We initiate the study of the tradeoff between the {\em length} of a
probabilistically checkable proof of proximity (PCPP) and the
maximal {\em soundness} that can be guaranteed by a $3$-query
verifier with oracle access to the proof. Our main observation is
that a verifier limited to querying a short ... more >>>

The PCP theorem asserts the existence of proofs that can be verified by a verifier that reads only a very small part of the proof. The theorem was originally proved by Arora and Safra (J. ACM 45(1)) and Arora et al. (J. ACM 45(3)) using sophisticated algebraic tools. More than ... more >>>