Functional Lower Bounds in Algebraic Proofs: Symmetry, Lifting, and Barriers

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Hakoniemi, Tuomas, Limaye, Nutan, Tzameret, Iddo
Format: Preprint
Published: 2024
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author Hakoniemi, Tuomas
Limaye, Nutan
Tzameret, Iddo
author_facet Hakoniemi, Tuomas
Limaye, Nutan
Tzameret, Iddo
contents Strong algebraic proof systems such as IPS (Ideal Proof System; Grochow-Pitassi [GP18]) offer a general model for deriving polynomials in an ideal and refuting unsatisfiable propositional formulas, subsuming most standard propositional proof systems. A major approach for lower bounding the size of IPS refutations is the Functional Lower Bound Method (Forbes, Shpilka, Tzameret and Wigderson [FSTW21]), which reduces the hardness of refuting a polynomial equation f(x) = 0 with no Boolean solutions to the hardness of computing the function 1/f(x) over the Boolean cube with an algebraic circuit. Using symmetry, we provide a general way to obtain many new hard instances against fragments of IPS via the functional lower bound method. This includes hardness over finite fields and hard instances different from Subset Sum variants, both of which were unknown before, and stronger constant-depth lower bounds. Conversely, we expose the limitation of this method by showing it cannot lead to proof complexity lower bounds for any hard Boolean instance (e.g., CNFs) for any sufficiently strong proof systems.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2412_20114
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Functional Lower Bounds in Algebraic Proofs: Symmetry, Lifting, and Barriers
Hakoniemi, Tuomas
Limaye, Nutan
Tzameret, Iddo
Computational Complexity
03F20, 68Q17
F.2.2; F.1.3
Strong algebraic proof systems such as IPS (Ideal Proof System; Grochow-Pitassi [GP18]) offer a general model for deriving polynomials in an ideal and refuting unsatisfiable propositional formulas, subsuming most standard propositional proof systems. A major approach for lower bounding the size of IPS refutations is the Functional Lower Bound Method (Forbes, Shpilka, Tzameret and Wigderson [FSTW21]), which reduces the hardness of refuting a polynomial equation f(x) = 0 with no Boolean solutions to the hardness of computing the function 1/f(x) over the Boolean cube with an algebraic circuit. Using symmetry, we provide a general way to obtain many new hard instances against fragments of IPS via the functional lower bound method. This includes hardness over finite fields and hard instances different from Subset Sum variants, both of which were unknown before, and stronger constant-depth lower bounds. Conversely, we expose the limitation of this method by showing it cannot lead to proof complexity lower bounds for any hard Boolean instance (e.g., CNFs) for any sufficiently strong proof systems.
title Functional Lower Bounds in Algebraic Proofs: Symmetry, Lifting, and Barriers
topic Computational Complexity
03F20, 68Q17
F.2.2; F.1.3
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2412.20114