Related papers: $P \ne NP$, propositional proof complexity, and re…
We establish new, and surprisingly tight, connections between propositional proof complexity and finite model theory. Specifically, we show that the power of several propositional proof systems, such as Horn resolution, bounded-width…
The $P$ versus $NP$ problem is still unsolved. But there are several oracles with $P$ unequal $NP$ relative to them. Here we will prove, that $P\not=NP$ relative to a $P$-complete oracle. In this paper, we use padding arguments as the proof…
Abduction is a fundamental and important form of non-monotonic reasoning. Given a knowledge base explaining how the world behaves it aims at finding an explanation for some observed manifestation. In this paper we focus on propositional…
We show that the problem of covering a set of points in the plane with a minimum number of guillotine cuts is NP-complete. To that end, first we present a new NP-completeness proof for the problem of covering points with disjoint line…
We show that for every integer $k \geq 2$, the Res($k$) propositional proof system does not have the weak feasible disjunction property. Next, we generalize a recent result of Atserias and M\"uller [FOCS, 2019] to Res($k$). We show that if…
As Paris and Harrington have famously shown, Peano Arithmetic does not prove that for all numbers $k,m,n$ there is an $N$ which satisfies the statement $\operatorname{PH}(k,m,n,N)$: For any $k$-colouring of its $n$-element subsets the set…
The determinantal complexity of a polynomial $P \in \mathbb{F}[x_1, \ldots, x_n]$ over a field $\mathbb{F}$ is the dimension of the smallest matrix $M$ whose entries are affine functions in $\mathbb{F}[x_1, \ldots, x_n]$ such that $P =…
The Cook-Reckhow 1979 paper defined the area of research we now call Proof Complexity. There were earlier papers which contributed to the subject as we understand it today, the most significant being Tseitin's 1968 paper, but none of them…
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…
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…
Feasible interpolation is a general technique for proving proof complexity lower bounds. The monotone version of the technique converts, in its basic variant, lower bounds for monotone Boolean circuits separating two NP-sets to proof…
In economics and social choice single-peakedness is one of the most important and commonly studied models for preferences. It is well known that single-peaked consistency for total orders is in P. However in practice a preference profile is…
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…
The (combinatorial) diameter of a polytope $P \subseteq \mathbb R^d$ is the maximum value of a shortest path between a pair of vertices on the 1-skeleton of $P$, that is the graph where the nodes are given by the $0$-dimensional faces of…
We give simple deterministic reductions demonstrating the NP-hardness of approximating the nearest codeword problem and minimum distance problem within arbitrary constant factors (and almost-polynomial factors assuming NP cannot be solved…
We present a complete proof of the Weak Gravity Conjecture in any perturbative bosonic string theory in spacetime dimension $D\ge6$. Our proof works by relating the black hole extremality bound to long range forces, which are more easily…
The purpose of this article is to examine and limit the conditions in which the P complexity class could be equivalent to the NP complexity class. Proof is provided by demonstrating that as the number of clauses in a NP-complete problem…
A regularity lemma for polynomials provides a decomposition in terms of a bounded number of approximately independent polynomials. Such regularity lemmas play an important role in numerous results, yet suffer from the familiar shortcoming…
We study the complexity of proof systems augmenting resolution with inference rules that allow, given a formula $\Gamma$ in conjunctive normal form, deriving clauses that are not necessarily logically implied by $\Gamma$ but whose addition…
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,…