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Ilya Volkovich

Publications and source records attributed to Ilya Volkovich.

7 recordsLinked to original sources
arXiv2026

Upper and Lower Bounds for the Linear Ordering Principle

Korten and Pitassi (FOCS, 2024) defined a new complexity class $L_2^P$ as the polynomial-time Turing closure of the Linear Ordering Principle. They put it between $MA$ (Merlin--Arthur protocols) and $S_2^P$ (the second symmetric level of the polynomial hierarchy). In this paper we sandwich $L_2^P$ between $P^{prMA}$ and $P^{prSBP}$. (The oracles here are promise problems, and $SBP$ is the only known class between $MA$ and $AM$.) The containment in $P^{prSBP}$ is proved via an iterative process that uses a $prSBP$ oracle to estimate the average order rank of a subset and find the minimum of a linear order. Another containment result of this paper is $P^{prO_2^P} \subseteq O_2^P$ (where $O_2^P$ is the input-oblivious version of $S_2^P$). These containment results altogether have several byproducts: We give an affirmative answer to an open question posed by of Chakaravarthy and Roy (Computational Complexity, 2011) whether $P^{prMA} \subseteq S_2^P$, thereby settling the relative standing of the existing (non-oblivious) Karp-Lipton-style collapse results of Chakaravarthy and Roy (2011) and Cai (2007), We give an affirmative answer to an open question of Korten and Pitassi whether a Karp-Lipton-style collapse can be proven for $L_2^P$, We show that the Karp-Lipton-style collapse to $P^{prOMA}$ is actually better than both known collapses to $P^{prMA}$ due to Chakaravarthy and Roy (Computational Complexity, 2011) and to $O_2^P$ also due to Chakaravarthy and Roy (STACS, 2006). Thus we resolve the controversy between previously incomparable Karp-Lipton collapses stemming from these two lines of research.

cs.CC↗
arXiv2025

A Note on Avoid vs MCSP

A recent result of Ghentiyala, Li, and Stephens-Davidowitz (ECCC TR 25-210) shows that any language reducible to the Range Avoidance Problem via deterministic or randomized Turing reductions is contained in AM $\cap$ coAM. In this note, we present a different potential avenue for obtaining the same result via the Minimal Circuit Size Problem.

cs.CC↗
arXiv2025

Oblivious Complexity Classes Revisited: Lower Bounds and Hierarchies

In this work we study oblivious complexity classes. These classes capture the power of interactive proofs where the prover(s) are only given the input size rather than the actual input. In particular, we study the connections between the symmetric polynomial time $\mathsf{S_2P}$ and its oblivious counterpart $\mathsf{O_2P}$. Among our results, we construct an explicit language in $\mathsf{O_2P}$ that cannot be computed by circuits of size $n^k$, and thus prove a hierarchy theorem for $\mathsf{O_2TIME}$. Along the way we also make partial progress towards the resolution of an open question posed by Goldreich and Meir (TOCT 2015) that relates the complexity of $\mathsf{NP}$ to its oblivious counterpart $\mathsf{ONP}$. To the best of our knowledge, these results constitute the first explicit fixed-polynomial lower bound and hierarchy theorem for $\mathsf{O_2P}$. The smallest uniform complexity class for which such lower bounds were previously known was $\mathsf{S_2P}$, due to Cai (JCSS 2007). In addition, this is the first uniform hierarchy theorem for a semantic class. All previous results required some non-uniformity.

cs.CC↗
arXiv2021

Reconstruction Algorithms for Low-Rank Tensors and Depth-3 Multilinear Circuits

We give new and efficient black-box reconstruction algorithms for some classes of depth-$3$ arithmetic circuits. As a consequence, we obtain the first efficient algorithm for computing the tensor rank and for finding the optimal tensor decomposition as a sum of rank-one tensors when then input is a constant-rank tensor. More specifically, we provide efficient learning algorithms that run in randomized polynomial time over general fields and in deterministic polynomial time over the reals and the complex numbers for the following classes: (1) Set-multilinear depth-$3$ circuits of constant top fan-in $ΣΠΣ\{\sqcup_j X_j\}(k)$ circuits). As a consequence of our algorithm, we obtain the first polynomial time algorithm for tensor rank computation and optimal tensor decomposition of constant-rank tensors. This result holds for $d$ dimensional tensors for any $d$, but is interesting even for $d=3$. (2) Sums of powers of constantly many linear forms ($Σ\wedgeΣ$ circuits). As a consequence we obtain the first polynomial-time algorithm for tensor rank computation and optimal tensor decomposition of constant-rank symmetric tensors. (3) Multilinear depth-3 circuits of constant top fan-in (multilinear $ΣΠΣ(k)$ circuits). Our algorithm works over all fields of characteristic 0 or large enough characteristic. Prior to our work the only efficient algorithms known were over polynomially-sized finite fields (see. Karnin-Shpilka 09'). Prior to our work, the only polynomial-time or even subexponential-time algorithms known (deterministic or randomized) for subclasses of $ΣΠΣ(k)$ circuits that also work over large/infinite fields were for the setting when the top fan-in $k$ is at most $2$ (see Sinha 16' and Sinha 20').

cs.CC↗
arXiv2018

Deterministic Factorization of Sparse Polynomials with Bounded Individual Degree

In this paper we study the problem of deterministic factorization of sparse polynomials. We show that if $f \in \mathbb{F}[x_{1},x_{2},\ldots ,x_{n}]$ is a polynomial with $s$ monomials, with individual degrees of its variables bounded by $d$, then $f$ can be deterministically factored in time $s^{\mathrm{poly}(d) \log n}$. Prior to our work, the only efficient factoring algorithms known for this class of polynomials were randomized, and other than for the cases of $d=1$ and $d=2$, only exponential time deterministic factoring algorithms were known. A crucial ingredient in our proof is a quasi-polynomial sparsity bound for factors of sparse polynomials of bounded individual degree. In particular we show if $f$ is an $s$-sparse polynomial in $n$ variables, with individual degrees of its variables bounded by $d$, then the sparsity of each factor of $f$ is bounded by $s^{O({d^2\log{n}})}$. This is the first nontrivial bound on factor sparsity for $d>2$. Our sparsity bound uses techniques from convex geometry, such as the theory of Newton polytopes and an approximate version of the classical Carathéodory's Theorem. Our work addresses and partially answers a question of von zur Gathen and Kaltofen (JCSS 1985) who asked whether a quasi-polynomial bound holds for the sparsity of factors of sparse polynomials.

math.AC↗
arXiv2014

Characterizing Arithmetic Read-Once Formulae

An \emph{arithmetic read-once formula} (ROF for short) is a formula (i.e. a tree of computation) in which the operations are $\{+,\times\}$ and such that every input variable labels at most one leaf. We give a simple characterization of such formulae. Other than being interesting in its own right, our characterization gives rise to a property testing algorithm for functions computable by such formulae. To the best of our knowledge, prior to our work no characterization and/or property testing algorithm was known for this kind of formulae.

cs.DM↗