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Paper:

TR21-089 | 25th June 2021 18:27

A Relativization Perspective on Meta-Complexity

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TR21-089
Authors: Hanlin Ren, Rahul Santhanam
Publication: 25th June 2021 18:28
Downloads: 781
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Abstract:

Meta-complexity studies the complexity of computational problems about complexity theory, such as the Minimum Circuit Size Problem (MCSP) and its variants. We show that a relativization barrier applies to many important open questions in meta-complexity. We give relativized worlds where:

* MCSP can be solved in deterministic polynomial time, but the search version of MCSP cannot be solved in deterministic polynomial time, even approximately. In contrast, Carmosino, Impagliazzo, Kabanets, Kolokolova [CCC'16] gave a randomized approximate search-to-decision reduction for MCSP with a relativizing proof.

* The complexities of MCSP[2^{n/2}] and MCSP[2^{n/4}] are different, in both worst-case and average-case settings. Thus the complexity of MCSP is not "robust" to the choice of the size function.

* Levin's time-bounded Kolmogorov complexity Kt(x) can be approximated to a factor (2+epsilon) in polynomial time, for any epsilon > 0.

* Natural proofs do not exist, and neither do auxiliary-input one-way functions. In contrast, Santhanam [ITCS'20] gave a relativizing proof that the non-existence of natural proofs implies the existence of one-way functions under a conjecture about optimal hitting sets.

* DistNP does not reduce to GapMINKT by a family of "robust" reductions. This presents a technical barrier for solving a question of Hirahara [FOCS'20].



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