Title: Approximation algorithms and the PCP theorem
Michael Langberg
Center for the Mathematics of Information
California Institute of Technology
Abstract: The celebrated PCP theorem plays a central role in the
design of reductions which establish bounds on efficient
approximation. In this talk I will state the PCP theorem, show its
connection to approximation, and prove a weak but yet profound version
of the theorem.
Post-lecture:
In the second lecture we sketched the proof of the "weak PCP theorem",
which in standard terminology is the theorem: $NP \subseteq
PCP(poly,O(1))$. The following 2 pointers include the details missing
from the talk.
Lecture 12 and 18 in Oded Goldreich's complexity course:
Goldreich
Pages 24-29 in Madhu Sudan's notes on PCP:
Sudan