Series which are both max-plus and min-plus rational are unambiguous

Consider partial maps from the free monoid into the field of real numbers with a rational domain. We show that two families of such series are actually the same: the unambiguous rational series on the one hand, and the max-plus and min-plus rational series on the other hand. The decidability of equality was known to hold in both families with different proofs, so the above unifies the picture. We give an effective procedure to build an unambiguous automaton from a max-plus automaton and a min-plus one that recognize the same series

Limit theorems for iterated random topical operators

Let A(n) be a sequence of i.i.d. topical (i.e. isotone and additively homogeneous) operators. Let $x(n,x_0)$ be defined by $x(0,x_0)=x_0$ and $x(n,x_0)=A(n)x(n-1,x_0)$. This can modelize a wide range of systems including, task graphs, train networks, Job-Shop, timed digital circuits or parallel processing systems. When A(n) has the memory loss property, we use the spectral gap method to prove limit theorems for $x(n,x_0)$. Roughly speaking, we show that $x(n,x_0)$ behaves like a sum of i.i.d. real variables. Precisely, we show that with suitable additional conditions, it satisfies a central limit theorem with rate, a local limit theorem, a renewal theorem and a large deviations principle, and we give an algebraic condition to ensure the positivity of the variance in the CLT. When A(n) are defined by matrices in the \mp semi-ring, we give more effective statements and show that the additional conditions and the positivity of the variance in the CLT are generic

Reachability problems for products of matrices in semirings

We consider the following matrix reachability problem: given $r$ square matrices with entries in a semiring, is there a product of these matrices which attains a prescribed matrix? We define similarly the vector (resp. scalar) reachability problem, by requiring that the matrix product, acting by right multiplication on a prescribed row vector, gives another prescribed row vector (resp. when multiplied at left and right by prescribed row and column vectors, gives a prescribed scalar). We show that over any semiring, scalar reachability reduces to vector reachability which is equivalent to matrix reachability, and that for any of these problems, the specialization to any $r\geq 2$ is equivalent to the specialization to $r=2$. As an application of this result and of a theorem of Krob, we show that when $r=2$, the vector and matrix reachability problems are undecidable over the max-plus semiring $(Z\cup\{-\infty\},\max,+)$. We also show that the matrix, vector, and scalar reachability problems are decidable over semirings whose elements are ``positive'', like the tropical semiring $(N\cup\{+\infty\},\min,+)$.Comment: 21 page

Heap Models, Composition and Control

International audienc

Model approximation for batch flow shop scheduling with fixed batch sizes

Batch flow shops model systems that process a variety of job types using a fixed infrastructure. This model has applications in several areas including chemical manufacturing, building construction, and assembly lines. Since the throughput of such systems depends, often strongly, on the sequence in which they produce various products, scheduling these systems becomes a problem with very practical consequences. Nevertheless, optimally scheduling these systems is NP-complete. This paper demonstrates that batch flow shops can be represented as a particular kind of heap model in the max-plus algebra. These models are shown to belong to a special class of linear systems that are globally stable over finite input sequences, indicating that information about past states is forgotten in finite time. This fact motivates a new solution method to the scheduling problem by optimally solving scheduling problems on finite-memory approximations of the original system. Error in solutions for these “t-step” approximations is bounded and monotonically improving with increasing model complexity, eventually becoming zero when the complexity of the approximation reaches the complexity of the original system.United States. Department of Homeland Security. Science and Technology Directorate (Contract HSHQDC-13-C-B0052)United States. Air Force Research Laboratory (Contract FA8750-09-2-0219)ATK Thiokol Inc