1,266 research outputs found
Logic Meets Algebra: the Case of Regular Languages
The study of finite automata and regular languages is a privileged meeting
point of algebra and logic. Since the work of Buchi, regular languages have
been classified according to their descriptive complexity, i.e. the type of
logical formalism required to define them. The algebraic point of view on
automata is an essential complement of this classification: by providing
alternative, algebraic characterizations for the classes, it often yields the
only opportunity for the design of algorithms that decide expressibility in
some logical fragment.
We survey the existing results relating the expressibility of regular
languages in logical fragments of MSO[S] with algebraic properties of their
minimal automata. In particular, we show that many of the best known results in
this area share the same underlying mechanics and rely on a very strong
relation between logical substitutions and block-products of pseudovarieties of
monoid. We also explain the impact of these connections on circuit complexity
theory.Comment: 37 page
Monadic Second-Order Logic with Arbitrary Monadic Predicates
We study Monadic Second-Order Logic (MSO) over finite words, extended with
(non-uniform arbitrary) monadic predicates. We show that it defines a class of
languages that has algebraic, automata-theoretic and machine-independent
characterizations. We consider the regularity question: given a language in
this class, when is it regular? To answer this, we show a substitution property
and the existence of a syntactical predicate.
We give three applications. The first two are to give very simple proofs that
the Straubing Conjecture holds for all fragments of MSO with monadic
predicates, and that the Crane Beach Conjecture holds for MSO with monadic
predicates. The third is to show that it is decidable whether a language
defined by an MSO formula with morphic predicates is regular.Comment: Conference version: MFCS'14, Mathematical Foundations of Computer
Science Journal version: ToCL'17, Transactions on Computational Logi
On Varieties of Automata Enriched with an Algebraic Structure (Extended Abstract)
Eilenberg correspondence, based on the concept of syntactic monoids, relates
varieties of regular languages with pseudovarieties of finite monoids. Various
modifications of this correspondence related more general classes of regular
languages with classes of more complex algebraic objects. Such generalized
varieties also have natural counterparts formed by classes of finite automata
equipped with a certain additional algebraic structure. In this survey, we
overview several variants of such varieties of enriched automata.Comment: In Proceedings AFL 2014, arXiv:1405.527
One Quantifier Alternation in First-Order Logic with Modular Predicates
Adding modular predicates yields a generalization of first-order logic FO
over words. The expressive power of FO[<,MOD] with order comparison and
predicates for has been investigated by Barrington,
Compton, Straubing and Therien. The study of FO[<,MOD]-fragments was initiated
by Chaubard, Pin and Straubing. More recently, Dartois and Paperman showed that
definability in the two-variable fragment FO2[<,MOD] is decidable. In this
paper we continue this line of work.
We give an effective algebraic characterization of the word languages in
Sigma2[<,MOD]. The fragment Sigma2 consists of first-order formulas in prenex
normal form with two blocks of quantifiers starting with an existential block.
In addition we show that Delta2[<,MOD], the largest subclass of Sigma2[<,MOD]
which is closed under negation, has the same expressive power as two-variable
logic FO2[<,MOD]. This generalizes the result FO2[<] = Delta2[<] of Therien and
Wilke to modular predicates. As a byproduct, we obtain another decidable
characterization of FO2[<,MOD]
Fragments of first-order logic over infinite words
We give topological and algebraic characterizations as well as language
theoretic descriptions of the following subclasses of first-order logic FO[<]
for omega-languages: Sigma_2, FO^2, the intersection of FO^2 and Sigma_2, and
Delta_2 (and by duality Pi_2 and the intersection of FO^2 and Pi_2). These
descriptions extend the respective results for finite words. In particular, we
relate the above fragments to language classes of certain (unambiguous)
polynomials. An immediate consequence is the decidability of the membership
problem of these classes, but this was shown before by Wilke and Bojanczyk and
is therefore not our main focus. The paper is about the interplay of algebraic,
topological, and language theoretic properties.Comment: Conference version presented at 26th International Symposium on
Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science, STACS 200
Advances and applications of automata on words and trees : abstracts collection
From 12.12.2010 to 17.12.2010, the Dagstuhl Seminar 10501 "Advances and Applications of Automata on Words and Trees" was held in Schloss Dagstuhl - Leibniz Center for Informatics. During the seminar, several participants presented their current research, and ongoing work and open problems were discussed. Abstracts of the presentations given during the seminar as well as abstracts of seminar results and ideas are put together in this paper. The first section describes the seminar topics and goals in general. Links to extended abstracts or full papers are provided, if available
Admissibility in Finitely Generated Quasivarieties
Checking the admissibility of quasiequations in a finitely generated (i.e.,
generated by a finite set of finite algebras) quasivariety Q amounts to
checking validity in a suitable finite free algebra of the quasivariety, and is
therefore decidable. However, since free algebras may be large even for small
sets of small algebras and very few generators, this naive method for checking
admissibility in \Q is not computationally feasible. In this paper,
algorithms are introduced that generate a minimal (with respect to a multiset
well-ordering on their cardinalities) finite set of algebras such that the
validity of a quasiequation in this set corresponds to admissibility of the
quasiequation in Q. In particular, structural completeness (validity and
admissibility coincide) and almost structural completeness (validity and
admissibility coincide for quasiequations with unifiable premises) can be
checked. The algorithms are illustrated with a selection of well-known finitely
generated quasivarieties, and adapted to handle also admissibility of rules in
finite-valued logics
On FO2 quantifier alternation over words
We show that each level of the quantifier alternation hierarchy within
FO^2[<] -- the 2-variable fragment of the first order logic of order on words
-- is a variety of languages. We then use the notion of condensed rankers, a
refinement of the rankers defined by Weis and Immerman, to produce a decidable
hierarchy of varieties which is interwoven with the quantifier alternation
hierarchy -- and conjecturally equal to it. It follows that the latter
hierarchy is decidable within one unit: given a formula alpha in FO^2[<], one
can effectively compute an integer m such that alpha is equivalent to a formula
with at most m+1 alternating blocks of quantifiers, but not to a formula with
only m-1 blocks. This is a much more precise result than what is known about
the quantifier alternation hierarchy within FO[<], where no decidability result
is known beyond the very first levels
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