Related papers: Superpolynomial Length Lower Bounds for Tree-Like …
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…
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…
In this paper, we investigate the proof complexity of a wide range of substructural systems. For any proof system $\mathbf{P}$ at least as strong as Full Lambek calculus, $\mathbf{FL}$, and polynomially simulated by the extended Frege…
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…
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 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…
Random 3CNF formulas constitute an important distribution for measuring the average-case behavior of propositional proof systems. Lower bounds for random 3CNF refutations in many propositional proof systems are known. Most notably are the…
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…
Resolution over linear equations is a natural extension of the popular resolution refutation system, augmented with the ability to carry out basic counting. Denoted Res(lin_R), this refutation system operates with disjunctions of linear…
In this note we show that unsatisfiable systems of linear equations with a constant number of variables per equation over prime finite fields have polynomial-size constant-degree semi-algebraic proofs of unsatisfiability. These are proofs…
We study the complexity of small-depth Frege proofs and give the first tradeoffs between the size of each line and the number of lines. Existing lower bounds apply to the overall proof size -- the sum of sizes of all lines -- and do not…
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…
In this paper, we prove super-polynomial lower bounds for the model of \emph{sum of ordered set-multilinear algebraic branching programs}, each with a possibly different ordering ($\sum \mathsf{smABP}$). Specifically, we give an explicit…
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…
For $S \subseteq \{0,1\}^n$ a Boolean function $f \colon S \to \{-1,1\}$ is a polynomial threshold function (PTF) of degree $d$ and weight $W$ if there is a polynomial $p$ with integer coefficients of degree $d$ and with sum of absolute…
We study Frege proofs using depth-$d$ Boolean formulas for the Tseitin contradiction on $n \times n$ grids. We prove that if each line in the proof is of size $M$ then the number of lines is exponential in $n/(\log M)^{O(d)}$. This…
We show that constant-depth Frege systems with counting axioms modulo $m$ polynomially simulate Nullstellensatz refutations modulo $m$. Central to this is a new definition of reducibility from formulas to systems of polynomials with the…
It is known that there are classes of 2-CNFs requiring exponential size non-deterministic read-once branching programs to compute them. However, to the best of our knowledge, there are no superpolynomial lower bounds for branching programs…
We establish new hardness results for decision tree optimization problems, adding to a line of work that dates back to Hyafil and Rivest in 1976. We prove, under randomized ETH, superpolynomial lower bounds for two basic problems: given an…
We investigate the space complexity of refuting $3$-CNFs in Resolution and algebraic systems. No lower bound for refuting any family of $3$-CNFs was previously known for the total space in resolution or for the monomial space in algebraic…