9 research outputs found
Reachability analysis of first-order definable pushdown systems
We study pushdown systems where control states, stack alphabet, and
transition relation, instead of being finite, are first-order definable in a
fixed countably-infinite structure. We show that the reachability analysis can
be addressed with the well-known saturation technique for the wide class of
oligomorphic structures. Moreover, for the more restrictive homogeneous
structures, we are able to give concrete complexity upper bounds. We show ample
applicability of our technique by presenting several concrete examples of
homogeneous structures, subsuming, with optimal complexity, known results from
the literature. We show that infinitely many such examples of homogeneous
structures can be obtained with the classical wreath product construction.Comment: to appear in CSL'1
An Automata-Theoretic Approach to the Verification of Distributed Algorithms
We introduce an automata-theoretic method for the verification of distributed
algorithms running on ring networks. In a distributed algorithm, an arbitrary
number of processes cooperate to achieve a common goal (e.g., elect a leader).
Processes have unique identifiers (pids) from an infinite, totally ordered
domain. An algorithm proceeds in synchronous rounds, each round allowing a
process to perform a bounded sequence of actions such as send or receive a pid,
store it in some register, and compare register contents wrt. the associated
total order. An algorithm is supposed to be correct independently of the number
of processes. To specify correctness properties, we introduce a logic that can
reason about processes and pids. Referring to leader election, it may say that,
at the end of an execution, each process stores the maximum pid in some
dedicated register. Since the verification of distributed algorithms is
undecidable, we propose an underapproximation technique, which bounds the
number of rounds. This is an appealing approach, as the number of rounds needed
by a distributed algorithm to conclude is often exponentially smaller than the
number of processes. We provide an automata-theoretic solution, reducing model
checking to emptiness for alternating two-way automata on words. Overall, we
show that round-bounded verification of distributed algorithms over rings is
PSPACE-complete.Comment: 26 pages, 6 figure
FO2(<,+1,~) on data trees, data tree automata and branching vector addition systems
A data tree is an unranked ordered tree where each node carries a label from
a finite alphabet and a datum from some infinite domain. We consider the two
variable first order logic FO2(<,+1,~) over data trees. Here +1 refers to the
child and the next sibling relations while < refers to the descendant and
following sibling relations. Moreover, ~ is a binary predicate testing data
equality. We exhibit an automata model, denoted DAD# that is more expressive
than FO2(<,+1,~) but such that emptiness of DAD# and satisfiability of
FO2(<,+1,~) are inter-reducible. This is proved via a model of counter tree
automata, denoted EBVASS, that extends Branching Vector Addition Systems with
States (BVASS) with extra features for merging counters. We show that, as
decision problems, reachability for EBVASS, satisfiability of FO2(<,+1,~) and
emptiness of DAD# are equivalent
On the Expressiveness of TPTL and MTL over \omega-Data Words
Metric Temporal Logic (MTL) and Timed Propositional Temporal Logic (TPTL) are
prominent extensions of Linear Temporal Logic to specify properties about data
languages. In this paper, we consider the class of data languages of
non-monotonic data words over the natural numbers. We prove that, in this
setting, TPTL is strictly more expressive than MTL. To this end, we introduce
Ehrenfeucht-Fraisse (EF) games for MTL. Using EF games for MTL, we also prove
that the MTL definability decision problem ("Given a TPTL-formula, is the
language defined by this formula definable in MTL?") is undecidable. We also
define EF games for TPTL, and we show the effect of various syntactic
restrictions on the expressiveness of MTL and TPTL.Comment: In Proceedings AFL 2014, arXiv:1405.527
Reasoning about Data Repetitions with Counter Systems
We study linear-time temporal logics interpreted over data words with
multiple attributes. We restrict the atomic formulas to equalities of attribute
values in successive positions and to repetitions of attribute values in the
future or past. We demonstrate correspondences between satisfiability problems
for logics and reachability-like decision problems for counter systems. We show
that allowing/disallowing atomic formulas expressing repetitions of values in
the past corresponds to the reachability/coverability problem in Petri nets.
This gives us 2EXPSPACE upper bounds for several satisfiability problems. We
prove matching lower bounds by reduction from a reachability problem for a
newly introduced class of counter systems. This new class is a succinct version
of vector addition systems with states in which counters are accessed via
pointers, a potentially useful feature in other contexts. We strengthen further
the correspondences between data logics and counter systems by characterizing
the complexity of fragments, extensions and variants of the logic. For
instance, we precisely characterize the relationship between the number of
attributes allowed in the logic and the number of counters needed in the
counter system.Comment: 54 page
A Robust Class of Data Languages and an Application to Learning
We introduce session automata, an automata model to process data words, i.e.,
words over an infinite alphabet. Session automata support the notion of fresh
data values, which are well suited for modeling protocols in which sessions
using fresh values are of major interest, like in security protocols or ad-hoc
networks. Session automata have an expressiveness partly extending, partly
reducing that of classical register automata. We show that, unlike register
automata and their various extensions, session automata are robust: They (i)
are closed under intersection, union, and (resource-sensitive) complementation,
(ii) admit a symbolic regular representation, (iii) have a decidable inclusion
problem (unlike register automata), and (iv) enjoy logical characterizations.
Using these results, we establish a learning algorithm to infer session
automata through membership and equivalence queries
Model Checking Languages of Data Words
We consider the model-checking problem for data multipushdown automata (DMPA). DMPA generate data words, i.e, strings enriched with values from an infinite domain. The latter can be used to represent an unbounded number of process identifiers so that DMPA are suitable to model concurrent programs with dynamic process creation. To specify properties of data words, we use monadic second-order (MSO) logic, which comes with a predicate to test two word positions for data equality. While satisfiability for MSO logic is undecidable (even for weaker fragments such as first-order logic), our main result states that one can decide if all words generated by a DMPA satisfy a given formula from the full MSO logic