Quantitative relation between noise sensitivity and influences

Abstract

A Boolean function f: {0,1}n → {0,1} is said to be noise sensitive if inserting a small random error in its argument makes the value of the function almost unpredictable. Benjamini, Kalai and Schramm [3] showed that if the sum of squares of inuences of f is close to zero then f must be noise sensitive. We show a quantitative version of this result which does not depend on n, and prove that it is tight for certain parameters. Our results hold also for a general product measure µ p on the discrete cube, as long as log1/p≪logn. We note that in [3], a quantitative relation between the sum of squares of the inuences and the noise sensitivity was also shown, but only when the sum of squares is bounded by n −c for a constant c.Our results require a generalization of a lemma of Talagrand on the Fourier coefficients of monotone Boolean functions. In order to achieve it, we present a considerably shorter proof of Talagrand’s lemma, which easily generalizes in various directions, including non-monotone functions.