4,330 research outputs found
Nondeterministic State Complexity for Suffix-Free Regular Languages
We investigate the nondeterministic state complexity of basic operations for
suffix-free regular languages. The nondeterministic state complexity of an
operation is the number of states that are necessary and sufficient in the
worst-case for a minimal nondeterministic finite-state automaton that accepts
the language obtained from the operation. We consider basic operations
(catenation, union, intersection, Kleene star, reversal and complementation)
and establish matching upper and lower bounds for each operation. In the case
of complementation the upper and lower bounds differ by an additive constant of
two.Comment: In Proceedings DCFS 2010, arXiv:1008.127
From algebra to logic: there and back again -- the story of a hierarchy
This is an extended survey of the results concerning a hierarchy of languages
that is tightly connected with the quantifier alternation hierarchy within the
two-variable fragment of first order logic of the linear order.Comment: Developments in Language Theory 2014, Ekaterinburg : Russian
Federation (2014
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
Groups and Semigroups Defined by Colorings of Synchronizing Automata
In this paper we combine the algebraic properties of Mealy machines
generating self-similar groups and the combinatorial properties of the
corresponding deterministic finite automata (DFA). In particular, we relate
bounded automata to finitely generated synchronizing automata and characterize
finite automata groups in terms of nilpotency of the corresponding DFA.
Moreover, we present a decidable sufficient condition to have free semigroups
in an automaton group. A series of examples and applications is widely
discussed, in particular we show a way to color the De Bruijn automata into
Mealy automata whose associated semigroups are free, and we present some
structural results related to the associated groups
Languages of lossless seeds
Several algorithms for similarity search employ seeding techniques to quickly
discard very dissimilar regions. In this paper, we study theoretical properties
of lossless seeds, i.e., spaced seeds having full sensitivity. We prove that
lossless seeds coincide with languages of certain sofic subshifts, hence they
can be recognized by finite automata. Moreover, we show that these subshifts
are fully given by the number of allowed errors k and the seed margin l. We
also show that for a fixed k, optimal seeds must asymptotically satisfy l ~
m^(k/(k+1)).Comment: In Proceedings AFL 2014, arXiv:1405.527
Graph Spectral Properties of Deterministic Finite Automata
We prove that a minimal automaton has a minimal adjacency matrix rank and a
minimal adjacency matrix nullity using equitable partition (from graph spectra
theory) and Nerode partition (from automata theory). This result naturally
introduces the notion of matrix rank into a regular language L, the minimal
adjacency matrix rank of a deterministic automaton that recognises L. We then
define and focus on rank-one languages: the class of languages for which the
rank of minimal automaton is one. We also define the expanded canonical
automaton of a rank-one language.Comment: This paper has been accepted at the following conference: 18th
International Conference on Developments in Language Theory (DLT 2014),
August 26 - 29, 2014, Ekaterinburg, Russi
Digraph Complexity Measures and Applications in Formal Language Theory
We investigate structural complexity measures on digraphs, in particular the
cycle rank. This concept is intimately related to a classical topic in formal
language theory, namely the star height of regular languages. We explore this
connection, and obtain several new algorithmic insights regarding both cycle
rank and star height. Among other results, we show that computing the cycle
rank is NP-complete, even for sparse digraphs of maximum outdegree 2.
Notwithstanding, we provide both a polynomial-time approximation algorithm and
an exponential-time exact algorithm for this problem. The former algorithm
yields an O((log n)^(3/2))- approximation in polynomial time, whereas the
latter yields the optimum solution, and runs in time and space O*(1.9129^n) on
digraphs of maximum outdegree at most two. Regarding the star height problem,
we identify a subclass of the regular languages for which we can precisely
determine the computational complexity of the star height problem. Namely, the
star height problem for bideterministic languages is NP-complete, and this
holds already for binary alphabets. Then we translate the algorithmic results
concerning cycle rank to the bideterministic star height problem, thus giving a
polynomial-time approximation as well as a reasonably fast exact exponential
algorithm for bideterministic star height.Comment: 19 pages, 1 figur
Weighted Logics for Nested Words and Algebraic Formal Power Series
Nested words, a model for recursive programs proposed by Alur and Madhusudan,
have recently gained much interest. In this paper we introduce quantitative
extensions and study nested word series which assign to nested words elements
of a semiring. We show that regular nested word series coincide with series
definable in weighted logics as introduced by Droste and Gastin. For this we
establish a connection between nested words and the free bisemigroup. Applying
our result, we obtain characterizations of algebraic formal power series in
terms of weighted logics. This generalizes results of Lautemann, Schwentick and
Therien on context-free languages
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