English

Approximate Constraint Satisfaction Requires Large LP Relaxations

Computational Complexity 2016-02-09 v3 Data Structures and Algorithms Combinatorics Optimization and Control

Abstract

We prove super-polynomial lower bounds on the size of linear programming relaxations for approximation versions of constraint satisfaction problems. We show that for these problems, polynomial-sized linear programs are exactly as powerful as programs arising from a constant number of rounds of the Sherali-Adams hierarchy. In particular, any polynomial-sized linear program for Max Cut has an integrality gap of 1/2 and any such linear program for Max 3-Sat has an integrality gap of 7/8.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1309.0563,
  title  = {Approximate Constraint Satisfaction Requires Large LP Relaxations},
  author = {Siu On Chan and James R. Lee and Prasad Raghavendra and David Steurer},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1309.0563},
  year   = {2016}
}

Comments

29 pages; significant revisions, new references, simpler proofs

R2 v1 2026-06-22T01:19:28.352Z