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Pseudorandomness

Fall 2023/24

About the course

Randomness plays a crucial role in computer science, along with its applications in fields like cryptography and coding theory. Understanding the extent to which randomness aids computation consists of deep and fundamental questions in complexity theory. Within this context, pseudorandomness is all about comprehending the attributes of randomness that effectively cater to our structural and computational requisites. 

In this course, our attention will be directed towards two primary focal points within pseudorandomness: pseudorandom generators and randomness extractors. We will delve into the study of both classical and contemporary methods for constructing these objects. The techniques will be versatile: combinatorial, probabilistic, algebraic, and (Fourier-)analytic. 

In the initial segment of the course, our focus will be on constructing k-wise independent distributions and small-bias sets. Subsequently, we will proceed to construct remarkably powerful pseudorandom generators that draw upon these foundational constructs for various computational models such as low-degree polynomials, low-depth circuits, and space bounded algorithms. We will then transition to the exploration of randomness extractors, with specific emphasis on seeded extractors and two-source extractors. 

Technicalities

When and where

Lectures are on Thursdays 10:10-13:00 at Exact Sciences 315 and recitations by Itay Cohen on Thursdays 14:10-15:00 at Holcblat 7.

Grade

Half of the grade will be based on 4-5 homework assignments. The other half will be derived from a one-hour presentation each student will deliver at the semester's end, discussing a paper from a pre-determined list that is related to the course material (see list below). Homework submission will be in pairs if the the number of participants will be high enough. 

Literature

We won't strictly follow a particular source; however, much of what we'll study can be found in the sources listed below. All of these are accessible for free online.

We will also partially follow many of the original papers. In the tentative syllabus below these are linked next to the relevant topic.

Syllabus (tentative)

Bounded independence

Construction of k-wise independent distributions

Tail bounds

PRGs for decision trees

Derandomizing balls into bins

Small bias sets

Probabilisitic method and Alon's lower bound

The powering construction (paper)

The Ben-Aroya and Ta-Shma Hermitian curve based construction (paper)

A brief introduction to Fourier analysis

PRGs for decision trees and width-2 branching programs

Construction of almost k-wise independent distributions

Viola's PRG for low degree polynomials (paper)

Random restrictions based PRGs

PRGs from polarized random walks (paper)

PRGs for any order permutation read once branching programs

The Forbes-Kelly PRG for any order read once branching programs (paper)

Space bounded derandomization

Nisan's PRG

BPL in SC (paper)

A quick introduction to expander graphs

The Impagliazzo-Nisan-Wigderson PRG

Error reduction for weighted PRGs (paper or this one)

Derandomizing medium width branching programs (paper and this one)

Seeded extractors

Dvir-Wigderson Kakeya based mergers (paper)

Guruswami-Umans-Vadhan condensers (paper)

Construction of seeded extractors

Multi-source extractors

Raz's two-source extractor (paper)

Bourgain's two-source extractor (exposition by Rao)

Barak-Impagliazzio-Wigderson extractors via additive number theory (paper)

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