All of the readings are from the text Pseudorandomness. Colors indicate weeks.
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Date |
Title |
Reading/Reference |
Handouts |
Sep 1 |
Introduction (Course overview)
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Ch. 1 |
Problem Set 1 (due 9/16) Survey (please turn in) Syllabus |
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2. The Power of Randomness
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Ch. 2 |
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Sep 6 |
Randomized Algorithms and Complexity Classes |
Sec. 2.1-2.2 |
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Sep 8 |
Sampling and Approximation Problems |
Sec. 2.3-2.4 |
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3. Basic Derandomization Techniques |
Ch. 3 |
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Sep 13 |
Enumeration, Nonuniformity, Nondeterminism |
Sec. 3.1-3.3 |
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Sep 15 |
Conditional Expectations, Pairwise Independence |
Sec. 3.4-3.5 |
Problem Set 2 (due 9/30) |
4. Expander Graphs |
Ch. 4 |
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Sep 20 |
Measures of Expansion, Existence |
Sec. 4.1 |
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Sep 22 |
Random Walks on Expanders, Algebraic Constructions |
Sec. 4.2-4.3.1 |
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Sep 27 |
Explicit Constructions, USTCONN in L |
Sec. 4.3.2-4.4 |
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5. List-Decodable Codes |
Ch. 5 |
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Sep 29 |
Definition & Existence |
Sec. 5.1-5.1.2 |
Problem Set 3 (due 10/14) |
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Oct 4 |
Explicit Codes, List Decoding Reed-Solomon Codes |
Sec. 5.1.3-5.2.3 |
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Oct 6 |
No Class (Avi Wigderson's 60th Birthday workshop) |
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Oct 11 |
Parvaresh-Vardy Codes and Folded Reed-Solomon Codes |
Sec. 5.2.4-5.3 |
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Oct 13 |
List Decoding View of Samplers & Extractors, |
Sec. 5.4 |
Problem Set 4 (due 10/28) |
6. Randomness Extractors |
Ch. 6 |
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Oct 18 |
Definition & Existence |
Sec. 6.1 |
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Oct 20 |
No Class |
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Oct 25 |
Connections to Other Pseudorandom Objects, Block Sources |
Sec. 6.2-6.3.2 |
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Oct 27 |
Condensers, Constructing Extractors |
Sec. 6.3.3-6.5 |
Problem Set 5 (due 11/11) |
7. Pseudorandom Generators |
Ch. 7 |
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Nov 1 |
Motivation & Definition (and some more on extractors) |
Sec. 7.1 |
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Nov 3 |
Spillover on defs of PRGs, Cryptographic PRGs, PRFs |
Sec. 7.2 |
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Nov 8 |
Hybrid Arguments, Average-Case Hardness |
Sec. 7.3-7.4.1 |
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Nov 10 |
The Nisan-Wigderson Generator |
Sec. 7.4.2-7.4.3 |
Problem Set 6 (due WED 11/30) |
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Nov 15 |
Worst-case/Average-case Connections & Locally Decodable Codes |
Sec. 7.5 |
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Nov 17 |
No Class |
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FRI Nov 18 |
Gil Cohen talk on Explicit Ramsey Graphs (via 2-source extractors), 1:30-4:30pm, MD 119 |
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Nov 22 |
Local List Decoding & PRGs from Worst-Case Hardness |
Sec. 7.6 |
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Nov 24 |
Thanksgiving Day (no class) |
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Nov 29 |
Connections to other Pseudorandom Objects |
Sec. 7.7 |
Take-home final (due MON 12/12) |
Dec 1 |
The Unified Theory of Pseudorandomness |
Sec. 8.1 |
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Dec 6 |
(Reading Period) Survey of other Topics in Pseudorandomness |
Sec. 8.2 |
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Dec 8 |
(Reading Period) Ramanujan graphs and interlacing polynomials |
Sec 1-5 of MSS1, and/or Sec 3-5 of Branden's lecture notes, and some additional notes |
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