Related papers: Improved Optimal Testing Results from Global Hyper…
We give new explicit constructions of several fundamental objects in linear-algebraic pseudorandomness and combinatorics, including lossless rank extractors, weak subspace designs, and strong $s$-blocking sets over finite fields. Our focus…
In this paper we offer a complete methodology for sufficient dimension reduction called the test function (TF). TF provides a new family of methods for the estimation of the central subspace (CS) based on the introduction of a nonlinear…
Let $V$ be a vector space over a finite field $k$. We give a condition on a subset $A \subset V$ that allows for a local criterion for checking when a function $f:A \to k$ is a restriction of a polynomial function of degree $<m$ on $V$. In…
Let $\mathcal{P}$ be a property of function $\mathbb{F}_p^n \to \{0,1\}$ for a fixed prime $p$. An algorithm is called a tester for $\mathcal{P}$ if, given a query access to the input function $f$, with high probability, it accepts when $f$…
We design new polynomials for representing threshold functions in three different regimes: probabilistic polynomials of low degree, which need far less randomness than previous constructions, polynomial threshold functions (PTFs) with…
Testing whether a set $\mathbf{f}$ of polynomials has an algebraic dependence is a basic problem with several applications. The polynomials are given as algebraic circuits. Algebraic independence testing question is wide open over finite…
Sequential testing problems involve a complex system with several components, each of which is "working" with some independent probability. The outcome of each component can be determined by performing a test, which incurs some cost. The…
We study the computational limits of the following general hypothesis testing problem. Let H=H_n be an \emph{arbitrary} undirected graph on n vertices. We study the detection task between a ``null'' Erd\H{o}s-R\'{e}nyi random graph G(n,p)…
It has recently been shown that the problem of testing global convexity of polynomials of degree four is {strongly} NP-hard, answering an open question of N.Z. Shor. This result is minimal in the degree of the polynomial when global…
The current paper studies the problem of agnostic $Q$-learning with function approximation in deterministic systems where the optimal $Q$-function is approximable by a function in the class $\mathcal{F}$ with approximation error $\delta \ge…
We identify a sufficient condition, treewidth-pliability, that gives a polynomial-time algorithm for an arbitrarily good approximation of the optimal value in a large class of Max-2-CSPs parameterised by the class of allowed constraint…
The textbook adversary bound for function evaluation states that to evaluate a function $f\colon D\to C$ with success probability $\frac{1}{2}+\delta$ in the quantum query model, one needs at least $\left( 2\delta -\sqrt{1-4\delta^2}…
In this paper, two structural results concerning low degree polynomials over finite fields are given. The first states that over any finite field $\mathbb{F}$, for any polynomial $f$ on $n$ variables with degree $d \le \log(n)/10$, there…
We consider the following basic problem: given an $n$-variate degree-$d$ homogeneous polynomial $f$ with real coefficients, compute a unit vector $x \in \mathbb{R}^n$ that maximizes $|f(x)|$. Besides its fundamental nature, this problem…
This paper concerns the construction of tests for universal hypothesis testing problems, in which the alternate hypothesis is poorly modeled and the observation space is large. The mismatched universal test is a feature-based technique for…
We theoretically explore the relationship between sample-efficiency and adaptivity in reinforcement learning. An algorithm is sample-efficient if it uses a number of queries $n$ to the environment that is polynomial in the dimension $d$ of…
Hardness results for maximum agreement problems have close connections to hardness results for proper learning in computational learning theory. In this paper we prove two hardness results for the problem of finding a low degree polynomial…
The Degree Realization problem requires, given a sequence $d$ of $n$ positive integers, to decide whether there exists a graph whose degrees correspond to $d$, and to construct such a graph if it exists. A more challenging variant of the…
Group testing is concerned with identifying $t$ defective items in a set of $m$ items, where each test reports whether a specific subset of items contains at least one defective. In non-adaptive group testing, the subsets to be tested are…
We consider the class of polynomial optimization problems $\inf \{f(x):x\in K\}$ for which the quadratic module generated by the polynomials that define $K$ and the polynomial $c-f$ (for some scalar $c$) is Archimedean. For such problems,…