From Linear to Additive Cellular Automata

This paper proves the decidability of several important properties of additive cellular automata over finite abelian groups. First of all, we prove that equicontinuity and sensitivity to initial conditions are decidable for a nontrivial subclass of additive cellular automata, namely, the linear cellular automata over \u207f, where is the ring \u2124/m\u2124. The proof of this last result has required to prove a general result on the powers of matrices over a commutative ring which is of interest in its own. Then, we extend the decidability result concerning sensitivity and equicontinuity to the whole class of additive cellular automata over a finite abelian group and for such a class we also prove the decidability of topological transitivity and all the properties (as, for instance, ergodicity) that are equivalent to it. Finally, a decidable characterization of injectivity and surjectivity for additive cellular automata over a finite abelian group is provided in terms of injectivity and surjectivity of an associated linear cellular automata over \u207f

Fresh-Register Automata

What is a basic automata-theoretic model of computation with names and fresh-name generation? We introduce Fresh-Register Automata (FRA), a new class of automata which operate on an infinite alphabet of names and use a finite number of registers to store fresh names, and to compare incoming names with previously stored ones. These finite machines extend Kaminski and Francez’s Finite-Memory Automata by being able to recognise globally fresh inputs, that is, names fresh in the whole current run. We exam-ine the expressivity of FRA’s both from the aspect of accepted languages and of bisimulation equivalence. We establish primary properties and connections between automata of this kind, and an-swer key decidability questions. As a demonstrating example, we express the theory of the pi-calculus in FRA’s and characterise bisimulation equivalence by an appropriate, and decidable in the finitary case, notion in these automata

Regular sets over extended tree structures

We investigate notions of decidability and definability for the Monadic Second-Order Logic of labeled tree structures, and links with finite automata using oracles to test input prefixes. A general framework is defined allowing to transfer some MSO-properties from a graph-structure to a labeled tree structure. Transferred properties are decidability of sentences and existence of a definable model for every satisfiable formula. A class of finite automata with prefix-oracles is also defined, recognizing exactly languages defined by MSO-formulas in any labeled tree-structure. Applying these results, the well-known equality between languages recognized by finite automata,sets of vertices MSO definable in a tree-structure and sets of pushdown contexts generated by pushdown-automata is extended to iterated pushdown automata

Alternating register automata on finite words and trees

We study alternating register automata on data words and data trees in relation to logics. A data word (resp. data tree) is a word (resp. tree) whose every position carries a label from a finite alphabet and a data value from an infinite domain. We investigate one-way automata with alternating control over data words or trees, with one register for storing data and comparing them for equality. This is a continuation of the study started by Demri, Lazic and Jurdzinski. From the standpoint of register automata models, this work aims at two objectives: (1) simplifying the existent decidability proofs for the emptiness problem for alternating register automata; and (2) exhibiting decidable extensions for these models. From the logical perspective, we show that (a) in the case of data words, satisfiability of LTL with one register and quantification over data values is decidable; and (b) the satisfiability problem for the so-called forward fragment of XPath on XML documents is decidable, even in the presence of DTDs and even of key constraints. The decidability is obtained through a reduction to the automata model introduced. This fragment contains the child, descendant, next-sibling and following-sibling axes, as well as data equality and inequality tests

Decidability and Universality in Symbolic Dynamical Systems

Many different definitions of computational universality for various types of dynamical systems have flourished since Turing's work. We propose a general definition of universality that applies to arbitrary discrete time symbolic dynamical systems. Universality of a system is defined as undecidability of a model-checking problem. For Turing machines, counter machines and tag systems, our definition coincides with the classical one. It yields, however, a new definition for cellular automata and subshifts. Our definition is robust with respect to initial condition, which is a desirable feature for physical realizability. We derive necessary conditions for undecidability and universality. For instance, a universal system must have a sensitive point and a proper subsystem. We conjecture that universal systems have infinite number of subsystems. We also discuss the thesis according to which computation should occur at the `edge of chaos' and we exhibit a universal chaotic system.Comment: 23 pages; a shorter version is submitted to conference MCU 2004 v2: minor orthographic changes v3: section 5.2 (collatz functions) mathematically improved v4: orthographic corrections, one reference added v5:27 pages. Important modifications. The formalism is strengthened: temporal logic replaced by finite automata. New results. Submitte

In the Maze of Data Languages

In data languages the positions of strings and trees carry a label from a finite alphabet and a data value from an infinite alphabet. Extensions of automata and logics over finite alphabets have been defined to recognize data languages, both in the string and tree cases. In this paper we describe and compare the complexity and expressiveness of such models to understand which ones are better candidates as regular models