Quantitative relation between noise sensitivity and influences

Abstract

A Boolean function $f:\{0,1\}^n \to \{0,1\}$ 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 showed that if the sum of squares of influences in $f$ 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 $\mu_p$ on the discrete cube, as long as $\log 1/p \ll \log n$. We note that in [BKS], a quantitative relation between the sum of squares of the influences 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.