19 research outputs found
Diagnosis in Infinite-State Probabilistic Systems
In a recent work, we introduced four variants of diagnosability
(FA, IA, FF, IF) in (finite) probabilistic
systems (pLTS) depending whether one considers (1) finite or
infinite runs and (2) faulty or all runs. We studied their
relationship and established that the corresponding decision
problems are PSPACE-complete. A key ingredient of the decision
procedures was a characterisation of diagnosability by the fact that
a random run almost surely lies in an open set whose specification
only depends on the qualitative behaviour of the pLTS. Here we
investigate similar issues for infinite pLTS. We first show that
this characterisation still holds for FF-diagnosability but
with a G-delta set instead of an open set and also for IF-
and IA-diagnosability when pLTS are finitely branching. We also
prove that surprisingly FA-diagnosability cannot be
characterised in this way even in the finitely branching case. Then
we apply our characterisations for a partially observable
probabilistic extension of visibly pushdown automata (POpVPA),
yielding EXPSPACE procedures for solving diagnosability problems.
In addition, we establish some computational lower bounds and show
that slight extensions of POpVPA lead to undecidability
Extended Computation Tree Logic
We introduce a generic extension of the popular branching-time logic CTL
which refines the temporal until and release operators with formal languages.
For instance, a language may determine the moments along a path that an until
property may be fulfilled. We consider several classes of languages leading to
logics with different expressive power and complexity, whose importance is
motivated by their use in model checking, synthesis, abstract interpretation,
etc.
We show that even with context-free languages on the until operator the logic
still allows for polynomial time model-checking despite the significant
increase in expressive power. This makes the logic a promising candidate for
applications in verification.
In addition, we analyse the complexity of satisfiability and compare the
expressive power of these logics to CTL* and extensions of PDL
Weighted One-Deterministic-Counter Automata
We introduce weighted one-deterministic-counter automata (ODCA). These are
weighted one-counter automata (OCA) with the property of counter-determinacy,
meaning that all paths labelled by a given word starting from the initial
configuration have the same counter-effect. Weighted ODCAs are a strict
extension of weighted visibly OCAs, which are weighted OCAs where the input
alphabet determines the actions on the counter.
We present a novel problem called the co-VS (complement to a vector space)
reachability problem for weighted ODCAs over fields, which seeks to determine
if there exists a run from a given configuration of a weighted ODCA to another
configuration whose weight vector lies outside a given vector space. We
establish two significant properties of witnesses for co-VS reachability: they
satisfy a pseudo-pumping lemma, and the lexicographically minimal witness has a
special form. It follows that the co-VS reachability problem is in P.
These reachability problems help us to show that the equivalence problem of
weighted ODCAs over fields is in P by adapting the equivalence proof of
deterministic real-time OCAs by B\"ohm et al. This is a step towards resolving
the open question of the equivalence problem of weighted OCAs. Furthermore, we
demonstrate that the regularity problem, the problem of checking whether an
input weighted ODCA over a field is equivalent to some weighted automaton, is
in P. Finally, we show that the covering and coverable equivalence problems for
uninitialised weighted ODCAs are decidable in polynomial time. We also consider
boolean ODCAs and show that the equivalence problem for (non-deterministic)
boolean ODCAs is in PSPACE, whereas it is undecidable for (non-deterministic)
boolean OCAs.Comment: 36 pages, 11 figure
Determinisability of register and timed automata
The deterministic membership problem for timed automata asks whether the
timed language given by a nondeterministic timed automaton can be recognised by
a deterministic timed automaton. An analogous problem can be stated in the
setting of register automata. We draw the complete decidability/complexity
landscape of the deterministic membership problem, in the setting of both
register and timed automata. For register automata, we prove that the
deterministic membership problem is decidable when the input automaton is a
nondeterministic one-register automaton (possibly with epsilon transitions) and
the number of registers of the output deterministic register automaton is
fixed. This is optimal: We show that in all the other cases the problem is
undecidable, i.e., when either 1) the input nondeterministic automaton has two
registers or more (even without epsilon transitions), or 2) it uses guessing,
or 3) the number of registers of the output deterministic automaton is not
fixed. The landscape for timed automata follows a similar pattern. We show that
the problem is decidable when the input automaton is a one-clock
nondeterministic timed automaton without epsilon transitions and the number of
clocks of the output deterministic timed automaton is fixed. Again, this is
optimal: We show that the problem in all the other cases is undecidable, i.e.,
when either 1) the input nondeterministic timed automaton has two clocks or
more, or 2) it uses epsilon transitions, or 3) the number of clocks of the
output deterministic automaton is not fixed.Comment: journal version of a CONCUR'20 paper. arXiv admin note: substantial
text overlap with arXiv:2007.0934
Verification of Non-Regular Program Properties
Most temporal logics which have been introduced and studied in the past decades can be embedded into the modal mu-calculus. This is the case for e.g. PDL, CTL, CTL*, ECTL, LTL, etc. and entails that these logics cannot express non-regular program properties. In recent years, some novel approaches towards an increase in expressive power have been made: Fixpoint Logic with Chop enriches the mu-calculus with a sequential composition operator and thereby allows to characterise context-free processes. The Modal Iteration Calculus uses inflationary fixpoints to exceed the expressive power of the mu-calculus. Higher-Order Fixpoint Logic (HFL) incorporates a simply typed lambda-calculus into a setting with extremal fixpoint operators and even exceeds the expressive power of Fixpoint Logic with Chop. But also PDL has been equipped with context-free programs instead of regular ones.
In terms of expressivity there is a natural demand for richer frameworks since program property specifications are simply not limited to the regular sphere. Expressivity however usually comes at the price of an increased computational complexity of logic-related decision problems. For instance are the satisfiability problems for the above mentioned logics undecidable. We investigate in this work the model checking problem of three different logics which are capable of expressing non-regular program properties and aim at identifying fragments with feasible model checking complexity.
Firstly, we develop a generic method for determining the complexity of model checking PDL over arbitrary classes of programs and show that the border to undecidability runs between PDL over indexed languages and PDL over context-sensitive languages. It is however still in PTIME for PDL over linear indexed languages and in EXPTIME for PDL over indexed languages. We present concrete algorithms which allow implementations of model checkers for these two fragments.
We then introduce an extension of CTL in which the UNTIL- and RELEASE- operators are adorned with formal languages. These are interpreted over labeled paths and restrict the moments on such a path at which the operators are satisfied. The UNTIL-operator is for instance satisfied if some path prefix forms a word in the language it is adorned with (besides the usual requirement that until that moment some property has to hold and at that very moment some other property must hold). Again, we determine the computational complexities of the model checking problems for varying classes of allowed languages in either operator. It turns out that either enabling context-sensitive languages in the UNTIL or context-free languages in the RELEASE- operator renders the model checking problem undecidable while it is EXPTIME-complete for indexed languages in the UNTIL and visibly pushdown languages in the RELEASE- operator. PTIME-completeness is a result of allowing linear indexed languages in the UNTIL and deterministic context-free languages in the RELEASE. We do also give concrete model checking algorithms for several interesting fragments of these logics.
Finally, we turn our attention to the model checking problem of HFL which we have already studied in previous works. On finite state models it is k-EXPTIME-complete for HFL(k), the fragment of HFL obtained by restricting functions in the lambda-calculus to order k. Novel in this work is however the generalisation (from the first-order case to the case for functions of arbitrary order) of an idea to improve the best and average case behaviour of a model checking algorithm by using partial functions during the fixpoint iteration guided by the neededness of arguments. This is possible, because the semantics of a closed HFL formula is not a total function but the value of a function at some argument. Again, we give a concrete algorithm for such an improved model checker and argue that despite the very high model checking complexity this improvement is very useful in practice and gives feasible results for HFL with lower order fuctions, backed up by a statistical analysis of the number of needed arguments on a concrete example.
Furthermore, we show how HFL can be used as a tool for the development of algorithms. Its high expressivity allows to encode a wide variety of problems as instances of model checking already in the first-order fragment. The rather unintuitive -- yet very succinct -- problem encoding together with an analysis of the behaviour of the above sketched optimisation may give deep insights into the problem. We demonstrate this on the example of the universality problem for nondeterministic finite automata, where a slight variation of the optimised model checking algorithm yields one of the best known methods so far which was only discovered recently.
We do also investigate typical model-theoretic properties for each of these logics and compare them with respect to expressive power
Foundations of Software Science and Computation Structures
This open access book constitutes the proceedings of the 25th International Conference on Foundations of Software Science and Computational Structures, FOSSACS 2022, which was held during April 4-6, 2022, in Munich, Germany, as part of the European Joint Conferences on Theory and Practice of Software, ETAPS 2022. The 23 regular papers presented in this volume were carefully reviewed and selected from 77 submissions. They deal with research on theories and methods to support the analysis, integration, synthesis, transformation, and verification of programs and software systems
Foundations of Software Science and Computation Structures
This open access book constitutes the proceedings of the 25th International Conference on Foundations of Software Science and Computational Structures, FOSSACS 2022, which was held during April 4-6, 2022, in Munich, Germany, as part of the European Joint Conferences on Theory and Practice of Software, ETAPS 2022. The 23 regular papers presented in this volume were carefully reviewed and selected from 77 submissions. They deal with research on theories and methods to support the analysis, integration, synthesis, transformation, and verification of programs and software systems
Logic and Automata
Mathematical logic and automata theory are two scientific disciplines with a fundamentally close relationship. The authors of Logic and Automata take the occasion of the sixtieth birthday of Wolfgang Thomas to present a tour d'horizon of automata theory and logic. The twenty papers in this volume cover many different facets of logic and automata theory, emphasizing the connections to other disciplines such as games, algorithms, and semigroup theory, as well as discussing current challenges in the field