Parisian Master of Research in Computer Science
Master Parisien de Recherche en Informatique (MPRI)

Complexité avancée (48h, 6 ECTS)

Responsable : Jean Goubault-Larrecq (LSV, ENS Cachan).

Plan et intervenants du cours 2022-2023

Lecturers: Philippe Schnoebelen then Jean Goubault-Larrecq for the course, and Guillaume Scerri for the exercise sessions (TD).

For the first half (until partial exam on November 9th) the lectures take place in room 1-I-82 at ENS Paris-Saclay each Wednesday, from 09h30 to 11h30. They are followed by exercise sessions each Friday from 14h00 to 16h00.

Planning: début du cours le 21 sept 2022. Début de la 2ème partie du cours: 16 nov.

Evaluation: Two written exams (see exams from previous years at bottom of page). The partial exam took place on Nov. 9th, 2022. Here is a version with some answers.

Final exam : Jan. 11th, 2023.

Motivations et objectifs du cours

La théorie de la complexité va bien au-delà de celle de la NP-complétude. Le but de ce cours est d'aller regarder un certain nombre d'autres constructions fondamentales de la théorie de la complexité: complexité en espace, notions de machines alternantes, ou randomisées. On y verra quelques théorèmes fascinants: l'équivalence du temps alternant et de l'espace déterministe par exemple, ou le théorème IP=PSPACE de Shamir.

Description du cours

The course is based on the following lecture notes polycopié (1st part) and polycopié (2nd part). (Note: il semble que le premier poly ait des problèmes de polices sous Acrobat Reader 9; aucun problème connu sous xpdf ou evince.)

Starting Sep. 21, 2022: 1st part of the course

After each class, this section will be updated with a summary of the material actually covered. Numbers, e.g. ”(2.1)”, refer to statement in the lecture notes.

Sep. 21, 2022

What we covered in class:

  • Introduction. Deterministic and nondeterministic Turing machines
  • Def (2.1) TIME(f), SPACE(f), NTIME, NSPACE, .. P, NP, L, NL, ..
  • Compression Thm (2.2): SPACE(O(f(n))) ⊆ SPACE(f(n)) and NSPACE(O(f(n))) ⊆ NSPACE(f(n))
  • For proper function f, NTIME(f(n)) ⊆ SPACE(f(n)) and NSPACE(f(n)) ⊆ TIME(2(f(n)+log n))
  • GAP (aka REACH), a problem on directed graphs
  • How do we see it as a language GAP⊆Σ*?
  • (2.3) GAP is in NL, i.e. NSPACE(log(n))

The exercise sheet used on Sept. 23rd is available here.

Sep. 28, 2022

What we covered in class:

  • (2.6) GAP is in SPACE(log2(n))
  • A k-worktape (N)TM in space f(n) running on input x visits at most ≈ |Q| × |Σ|f(n) x n × f(n)k different configurations, i.e. O(n) x 2O(f(n))
  • (2.4) NL ⊆ P (aka PTIME) and NL ⊆ SPACE(log2n)
  • (2.9) Thm (Savitch 1970) NSPACE(f(n)) ⊆ SPACE(f²(n)) when f is proper & ≥log
  • (2.10) Hence NPSPACE=NSPACE(nO(1))=SPACE(nO(1))=PSPACE
  • (2.12) Def. logspace reductions, complete problems & basic properties
  • GAP is NL-complete

The exercise sheet used on Sept. 30th is available here.

Oct. 5, 2022

What we covered in class:

  • What is co𝒞 and coL for 𝒞 a class of problems (or languages) and L a problem.
  • (2.16) coGAP is in NL, hence (2.17) coNL = NL (Immerman-Szelepcsényi)
  • SAT is NP-complete (Cook)
  • QBF is PSPACE-complete
  • HORNSAT and CIRCUIT-VALUE are P-complete

The exercise sheet used on Oct. 7th is available here.

Oct. 12, 2022

What we covered in class:

  • (3.1;3.2) Alternating Turing machines. The classes ATIME(f) & ASPACE(f) are closed under complementation.
  • (2.21) Thm (Stockmeyer-Meyer 1973) QBF is PSPACE-complete and APTIME-complete, hence PSPACE=APTIME.
  • (3.8) Padding lemma, entailing (3.9) SPACE(poly(f(n)) = ATIME(poly(f(n)) for any proper f s.t. f(n) ≥ n for large enough n.
  • This yields e.g. AEXPTIME=EXPSPACE.
  • (3.18) CIRCUIT_VALUE is PTIME-complete & ALOGSPACE-complete, entailing PTIME=ALOGSPACE, i.e. P=AL,
  • (3.19) more generally TIME(2^O(f(n)) = ASPACE(f(n)) with f as above, e.g., EXPTIME=APSPACE.

The exercise sheet used on Oct. 14th is available here.

Oct. 19, 2022

What we covered in class:

  • TM machines that access an oracle O (can be any language ⊆A*). In a run of MO, there is a special query tape where the TM might write a query q. When M enters the querying state, q is erased and the TM jumps to state syes or sno depending on whether q∊O. When measuring space usage, the query tape in counted.
  • Def: (given a language O) ℳO for a class ℳ of machines, e.g. PO, NPO, etc., similarly P𝒞, NP𝒞, etc. for a class 𝒞 of oracles.
  • Some problems in PSAT: UNSAT, SAT-UNSAT, UNIQ-SAT (Boolean formulae with only one satisying valuation), PARITY-SAT ≝ {(𝜑1,...,𝜑n) such that the first satisfiable 𝜑i has odd index i}, MIN-SAT ≝ {satisfiable Boolean formulae 𝜑(x1,..,xn) such that the lexicography first satisfying valuation vmin has vmin(xn)=true}, etc.
  • Def (the polynomial hierarchy): PH ≝ all levels Σk with Σ0≝Δ00=P(=PTIME) and Σk+1≝NPΣk, Δk+1≝PΣk, Θk+1≝PΣk[O log n], and Πk≝co(Σk).
  • Facts: Δ11=P and Σ1=NP. Also Πk=(coNP)Σk where coNP seen as a class of machines comprises all polynomial-time TMs with only universal states.
  • Thm: (Σk-1 ∪ Πk-1) ⊆ Θk ⊆ Δk ⊆ (Σk ∩ Πk).
  • Thm: Σk ⊆ PSPACEPSPACE = PSPACE for all k, hence PH ⊆ PSPACE.
  • Thm: If PH=PSPACE then PH has a complete problem. If PH has a complete problem then PH coincides with some Σn level (we say “PH collapses”).
  • Some complete problems for specific levels in PH: the ∃** fragment of QBF is Σ2-complete, in fact the ∃****.. (∃*/∀*)k fragment is Σk-complete; PARITY-SAT is Θ2-complete; MIN-SAT and UNIQ-TSP (graphs with a unique Hamiltonian circuit of minimal length) are Δ2-complete.
  • Thm: Θk+1 = PΣk, where polynomially many queries can be submitted to the oracle, but they have to be computed in advance so that they can all be answered “in parallel”, in just one round.
  • Def (the Boolean hierarchy): BH ≝ all levels BHk with BH1≝NP, BH2k≝BH2k-1⋀coNP, and BH2k+1≝BH2k⋁NP. DP is another name for BH2, i.e. NP⋀coNP. Recall that 𝒞⋀𝒞' is defined as {L∩L'|L∊𝒞 and L'∊𝒞'}, so that one has 𝒞∩𝒞' ⊆ 𝒞,𝒞' ⊆ 𝒞⋀𝒞' (NB: the last inclusion assumes that 𝒞 and 𝒞' contain the universal languages A* for any alphabet). There is a similar definition for 𝒞⋁𝒞.
  • SAT-UNSAT and UNIQ-SAT are DP-complete, where DP=NP⋀coNP. There exist complete problems for each level of BH. If BH itself has a complete problem, then it collapses to some level BHk.
  • Facts: BH = PNP[O(1)] hence BH ⊆ Θ2. If BH=Θ2 then BH collapses.

The exercise sheet used on Oct. 21st is available here.

Oct. 26, 2022

What we covered in class:

  • Two counting problems #Cycle (≝ count the number of simple cycles in a given graph) and #SAT (≝ count the number of valuations satisfying a given boolean formula).
  • #SAT is “difficult”, indeed if #SAT ∊ FP then P=NP. Perhaps #Cycle is easier, perhaps in FP (≝ the functions computable in polynomial-time).
  • Fact: if #Cycle ∊ FP then in that case too P=NP. Proof is by reduction from HamiltonianGraph.
  • Def. f ∊ #P iff f(x) is the number of accepting paths of a polytime NDTM on x. We can assume that all configurations of the TM have exactly 2 following configurations (or 0) and that all runs have length exactly p(n). Thus #P contains all the functions that counts the “solutions” to NP problems. E.g. #SAT and #Cycle belong to #P.
  • Obviously if #P = FP then NP = P. We don't know whether the reverse implication holds. However if PSPACE = P then #P = FP.
  • NB. #P is a class of functions but there are classes of decision problems based on counting accepting runs: PP, ⊕P.
  • Def. f is #P-complete iff f in #P and g ≤ f for all g in #P. What reductions do we consider? Several versions of parsimonious reductions can be used. Or a more generous g ≤ f iff g in FPf.
  • Thm. #SAT is #P-complete under parsimonious reductions.
  • Computing the permanent of a matrix is related to counting the cycle-covers of a directed graph. The definition looks like computing the determinant. However we showed #SAT ≤ PERMANENT ≤ PERMANENT(0/1) so PERMANENT is #P-complete [Valiant 1979]. See wikipedia for a variant proof.

The exercise sheet used on Oct. 26th is available here.

Nov. 3rd, 2021

Holidays ! no class this day

Starting Nov. 16, 2022: 2nd part of the course

The slides of the second part of the course:

The exercise sheets for the second part of the course:

Langues du cours :

The class will be taught in English. Le polycopié est en français et les élèves peuvent poser des questions, intervenir, etc. en français.

Les questions des sujets d'examen seront en anglais. Les étudiants seront autorisés à rédiger leur copie d'examen en français ou en anglais.

Pré-requis

Students are expected to be familiar with the concepts and formal definitions for Turing Machines, the class P (problems decidable in deterministic polynomial time), the class NP (non-deterministic polynomial-time), Cook's Theorem (SAT is NP-complete). These notions will only be very quickly recalled during the first classes.

Cours liés

Bibliographie

Livres:

  • Christos H. Papadimitriou. Computational Complexity. Addison-Wesley, 1994.
  • Sanjeev Arora and Boaz Barak. Computational Complexity. Cambridge University Press, 2009.
    (une pré-version est gracieusement disponible ici http://www.cs.princeton.edu/theory/complexity/)
  • Sylvain Périfel. Complexité algorithmique. Ellipses, 2014. Disponible en ligne.

Archive: examens et devoirs des années précédentes

L'examen final 2021-22, en temps limité. Voici un corrigé.

L'examen final 2022-23, en temps limité. Voici un corrigé.

 
Universités partenaires Université Paris-Diderot
Université Paris-Saclay
ENS Cachan École polytechnique Télécom ParisTech
ENS
Établissements associés Université Pierre-et-Marie-Curie CNRS INRIA CEA