A probabilistic model of computing with words

AbstractComputing in the traditional sense involves inputs with strings of numbers and symbols rather than words, where words mean probability distributions over input alphabet, and are different from the words in classical formal languages and automata theory. In this paper our goal is to deal with probabilistic finite automata (PFAs), probabilistic Turing machines (PTMs), and probabilistic context-free grammars (PCFGs) by inputting strings of words (probability distributions). Specifically, (i) we verify that PFAs computing strings of words can be implemented by means of calculating strings of symbols (Theorem 1); (ii) we elaborate on PTMs with input strings of words, and particularly demonstrate by describing Example 2 that PTMs computing strings of words may not be directly performed through only computing strings of symbols, i.e., Theorem 1 may not hold for PTMs; (iii) we study PCFGs and thus PRGs with input strings of words, and prove that Theorem 1 does hold for PCFRs and PRGs (Theorem 2); a characterization of PRGs in terms of PFAs, and the equivalence between PCFGs and their Chomsky and Greibach normal forms, in the sense that the inputs are strings of words, are also presented. Finally, the main results obtained are summarized, and a number of related issues for further study are raised

Non-deterministic Weighted Automata on Random Words

We present the first study of non-deterministic weighted automata under probabilistic semantics. In this semantics words are random events, generated by a Markov chain, and functions computed by weighted automata are random variables. We consider the probabilistic questions of computing the expected value and the cumulative distribution for such random variables. The exact answers to the probabilistic questions for non-deterministic automata can be irrational and are uncomputable in general. To overcome this limitation, we propose an approximation algorithm for the probabilistic questions, which works in exponential time in the automaton and polynomial time in the Markov chain. We apply this result to show that non-deterministic automata can be effectively determinised with respect to the standard deviation metric

On the Problem of Computing the Probability of Regular Sets of Trees

We consider the problem of computing the probability of regular languages of infinite trees with respect to the natural coin-flipping measure. We propose an algorithm which computes the probability of languages recognizable by \emph{game automata}. In particular this algorithm is applicable to all deterministic automata. We then use the algorithm to prove through examples three properties of measure: (1) there exist regular sets having irrational probability, (2) there exist comeager regular sets having probability $0$ and (3) the probability of \emph{game languages} $W_{i,k}$, from automata theory, is $0$ if $k$ is odd and is $1$ otherwise

Liveness of Randomised Parameterised Systems under Arbitrary Schedulers (Technical Report)

We consider the problem of verifying liveness for systems with a finite, but unbounded, number of processes, commonly known as parameterised systems. Typical examples of such systems include distributed protocols (e.g. for the dining philosopher problem). Unlike the case of verifying safety, proving liveness is still considered extremely challenging, especially in the presence of randomness in the system. In this paper we consider liveness under arbitrary (including unfair) schedulers, which is often considered a desirable property in the literature of self-stabilising systems. We introduce an automatic method of proving liveness for randomised parameterised systems under arbitrary schedulers. Viewing liveness as a two-player reachability game (between Scheduler and Process), our method is a CEGAR approach that synthesises a progress relation for Process that can be symbolically represented as a finite-state automaton. The method is incremental and exploits both Angluin-style L*-learning and SAT-solvers. Our experiments show that our algorithm is able to prove liveness automatically for well-known randomised distributed protocols, including Lehmann-Rabin Randomised Dining Philosopher Protocol and randomised self-stabilising protocols (such as the Israeli-Jalfon Protocol). To the best of our knowledge, this is the first fully-automatic method that can prove liveness for randomised protocols.Comment: Full version of CAV'16 pape

Decidable and undecidable problems about quantum automata

We study the following decision problem: is the language recognized by a quantum finite automaton empty or non-empty? We prove that this problem is decidable or undecidable depending on whether recognition is defined by strict or non-strict thresholds. This result is in contrast with the corresponding situation for probabilistic finite automata for which it is known that strict and non-strict thresholds both lead to undecidable problems.Comment: 10 page

On the Complexity of the Equivalence Problem for Probabilistic Automata

Checking two probabilistic automata for equivalence has been shown to be a key problem for efficiently establishing various behavioural and anonymity properties of probabilistic systems. In recent experiments a randomised equivalence test based on polynomial identity testing outperformed deterministic algorithms. In this paper we show that polynomial identity testing yields efficient algorithms for various generalisations of the equivalence problem. First, we provide a randomized NC procedure that also outputs a counterexample trace in case of inequivalence. Second, we show how to check for equivalence two probabilistic automata with (cumulative) rewards. Our algorithm runs in deterministic polynomial time, if the number of reward counters is fixed. Finally we show that the equivalence problem for probabilistic visibly pushdown automata is logspace equivalent to the Arithmetic Circuit Identity Testing problem, which is to decide whether a polynomial represented by an arithmetic circuit is identically zero.Comment: technical report for a FoSSaCS'12 pape