Reading assignments are from Arora and Barak, Computational Complexity: A Modern Approach, first edition, available at the Textbook Annex.
Class meetings are Monday and Wednesday 10:35-11:50 in room 140 of the Computer Science Building. There is also an optional discussion section Fridays 11:15-12:05 in room 142 of the CSB. These sessions will focus on background and perhaps tangential material rather than new lecture material, and descriptions below of their contents are speculative. The midterm exam will be during the scheduled lecture period on Wednesday 10 March.
Syllabus adjusted for cancellations (10 Feb 2010 and 24 Feb 2010).
Wed 20 Jan L01 Course Overview, Models (1.1)
Fri 22 Jan D01 The Formal Language Model
Mon 25 Jan L02 Turing Machines (1.2-1.3)
Wed 27 Jan L03 Universal TM's and Uncomputability (1.4-1.5)
Fri 29 Jan D02 The Chomsky Hierarchy
Mon 01 Feb L04 P and its Robustness (1.6-1.7)
Wed 03 Feb L05 Nondeterminism, NP, Reductions, and Completeness (2.1-2.2)
Fri 05 Feb D03 Semantics of Nondeterminism
Mon 08 Feb L06 The Cook-Levin Theorem (2.3) (DAVE AWAY)
Wed 10 Feb --- NO CLASS (Snow day) (DAVE AWAY)
Fri 12 Feb L07 Examples of NP-Completeness (LECTURE) (2.4) (DAVE AWAY)
Mon 15 Feb --- NO CLASS (Presidents' Day)
Tue 16 Feb L08 The P Versus NP Question (2.5-2.7) (MONDAY SCHEDULE)
Wed 17 Feb L09 Diagonalization and the Time Hierachy Theorem (3.1)
Fri 19 Feb D04 Diagonalization in the Computability World
Mon 22 Feb L10 Applications of Diagonalization and Oracles (3.2-3.4)
Wed 24 Feb --- NO CLASS (Snow Day)
Fri 26 Feb L11 Space Complexity and PSPACE (4.1-4.2)
Mon 01 Mar L12 L, NL, Reachability, and NL-Completeness (4.3)
Wed 03 Mar L13 The Polynomial Hierarchy (5.1-5.2)
Fri 05 Mar D06 Alternation and First-Order Logic
Mon 08 Mar L14 Alternation and Oracle Machines (5.3-5.5)
Wed 10 Mar X01 MIDTERM EXAM during lecture period on Chapters 1-5
Fri 12 Mar D07 Exam Post-Mortem
SPRING BREAK
Mon 22 Mar L15 Boolean Circuits and Uniformity (6.1-6.2)
Wed 24 Mar L16 Circuits and TM Complexity Classes (6.3-6.6)
Fri 26 Mar D08 Another Model: Branching Programs
Mon 29 Mar L17 The NC Hierarchy (6.7-6.8)
Wed 31 Mar L18 Randomized Computation (7.1-7.4)
Fri 02 Apr D09 Randomized Reachability
Mon 05 Apr L19 Randomized Complexity Classes (7.5-7.7)
Wed 07 Apr L20 Interactive Proofs (8.1-8.2)
Fri 09 Apr D10 Extensions of Interactive Proofs
Mon 12 Apr L21 IP = PSPACE and Beyond (8.3-8.7)
Wed 14 Apr L22 Cryptography (9.1-9.2)
Fri 16 Apr D11 RSA and P versus NP
Mon 19 Apr --- NO CLASS (Patriots' Day)
Wed 21 Apr L23 Zero Knowledge and Applications (9.3-9.5) (MONDAY SCHEDULE)
Fri 23 Apr D12 Background for Quantum Computation
Mon 26 Apr L24 Quantum Computation (10)
Wed 28 Apr L25 Lower Bounds for Circuit Complexity (14)
Fri 30 Apr D13 General Review of the Course
Mon 03 May L26 Course Summary and Student Evaluations
Final Exam (cumulative) Thursday 6 May 2010, 8:00-10:00 a.m., LGRT room 101.
Last modified 19 March 2010