  We present an efficient proof system for Multipoint Arithmetic Circuit
Evaluation: for every arithmetic circuit $C(x_1,\ldots,x_n)$ of size $s$ and
degree $d$ over a field ${\mathbb F}$, and any inputs $a_1,\ldots,a_K \in
{\mathbb F}^n$,
  $\bullet$ the Prover sends the Verifier the values $C(a_1), \ldots, C(a_K)
\in {\mathbb F}$ and a proof of $\tilde{O}(K \cdot d)$ length, and
  $\bullet$ the Verifier tosses $\textrm{poly}(\log(dK|{\mathbb
F}|/\varepsilon))$ coins and can check the proof in about $\tilde{O}(K \cdot(n
+ d) + s)$ time, with probability of error less than $\varepsilon$.
  For small degree $d$, this "Merlin-Arthur" proof system (a.k.a. MA-proof
system) runs in nearly-linear time, and has many applications. For example, we
obtain MA-proof systems that run in $c^{n}$ time (for various $c < 2$) for the
Permanent, $\#$Circuit-SAT for all sublinear-depth circuits, counting
Hamiltonian cycles, and infeasibility of $0$-$1$ linear programs. In general,
the value of any polynomial in Valiant's class ${\sf VP}$ can be certified
faster than "exhaustive summation" over all possible assignments. These results
strongly refute a Merlin-Arthur Strong ETH and Arthur-Merlin Strong ETH posed
by Russell Impagliazzo and others.
  We also give a three-round (AMA) proof system for quantified Boolean formulas
running in $2^{2n/3+o(n)}$ time, nearly-linear time MA-proof systems for
counting orthogonal vectors in a collection and finding Closest Pairs in the
Hamming metric, and a MA-proof system running in $n^{k/2+O(1)}$-time for
counting $k$-cliques in graphs.
  We point to some potential future directions for refuting the
Nondeterministic Strong ETH.
