Fast Fourier Transforms for the Rook Monoid

We define the notion of the Fourier transform for the rook monoid (also called the symmetric inverse semigroup) and provide two efficient divide-and-conquer algorithms (fast Fourier transforms, or FFTs) for computing it. This paper marks the first extension of group FFTs to non-group semigroups

Fast Fourier Transforms for Finite Inverse Semigroups

We extend the theory of fast Fourier transforms on finite groups to finite inverse semigroups. We use a general method for constructing the irreducible representations of a finite inverse semigroup to reduce the problem of computing its Fourier transform to the problems of computing Fourier transforms on its maximal subgroups and a fast zeta transform on its poset structure. We then exhibit explicit fast algorithms for particular inverse semigroups of interest--specifically, for the rook monoid and its wreath products by arbitrary finite groups.Comment: ver 3: Added improved upper and lower bounds for the memory required by the fast zeta transform on the rook monoid. ver 2: Corrected typos and (naive) bounds on memory requirements. 30 pages, 0 figure

Effective Theories for Circuits and Automata

Abstracting an effective theory from a complicated process is central to the study of complexity. Even when the underlying mechanisms are understood, or at least measurable, the presence of dissipation and irreversibility in biological, computational and social systems makes the problem harder. Here we demonstrate the construction of effective theories in the presence of both irreversibility and noise, in a dynamical model with underlying feedback. We use the Krohn-Rhodes theorem to show how the composition of underlying mechanisms can lead to innovations in the emergent effective theory. We show how dissipation and irreversibility fundamentally limit the lifetimes of these emergent structures, even though, on short timescales, the group properties may be enriched compared to their noiseless counterparts.Comment: 11 pages, 9 figure

The subpower membership problem for semigroups

Fix a finite semigroup $S$ and let $a_1,\ldots,a_k, b$ be tuples in a direct power $S^n$. The subpower membership problem (SMP) asks whether $b$ can be generated by $a_1,\ldots,a_k$. If $S$ is a finite group, then there is a folklore algorithm that decides this problem in time polynomial in $nk$. For semigroups this problem always lies in PSPACE. We show that the SMP for a full transformation semigroup on 3 letters or more is actually PSPACE-complete, while on 2 letters it is in P. For commutative semigroups, we provide a dichotomy result: if a commutative semigroup $S$ embeds into a direct product of a Clifford semigroup and a nilpotent semigroup, then SMP(S) is in P; otherwise it is NP-complete