Ramprasad Saptharishi

Arithmetic Circuits: A Chasm at Depth Three

We show that, over Q, if an n-variate polynomial of degree d = n^O(1) is computable by an arithmetic circuit of size s (respectively by an arithmetic branching program of size s) then it can also be computed by a depth three circuit (i.e. a ΣΠΣ-circuit) of size exp(O(√(d log n log d log s))) (respectively of size exp(O(√(d log n log s))). In particular this yields a ΣΠΣ circuit of size exp(O(√(d log d))) computing the d × d determinant Det_d. It also means that if we can prove a lower bound of exp(omega(√(d log d))) on the size of any ΣΠΣ-circuit computing the d × d permanent Perm_d then we get super polynomial lower bounds for the size of any arithmetic branching program computing Perm_d. We then give some further results pertaining to derandomizing polynomial identity testing and circuit lower bounds. The ΣΠΣ circuits that we construct have the property that (some of) the intermediate polynomials have degree much higher than d. Indeed such a counterintuitive construction is unavoidable - it is known that in any ΣΠΣ circuit C computing either Det_d or Perm_d, if every multiplication gate has fanin at most d (or any constant multiple thereof) then C must have size at least exp(Ω(d)).

Approaching the Chasm at Depth Four

Agrawal-Vinay [AV08] and Koiran [Koi12] have recently shown that an exp(ω(√n log2 n)) lower bound for depth four homogeneous circuits computing the permanent with bottom layer of × gates having fanin bounded by √n translates to super-polynomial lower bound for general arithmetic circuits computing the permanent. Motivated by this, we examine the complexity of computing the permanent and determinant via such homogeneous depth four circuits with bounded bottom fanin. We show here that any homogeneous depth four arithmetic circuit with bottom fanin bounded by √n computing the permanent (or the determinant) must be of size exp(Ω(√n)).

A super-polynomial lower bound for regular arithmetic formulas

We consider arithmetic formulas consisting of alternating layers of addition (+) and multiplication (×) gates such that the fanin of all the gates in any fixed layer is the same. Such a formula Φ which additionally has the property that its formal/syntactic degree is at most twice the (total) degree of its output polynomial, we refer to as a regular formula. As usual, we allow arbitrary constants from the underlying field F on the incoming edges to a + gate so that a + gate can in fact compute an arbitrary F-linear combination of its inputs. We show that there is an (n2 + 1)-variate polynomial of degree 2n in VNP such that any regular formula computing it must be of size at least nΩ(log n). Along the way, we examine depth four (ΣΠΣΠ) regular formulas wherein all multiplication gates in the layer adjacent to the inputs have fanin a and all multiplication gates in the layer adjacent to the output node have fanin b. We refer to such formulas as ΣΠ[b]ΣΠ[a]-formulas. We show that there exists an n2-variate polynomial of degree n in VNP such that any ΣΠ[O(√n)]ΣΠ[√n]-formula computing it must have top fan-in at least 2Ω(√n·log n). In comparison, Tavenas [Tav13] has recently shown that every nO(1)-variate polynomial of degree n in VP admits a ΣΠ[O(√n)]ΣΠ[√n]-formula of top fan-in 2O(√n·log n). This means that any further asymptotic improvement in our lower bound for such formulas (to say 2ω(√n log n)) will imply that VP is different from VNP.

Jacobian hits circuits: hitting-sets, lower bounds for depth-D occur-k formulas & depth-3 transcendence degree-k circuits

We present a single common tool to strictly subsume all known cases of polynomial time blackbox polynomial identity testing (PIT), that have been hitherto solved using diverse tools and techniques, over fields of zero or large characteristic. In particular, we show that polynomial time hitting-set generators for identity testing of the two seemingly different and well studied models - depth-3 circuits with bounded top fanin, and constant-depth constant-read multilinear formulas - can be constructed using one common algebraic-geometry theme: Jacobian captures algebraic independence. By exploiting the Jacobian, we design the first efficient hitting-set generators for broad generalizations of the above-mentioned models, namely: - depth-3 (Ω Π Ω) circuits with constant transcendence degree of the polynomials computed by the product gates (no bounded top fanin restriction), and - constant-depth constant-occur formulas (no multilinear restriction). Constant-occur of a variable, as we define it, is a much more general concept than constant-read. Also, earlier work on the latter model assumed that the formula is multilinear. Thus, our work goes further beyond the related results obtained by Saxena & Seshadhri (STOC 2011), Saraf & Volkovich (STOC 2011), Anderson et al. (CCC 2011), Beecken et al. (ICALP 2011) and Grenet et al. (FSTTCS 2011), and brings them under one unifying technique. In addition, using the same Jacobian based approach, we prove exponential lower bounds for the immanant (which includes permanent and determinant) on the same depth-3 and depth-4 models for which we give efficient PIT algorithms. Our results reinforce the intimate connection between identity testing and lower bounds by exhibiting a concrete mathematical tool - the Jacobian - that is equally effective in solving both the problems on certain interesting and previously well-investigated (but not well understood) models of computation.

Hitting sets for multilinear read-once algebraic branching programs, in any order

We give deterministic black-box polynomial identity testing algorithms for multilinear read-once oblivious algebraic branching programs (ROABPs), in nO(log2 n) time. Further, our algorithm is oblivious to the order of the variables. This is the first sub-exponential time algorithm for this model. Furthermore, our result has no known analogue in the model of read-once oblivious boolean branching programs with unknown order. We obtain our results by recasting, and improving upon, the ideas of Agrawal, Saha and Saxena [ASS13]. We phrase the ideas in terms of rank condensers and Wronskians, and show that our results improve upon the classical multivariate Wronskian, which may be of independent interest. In addition, we give the first nO(lg lg n) black-box polynomial identity testing algorithm for the so called model of diagonal circuits. This result improves upon the nΘ(lg n)-time algorithms given by Agrawal, Saha and Saxena [ASS13], and Forbes and Shpilka [FS13b] for this class. More generally, our result holds for any model computing polynomials whose partial derivatives (of all orders) span a low dimensional linear space.

A Case of Depth-3 Identity Testing, Sparse Factorization and Duality

The polynomial identity testing (PIT) problem is known to be challenging even for constant depth arithmetic circuits. In this work, we study the complexity of two special but natural cases of identity testing—first is a case of depth-3 PIT, the other of depth-4 PIT.Our first problem is a vast generalization of verifying whether a bounded top fan-in depth-3 circuit equals a sparse polynomial (given as a sum of monomial terms). Formally, given a depth-3 circuit C, having constant many general product gates and arbitrarily many semidiagonal product gates test whether the output of C is identically zero. A semidiagonal product gate in C computes a product of the form

The Power of Depth 2 Circuits over Algebras

{m \cdot \prod^b_{i=1}l^{e_i}_i}

An exponential lower bound for homogeneous depth-5 circuits over finite fields

, where m is a monomial, li is a linear polynomial, and b is a constant. We give a deterministic polynomial time test, along with the computation of leading monomials of semidiagonal circuits over local rings.The second problem is on verifying a given sparse polynomial factorization, which is a classical question (von zur Gathen, FOCS 1983): Given multivariate sparse polynomials f, g1, . . . , gt explicitly check whether