We initiate a direction for proving lower bounds on the size of non-commutative arithmetic circuits. This direction is based on a connection between lower bounds on the size of \emph{non-commutative} arithmetic circuits and a problem about \emph{commutative} degree four polynomials, the classical sum-of-squares problem: find the smallest $n$ such that ... more >>>

Motivated by the question of basing cryptographic protocols on stateless tamper-proof hardware tokens, we revisit the question of unconditional two-prover zero-knowledge proofs for $NP$. We show that such protocols exist in the {\em interactive PCP} model of Kalai and Raz (ICALP '08), where one of the provers is replaced by ... more >>>

We introduce a 2-round stochastic constraint-satisfaction problem, and show that its approximation version is complete for (the promise version of) the complexity class $\mathsf{AM}$. This gives a `PCP characterization' of $\mathsf{AM}$ analogous to the PCP Theorem for $\mathsf{NP}$. Similar characterizations have been given for higher levels of the Polynomial Hierarchy, ... more >>>