arXiv subjects

Noam Goldgraber

Publications and source records attributed to Noam Goldgraber.

5 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

A Forward-Backward Weight Analysis of INW for Permutation Branching Programs

We construct an $\varepsilon$-error PRG for permutation read-once branching programs of length $n$ and width $w$ with seed length \[ O\left((\log w+\log(1/\varepsilon))\cdot \log n\right). \] This gives an exponential improvement in the dependence on $w$ compared with the constructions of De (CCC 2011) and Steinke (ECCC 2012). Compared with the work of Braverman, Rao, Raz, and Yehudayoff (FOCS 2010; SICOMP 2014), which applies more generally to regular branching programs and already achieves the optimal dependence on $w$, our result improves the dependence on the length $n$, attaining the optimal logarithmic dependence. The generator itself is the classical INW PRG of Impagliazzo, Nisan, and Wigderson (STOC 1994). We show that, for permutation branching programs, the INW generator can be instantiated with expanders whose degrees are polynomial in $w$ and $1/\varepsilon$ and, crucially, independent of $n$. To prove this, we analyze error propagation using program-dependent seminorms tailored to the branching program at hand. These seminorms build on the weight function introduced by Braverman et al. The key point is that, when measured in these adapted seminorms, the error does not accumulate throughout the recursion. Since our analysis relies only on the spectral expansion of the underlying expanders, our seed length tightly matches the recent lower bound for spectral analyses of the INW generator due to Hoza, Pyne, and Vadhan (Algorithmica 2024).

cs.CC↗

arXiv2026

Optimal PRGs for Low-Degree Polynomials over Polynomial-Size Fields

Pseudorandom generators (PRGs) for low-degree polynomials are a central object in pseudorandomness, with applications to circuit lower bounds and derandomization. Viola's celebrated construction gives a PRG over the binary field, but with seed length exponential in the degree $d$. This exponential dependence can be avoided over sufficiently large fields. In particular, Dwivedi, Guo, and Volk constructed PRGs with optimal seed length over fields of size exponential in $d$. The latter builds on the framework of Derksen and Viola, who obtained optimal-seed constructions over fields of size polynomial in $d$, although growing with the number of variables $n$. In this work, we construct the first PRG with optimal seed length for degree-$d$ polynomials over fields of polynomial size, specifically $q \approx d^4$, assuming sufficiently large characteristic. Our construction follows the framework of prior work and reduces the required field size by replacing the hitting-set generator used in previous constructions with a new pseudorandom object. We also observe a threshold phenomenon in the field-size dependence. Specifically, we prove that constructing PRGs over fields of sublinear size, for example $q = d^{0.99}$ where $q$ is a power of two, would already yield PRGs for the binary field with comparable seed length via our reduction, provided that the construction imposes no restriction on the characteristic. While a breakdown of existing techniques has been noted before, we prove that this phenomenon is inherent to the problem itself, irrespective of the technique used.

cs.CC↗

arXiv2025

Tracing AG Codes: Toward Meeting the Gilbert-Varshamov Bound

One of the oldest problems in coding theory is to match the Gilbert-Varshamov bound with explicit binary codes. Over larger-yet still constant-sized-fields, algebraic-geometry codes are known to beat the GV bound. In this work, we leverage this phenomenon by taking traces of AG codes. Our hope is that the margin by which AG codes exceed the GV bound will withstand the parameter loss incurred by taking the trace from a constant field extension to the binary field. In contrast to concatenation, the usual alphabet-reduction method, our analysis of trace-of-AG (TAG) codes uses the AG codes' algebraic structure throughout - including in the alphabet-reduction step. Our main technical contribution is a Hasse-Weil-type theorem that is well-suited for the analysis of TAG codes. The classical theorem (and its Grothendieck trace-formula extension) are inadequate in this setting. Although we do not obtain improved constructions, we show that a constant-factor strengthening of our bound would suffice. We also analyze the limitations of TAG codes under our bound and prove that, in the high-distance regime, they are inferior to code concatenation. Our Hasse-Weil-type theorem holds in far greater generality than is needed for analyzing TAG codes. In particular, we derive new estimates for exponential sums.

cs.IT↗

arXiv2024

Full Galois groups of polynomials with slowly growing coefficients

Choose a polynomial $f$ uniformly at random from the set of all monic polynomials of degree $n$ with integer coefficients in the box $[-L,L]^n$. The main result of the paper asserts that if $L=L(n)$ grows to infinity, then the Galois group of $f$ is the full symmetric group, asymptotically almost surely, as $n\to \infty$. When $L$ grows rapidly to infinity, say $L>n^7$, this theorem follows from a result of Gallagher. When $L$ is bounded, the analog of the theorem is open, while the state-of-the-art is that the Galois group is large in the sense that it contains the alternating group (if $L< 17$, it is conditional on the general Riemann hypothesis). Hence the most interesting case of the theorem is when $L$ grows slowly to infinity. Our method works for more general independent coefficients.

math.NT↗

arXiv2023

Product Sets of Arithmetic Progressions in Function Fields

We study product sets of finite arithmetic progressions of polynomials over a finite field. We prove a lower bound for the size of the product set, uniform in a wide range of parameters. We apply our results to resolve the function field variants of Erdős' multiplication table problem.

math.NT↗