centrepiece of the article is
Williams' proof that $NEXP \not \subseteq ACC^0$, which proceeds via a new
algorithm for $ACC^0$-SAT beating brute-force search. His result exploits
a formal connection from non-trivial SAT algorithms ... more >>>

We exhibit an explicit pseudorandom generator that stretches an $O \left( \left( w^4 \log w + \log (1/\varepsilon) \right) \cdot \log n \right)$-bit random seed to $n$ pseudorandom bits that cannot be distinguished from truly random bits by a permutation branching program of width $w$ with probability more than $\varepsilon$. ... more >>>

We prove that a random linear code over $\mathbb{F}_q$, with probability arbitrarily close to $1$, is list decodable at radius $1-1/q-\epsilon$ with list size $L=O(1/\epsilon^2)$ and rate $R=\Omega_q(\epsilon^2/(\log^3(1/\epsilon)))$. Up to the polylogarithmic factor in $1/\epsilon$ and constant factors depending on $q$, this matches the lower bound $L=\Omega_q(1/\epsilon^2)$ for the list ... more >>>