# Deterministic Black-Box Identity Testing pi-Ordered Algebraic Branching Programs

Publisher:
Dagstuhl Publishing
Publication Type:
Conference Proceeding
Citation:
IARCS International Conference on Foundations of Software Technology and Theoretical Computer Science, 2011, pp. 296 - 307
Issue Date:
2011-01
In this paper we study algebraic branching programs (ABPs) with restrictions on the order and the number of reads of variables in the program. An ABP is given by a layered directed acyclic graph with source $s$ and sink $t$, whose edges are labeled by variables taken from the set $\{x_1, x_2, \ldots, x_n\}$ or field constants. It computes the sum of weights of all paths from $s$ to $t$, where the weight of a path is defined as the product of edge-labels on the path. Given a permutation $\pi$ of the $n$ variables, for a $\pi$-ordered ABP ($\pi$-OABP), for any directed path $p$ from $s$ to $t$, a variable can appear at most once on $p$, and the order in which variables appear on $p$ must respect $\pi$. One can think of OABPs as being the arithmetic analogue of ordered binary decision diagrams (OBDDs). We say an ABP $A$ is of read $r$, if any variable appears at most $r$ times in $A$. Our main result pertains to the polynomial identity testing problem, i.e. the problem of deciding whether a given $n$-variate polynomial is identical to the zero polynomial or not. We prove that over any field $\F$, and in the black-box model, i.e. given only query access to the polynomial, read $r$ $\pi$-OABP computable polynomials can be tested in $\DTIME[2^{O(r\log r \cdot \log^2 n \log\log n)}]$. In case $\F$ is a finite field, the above time bound holds provided the identity testing algorithm is allowed to make queries to extension fields of $\F$.