The relationship between the complexity classes $P$ and $NP$ is an unsolved question in the field of theoretical computer science. In the first part of this paper, a lattice framework is proposed to handle the 3-CNF-SAT problems, known to be in $NP$. In the second section, we define a multi-linear descriptor function ${\cal H}_φ$ for any 3-CNF-SAT problem $φ$ of size $n$, in the sense that ${\cal H}_φ: \{0,1\}^n \rightarrow \{0,1\}^n$ is such that $Im \; {\cal H}_φ$ is the set of all the solutions of $φ$. A new merge operation ${\cal H}_φ\bigwedge {\cal H}_ψ$ is defined, where $ψ$ is a single 3-CNF clause. Given ${\cal H}_φ$ [but this can be of exponential complexity], the complexity needed for the computation of $Im \; {\cal H}_φ$, the set of all solutions, is shown to be polynomial for hard 3-CNF-SAT problems, i.e. the one with few ($\leq 2^k$) or no solutions. The third part uses the relation between ${\cal H}_φ$ and the indicator function $\mathbb{1}_{{\cal S}_φ}$ for the set of solutions, to develop a greedy polynomial algorithm to solve hard 3-CNF-SAT problems.
We consider the fundamental derandomization problem of deterministically finding a satisfying assignment to a CNF formula that has many satisfying assignments. We give a deterministic algorithm which, given an $n$-variable $\mathrm{poly}(n)$-clause CNF formula $F$ that has at least $\varepsilon 2^n$ satisfying assignments, runs in time \[ n^{\tilde{O}(\log\log n)^2} \] for $\varepsilon \ge 1/\mathrm{polylog}(n)$ and outputs a satisfying assignment of $F$. Prior to our work the fastest known algorithm for this problem was simply to enumerate over all seeds of a pseudorandom generator for CNFs; …
In this paper, we analyze the argument made by Kumar in the technical report "Necessary and Sufficient Condition for Satisfiability of a Boolean Formula in CNF and Its Implications on P versus NP problem." The paper claims to present a polynomial-time algorithm that decides CNF-SAT. We show that the paper's analysis is flawed and that the fundamental underpinning of its algorithm requires an exponential number of steps on infinitely many inputs.
The relationship between the complexity classes P and NP is an unsolved question in the field of theoretical computer science. In this paper, we investigate a descriptor approach based on lattice properties. This paper proposes a new way to decide the satisfiability of any 3-CNF-SAT problem. The analysis of this exact [non heuristical] algorithm shows a strictly bounded exponential complexity. The complexity of any 3-CNF-SAT solution is bounded by O(2^490). This over-estimated bound is reached by an algorithm working on the smallest description (via descriptor functions) of the evolving set of…
We describe an algorithm to solve the problem of Boolean CNF-Satisfiability when the input formula is chosen randomly. We build upon the algorithms of Sch{ö}ning 1999 and Dantsin et al.~in 2002. The Sch{ö}ning algorithm works by trying many possible random assignments, and for each one searching systematically in the neighborhood of that assignment for a satisfying solution. Previous algorithms for this problem run in time $O(2^{n (1- Ω(1)/k)})$. Our improvement is simple: we count how many clauses are satisfied by each randomly sampled assignment, and only search in the neighborhoods of assig…
The random k-SAT model is the most important and well-studied distribution over k-SAT instances. It is closely connected to statistical physics; it is used as a testbench for satisfiability algorithms, and average-case hardness over this distribution has also been linked to hardness of approximation via Feige's hypothesis. We prove that any Cutting Planes refutation for random k-SAT requires exponential size, for k that is logarithmic in the number of variables, in the (interesting) regime where the number of clauses guarantees that the formula is unsatisfiable with high probability.
We present a general framework for good CNF-representations of boolean constraints, to be used for translating decision problems into SAT problems (i.e., deciding satisfiability for conjunctive normal forms). We apply it to the representation of systems of XOR-constraints, also known as systems of linear equations over the two-element field, or systems of parity constraints. The general framework defines the notion of "representation", and provides several methods to measure the quality of the representation by the complexity ("hardness") needed for making implicit "knowledge" of the represent…
Boolean satisfiability problem has applications in various fields. An efficient algorithm to solve satisfiability problem can be used to solve many other problems efficiently. The input of satisfiability problem is a finite set of clauses. In this paper, properties of clauses have been studied. A type of clauses have been defined, called fully populated clauses, which contains each variable exactly once. A relationship between two unequal fully populated clauses has been defined, called sibling clauses. It has been found that, if one fully populated clause is false, for a truth assignment, the…
This paper is devoted to the complexity of the Boolean satisfiability problem. We consider a version of this problem, where the Boolean formula is specified in the conjunctive normal form. We prove an unexpected result that the CNF-satisfiability problem can be solved by a deterministic Turing machine in polynomial time.
Recent universal-hashing based approaches to sampling and counting crucially depend on the runtime performance of SAT solvers on formulas expressed as the conjunction of both CNF constraints and variable-width XOR constraints (known as CNF-XOR formulas). In this paper, we present the first study of the runtime behavior of SAT solvers equipped with XOR-reasoning techniques on random CNF-XOR formulas. We empirically demonstrate that a state-of-the-art SAT solver scales exponentially on random CNF-XOR formulas across a wide range of XOR-clause densities, peaking around the empirical phase-transit…
We say that a graph with $n$ vertices is $c$-Ramsey if it does not contain either a clique or an independent set of size $c \log n$. We define a CNF formula which expresses this property for a graph $G$. We show a superpolynomial lower bound on the length of resolution proofs that $G$ is $c$-Ramsey, for every graph $G$. Our proof makes use of the fact that every Ramsey graph must contain a large subgraph with some of the statistical properties of the random graph.
ENS Cachan（卡尚高等师范学校）；Inria（法国国家信息与自动化研究所）；Université Paris Diderot（巴黎狄德罗大学）；Ecole Polytechnique（巴黎综合理工学院）
We extend the knowledge about so-called structural restrictions of $\mathrm{\#SAT}$ by giving a polynomial time algorithm for $β$-acyclic $\mathrm{\#SAT}$. In contrast to previous algorithms in the area, our algorithm does not proceed by dynamic programming but works along an elimination order, solving a weighted version of constraint satisfaction. Moreover, we give evidence that this deviation from more standard algorithm is not a coincidence, but that there is likely no dynamic programming algorithm of the usual style for $β$-acyclic $\mathrm{\#SAT}$.
In this paper we propose a structural parameter of CNF formulas and use it to identify instances of weighted MaxSAT and #SAT that can be solved in polynomial time. Given a CNF formula we say that a set of clauses is precisely satisfiable if there is some complete assignment satisfying these clauses only. Let the ps-value of the formula be the number of precisely satisfiable sets of clauses. Applying the notion of branch decompositions to CNF formulas and using ps-value as cut function, we define the ps-width of a formula. For a formula given with a decomposition of polynomial ps-width we show …
University of British Columbia Okanagan（不列颠哥伦比亚大学奥肯那根分校）
We study random instances of the weighted $d$-CNF satisfiability problem (WEIGHTED $d$-SAT), a generic W[1]-complete problem. A random instance of the problem consists of a fixed parameter $k$ and a random $d$-CNF formula $\weicnf{n}{p}{k, d}$ generated as follows: for each subset of $d$ variables and with probability $p$, a clause over the $d$ variables is selected uniformly at random from among the $2^d - 1$ clauses that contain at least one negated literals. We show that random instances of WEIGHTED $d$-SAT can be solved in $O(k^2n + n^{O(1)})$-time with high probability, indicating that ty…
The CNF formula satisfiability problem (CNF-SAT) has been reduced to many fundamental problems in P to prove tight lower bounds under the Strong Exponential Time Hypothesis (SETH). Recently, the works of Abboud, Hansen, Vassilevska W. and Williams (STOC 16), and later, Abboud and Bringmann (ICALP 18) have proposed basing lower bounds on the hardness of general boolean formula satisfiability (Formula-SAT). Reductions from Formula-SAT have two advantages over the usual reductions from CNF-SAT: (1) conjectures on the hardness of Formula-SAT are arguably much more plausible than those of CNF-SAT, …
We present a simple randomized algorithm that approximates the number of satisfying assignments of Boolean formulas in conjunctive normal form. To the best of our knowledge this is the first algorithm which approximates #k-SAT for any k >= 3 within a running time that is not only non-trivial, but also significantly better than that of the currently fastest exact algorithms for the problem. More precisely, our algorithm is a randomized approximation scheme whose running time depends polynomially on the error tolerance and is mildly exponential in the number n of variables of the input formula. …
The aim of the paper is to answer a long-standing open problem on the relationship between NP and BQP. The paper shows that BQP contains NP by proposing a BQP quantum algorithm for the MAX-E3-SAT problem which is a fundamental NP-hard problem. Given an E3-CNF Boolean formula, the aim of the MAX-E3-SAT problem is to find the variable assignment that maximizes the number of satisfied clauses. The proposed algorithm runs in $O(m^2)$ for an E3-CNF Boolean formula with $m$ clauses and in the worst case runs in $O(n^6)$ for an E3-CNF Boolean formula with $n$ inputs. The proposed algorithm maximizes …
Given a CNF formula $F$, we present a new algorithm for deciding the satisfiability (SAT) of $F$ and computing all solutions of assignments. The algorithm is based on the concept of \emph{cofactors} known in the literature. This paper is a fallout of the previous work by authors on Boolean satisfiability \cite{sul1, sul2,sude}, however the algorithm is essentially independent of the orthogonal expansion concept over which previous papers were based. The algorithm selects a single concrete cofactor recursively by projecting the search space to the set which satisfies a CNF in the formula. This …
Open questions with respect to the computational complexity of linear CNF formulas in connection with regularity and uniformity are addressed. In particular it is proven that any l-regular monotone CNF formula is XSAT-unsatisfiable if its number of clauses m is not a multiple of l. For exact linear formulas one finds surprisingly that l-regularity implies k-uniformity, with m = 1 + k(l-1)) and allowed k-values obey k(k-1) = 0 (mod l). Then the computational complexity of the class of monotone exact linear and l-regular CNF formulas with respect to XSAT can be determined: XSAT-satisfiability is…
The field of exact exponential time algorithms for NP-hard problems has thrived over the last decade. While exhaustive search remains asymptotically the fastest known algorithm for some basic problems, difficult and non-trivial exponential time algorithms have been found for a myriad of problems, including Graph Coloring, Hamiltonian Path, Dominating Set and 3-CNF-Sat. In some instances, improving these algorithms further seems to be out of reach. The CNF-Sat problem is the canonical example of a problem for which the trivial exhaustive search algorithm runs in time O(2^n), where n is the numb…
Cook's theorem is commonly expressed such as any polynomial time-verifiable problem can be reduced to the SAT problem. The proof of Cook's theorem consists in constructing a propositional formula A(w) to simulate a computation of TM, and such A(w) is claimed to be CNF to represent a polynomial time-verifiable problem w. In this paper, we investigate A(w) through a very simple example and show that, A(w) has just an appearance of CNF, but not a true logical form. This case study suggests that there exists the begging the question in Cook's theorem.
Majority-SAT is the problem of determining whether an input $n$-variable formula in conjunctive normal form (CNF) has at least $2^{n-1}$ satisfying assignments. Majority-SAT and related problems have been studied extensively in various AI communities interested in the complexity of probabilistic planning and inference. Although Majority-SAT has been known to be PP-complete for over 40 years, the complexity of a natural variant has remained open: Majority-$k$SAT, where the input CNF formula is restricted to have clause width at most $k$. We prove that for every $k$, Majority-$k$SAT is in P. In …
We present a general method for converting any family of unsatisfiable CNF formulas that is hard for one of the simplest proof systems, tree resolution, into formulas that require large rank in any proof system that manipulates polynomials or polynomial threshold functions of degree at most k (known as Th(k) proofs). Such systems include Lovasz-Schrijver and Cutting Planes proof systems as well as their high degree analogues. These are based on analyzing two new proof systems, denoted by T^cc(k) and R^cc(k). The proof lines of T^cc(k) are arbitrary Boolean functions, each of which can be evalu…
Institute of Information Systems（信息系统研究所）；Vienna University of Technology（维也纳工业大学）
There are various approaches to exploiting "hidden structure" in instances of hard combinatorial problems to allow faster algorithms than for general unstructured or random instances. For SAT and its counting version #SAT, hidden structure has been exploited in terms of decomposability and strong backdoor sets. Decomposability can be considered in terms of the treewidth of a graph that is associated with the given CNF formula, for instance by considering clauses and variables as vertices of the graph, and making a variable adjacent with all the clauses it appears in. On the other hand, a stron…
Institute of Information Systems（信息系统研究所）；Vienna University of Technology（维也纳工业大学）
Backdoor sets, a notion introduced by Williams et al. in 2003, are certain sets of key variables of a CNF formula F that make it easy to solve the formula; by assigning truth values to the variables in a backdoor set, the formula gets reduced to one or several polynomial-time solvable formulas. More specifically, a weak backdoor set of F is a set X of variables such that there exits a truth assignment t to X that reduces F to a satisfiable formula F[t] that belongs to a polynomial-time decidable base class C. A strong backdoor set is a set X of variables such that for all assignments t to X, t…
The question of whether the complexity class P is equal to the complexity class NP has been a seemingly intractable problem for over 4 decades. It has been clear that if an algorithm existed that would solve the problems in the NP class in polynomial time then P would equal NP. However, no one has yet been able to create that algorithm or to successfully prove that such an algorithm cannot exist. The algorithm that will be presented in this paper solves the 3-satisfiability or 3-CNF-SAT problem, which has been proven to be NP-complete.
We show conditional lower bounds for well-studied #P-hard problems: (a) The number of satisfying assignments of a 2-CNF formula with n variables cannot be counted in time exp(o(n)), and the same is true for computing the number of all independent sets in an n-vertex graph. (b) The permanent of an n x n matrix with entries 0 and 1 cannot be computed in time exp(o(n)). (c) The Tutte polynomial of an n-vertex multigraph cannot be computed in time exp(o(n)) at most evaluation points (x,y) in the case of multigraphs, and it cannot be computed in time exp(o(n/polylog n)) in the case of simple graphs…
A recent and active line of work achieves tight lower bounds for fundamental problems under the Strong Exponential Time Hypothesis (SETH). A celebrated result of Backurs and Indyk (STOC'15) proves that the Edit Distance of two sequences of length n cannot be computed in strongly subquadratic time under SETH. The result was extended by follow-up works to simpler looking problems like finding the Longest Common Subsequence (LCS). SETH is a very strong assumption, asserting that even linear size CNF formulas cannot be analyzed for satisfiability with an exponential speedup over exhaustive search.…
We show that the CNF satisfiability problem can be solved $O^*(1.2226^m)$ time, where $m$ is the number of clauses in the formula, improving the known upper bounds $O^*(1.234^m)$ given by Yamamoto 15 years ago and $O^*(1.239^m)$ given by Hirsch 22 years ago. By using an amortized technique and careful case analysis, we successfully avoid the bottlenecks in previous algorithms and get the improvement.
The study of regular linear conjunctive normal form (LCNF) formulas is of interest because exact satisfiability (XSAT) is known to be NP-complete for this class of formulas. In a recent paper it was shown that the subclass of regular exact LCNF formulas (XLCNF) is of sub-exponential complexity, i.e. XSAT can be determined in sub-exponential time. Here I show that this class is just a subset of a larger class of LCNF formulas which display this very kind of complexity. To this end I introduce the property of disjointedness of LCNF formulas, measured, for a single clause C, by the number of clau…
A heuristic model procedure for determining satisfiability of CNF-formulae is set up and described by nonlinear recursion relations for m (number of clauses), n (number of variables) and clause filling k. The system mimicked by the recursion undergoes a sharp transition from bounded running times (easy) to uncontrolled runaway behaviour (hard). Thus the parameter space turns out to be separated into regions with qualitatively different efficiency of the model procedure. The transition results from a competition of exponential blow up by branching versus growing number of orthogonal clauses.
A generalized 1-in-3SAT problem is defined and found to be in complexity class P when restricted to a certain subset of CNF expressions. In particular, 1-in-kSAT with no restrictions on the number of literals per clause can be decided in polynomial time when restricted to exact READ-3 formulas with equal number of clauses (m) and variables (n), and no pure literals. Also individual instances can be checked for easiness with respect to a given SAT problem. By identifying whole classes of formulas as being solvable efficiently the approach might be of interest also in the complementary search fo…
This paper first analyzes the resolution complexity of two random CSP models (i.e. Model RB/RD) for which we can establish the existence of phase transitions and identify the threshold points exactly. By encoding CSPs into CNF formulas, it is proved that almost all instances of Model RB/RD have no tree-like resolution proofs of less than exponential size. Thus, we not only introduce new families of CNF formulas hard for resolution, which is a central task of Proof-Complexity theory, but also propose models with both many hard instances and exact phase transitions. Then, the implications of suc…
The Maximum Satisfiability (MaxSAT) problem is the problem of finding a truth assignment that maximizes the number of satisfied clauses of a given Boolean formula in Conjunctive Normal Form (CNF). Many exact solvers for MaxSAT have been developed during recent years, and many of them were presented in the well-known SAT conference. Algorithms for MaxSAT generally fall into two categories: (1) branch and bound algorithms and (2) algorithms that use successive calls to a SAT solver (SAT- based), which this paper in on. In practical problems, SAT-based algorithms have been shown to be more effici…
The Local Lemma is a fundamental tool of probabilistic combinatorics and theoretical computer science, yet there are hardly any natural problems known where it provides an asymptotically tight answer. The main theme of our paper is to identify several of these problems, among them a couple of widely studied extremal functions related to certain restricted versions of the k-SAT problem, where the Local Lemma does give essentially optimal answers. As our main contribution, we construct unsatisfiable k-CNF formulas where every clause has k distinct literals and every variable appears in at most (…
