67,429 research outputs found
Parikh Automata over Infinite Words
Parikh automata extend finite automata by counters that can be tested for
membership in a semilinear set, but only at the end of a run, thereby
preserving many of the desirable algorithmic properties of finite automata.
Here, we study the extension of the classical framework onto infinite inputs:
We introduce reachability, safety, B\"uchi, and co-B\"uchi Parikh automata on
infinite words and study expressiveness, closure properties, and the complexity
of verification problems.
We show that almost all classes of automata have pairwise incomparable
expressiveness, both in the deterministic and the nondeterministic case; a
result that sharply contrasts with the well-known hierarchy in the
-regular setting. Furthermore, emptiness is shown decidable for Parikh
automata with reachability or B\"uchi acceptance, but undecidable for safety
and co-B\"uchi acceptance. Most importantly, we show decidability of model
checking with specifications given by deterministic Parikh automata with safety
or co-B\"uchi acceptance, but also undecidability for all other types of
automata. Finally, solving games is undecidable for all types
Complexity of Two-Dimensional Patterns
In dynamical systems such as cellular automata and iterated maps, it is often
useful to look at a language or set of symbol sequences produced by the system.
There are well-established classification schemes, such as the Chomsky
hierarchy, with which we can measure the complexity of these sets of sequences,
and thus the complexity of the systems which produce them.
In this paper, we look at the first few levels of a hierarchy of complexity
for two-or-more-dimensional patterns. We show that several definitions of
``regular language'' or ``local rule'' that are equivalent in d=1 lead to
distinct classes in d >= 2. We explore the closure properties and computational
complexity of these classes, including undecidability and L-, NL- and
NP-completeness results.
We apply these classes to cellular automata, in particular to their sets of
fixed and periodic points, finite-time images, and limit sets. We show that it
is undecidable whether a CA in d >= 2 has a periodic point of a given period,
and that certain ``local lattice languages'' are not finite-time images or
limit sets of any CA. We also show that the entropy of a d-dimensional CA's
finite-time image cannot decrease faster than t^{-d} unless it maps every
initial condition to a single homogeneous state.Comment: To appear in J. Stat. Phy
Computation in generalised probabilistic theories
From the existence of an efficient quantum algorithm for factoring, it is
likely that quantum computation is intrinsically more powerful than classical
computation. At present, the best upper bound known for the power of quantum
computation is that BQP is in AWPP. This work investigates limits on
computational power that are imposed by physical principles. To this end, we
define a circuit-based model of computation in a class of operationally-defined
theories more general than quantum theory, and ask: what is the minimal set of
physical assumptions under which the above inclusion still holds? We show that
given only an assumption of tomographic locality (roughly, that multipartite
states can be characterised by local measurements), efficient computations are
contained in AWPP. This inclusion still holds even without assuming a basic
notion of causality (where the notion is, roughly, that probabilities for
outcomes cannot depend on future measurement choices). Following Aaronson, we
extend the computational model by allowing post-selection on measurement
outcomes. Aaronson showed that the corresponding quantum complexity class is
equal to PP. Given only the assumption of tomographic locality, the inclusion
in PP still holds for post-selected computation in general theories. Thus in a
world with post-selection, quantum theory is optimal for computation in the
space of all general theories. We then consider if relativised complexity
results can be obtained for general theories. It is not clear how to define a
sensible notion of an oracle in the general framework that reduces to the
standard notion in the quantum case. Nevertheless, it is possible to define
computation relative to a `classical oracle'. Then, we show there exists a
classical oracle relative to which efficient computation in any theory
satisfying the causality assumption and tomographic locality does not include
NP.Comment: 14+9 pages. Comments welcom
Decision Problems for Deterministic Pushdown Automata on Infinite Words
The article surveys some decidability results for DPDAs on infinite words
(omega-DPDA). We summarize some recent results on the decidability of the
regularity and the equivalence problem for the class of weak omega-DPDAs.
Furthermore, we present some new results on the parity index problem for
omega-DPDAs. For the specification of a parity condition, the states of the
omega-DPDA are assigned priorities (natural numbers), and a run is accepting if
the highest priority that appears infinitely often during a run is even. The
basic simplification question asks whether one can determine the minimal number
of priorities that are needed to accept the language of a given omega-DPDA. We
provide some decidability results on variations of this question for some
classes of omega-DPDAs.Comment: In Proceedings AFL 2014, arXiv:1405.527
Finite-state Strategies in Delay Games (full version)
What is a finite-state strategy in a delay game? We answer this surprisingly
non-trivial question by presenting a very general framework that allows to
remove delay: finite-state strategies exist for all winning conditions where
the resulting delay-free game admits a finite-state strategy. The framework is
applicable to games whose winning condition is recognized by an automaton with
an acceptance condition that satisfies a certain aggregation property. Our
framework also yields upper bounds on the complexity of determining the winner
of such delay games and upper bounds on the necessary lookahead to win the
game. In particular, we cover all previous results of that kind as special
cases of our uniform approach
State Space Reduction For Parity Automata
Exact minimization of ?-automata is a difficult problem and heuristic algorithms are a subject of current research. We propose several new approaches to reduce the state space of deterministic parity automata. These are based on extracting information from structures within the automaton, such as strongly connected components, coloring of the states, and equivalence classes of given relations, to determine states that can safely be merged. We also establish a framework to generalize the notion of quotient automata and uniformly describe such algorithms. The description of these procedures consists of a theoretical analysis as well as data collected from experiments
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