Lower Bounds for Multiplication via Network Coding

Multiplication is one of the most fundamental computational problems, yet its true complexity remains elusive. The best known upper bound, by Fürer, shows that two $n$-bit numbers can be multiplied via a boolean circuit of size $O(n \lg n \cdot 4^{\lg^*n})$, where $\lg^*n$ is the very slowly growing iterated logarithm. In this work, we prove that if a central conjecture in the area of network coding is true, then any constant degree boolean circuit for multiplication must have size $Ω(n \lg n)$, thus almost completely settling the complexity of multiplication circuits. We additionally revisit classic conjectures in circuit complexity, due to Valiant, and show that the network coding conjecture also implies one of Valiant's conjectures.