Usually, a proof of a theorem contains more knowledge than the mere fact that the theorem is true. For instance, to prove that a graph is Hamiltonian it suffices to exhibit a Hamiltonian tour in it; however, this seems to contain more knowledge than the single bit Hamiltonian/non-Hamiltonian.In this paper a computational complexity theory of the “knowledge” contained in a proof is developed. Zero-knowledge proofs are defined as those proofs that convey no additional knowledge other than the correctness of the proposition in question. Examples of zero-knowledge proof systems are given for the languages of quadratic residuosity and 'quadratic nonresiduosity. These are the first examples of zero-knowledge proofs for languages not known to be efficiently recognizable.

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The knowledge complexity of interactive proof-systems

One approach to model checking software is based on the abstract-check-refine paradigm: build an abstract model, then check the desired property, and if the check fails, refine the model and start over. We introduce the concept of lazy abstraction to integrate and optimize the three phases of the abstract-check-refine loop. Lazy abstraction continuously builds and refines a single abstract model on demand, driven by the model checker, so that different parts of the model may exhibit different degrees of precision, namely just enough to verify the desired property. We present an algorithm for model checking safety properties using lazy abstraction and describe an implementation of the algorithm applied to C programs. We also provide sufficient conditions for the termination of the method.

Lazy abstraction

Symbolic model checking with Binary Decision Diagrams (BDDs) has been successfully used in the last decade for formally verifying finite state systems such as sequential circuits and protocols. Since its introduction in the beginning of the 90's, it has been integrated in the quality assurance process of several major hardware companies. The main bottleneck of this method is that BDDs may grow exponentially, and hence the amount of available memory re- stricts the size of circuits that can be verified efficiently. In this article we survey a technique called Bounded Model Checking (BMC), which uses a propositional SAT solver rather than BDD manipulation techniques. Since its introduction in 1999, BMC has been well received by the industry. It can find many logical er- rors in complex systems that can not be handled by competing techniques, and is therefore widely perceived as a complementary technique to BDD-based model checking. This observation is supported by several independent comparisons that have been published in the last few years.

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Bounded Model Checking

The success of model checking for large programs depends crucially on the ability to efficiently construct parsimonious abstractions. A predicate abstraction is parsimonious if at each control location, it specifies only relationships between current values of variables, and only those which are required for proving correctness. Previous methods for automatically refining predicate abstractions until sufficient precision is obtained do not systematically construct parsimonious abstractions: predicates usually contain symbolic variables, and are added heuristically and often uniformly to many or all control locations at once. We use Craig interpolation to efficiently construct, from a given abstract error trace which cannot be concretized, a parsominous abstraction that removes the trace. At each location of the trace, we infer the relevant predicates as an interpolant between the two formulas that define the past and the future segment of the trace. Each interpolant is a relationship between current values of program variables, and is relevant only at that particular program location. It can be found by a linear scan of the proof of infeasibility of the trace.We develop our method for programs with arithmetic and pointer expressions, and call-by-value function calls. For function calls, Craig interpolation offers a systematic way of generating relevant predicates that contain only the local variables of the function and the values of the formal parameters when the function was called. We have extended our model checker Blast with predicate discovery by Craig interpolation, and applied it successfully to C programs with more than 130,000 lines of code, which was not possible with approaches that build less parsimonious abstractions.

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Abstractions from proofs

We prove an exponential lower bound on the length of cutting plane proofs. The proof uses an extension of a lower bound for monotone circuits to circuits which compute with real numbers and use nondecreasing functions as gates. The latter result is of independent interest, since, in particular, it implies an exponential lower bound for some arithmetic circuits.

Lower Bounds for Resolution and Cutting Plane Proofs and Monotone Computations

This book presents an up-to-date, unified treatment of research in bounded arithmetic and complexity of propositional logic, with emphasis on independence proofs and lower bound proofs. The author discusses the deep connections between logic and complexity theory and lists a number of intriguing open problems. An introduction to the basics of logic and complexity theory is followed by discussion of important results in propositional proof systems and systems of bounded arithmetic. More advanced topics are then treated, including polynomial simulations and conservativity results, various witnessing theorems, the translation of bounded formulas (and their proofs) into propositional ones, the method of random partial restrictions and its applications, direct independence proofs, complete systems of partial relations, lower bounds to the size of constant-depth propositional proofs, the method of Boolean valuations, the issue of hard tautologies and optimal proof systems, combinatorics and complexity theory within bounded arithmetic, and relations to complexity issues of predicate calculus. Students and researchers in mathematical logic and complexity theory will find this comprehensive treatment an excellent guide to this expanding interdisciplinary area.

Bounded Arithmetic, Propositional Logic and Complexity Theory

A proof of the (propositional) Craig interpolation theorem for cut-free sequent calculus yields that a sequent with a cut-free proof (or with a proof with cut-formulas of restricted form; in particular, with only analytic cuts) with k inferences has an interpolant whose circuit-size is at most k. We give a new proof of the interpolation theorem based on a communication complexity approach which allows a similar estimate for a larger class of proofs. We derive from it several corollaries:
 (1) Feasible interpolation theorems for the following proof systems:(a) resolution(b) a subsystem of LK corresponding to the bounded arithmetic theory (α)(c) linear equational calculus(d) cutting planes.(2) New proofs of the exponential lower bounds (for new formulas)(a) for resolution ([15])(b) for the cutting planes proof system with coefficients written in unary ([4]).(3) An alternative proof of the independence result of [43] concerning the provability of circuit-size lower bounds in the bounded arithmetic theory (α).In the other direction we show that a depth 2 subsystem of LK does not admit feasible monotone interpolation theorem (the so called Lyndon theorem), and that a feasible monotone interpolation theorem for the depth 1 subsystem of LK would yield new exponential lower bounds for resolution proofs of the weak pigeonhole principle.

Interpolation Theorems, Lower Bounds for Proof Systems, and Independence Results for Bounded Arithmetic

For a finitely, axiomatized theory S one considers the statement that there is no proof of contradiction in S whose length is ≤n. The problem of the length of proofs of such statements is studied, in relation with problems of propositional proof systems

Propositional Proof Systems, the Consistency of First Order Theories and the Complexity of Computations

Bounded arithmetic and the polynomial hierarchy

We investigate the proof complexity, in (extensions of) resolution and in bounded arithmetic, of the weak pigeonhole principle and of the Ramsey theorem. In particular, we link the proof complexities of these two principles. Further we give lower bounds to the width of resolution proofs and to the size of (extensions of) tree-like resolution proofs of the Ramsey theorem. We establish a connection between provability of WPHP in fragments of bounded arithmetic and cryptographic assumptions (the existence of one-way functions). In particular, we show that functions violating WPHP2n n are one-way and, on the other hand, one-way permutations give rise to functions violating PHPn+1 n , and strongly collision-free families of hash functions give rise to functions violating WPHP2n n (all in suitable models of bounded arithmetic). Further we formulate a few problems and conjectures; in particular, on the structured PHP (introduced here) and on the unrelativised WPHP. The symbol WPHPn (with any n < m ≤ ∞) will denote both propositional and arithmetic formalisations of the weak pigeonhole principle; in the latter case I write WPHPn (R), where R is a binary relation symbol. The qualification weak means m ≥ 2n and that is the case studied here. The propositional formalisation is a set of clauses in atoms pi,j for i < m and j < n: {pi,0, . . . , pi,n−1} (1)

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Jan Krajíček

Papers

Bounded Arithmetic, Propositional Logic and Complexity Theory

Interpolation Theorems, Lower Bounds for Proof Systems, and Independence Results for Bounded Arithmetic

Propositional Proof Systems, the Consistency of First Order Theories and the Complexity of Computations

Bounded arithmetic and the polynomial hierarchy

On the weak pigeonhole principle