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Automating algebraic proof systems is NP-hard

Published: 15 June 2021 Publication History

Abstract

We show that algebraic proofs are hard to find: Given an unsatisfiable CNF formula F, it is NP-hard to find a refutation of F in the Nullstellensatz, Polynomial Calculus, or Sherali–Adams proof systems in time polynomial in the size of the shortest such refutation. Our work extends, and gives a simplified proof of, the recent breakthrough of Atserias and Müller (JACM 2020) that established an analogous result for Resolution.

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    cover image ACM Conferences
    STOC 2021: Proceedings of the 53rd Annual ACM SIGACT Symposium on Theory of Computing
    June 2021
    1797 pages
    ISBN:9781450380539
    DOI:10.1145/3406325
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    Published: 15 June 2021

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    Author Tags

    1. algebraic proof systems
    2. automatability
    3. lower bounds
    4. pigeonhole principle
    5. proof complexity

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