Multi-linear formulas for permanent and determinant are of super-polynomial size

Abstract

An arithmetic formula is multilinear if the polynomial computed by each of its subformulas is multilinear. We prove that any multilinear arithmetic formula for the permanent or the determinant of an n × n matrix is of size super-polynomial in n . Previously, super-polynomial lower bounds were not known (for any explicit function) even for the special case of multilinear formulas of constant depth.