A Direct Product Theorem for Discrepancy

Discrepancy is a versatile bound in communication complexity which can be used to show lower bounds in randomized, quantum, and even weakly-unbounded error models of communication. We show an optimal product theorem for discrepancy, namely that for any two Boolean functions f, g, disc(f odot g)=thetas(disc(f) disc(g)). As a consequence we obtain a strong direct product theorem for distributional complexity, and direct sum theorems for worst-case complexity, for bounds shown by the discrepancy method. Our results resolve an open problem of Shaltiel (2003) who showed a weaker product theorem for discrepancy with respect to the uniform distribution, discUodot(fodotk)=O(discU(f))k/3. The main tool for our results is semidefinite programming, in particular a recent characterization of discrepancy in terms of a semidefinite programming quantity by Linial and Shraibman (2006).