CS 351 (Fall 2002)

Topics in Complexity Theory and Lower Bounds

Tuesdays and Thursdays 11:00 -- 12:15, Gates B12

Instructor:
D. Sivakumar
IBM Almaden Research Center

The course will be an advanced introduction to computational complexity theory. We will cover the state of the art in unconditional results about fundamental complexity classes; this will include results on interactive and probabilistically checkable proofs, the derandomization of space bounded classes, and other topics that are still very active areas of research.

The course is intended for graduate students (or advanced undergraduate students) with some background in algorithms and the basic theory of computation (eg., Turing machines), and knowledge of probability.

There will be two lectures per week (Tue, Thu 11:00 -- 12:15, Gates B12) during the quarter. There will be weekly homeworks, and each homework is expected to require 2--4 hours of work, depending on the student's background and ability. The homeworks will contain a fair balance of variations/extensions of topics covered in lectures and exploration of related new material.

Tentative lecture schedule

Problem Set 1, due 10/10/2002
Solutions to Problem Set 1

Problem Set 2, due 10/17/2002
Solutions to Problem Set 2

Problem Set 3, due 10/24/2002
Solutions to Problem Set 3

Problem Set 4, due 10/31/2002
PS4 Extra Credit Problem
Solutions to Problem Set 4

Problem Set 5, due 11/14/2002
Some Hints for Problem Set 5

Problem Set 6, due 12/10/2002
Solutions to Problem Set 6

Notes on the Immerman--Szelepcsényi Theorem

Computational complexity links

D. Sivakumar
My email address can be assembled from {com, @almaden, siva, ibm} through the judicious use of two dots.