A major open problem in proof complexity is to prove superpolynomial lower bounds for AC0[p]-Frege proofs. This system is the analog of AC0 [p], the class of bounded depth circuits with prime modular counting gates. Despite strong lower bounds for this class dating back thirty years ([28, 30]), there are no significant lower bounds for AC0 [p]-Frege. Significant and extensive degree lower bounds have been obtained for a variety of subsystems of AC0[p]-Frege, including Nullstellensatz ([3]), Polynomial Calculus ([9]), and SOS ([14]). However to date there has been no progress on AC0 [p]-Frege lower bounds.
In this paper we study constant-depth extensions of the Polynomial Calculus [13]. We show that these extensions are much more powerful than was previously known. Our main result is that small depth (≤ 43) Polynomial Calculus (over a sufficiently large field) can polynomially effectively simulate all of the well-studied semialgebraic proof systems: Cutting Planes, Sherali-Adams, Sum-of-Squares (SOS), and Positivstellensatz Calculus (Dynamic SOS). Additionally, they can also quasi-polynomially effectively simulate AC0[q]-Frege for any prime q independent of the characteristic of the underlying field. They can also effectively simulate TC0-Frege if the depth is allowed to grow proportionally. Thus, proving strong lower bounds for constant-depth extensions of Polynomial Calculus would not only give lower bounds for AC0 [p]-Frege, but also for systems as strong as TC0-Frege.
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Stabbing Planes
We develop a new semi-algebraic proof system called Stabbing Planes which formalizes modern branch-and-cut algorithms for integer programming and is in the style of DPLL-based modern SAT solvers. As with DPLL there is only a single rule: the current polytope can be subdivided by branching on an inequality and its “integer negation.” That is, we can (non-deterministically choose) a hyperplane ax ≥ b with integer coefficients, which partitions the polytope into three pieces: the points in the polytope satisfying ax ≥ b, the points satisfying ax ≤ b, and the middle slab b − 1 < ax < b. Since the middle slab contains no integer points it can be safely discarded, and the algorithm proceeds recursively on the other two branches. Each path terminates when the current polytope is empty, which is polynomial-time checkable. Among our results, we show that Stabbing Planes can efficiently simulate the Cutting Planes proof system, and is equivalent to a tree-like variant of the R(CP) system of Krajicek [54]. As well, we show that it possesses short proofs of the canonical family of systems of F_2-linear equations known as the Tseitin formulas. Finally, we prove linear lower bounds on the rank of Stabbing Planes refutations by adapting lower bounds in communication complexity and use these bounds in order to show that Stabbing Planes proofs cannot be balanced.
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- NSF-PAR ID:
- 10343001
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- ArXivorg
- Volume:
- arxiv:2017
- Issue:
- arxiv:1710.03219v2
- ISSN:
- 2331-8422
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 1-29
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
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Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Journal Article:
- https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.1710.03219
