Related papers: Hardness Amplification in Proof Complexity
We call a CNF formula linear if any two clauses have at most one variable in common. We show that there exist unsatisfiable linear k-CNF formulas with at most 4k^2 4^k clauses, and on the other hand, any linear k-CNF formula with at most…
A major open problem in proof complexity is to demonstrate that random 3-CNFs with a linear number of clauses require super-polynomial size refutations in bounded-depth Frege systems. We take the first step towards addressing this question…
The random k-SAT model is the most important and well-studied distribution over k-SAT instances. It is closely connected to statistical physics; it is used as a testbench for satisfiability algorithms, and average-case hardness over this…
Proving proof-size lower bounds for $\mathbf{LK}$, the sequent calculus for classical propositional logic, remains a major open problem in proof complexity. We shed new light on this challenge by isolating the power of structural rules,…
We exhibit families of $4$-CNF formulas over $n$ variables that have sums-of-squares (SOS) proofs of unsatisfiability of degree (a.k.a. rank) $d$ but require SOS proofs of size $n^{\Omega(d)}$ for values of $d = d(n)$ from constant all the…
We consider the task of proving integer infeasibility of a bounded convex $K$ in $\mathbb{R}^n$ using a general branching proof system. In a general branching proof, one constructs a branching tree by adding an integer disjunction…
We show that Cutting Planes (CP) proofs are hard to find: Given an unsatisfiable formula $F$, 1) It is NP-hard to find a CP refutation of $F$ in time polynomial in the length of the shortest such refutation; and 2)unless Gap-Hitting-Set…
Thin spanning trees lie at the intersection of graph theory, approximation algorithms, and combinatorial optimization. They are central to the long-standing \emph{thin tree conjecture}, which asks whether every $k$-edge-connected graph…
We study -- within the framework of propositional proof complexity -- the problem of certifying unsatisfiability of CNF formulas under the promise that any satisfiable formula has many satisfying assignments, where ``many'' stands for an…
In the book Boolean Function Complexity by Stasys Jukna, two lower bound techniques for Tree-like Cutting Plane proofs (henceforth, "Tree-CP proofs") using Karchmer-Widgerson type communication games (henceforth, "KW games") are presented:…
Model counting is a fundamental problem that consists of determining the number of satisfying assignments for a given Boolean formula. The weighted variant, which computes the weighted sum of satisfying assignments, has extensive…
We introduce a certified pruning framework that consolidates the principles of counterfactual consistency and their networked extensions into a single operational model, with consequences for both quantum foundations and cryptographic…
If no optimal propositional proof system exists, we (and independently Pudl\'ak) prove that ruling out length $t$ proofs of any unprovable sentence is hard. This mapping from unprovable to hard-to-prove sentences powerfully translates facts…
This paper first analyzes the resolution complexity of two random CSP models (i.e. Model RB/RD) for which we can establish the existence of phase transitions and identify the threshold points exactly. By encoding CSPs into CNF formulas, it…
In this paper, we analyze 2CNF formulas from the perspectives of Read-Once resolution (ROR) refutation schemes. We focus on two types of ROR refutations, viz., variable-once refutation and clause-once refutation. In the former, each…
We present efficient counting and sampling algorithms for random $k$-SAT when the clause density satisfies $\alpha \le \frac{2^k}{\mathrm{poly}(k)}.$ In particular, the exponential term $2^k$ matches the satisfiability threshold…
Hitting formulas have been studied in many different contexts at least since [Iwama,89]. A hitting formula is a set of Boolean clauses such that any two of them cannot be simultaneously falsified. [Peitl,Szeider,05] conjectured that hitting…
We introduce the problem of finding a satisfying assignment to a CNF formula that must further belong to a prescribed input subspace. Equivalent formulations of the problem include finding a point outside a union of subspaces (the…
This article presents a technique for proving problems hard for classes of the polynomial hierarchy or for PSPACE. The rationale of this technique is that some problem restrictions are able to simulate existential or universal quantifiers.…
Program analysis and verification require decision procedures to reason on theories of data structures. Many problems can be reduced to the satisfiability of sets of ground literals in theory T. If a sound and complete inference system for…