Complexity of Right-Ideal, Prefix-Closed, and Prefix-Free Regular Languages

A language L over an alphabet E is prefix-convex if, for any words x, y, z is an element of Sigma*, whenever x and xyz are in L, then so is xy. Prefix-convex languages include right-ideal, prefix-closed, and prefix-free languages as special cases. We examine complexity properties of these special prefix-convex languages. In particular, we study the quotient/state complexity of boolean operations, product (concatenation), star, and reversal, the size of the syntactic semi group, and the quotient complexity of atoms. For binary operations we use arguments with different alphabets when appropriate; this leads to higher tight upper bounds than those obtained with equal alphabets. We exhibit right-ideal, prefix-closed, and prefix-free languages that meet the complexity bounds for all the measures listed above.Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada [OGP0000871

Complexity of right-ideal, prefix-closed, and prefix-free regular languages

A language L over an alphabet Σ is prefix-convex if, for any words x, y, z ϵ Σ* , whenever x and xyz are in L, then so is xy. Prefix-convex languages include right-ideal, prefix-closed, and prefix-free languages as special cases. We examine complexity properties of these special prefix-convex languages. In particular, we study the quotient/state complexity of boolean operations, product (concatenation), star, and reversal, the size of the syntactic semigroup, and the quotient complexity of atoms. For binary operations we use arguments with different alphabets when appropriate; this leads to higher tight upper bounds than those obtained with equal alphabets. We exhibit right-ideal, prefix-closed, and prefix-free languages that meet the complexity bounds for all the measures listed above

Operations on Automata with All States Final

We study the complexity of basic regular operations on languages represented by incomplete deterministic or nondeterministic automata, in which all states are final. Such languages are known to be prefix-closed. We get tight bounds on both incomplete and nondeterministic state complexity of complement, intersection, union, concatenation, star, and reversal on prefix-closed languages.Comment: In Proceedings AFL 2014, arXiv:1405.527

A New Technique for Reachability of States in Concatenation Automata

We present a new technique for demonstrating the reachability of states in deterministic finite automata representing the concatenation of two languages. Such demonstrations are a necessary step in establishing the state complexity of the concatenation of two languages, and thus in establishing the state complexity of concatenation as an operation. Typically, ad-hoc induction arguments are used to show particular states are reachable in concatenation automata. We prove some results that seem to capture the essence of many of these induction arguments. Using these results, reachability proofs in concatenation automata can often be done more simply and without using induction directly.Comment: 23 pages, 1 table. Added missing affiliation/funding informatio

Complexity in Prefix-Free Regular Languages

We examine deterministic and nondeterministic state complexities of regular operations on prefix-free languages. We strengthen several results by providing witness languages over smaller alphabets, usually as small as possible. We next provide the tight bounds on state complexity of symmetric difference, and deterministic and nondeterministic state complexity of difference and cyclic shift of prefix-free languages.Comment: In Proceedings DCFS 2010, arXiv:1008.127