856 research outputs found
Logic Meets Algebra: the Case of Regular Languages
The study of finite automata and regular languages is a privileged meeting
point of algebra and logic. Since the work of Buchi, regular languages have
been classified according to their descriptive complexity, i.e. the type of
logical formalism required to define them. The algebraic point of view on
automata is an essential complement of this classification: by providing
alternative, algebraic characterizations for the classes, it often yields the
only opportunity for the design of algorithms that decide expressibility in
some logical fragment.
We survey the existing results relating the expressibility of regular
languages in logical fragments of MSO[S] with algebraic properties of their
minimal automata. In particular, we show that many of the best known results in
this area share the same underlying mechanics and rely on a very strong
relation between logical substitutions and block-products of pseudovarieties of
monoid. We also explain the impact of these connections on circuit complexity
theory.Comment: 37 page
Singly generated quasivarieties and residuated structures
A quasivariety K of algebras has the joint embedding property (JEP) iff it is
generated by a single algebra A. It is structurally complete iff the free
countably generated algebra in K can serve as A. A consequence of this demand,
called "passive structural completeness" (PSC), is that the nontrivial members
of K all satisfy the same existential positive sentences. We prove that if K is
PSC then it still has the JEP, and if it has the JEP and its nontrivial members
lack trivial subalgebras, then its relatively simple members all belong to the
universal class generated by one of them. Under these conditions, if K is
relatively semisimple then it is generated by one K-simple algebra. It is a
minimal quasivariety if, moreover, it is PSC but fails to unify some finite set
of equations. We also prove that a quasivariety of finite type, with a finite
nontrivial member, is PSC iff its nontrivial members have a common retract. The
theory is then applied to the variety of De Morgan monoids, where we isolate
the sub(quasi)varieties that are PSC and those that have the JEP, while
throwing fresh light on those that are structurally complete. The results
illuminate the extension lattices of intuitionistic and relevance logics
Weighted Automata and Logics for Infinite Nested Words
Nested words introduced by Alur and Madhusudan are used to capture structures
with both linear and hierarchical order, e.g. XML documents, without losing
valuable closure properties. Furthermore, Alur and Madhusudan introduced
automata and equivalent logics for both finite and infinite nested words, thus
extending B\"uchi's theorem to nested words. Recently, average and discounted
computations of weights in quantitative systems found much interest. Here, we
will introduce and investigate weighted automata models and weighted MSO logics
for infinite nested words. As weight structures we consider valuation monoids
which incorporate average and discounted computations of weights as well as the
classical semirings. We show that under suitable assumptions, two resp. three
fragments of our weighted logics can be transformed into each other. Moreover,
we show that the logic fragments have the same expressive power as weighted
nested word automata.Comment: LATA 2014, 12 page
Wreath Products of Forest Algebras, with Applications to Tree Logics
We use the recently developed theory of forest algebras to find algebraic
characterizations of the languages of unranked trees and forests definable in
various logics. These include the temporal logics CTL and EF, and first-order
logic over the ancestor relation. While the characterizations are in general
non-effective, we are able to use them to formulate necessary conditions for
definability and provide new proofs that a number of languages are not
definable in these logics
Convolution, Separation and Concurrency
A notion of convolution is presented in the context of formal power series
together with lifting constructions characterising algebras of such series,
which usually are quantales. A number of examples underpin the universality of
these constructions, the most prominent ones being separation logics, where
convolution is separating conjunction in an assertion quantale; interval
logics, where convolution is the chop operation; and stream interval functions,
where convolution is used for analysing the trajectories of dynamical or
real-time systems. A Hoare logic is constructed in a generic fashion on the
power series quantale, which applies to each of these examples. In many cases,
commutative notions of convolution have natural interpretations as concurrency
operations.Comment: 39 page
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