Separating regular languages with two quantifier alternations

We investigate a famous decision problem in automata theory: separation. Given a class of language C, the separation problem for C takes as input two regular languages and asks whether there exists a third one which belongs to C, includes the first one and is disjoint from the second. Typically, obtaining an algorithm for separation yields a deep understanding of the investigated class C. This explains why a lot of effort has been devoted to finding algorithms for the most prominent classes. Here, we are interested in classes within concatenation hierarchies. Such hierarchies are built using a generic construction process: one starts from an initial class called the basis and builds new levels by applying generic operations. The most famous one, the dot-depth hierarchy of Brzozowski and Cohen, classifies the languages definable in first-order logic. Moreover, it was shown by Thomas that it corresponds to the quantifier alternation hierarchy of first-order logic: each level in the dot-depth corresponds to the languages that can be defined with a prescribed number of quantifier blocks. Finding separation algorithms for all levels in this hierarchy is among the most famous open problems in automata theory. Our main theorem is generic: we show that separation is decidable for the level 3/2 of any concatenation hierarchy whose basis is finite. Furthermore, in the special case of the dot-depth, we push this result to the level 5/2. In logical terms, this solves separation for $\Sigma_3$: first-order sentences having at most three quantifier blocks starting with an existential one

Three hierarchies of transducers

Composition of top-down tree transducers yields a proper hierarchy of transductions and of output languages. The same is true for ETOL systems (viewed as transducers) and for two-way generalized sequential machines

The dot-depth and the polynomial hierarchy correspond on the delta levels

It is well-known that the Sigma_k- and Pi_k-levels of the dot-depth hierarchy and the polynomial hierarchy correspond via leaf languages. In this paper this correspondence will be extended to the Delta_k-levels of these hierarchies: Leaf^P(Delta_k^L) = Delta_k^p

On All Things Star-Free

We investigate the star-free closure, which associates to a class of languages its closure under Boolean operations and marked concatenation. We prove that the star-free closure of any finite class and of any class of groups languages with decidable separation (plus mild additional properties) has decidable separation. We actually show decidability of a stronger property, called covering. This generalizes many results on the subject in a unified framework. A key ingredient is that star-free closure coincides with another closure operator where Kleene stars are also allowed in restricted contexts

A method of encoding generalized link diagrams

We describe a method of encoding various types of link diagrams, including those with classical, flat, rigid, welded, and virtual crossings. We show that this method may be used to encode link diagrams, up to equivalence, in a notation whose length is a cubic function of the number of 'riser marks'. For classical knots, the minimal number of such marks is twice the bridge index, and a classical knot diagram in minimal bridge form with bridge index $b$ may be encoded in space $\mathcal{O}(b^2)$. A set of moves on the notation is defined. As a demonstration of the utility of the notation we give another proof that the Kishino virtual knot is non-classical.Comment: 17 pages, 13 figures; to appear in the Journal of Knot Theory & Its Ramification