The exact k-SAT threshold for large k

Seminar: 
Combinatorics Seminar
Event time: 
Wednesday, October 28, 2015 - 6:30am to 7:45am
Location: 
431 DL
Speaker: 
Nike Sun
Speaker affiliation: 
MIT
Event description: 

We establish the random k-SAT threshold conjecture for all k exceeding an absolute constant k(0). That is, there is a single critical value c(k) such that a random k-SAT formula at clause-to-variable ratio c is with high probability satisfiable for cc(k), and unsatisfiable for cc(k). The threshold c(k) matches the explicit prediction derived by statistical physicists on the basis of the one-step replica symmetry breaking (1RSB) heuristic. In the talk I will describe the main obstacles in computing the threshold, and explain how they are overcome in our proof.
Joint work with Jian Ding and Allan Sly.