Parameterized analogues of probabilistic computation

Abstract

We study structural aspects of randomized parameterized computation. We introduce a new class W[P]-PFPT as a natural parameterized analogue of PP. Our definition uses the machine based characterization of the parameterized complexity class W[P] obtained by Chen et.al [TCS 2005]. We translate most of the structural properties and characterizations of the class PP to the new class W[P]-PFPT. We study a parameterization of the polynomial identity testing problem based on the degree of the polynomial computed by the arithmetic circuit. We obtain a parameterized analogue of the well known Schwartz-Zippel lemma [Schwartz, JACM 80 and Zippel, EUROSAM 79]. Additionally, we introduce a parameterized variant of permanent, and prove its #W[1] completeness.