We display an application of the notions of kernelization and data reduction from parameterized complexity to proof complexity: Specifically, we show that the existence of data reduction rules for a parameterized problem having (a) a small-length reduction chain, and (b) small-size (extended) Frege proofs certifying the soundness of reduction steps implies the existence of subexponential size (extended) Frege proofs for propositional formalizations of the given problem. We apply our result to infer the existence of subexponential Frege and extended Frege proofs for a variety of problems. Improving earlier results of Aisenberg et al. (ICALP 2015), we show that propositional formulas expressing (a stronger form of) the Kneser-Lovasz Theorem have polynomial size Frege proofs for each constant value of the parameter k. Previously only quasipolynomial bounds were known (and only for the ordinary Kneser-Lovasz Theorem). Another notable application of our framework is to impossibility results in computational social choice: we show that, for any fixed number of agents, propositional translations of the Arrow and Gibbard-Satterthwaite impossibility theorems have subexponential size Frege proofs.

This is joint work with Cosmin Bonchiș and Adrian Crăciun.

Dynamic epistemic logics are useful in reasoning about knowledge and acts of learning, seen as epistemic actions. However, not all epistemic actions are allowed to be executed in an initial epistemic model, and this is where the concept of a protocol comes in: a protocol stipulates what epistemic actions are allowed to be performed in a model. The aim of my presentation is to introduce the audience to two accounts of protocols in DEL: Hoshi’s [1], and Wang’s [2].

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