Abstract A locally decodable code encodes n-bit strings x in m-bit codewords C(x) in such a way that one can recover any bit xi from a corrupted codeword by querying only a few bits of that word. We use a quantum argument to prove that LDCs with 2 classical queries require exponential length: m = 2 \Omega (n). Previously this was known only for linear codes (Goldreich et al. 02). The

We continue the study of the trade-o between the length of PCPs and their query complexity, establishing the following main results (which refer to proofs of satis ability of circuits of size n): 1. We present PCPs of length exp( ~ O(log log n) ) n that can be veri ed by making o(log log n) Boolean queries.

Locally testable codes are error-correcting codes that admit very efficient codeword tests. Specifically, using

This paper provides the first explicit construction of extractors which are simultaneously optimal up to constant factors in both seed length and output length. More precisely, for every n, k, our extractor uses a random seed of length O(log n) to transform any random source on n bits with (min-)entropy k, into a distribution on (1 − α)k bits that is ɛ-close to uniform. Here α and ɛ can be taken to be any positive constants. (In fact, ɛ can be almost polynomially small). Our improvements are obtained via three new techniques, each of which may be of independent interest. The first is a general construction of mergers [22] from locally decodable error-correcting codes. The second introduces new condensers that have constant seed length (and retain a constant fraction of the min-entropy in the random source). The third is a way to augment the “win-win repeated condensing” paradigm of [17] with error reduction techniques like [15] so that the our constant seed-length condensers can be used without error accumulation.

We prove that if a linear error-correcting code C : f0; 1g is such that a bit of the message can be probabilistically reconstructed by looking at two entries of a corrupted codeword, then 2\Omega\Gamma n) . We also present several extensions of this result.

Error-correcting codes and related combinatorial constructs play an important role in several recent (and old) results in computational complexity theory. In this paper we survey results on locally-testable and locally-decodable error-correcting codes, and their applications to complexity theory and to cryptography.

We show that if an NP-complete problem has a nonadaptive self-corrector with respect to a samplable distribution then coNP is contained in AM/poly and the polynomial hierarchy collapses to the third level. Feigenbaum and Fortnow show the same conclusion under the stronger assumption that an NP-complete problem has a non-adaptive random self-reduction. Our result

A Private Information Retrieval (PIR) protocol allows a user to retrieve a data item of its choice from a database, such that the servers storing the database do not gain information on the identity of the item being retrieved. PIR protocols were studied in depth since the subject was introduced in Chor, Goldreich, Kushilevitz, and Sudan 1995. The standard definition of PIR protocols raises a simple question -- what happens if some of the servers crash during the operation? How can we devise a protocol which still works in the presence of crashing servers? Current systems do not guarantee availability of servers at all times for many reasons, e.g., crash of server or communication problems. Our purpose is to design robust PIR protocols, i.e., protocols which still work correctly even if only k out of # servers are available during the protocols' operation (the user does not know in advance which servers are available). We present various robust PIR protocols giving different tradeoffs between the different parameters. These protocols are incomparable, i.e., for different values of n and k we will get better results using different protocols. We first present a generic transformation from regular PIR protocols to robust PIR protocols, this transformation is important since any improvement in the communication complexity of regular PIR protocol will immediately implicate improvement in the robust PIR protocol communication. We also present two specific robust PIR protocols. Finally, we present robust PIR protocols which can tolerate Byzantine servers, i.e., robust PIR protocols which still work in the presence of malicious servers or servers with corrupted or obsolete databases. 1

A q-query Locally Decodable Code (LDC) encodes an n-bit message x as an N-bit codeword C(x), such that one can probabilistically recover any bit xi of the message by querying only q bits of the codeword C(x), even after some constant fraction of codeword bits has been corrupted. We give new constructions of three query LDCs of vastly shorter length than that of previous constructions. Specifically, given any Mersenne prime p = 2 t − 1, we design three query LDCs of length N = exp � n 1/t �, for every n. Based on the largest known Mersenne prime, this translates to a length of less than exp n 10−7� compared to exp � n1/2 � in the previous constructions. It has often been conjectured that there are infinitely many Mersenne�primes. Under this conjecture, our constructions yield three query locally decodable codes of length N = exp n O

Alice wants to query a database but she does not want the database to learn what she is querying. She can ask for the entire database. Can she get her query answered with less communication? One model of this problem is Private Information Retrieval, henceforth PIR. We survey results obtained about the PIR model including partial answers to the following questions. (1) What if there are k non-communicating copies of the database but they are computationally unbounded? (2) What if there is only one copy of the database and it is computationally bounded? 1