Forward Analysis and Model Checking for Trace Bounded WSTS

We investigate a subclass of well-structured transition systems (WSTS), the bounded---in the sense of Ginsburg and Spanier (Trans. AMS 1964)---complete deterministic ones, which we claim provide an adequate basis for the study of forward analyses as developed by Finkel and Goubault-Larrecq (Logic. Meth. Comput. Sci. 2012). Indeed, we prove that, unlike other conditions considered previously for the termination of forward analysis, boundedness is decidable. Boundedness turns out to be a valuable restriction for WSTS verification, as we show that it further allows to decide all $\omega$-regular properties on the set of infinite traces of the system

Representation Theory of Finite Semigroups, Semigroup Radicals and Formal Language Theory

In this paper we characterize the congruence associated to the direct sum of all irreducible representations of a finite semigroup over an arbitrary field, generalizing results of Rhodes for the field of complex numbers. Applications are given to obtain many new results, as well as easier proofs of several results in the literature, involving: triangularizability of finite semigroups; which semigroups have (split) basic semigroup algebras, two-sided semidirect product decompositions of finite monoids; unambiguous products of rational languages; products of rational languages with counter; and \v{C}ern\'y's conjecture for an important class of automata

Synchronous Subsequentiality and Approximations to Undecidable Problems

We introduce the class of synchronous subsequential relations, a subclass of the synchronous relations which embodies some properties of subsequential relations. If we take relations of this class as forming the possible transitions of an infinite automaton, then most decision problems (apart from membership) still remain undecidable (as they are for synchronous and subsequential rational relations), but on the positive side, they can be approximated in a meaningful way we make precise in this paper. This might make the class useful for some applications, and might serve to establish an intermediate position in the trade-off between issues of expressivity and (un)decidability.Comment: In Proceedings GandALF 2015, arXiv:1509.0685

Monoid automata for displacement context-free languages

In 2007 Kambites presented an algebraic interpretation of Chomsky-Schutzenberger theorem for context-free languages. We give an interpretation of the corresponding theorem for the class of displacement context-free languages which are equivalent to well-nested multiple context-free languages. We also obtain a characterization of k-displacement context-free languages in terms of monoid automata and show how such automata can be simulated on two stacks. We introduce the simultaneous two-stack automata and compare different variants of its definition. All the definitions considered are shown to be equivalent basing on the geometric interpretation of memory operations of these automata.Comment: Revised version for ESSLLI Student Session 2013 selected paper

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

Low-Latency Sliding Window Algorithms for Formal Languages

Low-latency sliding window algorithms for regular and context-free languages are studied, where latency refers to the worst-case time spent for a single window update or query. For every regular language L it is shown that there exists a constant-latency solution that supports adding and removing symbols independently on both ends of the window (the so-called two-way variable-size model). We prove that this result extends to all visibly pushdown languages. For deterministic 1-counter languages we present a ?(log n) latency sliding window algorithm for the two-way variable-size model where n refers to the window size. We complement these results with a conditional lower bound: there exists a fixed real-time deterministic context-free language L such that, assuming the OMV (online matrix vector multiplication) conjecture, there is no sliding window algorithm for L with latency n^(1/2-?) for any ? > 0, even in the most restricted sliding window model (one-way fixed-size model). The above mentioned results all refer to the unit-cost RAM model with logarithmic word size. For regular languages we also present a refined picture using word sizes ?(1), ?(log log n), and ?(log n)