Formal Relationships Between Geometrical and Classical Models for Concurrency

A wide variety of models for concurrent programs has been proposed during the past decades, each one focusing on various aspects of computations: trace equivalence, causality between events, conflicts and schedules due to resource accesses, etc. More recently, models with a geometrical flavor have been introduced, based on the notion of cubical set. These models are very rich and expressive since they can represent commutation between any bunch of events, thus generalizing the principle of true concurrency. While they seem to be very promising - because they make possible the use of techniques from algebraic topology in order to study concurrent computations - they have not yet been precisely related to the previous models, and the purpose of this paper is to fill this gap. In particular, we describe an adjunction between Petri nets and cubical sets which extends the previously known adjunction between Petri nets and asynchronous transition systems by Nielsen and Winskel

Higher-Dimensional Timed Automata

We introduce a new formalism of higher-dimensional timed automata, based on van Glabbeek's higher-dimensional automata and Alur's timed automata. We prove that their reachability is PSPACE-complete and can be decided using zone-based algorithms. We also show how to use tensor products to combat state-space explosion and how to extend the setting to higher-dimensional hybrid automata

Higher Dimensional Transition Systems

We introduce the notion of higher dimensional transition systems as a model of concurrency providing an elementary, set-theoretic formalisation of the idea of higher dimensional transition. We show an embedding of the category of higher dimensional transition systems into that of higher dimensional automata which cuts down to an equivalence when we restrict to non-degenerate automata. Moreover, we prove that the natural notion of bisimulation for such structures is a generalisation of the strong history preserving bisimulation, and provide an abstract categorical account of it via open maps. Finally, we define a notion of unfolding for higher dimensional transition systems and characterise the structures so obtained as a generalisation of event structures

Scale-invariant cellular automata and self-similar Petri nets

Two novel computing models based on an infinite tessellation of space-time are introduced. They consist of recursively coupled primitive building blocks. The first model is a scale-invariant generalization of cellular automata, whereas the second one utilizes self-similar Petri nets. Both models are capable of hypercomputations and can, for instance, "solve" the halting problem for Turing machines. These two models are closely related, as they exhibit a step-by-step equivalence for finite computations. On the other hand, they differ greatly for computations that involve an infinite number of building blocks: the first one shows indeterministic behavior whereas the second one halts. Both models are capable of challenging our understanding of computability, causality, and space-time.Comment: 35 pages, 5 figure

Homotopy Bisimilarity for Higher-Dimensional Automata

We introduce a new category of higher-dimensional automata in which the morphisms are functional homotopy simulations, i.e. functional simulations up to concurrency of independent events. For this, we use unfoldings of higher-dimensional automata into higher-dimensional trees. Using a notion of open maps in this category, we define homotopy bisimilarity. We show that homotopy bisimilarity is equivalent to a straight-forward generalization of standard bisimilarity to higher dimensions, and that it is finer than split bisimilarity and incomparable with history-preserving bisimilarity.Comment: Heavily revised version of arXiv:1209.492

The Glory of the Past and Geometrical Concurrency

This paper contributes to the general understanding of the geometrical model of concurrency that was named higher dimensional automata (HDAs) by Pratt. In particular we investigate modal logics for such models and their expressive power in terms of the bisimulation that can be captured. The geometric model of concurrency is interesting from two main reasons: its generality and expressiveness, and the natural way in which autoconcurrency and action refinement are captured. Logics for this model, though, are not well investigated, where a simple, yet adequate, modal logic over HDAs was only recently introduced. As this modal logic, with two existential modalities, during and after, captures only split bisimulation, which is rather low in the spectrum of van Glabbeek and Vaandrager, the immediate question was what small extension of this logic could capture the more fine-grained hereditary history preserving bisimulation (hh)? In response, the work in this paper provides several insights. One is the fact that the geometrical aspect of HDAs makes it possible to use for capturing the hh-bisimulation, a standard modal logic that does not employ event variables, opposed to the two logics (over less expressive models) that we compare with. The logic that we investigate here uses standard past modalities and extends the previously introduced logic (called HDML) that had only forward, action-labelled, modalities. Besides, we try to understand better the above issues by introducing a related model that we call ST-configuration structures, which extend the configuration structures of van Glabbeek and Plotkin. We relate this model to HDAs, and redefine and prove the earlier results in the light of this new model. These offer a different view on why the past modalities and geometrical concurrency capture the hereditary history preserving bisimulation. Additional correlating insights are also gained.Comment: 17 pages, 7 figure

Complexity Hierarchies Beyond Elementary

We introduce a hierarchy of fast-growing complexity classes and show its suitability for completeness statements of many non elementary problems. This hierarchy allows the classification of many decision problems with a non-elementary complexity, which occur naturally in logic, combinatorics, formal languages, verification, etc., with complexities ranging from simple towers of exponentials to Ackermannian and beyond.Comment: Version 3 is the published version in TOCT 8(1:3), 2016. I will keep updating the catalogue of problems from Section 6 in future revision

1-Safe Petri nets and special cube complexes: equivalence and applications

Nielsen, Plotkin, and Winskel (1981) proved that every 1-safe Petri net $N$ unfolds into an event structure $\mathcal{E}_N$. By a result of Thiagarajan (1996 and 2002), these unfoldings are exactly the trace regular event structures. Thiagarajan (1996 and 2002) conjectured that regular event structures correspond exactly to trace regular event structures. In a recent paper (Chalopin and Chepoi, 2017, 2018), we disproved this conjecture, based on the striking bijection between domains of event structures, median graphs, and CAT(0) cube complexes. On the other hand, in Chalopin and Chepoi (2018) we proved that Thiagarajan's conjecture is true for regular event structures whose domains are principal filters of universal covers of (virtually) finite special cube complexes. In the current paper, we prove the converse: to any finite 1-safe Petri net $N$ one can associate a finite special cube complex ${X}_N$ such that the domain of the event structure $\mathcal{E}_N$ (obtained as the unfolding of $N$) is a principal filter of the universal cover $\widetilde{X}_N$ of $X_N$. This establishes a bijection between 1-safe Petri nets and finite special cube complexes and provides a combinatorial characterization of trace regular event structures. Using this bijection and techniques from graph theory and geometry (MSO theory of graphs, bounded treewidth, and bounded hyperbolicity) we disprove yet another conjecture by Thiagarajan (from the paper with S. Yang from 2014) that the monadic second order logic of a 1-safe Petri net is decidable if and only if its unfolding is grid-free. Our counterexample is the trace regular event structure $\mathcal{\dot E}_Z$ which arises from a virtually special square complex $\dot Z$. The domain of $\mathcal{\dot E}_Z$ is grid-free (because it is hyperbolic), but the MSO theory of the event structure $\mathcal{\dot E}_Z$ is undecidable

A Myhill-Nerode Theorem for Higher-Dimensional Automata

We establish a Myhill-Nerode type theorem for higher-dimensional automata (HDAs), stating that a language is regular precisely if it has finite prefix quotient. HDAs extend standard automata with additional structure, making it possible to distinguish between interleavings and concurrency. We also introduce deterministic HDAs and show that not all HDAs are determinizable, that is, there exist regular languages that cannot be recognised by a deterministic HDA. Using our theorem, we develop an internal characterisation of deterministic languages