Automata theory in nominal sets

We study languages over infinite alphabets equipped with some structure that can be tested by recognizing automata. We develop a framework for studying such alphabets and the ensuing automata theory, where the key role is played by an automorphism group of the alphabet. In the process, we generalize nominal sets due to Gabbay and Pitts

Towards Nominal Formal Languages

We introduce formal languages over infinite alphabets where words may contain binders. We define the notions of nominal language, nominal monoid, and nominal regular expressions. Moreover, we extend history-dependent automata (HD-automata) by adding stack, and study the recognisability of nominal languages

Weighted recognizability over infinite alphabets

We introduce weighted variable automata over infinite alphabets and commutative semirings. We prove that the class of their behaviors is closed under sum, and under scalar, Hadamard, Cauchy, and shuffle products, as well as star operation. Furthermore, we consider rational series over infinite alphabets and we state a Kleene-Schützenberger theorem. We introduce a weighted monadic second order logic and a weighted linear dynamic logic over infinite alphabets and investigate their relation to weighted variable automata. An application of our theory, to series over the Boolean semiring, concludes to new results for the class of languages accepted by variable automata

Programming Using Automata and Transducers

Automata, the simplest model of computation, have proven to be an effective tool in reasoning about programs that operate over strings. Transducers augment automata to produce outputs and have been used to model string and tree transformations such as natural language translations. The success of these models is primarily due to their closure properties and decidable procedures, but good properties come at the price of limited expressiveness. Concretely, most models only support finite alphabets and can only represent small classes of languages and transformations. We focus on addressing these limitations and bridge the gap between the theory of automata and transducers and complex real-world applications: Can we extend automata and transducer models to operate over structured and infinite alphabets? Can we design languages that hide the complexity of these formalisms? Can we define executable models that can process the input efficiently? First, we introduce succinct models of transducers that can operate over large alphabets and design BEX, a language for analysing string coders. We use BEX to prove the correctness of UTF and BASE64 encoders and decoders. Next, we develop a theory of tree transducers over infinite alphabets and design FAST, a language for analysing tree-manipulating programs. We use FAST to detect vulnerabilities in HTML sanitizers, check whether augmented reality taggers conflict, and optimize and analyze functional programs that operate over lists and trees. Finally, we focus on laying the foundations of stream processing of hierarchical data such as XML files and program traces. We introduce two new efficient and executable models that can process the input in a left-to-right linear pass: symbolic visibly pushdown automata and streaming tree transducers. Symbolic visibly pushdown automata are closed under Boolean operations and can specify and efficiently monitor complex properties for hierarchical structures over infinite alphabets. Streaming tree transducers can express and efficiently process complex XML transformations while enjoying decidable procedures

Separation and Renaming in Nominal Sets

Nominal sets provide a foundation for reasoning about names. They are used primarily in syntax with binders, but also, e.g., to model automata over infinite alphabets. In this paper, nominal sets are related to nominal renaming sets, which involve arbitrary substitutions rather than permutations, through a categorical adjunction. In particular, the left adjoint relates the separated product of nominal sets to the Cartesian product of nominal renaming sets. Based on these results, we define the new notion of separated nominal automata. We show that these automata can be exponentially smaller than classical nominal automata, if the semantics is closed under substitutions

Set Augmented Finite Automata over Infinite Alphabets

A data language is a set of finite words defined on an infinite alphabet. Data languages are used to express properties associated with data values (domain defined over a countably infinite set). In this paper, we introduce set augmented finite automata (SAFA), a new class of automata for expressing data languages. We investigate the decision problems, closure properties, and expressiveness of SAFA. We also study the deterministic variant of these automata.Comment: This is a full version of a paper with the same name accepted in DLT 2023. Other than the full proofs, this paper contains several new results concerning more closure properties, universality problem, comparison of expressiveness with register automata and class counter automata, and more results on deterministic SAF

Symbolic Weighted Language Models, Quantitative Parsing and Verification over Infinite Alphabets

We study properties and relationship between three classes of quantitative language models computing over infinite input alphabets: Symbolic Weighted Automata (swA) at the joint between Symbolic Automata (sA) and Weighted Automata (wA), as well as Transducers (swT) and Visibly Pushdown (sw-VPA) variants. Like sA, swA deal with large or infinite input alphabets, and like wA, they output a weight value in a semiring domain. The transitions of swA are labeled by functions from an infinite alphabet into the weight domain. This generalizes sA, whose transitions are guarded by Boolean predicates overs symbols in an infinite alphabet, and also wA, whose transitions are labeled by constant weight values, and which deal only with finite alphabets. We present a Bar-Hillel Perles Shamir construction of a swA computing a swT-defined distance between a swA input language and a word, some closure results and a polynomial best-search algorithm for sw-VPA. These results are applied to solve a variant of parsing over infinite alphabets

Residual Nominal Automata

Nominal automata are models for accepting languages over infinite alphabets. In this paper we refine the hierarchy of nondeterministic nominal automata, by developing the theory of residual nominal automata. In particular, we show that they admit canonical minimal representatives, and that the universality problem becomes decidable. We also study exact learning of these automata, and settle questions that were left open about their learnability via observations

A Class of Automata for the Verification of Infinite, Resource-Allocating Behaviours

Process calculi for service-oriented computing often feature generation of fresh resources. So-called nominal automata have been studied both as semantic models for such calculi, and as acceptors of languages of finite words over infinite alphabets. In this paper we investi-gate nominal automata that accept infinite words. These automata are a generalisation of deterministic Muller automata to the setting of nominal sets. We prove decidability of complement, union, intersection, emptiness and equivalence, and determinacy by ultimately periodic words. The key to obtain such results is to use finite representations of the (otherwise infinite-state) defined class of automata. The definition of such operations enables model checking of process calculi featuring infinite behaviours, and resource allocation, to be implemented using classical automata-theoretic methods