Some facts on Permanents in Finite Characteristics

TL;DR

This paper explores the computational complexity of the permanent over finite fields, extending known results, analyzing sub-permanents of unitary matrices, and examining related polynomials like the Hamiltonian cycle polynomial, with implications for algorithm design.

Contribution

It extends complexity results for permanents in finite characteristics, introduces new polynomial identities, and proposes algorithms for permanents in characteristic 5, advancing understanding of permanent-related computations.

Findings

Permanent is #3P-complete for k > 1 in characteristic 3.

Identifies properties of the Hamiltonian cycle polynomial in characteristic 2.

Provides a polynomial-time algorithm for permanent in characteristic 5.

Abstract

The polynomial-time computability of the permanent over fields of characteristic 3 for k-semi-unitary matrices (i.e. square matrices such that the differences of their Gram matrices and the corresponding identity matrices are of rank k) in the case k = 0 or k = 1 and its #3P-completeness for any k > 1 (Ref. 9) is a result that essentially widens our understanding of the computational complexity boundaries for the permanent modulo 3. Now we extend this result to study more closely the case k > 1 regarding the (n-k)x(n-k)-sub-permanents (or permanent-minors) of a unitary nxn-matrix and their possible relations, because an (n-k)x(n-k)-submatrix of a unitary nxn-matrix is generically a k-semi-unitary (n-k)x(n-k)-matrix. The following paper offers a way to receive a variety of such equations of different sorts, in the meantime extending this direction of research to reviewing all the set of polynomial-time permanent-preserving reductions and equations for the sub-permanents of a generic matrix they might yield, including a number of generalizations and formulae (valid in an arbitrary prime characteristic) analogical to the classical identities relating the minors of a matrix and its inverse. Moreover, the second chapter also deals with the Hamiltonian cycle polynomial in characteristic 2 that surprisingly possesses quite a number of properties very similar to the corresponding ones of the permanent in characteristic 3, while over the field GF(2) it obtains even more amazing features. Besides, the third chapter is devoted to the computational complexity issues of the permanent and some related functions on a variety of Cauchy matrices and their certain generalizations, including constructing a polynomial-time algorithm (based on them) for the permanent of an arbitrary matrix in characteristic 5 (implying RP = NP) and conjecturing the existence of a similar scheme in characteristic 3.