Related papers: Short Propositional Refutations for Dense Random 3…
For any unsatisfiable CNF formula we give an exponential lower bound on the size of resolution refutations of a propositional statement that the formula has a resolution refutation. We describe three applications. (1) An open question in…
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…
We formalize a combinatorial principle, called the 3XOR principle, due to Feige, Kim and Ofek (2006), as a family of unsatisfiable propositional formulas for which refutations of small size in any propositional proof system that possesses…
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…
We prove superpolynomial length lower bounds for the semantic tree-like Frege refutation system with bounded line size. Concretely, for any function $n^{2-\varepsilon} \leq s(n) \leq 2^{n^{1-\varepsilon}}$ we exhibit an explicit family…
We prove that there are 3-CNF formulas over n variables that can be refuted in resolution in width w but require resolution proofs of size n^Omega(w). This shows that the simple counting argument that any formula refutable in width w must…
Does every Boolean tautology have a short propositional-calculus proof? Here, a propositional calculus (i.e. Frege) proof is a proof starting from a set of axioms and deriving new Boolean formulas using a set of fixed sound derivation…
As a natural extension of the SAT problem, an array of proof systems for quantified Boolean formulas (QBF) have been proposed, many of which extend a propositional proof system to handle universal quantification. By formalising the…
Atserias and M\"uller (JACM, 2020) proved that for every unsatisfiable CNF formula $\varphi$, the formula $\operatorname{Ref}(\varphi)$, stating "$\varphi$ has small Resolution refutations", does not have subexponential-size Resolution…
Let $\phi$ be a 3CNF formula with n variables and m clauses. A simple nonconstructive argument shows that when m is sufficiently large compared to n, most 3CNF formulas are not satisfiable. It is an open question whether there is an…
Since the introduction of the Ideal Proof System (IPS) by Grochow and Pitassi (J. ACM 2018), a substantial body of work has established size lower bounds for IPS and its fragments. In particular, Forbes, Shpilka, Tzameret, and Wigderson…
We present a general method for converting any family of unsatisfiable CNF formulas that is hard for one of the simplest proof systems, tree resolution, into formulas that require large rank in any proof system that manipulates polynomials…
We display an application of the notions of kernelization and data reduction from parameterized complexity to proof complexity: Specifically, we show that the existence of data reduction rules for a parameterized problem having (a). a…
This work, shows how propositional resolution can be generalized to obtain a resolution proof system for constrained pseudo-propositional logic (CPPL), which is an extension resulted from inserting the natural numbers with few constraints…
In this note we show that any $k$-CNF which can be refuted by a quasi-polynomial $\mathsf{Res}^*(\mathsf{polylog})$ refutation has a "narrow" refutation in $\mathsf{Res}$ (i.e., of poly-logarithmic width). We also show the converse…
We analyse how the standard reductions between constraint satisfaction problems affect their proof complexity. We show that, for the most studied propositional, algebraic, and semi-algebraic proof systems, the classical constructions of…
We study the *refuter* problems for proof complexity lower bounds. Suppose $\varphi$ is a hard tautology that does not admit any length-$s$ proof in some proof system $P$. In the corresponding refuter problem, we are given (query access to)…
Lower bounds against strong algebraic proof systems and specifically fragments of the Ideal Proof System (IPS), have been obtained in an ongoing line of work. All of these bounds, however, are proved only over large (or characteristic $0$)…
We demonstrate a family of propositional formulas in conjunctive normal form so that a formula of size $N$ requires size $2^{\Omega(\sqrt[7]{N/logN})}$ to refute using the tree-like OBDD refutation system of Atserias, Kolaitis and Vardi…
We investigate the size complexity of proofs in $Res(s)$ -- an extension of Resolution working on $s$-DNFs instead of clauses -- for families of contradictions given in the {\em unusual binary} encoding. A motivation of our work is size…