48 research outputs found
One-Way Reversible and Quantum Finite Automata with Advice
We examine the characteristic features of reversible and quantum computations
in the presence of supplementary external information, known as advice. In
particular, we present a simple, algebraic characterization of languages
recognized by one-way reversible finite automata augmented with deterministic
advice. With a further elaborate argument, we prove a similar but slightly
weaker result for bounded-error one-way quantum finite automata with advice.
Immediate applications of those properties lead to containments and separations
among various language families when they are assisted by appropriately chosen
advice. We further demonstrate the power and limitation of randomized advice
and quantum advice when they are given to one-way quantum finite automata.Comment: A4, 10pt, 1 figure, 31 pages. This is a complete version of an
extended abstract appeared in the Proceedings of the 6th International
Conference on Language and Automata Theory and Applications (LATA 2012),
March 5-9, 2012, A Coruna, Spain, Lecture Notes in Computer Science,
Springer-Verlag, Vol.7183, pp.526-537, 201
Optimal simulations between unary automata
We consider the problem of computing the costs---{ in terms of states---of optimal simulations between different kinds of finite automata recognizing unary languages. Our main result is a tight simulation of unary n-state two-way nondeterministic automata by -state one-way deterministic automata. In addition, we show that, given a unary n-state two-way nondeterministic automaton, one can construct an equivalent O(n^2)-state two-way nondeterministic automaton performing both input head reversals and nondeterministic choices only at the ends of the input tape. Further results on simulating unary one-way alternating finite automata are also discussed
Memoization for Unary Logic Programming: Characterizing PTIME
We give a characterization of deterministic polynomial time computation based
on an algebraic structure called the resolution semiring, whose elements can be
understood as logic programs or sets of rewriting rules over first-order terms.
More precisely, we study the restriction of this framework to terms (and logic
programs, rewriting rules) using only unary symbols. We prove it is complete
for polynomial time computation, using an encoding of pushdown automata. We
then introduce an algebraic counterpart of the memoization technique in order
to show its PTIME soundness. We finally relate our approach and complexity
results to complexity of logic programming. As an application of our
techniques, we show a PTIME-completeness result for a class of logic
programming queries which use only unary function symbols.Comment: Soumis {\`a} LICS 201
Converting Nondeterministic Two-Way Automata into Small Deterministic Linear-Time Machines
In 1978 Sakoda and Sipser raised the question of the cost, in terms of size
of representations, of the transformation of two-way and one-way
nondeterministic automata into equivalent two-way deterministic automata.
Despite all the attempts, the question has been answered only for particular
cases (e.g., restrictions of the class of simulated automata or of the class of
simulating automata). However the problem remains open in the general case, the
best-known upper bound being exponential. We present a new approach in which
unrestricted nondeterministic finite automata are simulated by deterministic
models extending two-way deterministic finite automata, paying a polynomial
increase of size only. Indeed, we study the costs of the conversions of
nondeterministic finite automata into some variants of one-tape deterministic
Turing machines working in linear time, namely Hennie machines, weight-reducing
Turing machines, and weight-reducing Hennie machines. All these variants are
known to share the same computational power: they characterize the class of
regular languages
Automata theory and formal languages
These lecture notes present some basic notions and results on Automata Theory,
Formal Languages Theory, Computability Theory, and Parsing Theory. I prepared
these notes for a course on Automata, Languages, and Translators which I am
teaching at the University of Roma Tor Vergata. More material on these topics and
on parsing techniques for context-free languages can be found in standard textbooks
such as [1, 8, 9]. The reader is encouraged to look at those books.
A theorem denoted by the triple k.m.n is in Chapter k and Section m, and within
that section it is identified by the number n. Analogous numbering system is used
for algorithms, corollaries, definitions, examples, exercises, figures, and remarks. We
use ‘iff’ to mean ‘if and only if’.
Many thanks to my colleagues of the Department of Informatics, Systems, and
Production of the University of Roma Tor Vergata. I am also grateful to my stu-
dents and co-workers and, in particular, to Lorenzo Clemente, Corrado Di Pietro,
Fulvio Forni, Fabio Lecca, Maurizio Proietti, and Valerio Senni for their help and
encouragement.
Finally, I am grateful to Francesca Di Benedetto, Alessandro Colombo, Donato
Corvaglia, Gioacchino Onorati, and Leonardo Rinaldi of the Aracne Publishing Com-
pany for their kind cooperation