Toward Better Depth Lower Bounds: Strong Composition of XOR and a Random Function

Abstract: Proving formula depth lower bounds is a fundamental challenge in complexity theory, with the strongest known bound of $(3 - o(1))\log n$ established by Hastad over 25 years ago. The Karchmer-Raz-Wigderson (KRW) conjecture offers a promising approach to advance these bounds and separate P from NC$^{1}$. It suggests that the depth complexity of a function composition $f \diamond g$ approximates the sum of the depth complexities of $f$ and $g$. The Karchmer-Wigderson (KW) relation framework translates formula depth into communication complexity, restating the KRW conjecture as $\mathsf{CC}(\mathsf{KW}f \diamond \mathsf{KW}_g) \approx \mathsf{CC}(\mathsf{KW}_f) + \mathsf{CC}(\mathsf{KW}_g)$. Prior work has confirmed the conjecture under various relaxations, often replacing one or both KW relations with the universal relation or constraining the communication game through strong composition. In this paper, we examine the strong composition $\mathsf{KW}{\mathsf{XOR}} \circledast \mathsf{KW}_f$ of the parity function and a random Boolean function $f$. We prove that with probability $1-o(1)$, any protocol solving this composition requires at least $n^{3 - o(1)}$ leaves. This result establishes a depth lower bound of $(3 - o(1))\log n$, matching Hastad's bound, but is applicable to a broader class of inner functions, even when the outer function is simple. Though bounds for the strong composition do not translate directly to formula depth bounds, they usually help to analyze the standard composition (of the corresponding two functions) which is directly related to formula depth.