26 research outputs found
Flat counter automata almost everywhere!
This paper argues that flatness appears as a central notion in the
verification of counter automata. A counter automaton is called flat
when its control graph can be ``replaced\u27\u27, equivalently w.r.t.
reachability, by another one with no nested loops.
From a practical view point, we show that flatness is a necessary and
sufficient condition for termination of accelerated symbolic model
checking, a generic semi-algorithmic technique implemented in
successful tools like FAST, LASH or TReX.
From a theoretical view point, we prove that many known semilinear
subclasses of counter automata are flat: reversal bounded counter
machines, lossy vector addition systems with states, reversible Petri nets,
persistent and conflict-free Petri nets, etc. Hence, for these subclasses,
the semilinear reachability set can be computed using a emph{uniform}
accelerated symbolic procedure (whereas previous algorithms were
specifically designed for each subclass)
An approach to computing downward closures
The downward closure of a word language is the set of all (not necessarily
contiguous) subwords of its members. It is well-known that the downward closure
of any language is regular. While the downward closure appears to be a powerful
abstraction, algorithms for computing a finite automaton for the downward
closure of a given language have been established only for few language
classes.
This work presents a simple general method for computing downward closures.
For language classes that are closed under rational transductions, it is shown
that the computation of downward closures can be reduced to checking a certain
unboundedness property.
This result is used to prove that downward closures are computable for (i)
every language class with effectively semilinear Parikh images that are closed
under rational transductions, (ii) matrix languages, and (iii) indexed
languages (equivalently, languages accepted by higher-order pushdown automata
of order 2).Comment: Full version of contribution to ICALP 2015. Comments welcom
Decidability Issues for Petri Nets
This is a survey of some decidability results for Petri nets, covering the last three decades. The presentation is structured around decidability of specific properties, various behavioural equivalences and finally the model checking problem for temporal logics
Unboundedness Problems for Languages of Vector Addition Systems
A vector addition system (VAS) with an initial and a final marking and transition labels induces a language. In part because the reachability problem in VAS remains far from being well-understood, it is difficult to devise decision procedures for such languages. This is especially true for checking properties that state the existence of infinitely many words of a particular shape. Informally, we call these unboundedness properties.
We present a simple set of axioms for predicates that can express unboundedness properties. Our main result is that such a predicate is decidable for VAS languages as soon as it is decidable for regular languages. Among other results, this allows us to show decidability of (i) separability by bounded regular languages, (ii) unboundedness of occurring factors from a language K with mild conditions on K, and (iii) universality of the set of factors
Integer Vector Addition Systems with States
This paper studies reachability, coverability and inclusion problems for
Integer Vector Addition Systems with States (ZVASS) and extensions and
restrictions thereof. A ZVASS comprises a finite-state controller with a finite
number of counters ranging over the integers. Although it is folklore that
reachability in ZVASS is NP-complete, it turns out that despite their
naturalness, from a complexity point of view this class has received little
attention in the literature. We fill this gap by providing an in-depth analysis
of the computational complexity of the aforementioned decision problems. Most
interestingly, it turns out that while the addition of reset operations to
ordinary VASS leads to undecidability and Ackermann-hardness of reachability
and coverability, respectively, they can be added to ZVASS while retaining
NP-completness of both coverability and reachability.Comment: 17 pages, 2 figure
Silent Transitions in Automata with Storage
We consider the computational power of silent transitions in one-way automata
with storage. Specifically, we ask which storage mechanisms admit a
transformation of a given automaton into one that accepts the same language and
reads at least one input symbol in each step.
We study this question using the model of valence automata. Here, a finite
automaton is equipped with a storage mechanism that is given by a monoid.
This work presents generalizations of known results on silent transitions.
For two classes of monoids, it provides characterizations of those monoids that
allow the removal of \lambda-transitions. Both classes are defined by graph
products of copies of the bicyclic monoid and the group of integers. The first
class contains pushdown storages as well as the blind counters while the second
class contains the blind and the partially blind counters.Comment: 32 pages, submitte
Parikh's Theorem: A simple and direct automaton construction
Parikh's theorem states that the Parikh image of a context-free language is
semilinear or, equivalently, that every context-free language has the same
Parikh image as some regular language. We present a very simple construction
that, given a context-free grammar, produces a finite automaton recognizing
such a regular language.Comment: 12 pages, 3 figure
Bounded Context Switching for Valence Systems
We study valence systems, finite-control programs over infinite-state memories modeled in terms of graph monoids. Our contribution is a notion of bounded context switching (BCS). Valence systems generalize pushdowns, concurrent pushdowns, and Petri nets. In these settings, our definition conservatively generalizes existing notions. The main finding is that reachability within a bounded number of context switches is in NPTIME, independent of the memory (the graph monoid). Our proof is genuinely algebraic, and therefore contributes a new way to think about BCS. In addition, we exhibit a class of storage mechanisms for which BCS reachability belongs to PTIME