From Finite Automata to Regular Expressions and Back--A Summary on Descriptional Complexity

The equivalence of finite automata and regular expressions dates back to the seminal paper of Kleene on events in nerve nets and finite automata from 1956. In the present paper we tour a fragment of the literature and summarize results on upper and lower bounds on the conversion of finite automata to regular expressions and vice versa. We also briefly recall the known bounds for the removal of spontaneous transitions (epsilon-transitions) on non-epsilon-free nondeterministic devices. Moreover, we report on recent results on the average case descriptional complexity bounds for the conversion of regular expressions to finite automata and brand new developments on the state elimination algorithm that converts finite automata to regular expressions.Comment: In Proceedings AFL 2014, arXiv:1405.527

Hyper-Minimization for Deterministic Weighted Tree Automata

Hyper-minimization is a state reduction technique that allows a finite change in the semantics. The theory for hyper-minimization of deterministic weighted tree automata is provided. The presence of weights slightly complicates the situation in comparison to the unweighted case. In addition, the first hyper-minimization algorithm for deterministic weighted tree automata, weighted over commutative semifields, is provided together with some implementation remarks that enable an efficient implementation. In fact, the same run-time O(m log n) as in the unweighted case is obtained, where m is the size of the deterministic weighted tree automaton and n is its number of states.Comment: In Proceedings AFL 2014, arXiv:1405.527

Advances and applications of automata on words and trees : abstracts collection

From 12.12.2010 to 17.12.2010, the Dagstuhl Seminar 10501 "Advances and Applications of Automata on Words and Trees" was held in Schloss Dagstuhl - Leibniz Center for Informatics. During the seminar, several participants presented their current research, and ongoing work and open problems were discussed. Abstracts of the presentations given during the seminar as well as abstracts of seminar results and ideas are put together in this paper. The first section describes the seminar topics and goals in general. Links to extended abstracts or full papers are provided, if available

Entry times in automata with simple defect dynamics

In this paper, we consider a simple cellular automaton with two particles of different speeds that annihilate on contact. Following a previous work by K\r urka et al., we study the asymptotic distribution, starting from a random configuration, of the waiting time before a particle crosses the central column after time n. Drawing a parallel between the behaviour of this automata on a random initial configuration and a certain random walk, we approximate this walk using a Brownian motion, and we obtain explicit results for a wide class of initial measures and other automata with similar dynamics.Comment: In Proceedings AUTOMATA&JAC 2012, arXiv:1208.249

JohnnyVon: Self-Replicating Automata in Continuous Two-Dimensional Space

JohnnyVon is an implementation of self-replicating automata in continuous two-dimensional space. Two types of particles drift about in a virtual liquid. The particles are automata with discrete internal states but continuous external relationships. Their internal states are governed by finite state machines but their external relationships are governed by a simulated physics that includes brownian motion, viscosity, and spring-like attractive and repulsive forces. The particles can be assembled into patterns that can encode arbitrary strings of bits. We demonstrate that, if an arbitrary “seed” pattern is put in a “soup” of separate individual particles, the pattern will replicate by assembling the individual particles into copies of itself. We also show that, given sufficient time, a soup of separate individual particles will eventually spontaneously form self-replicating patterns. We discuss the implications of JohnnyVon for research in nanotechnology, theoretical biology, and artificial life