81,734 research outputs found
Quadratic Word Equations with Length Constraints, Counter Systems, and Presburger Arithmetic with Divisibility
Word equations are a crucial element in the theoretical foundation of
constraint solving over strings, which have received a lot of attention in
recent years. A word equation relates two words over string variables and
constants. Its solution amounts to a function mapping variables to constant
strings that equate the left and right hand sides of the equation. While the
problem of solving word equations is decidable, the decidability of the problem
of solving a word equation with a length constraint (i.e., a constraint
relating the lengths of words in the word equation) has remained a
long-standing open problem. In this paper, we focus on the subclass of
quadratic word equations, i.e., in which each variable occurs at most twice. We
first show that the length abstractions of solutions to quadratic word
equations are in general not Presburger-definable. We then describe a class of
counter systems with Presburger transition relations which capture the length
abstraction of a quadratic word equation with regular constraints. We provide
an encoding of the effect of a simple loop of the counter systems in the theory
of existential Presburger Arithmetic with divisibility (PAD). Since PAD is
decidable, we get a decision procedure for quadratic words equations with
length constraints for which the associated counter system is \emph{flat}
(i.e., all nodes belong to at most one cycle). We show a decidability result
(in fact, also an NP algorithm with a PAD oracle) for a recently proposed
NP-complete fragment of word equations called regular-oriented word equations,
together with length constraints. Decidability holds when the constraints are
additionally extended with regular constraints with a 1-weak control structure.Comment: 18 page
(Un)Decidability Results for Word Equations with Length and Regular Expression Constraints
We prove several decidability and undecidability results for the
satisfiability and validity problems for languages that can express solutions
to word equations with length constraints. The atomic formulas over this
language are equality over string terms (word equations), linear inequality
over the length function (length constraints), and membership in regular sets.
These questions are important in logic, program analysis, and formal
verification. Variants of these questions have been studied for many decades by
mathematicians. More recently, practical satisfiability procedures (aka SMT
solvers) for these formulas have become increasingly important in the context
of security analysis for string-manipulating programs such as web applications.
We prove three main theorems. First, we give a new proof of undecidability
for the validity problem for the set of sentences written as a forall-exists
quantifier alternation applied to positive word equations. A corollary of this
undecidability result is that this set is undecidable even with sentences with
at most two occurrences of a string variable. Second, we consider Boolean
combinations of quantifier-free formulas constructed out of word equations and
length constraints. We show that if word equations can be converted to a solved
form, a form relevant in practice, then the satisfiability problem for Boolean
combinations of word equations and length constraints is decidable. Third, we
show that the satisfiability problem for quantifier-free formulas over word
equations in regular solved form, length constraints, and the membership
predicate over regular expressions is also decidable.Comment: Invited Paper at ADDCT Workshop 2013 (co-located with CADE 2013
Existential questions in (relatively) hyperbolic groups {\it and} Finding relative hyperbolic structures
This arXived paper has two independant parts, that are improved and corrected
versions of different parts of a single paper once named "On equations in
relatively hyperbolic groups".
The first part is entitled "Existential questions in (relatively) hyperbolic
groups". We study there the existential theory of torsion free hyperbolic and
relatively hyperbolic groups, in particular those with virtually abelian
parabolic subgroups. We show that the satisfiability of systems of equations
and inequations is decidable in these groups.
In the second part, called "Finding relative hyperbolic structures", we
provide a general algorithm that recognizes the class of groups that are
hyperbolic relative to abelian subgroups.Comment: Two independant parts 23p + 9p, revised. To appear separately in
Israel J. Math, and Bull. London Math. Soc. respectivel
Implicit function theorem over free groups
We introduce the notion of a regular quadratic equation and a regular NTQ
system over a free group. We prove the results that can be described as
Implicit function theorems for algebraic varieties corresponding to regular
quadratic and NTQ systems. We will also show that the Implicit function theorem
is true only for these varieties. In algebraic geometry such results would be
described as lifting solutions of equations into generic points. From the model
theoretic view-point we claim the existence of simple Skolem functions for
particular -formulas over free groups. Proving these theorems
we describe in details a new version of the Makanin-Razborov process for
solving equations in free groups. We also prove a weak version of the Implicit
function theorem for NTQ systems which is one of the key results in the
solution of the Tarski's problems about the elementary theory of a free group.Comment: 144 pages, 16 figure
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