A PSPACE construction of a hitting set for the closure of small algebraic circuits

Michael A. Forbes, Amir Shpilka

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionpeer-review

Abstract

In this paper we study the complexity of constructing a hitting set for VP, the class of polynomials that can be infinitesimally approximated by polynomials that are computed by polynomial sized algebraic circuits, over the real or complex numbers. Specifically, we show that there is a PSPACE algorithm that given n, s, r in unary outputs a set of inputs from Qn of size poly(n, s, r), with poly(n, s, r) bit complexity, that hits all n-variate polynomials of degree r that are the limit of size s algebraic circuits. Previously it was known that a random set of this size is a hitting set, but a construction that is certified to work was only known in EXPSPACE (or EXPH assuming the generalized Riemann hypothesis). As a corollary we get that a host of other algebraic problems such as Noether Normalization Lemma, can also be solved in PSPACE deterministically, where earlier only randomized algorithms and EXPSPACE algorithms (or EXPH assuming the generalized Riemann hypothesis) were known. The proof relies on the new notion of a robust hitting set which is a set of inputs such that any nonzero polynomial that can be computed by a polynomial size algebraic circuit, evaluates to a not too small value on at least one element of the set. Proving the existence of such a robust hitting set is the main technical difficulty in the proof. Our proof uses anti-concentration results for polynomials, basic tools from algebraic geometry and the existential theory of the reals.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationSTOC 2018 - Proceedings of the 50th Annual ACM SIGACT Symposium on Theory of Computing
EditorsMonika Henzinger, David Kempe, Ilias Diakonikolas
PublisherAssociation for Computing Machinery
Pages87-99
Number of pages13
ISBN (Electronic)9781450355599
DOIs
StatePublished - 20 Jun 2018
Event50th Annual ACM Symposium on Theory of Computing, STOC 2018 - Los Angeles, United States
Duration: 25 Jun 201829 Jun 2018

Publication series

NameProceedings of the Annual ACM Symposium on Theory of Computing

Conference

Conference50th Annual ACM Symposium on Theory of Computing, STOC 2018
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CityLos Angeles
Period25/06/1829/06/18

Keywords

  • Algebraic circuits
  • Arithmetic circuits
  • Explicit construction
  • Hitting-set
  • PSPACE
  • Polynomial identity testing

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Software

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'A PSPACE construction of a hitting set for the closure of small algebraic circuits'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this