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On minimal unsatisfiability and time-space trade-offs for k-DNF resolution

Nordström, Jakob LU and Razborov, Alexander (2011) 38th International Colloquium on Automata, Languages and Programming, ICALP 2011 In Lecture Notes in Computer Science 6755(PART 1). p.642-653
Abstract

A well-known theorem by Tarsi states that a minimally unsatisfiable CNF formula with m clauses can have at most m - 1 variables, and this bound is exact. In the context of proving lower bounds on proof space in k-DNF resolution, [Ben-Sasson and Nordström 2009] extended the concept of minimal unsatisfiability to sets of k-DNF formulas and proved that a minimally unsatisfiable k-DNF set with m formulas can have at most (mk) k + 1 variables. This result is far from tight, however, since they could only present explicit constructions of minimally unsatisfiable sets with Ω(mk 2) variables. In the current paper, we revisit this combinatorial problem and significantly improve the lower bound to (Ω(m)) k , which... (More)

A well-known theorem by Tarsi states that a minimally unsatisfiable CNF formula with m clauses can have at most m - 1 variables, and this bound is exact. In the context of proving lower bounds on proof space in k-DNF resolution, [Ben-Sasson and Nordström 2009] extended the concept of minimal unsatisfiability to sets of k-DNF formulas and proved that a minimally unsatisfiable k-DNF set with m formulas can have at most (mk) k + 1 variables. This result is far from tight, however, since they could only present explicit constructions of minimally unsatisfiable sets with Ω(mk 2) variables. In the current paper, we revisit this combinatorial problem and significantly improve the lower bound to (Ω(m)) k , which almost matches the upper bound above. Furthermore, using similar ideas we show that the analysis of the technique in [Ben-Sasson and Nordström 2009] for proving time-space separations and trade-offs for k-DNF resolution is almost tight. This means that although it is possible, or even plausible, that stronger results than in [Ben-Sasson and Nordström 2009] should hold, a fundamentally different approach would be needed to obtain such results.

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publication status
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subject
host publication
Automata, Languages and Programming : 38th International Colloquium, ICALP 2011, Proceedings - 38th International Colloquium, ICALP 2011, Proceedings
series title
Lecture Notes in Computer Science
volume
6755
issue
PART 1
edition
PART 1
pages
12 pages
publisher
Springer
conference name
38th International Colloquium on Automata, Languages and Programming, ICALP 2011
conference location
Zurich, Switzerland
conference dates
2011-07-04 - 2011-07-08
external identifiers
  • scopus:79959927201
ISSN
1611-3349
0302-9743
ISBN
9783642220050
DOI
10.1007/978-3-642-22006-7_54
language
English
LU publication?
no
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ee9f0ac1-5471-4dd5-abc2-b966511d49fd
date added to LUP
2020-12-18 22:27:57
date last changed
2025-04-04 14:29:04
@inproceedings{ee9f0ac1-5471-4dd5-abc2-b966511d49fd,
  abstract     = {{<p>A well-known theorem by Tarsi states that a minimally unsatisfiable CNF formula with m clauses can have at most m - 1 variables, and this bound is exact. In the context of proving lower bounds on proof space in k-DNF resolution, [Ben-Sasson and Nordström 2009] extended the concept of minimal unsatisfiability to sets of k-DNF formulas and proved that a minimally unsatisfiable k-DNF set with m formulas can have at most (mk) <sup>k + 1</sup> variables. This result is far from tight, however, since they could only present explicit constructions of minimally unsatisfiable sets with Ω(mk <sup>2</sup>) variables. In the current paper, we revisit this combinatorial problem and significantly improve the lower bound to (Ω(m)) <sup>k</sup> , which almost matches the upper bound above. Furthermore, using similar ideas we show that the analysis of the technique in [Ben-Sasson and Nordström 2009] for proving time-space separations and trade-offs for k-DNF resolution is almost tight. This means that although it is possible, or even plausible, that stronger results than in [Ben-Sasson and Nordström 2009] should hold, a fundamentally different approach would be needed to obtain such results.</p>}},
  author       = {{Nordström, Jakob and Razborov, Alexander}},
  booktitle    = {{Automata, Languages and Programming : 38th International Colloquium, ICALP 2011, Proceedings}},
  isbn         = {{9783642220050}},
  issn         = {{1611-3349}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{PART 1}},
  pages        = {{642--653}},
  publisher    = {{Springer}},
  series       = {{Lecture Notes in Computer Science}},
  title        = {{On minimal unsatisfiability and time-space trade-offs for k-DNF resolution}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-22006-7_54}},
  doi          = {{10.1007/978-3-642-22006-7_54}},
  volume       = {{6755}},
  year         = {{2011}},
}