Valiant–Vazirani theorem

E345812

The Valiant–Vazirani theorem is a fundamental result in computational complexity theory showing that solving unique solutions of NP problems is, under randomized reductions, as hard as solving general NP problems, with major implications for the study of randomness and hardness of approximation.

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Valiant-Vazirani theorem 1
Valiant–Vazirani theorem canonical 1

Statements (46)

Predicate Object
instanceOf computational complexity theorem
result in theoretical computer science
assumes standard Turing machine model of computation
canonicalReferenceTitle NP is as easy as detecting unique solutions
complexityAssumptionContext P versus NP
concernsProblem Unique-SAT
satisfiability problem
field computational complexity theory
formalizes randomized reduction from SAT to Unique-SAT
hasImplicationFor derandomization
hardness of approximation
isolation lemma techniques
structure of NP
implies NP is contained in RP with an oracle for Unique-SAT
influenced isolation lemma in combinatorics and complexity
isCentralTo study of promise problems in complexity theory
study of randomness in computation
mainTopic NP complexity class
promise problems
randomized reductions
unique solutions of NP problems
namedAfter Leslie Valiant
Vijay Vazirani
originalAuthors Leslie Valiant
Vijay Vazirani
originalPublicationType journal article
originalPublicationVenue Theoretical Computer Science
problemType decision problem
proofMethod probabilistic method
reductionType randomized polynomial-time reduction
relatesClass NP
PH
UP
⊕P
resultType randomized reduction theorem
shows If there is a polynomial-time algorithm for Unique-SAT then there is a randomized polynomial-time algorithm for SAT
Random hashing can isolate a unique satisfying assignment with non-negligible probability
Under randomized reductions, NP is no harder than detecting unique solutions in NP
showsHardnessOf Unique-SAT
showsRelationshipBetween search problems with many solutions and problems with a unique solution
statesRoughly Solving SAT instances with a unique satisfying assignment is as hard as solving general SAT under randomized polynomial-time reductions
usedIn hardness results for unique games and related problems
reductions for approximate counting
usesTechnique pairwise independent hash functions
random hashing
yearProved 1986

Referenced by (2)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Leslie Valiant knownFor Valiant–Vazirani theorem
Valiant notableFor Valiant–Vazirani theorem
subject surface form: Leslie Valiant
this entity surface form: Valiant-Vazirani theorem