Exact satisfiability threshold for k-satisfiability problems on a Bethe lattice

The satisfiability threshold for constraint satisfaction problems is that value of the ratio of constraints (or clauses) to variables, above which the probability that a random instance of the problem has a solution is zero in the large system limit. Two different approaches to obtaining this threshold have been discussed in the literature: using first or second moment methods which give rigorous bounds or using the nonrigorous but powerful replica-symmetry-breaking (RSB) approach, which gives very accurate predictions on random graphs. In this paper, we lay out a different route to obtaining this threshold on a Bethe lattice. We need make no assumptions about the solution-space structure, a key assumption in the RSB approach. Despite this, our expressions and threshold values exactly match the best predictions of the cavity method under the one-step RSB hypothesis. In addition we can use the same procedure to obtain other useful quantities on the Bethe lattice such as the second moment of the number of solutions. Our method hence provides alternate interpretations as well as motivations for the key equations in the RSB approach.