3,349 research outputs found
Reduction of Nondeterministic Tree Automata
We present an efficient algorithm to reduce the size of nondeterministic tree
automata, while retaining their language. It is based on new transition pruning
techniques, and quotienting of the state space w.r.t. suitable equivalences. It
uses criteria based on combinations of downward and upward simulation preorder
on trees, and the more general downward and upward language inclusions. Since
tree-language inclusion is EXPTIME-complete, we describe methods to compute
good approximations in polynomial time. We implemented our algorithm as a
module of the well-known libvata tree automata library, and tested its
performance on a given collection of tree automata from various applications of
libvata in regular model checking and shape analysis, as well as on various
classes of randomly generated tree automata. Our algorithm yields substantially
smaller and sparser automata than all previously known reduction techniques,
and it is still fast enough to handle large instances.Comment: Extended version (including proofs) of material presented at TACAS
201
Reachability in Higher-Order-Counters
Higher-order counter automata (\HOCS) can be either seen as a restriction of
higher-order pushdown automata (\HOPS) to a unary stack alphabet, or as an
extension of counter automata to higher levels. We distinguish two principal
kinds of \HOCS: those that can test whether the topmost counter value is zero
and those which cannot.
We show that control-state reachability for level \HOCS with -test is
complete for \mbox{}-fold exponential space; leaving out the -test
leads to completeness for \mbox{}-fold exponential time. Restricting
\HOCS (without -test) to level , we prove that global (forward or
backward) reachability analysis is \PTIME-complete. This enhances the known
result for pushdown systems which are subsumed by level \HOCS without
-test.
We transfer our results to the formal language setting. Assuming that \PTIME
\subsetneq \PSPACE \subsetneq \mathbf{EXPTIME}, we apply proof ideas of
Engelfriet and conclude that the hierarchies of languages of \HOPS and of \HOCS
form strictly interleaving hierarchies. Interestingly, Engelfriet's
constructions also allow to conclude immediately that the hierarchy of
collapsible pushdown languages is strict level-by-level due to the existing
complexity results for reachability on collapsible pushdown graphs. This
answers an open question independently asked by Parys and by Kobayashi.Comment: Version with Full Proofs of a paper that appears at MFCS 201
Two-Way Automata Making Choices Only at the Endmarkers
The question of the state-size cost for simulation of two-way
nondeterministic automata (2NFAs) by two-way deterministic automata (2DFAs) was
raised in 1978 and, despite many attempts, it is still open. Subsequently, the
problem was attacked by restricting the power of 2DFAs (e.g., using a
restricted input head movement) to the degree for which it was already possible
to derive some exponential gaps between the weaker model and the standard
2NFAs. Here we use an opposite approach, increasing the power of 2DFAs to the
degree for which it is still possible to obtain a subexponential conversion
from the stronger model to the standard 2DFAs. In particular, it turns out that
subexponential conversion is possible for two-way automata that make
nondeterministic choices only when the input head scans one of the input tape
endmarkers. However, there is no restriction on the input head movement. This
implies that an exponential gap between 2NFAs and 2DFAs can be obtained only
for unrestricted 2NFAs using capabilities beyond the proposed new model. As an
additional bonus, conversion into a machine for the complement of the original
language is polynomial in this model. The same holds for making such machines
self-verifying, halting, or unambiguous. Finally, any superpolynomial lower
bound for the simulation of such machines by standard 2DFAs would imply LNL.
In the same way, the alternating version of these machines is related to L =?
NL =? P, the classical computational complexity problems.Comment: 23 page
Visibly Pushdown Modular Games
Games on recursive game graphs can be used to reason about the control flow
of sequential programs with recursion. In games over recursive game graphs, the
most natural notion of strategy is the modular strategy, i.e., a strategy that
is local to a module and is oblivious to previous module invocations, and thus
does not depend on the context of invocation. In this work, we study for the
first time modular strategies with respect to winning conditions that can be
expressed by a pushdown automaton.
We show that such games are undecidable in general, and become decidable for
visibly pushdown automata specifications.
Our solution relies on a reduction to modular games with finite-state
automata winning conditions, which are known in the literature.
We carefully characterize the computational complexity of the considered
decision problem. In particular, we show that modular games with a universal
Buchi or co Buchi visibly pushdown winning condition are EXPTIME-complete, and
when the winning condition is given by a CARET or NWTL temporal logic formula
the problem is 2EXPTIME-complete, and it remains 2EXPTIME-hard even for simple
fragments of these logics.
As a further contribution, we present a different solution for modular games
with finite-state automata winning condition that runs faster than known
solutions for large specifications and many exits.Comment: In Proceedings GandALF 2014, arXiv:1408.556
Can Nondeterminism Help Complementation?
Complementation and determinization are two fundamental notions in automata
theory. The close relationship between the two has been well observed in the
literature. In the case of nondeterministic finite automata on finite words
(NFA), complementation and determinization have the same state complexity,
namely Theta(2^n) where n is the state size. The same similarity between
determinization and complementation was found for Buchi automata, where both
operations were shown to have 2^\Theta(n lg n) state complexity. An intriguing
question is whether there exists a type of omega-automata whose determinization
is considerably harder than its complementation. In this paper, we show that
for all common types of omega-automata, the determinization problem has the
same state complexity as the corresponding complementation problem at the
granularity of 2^\Theta(.).Comment: In Proceedings GandALF 2012, arXiv:1210.202
Deterministic Autopoietic Automata
This paper studies two issues related to the paper on Computing by
Self-reproduction: Autopoietic Automata by Jiri Wiedermann. It is shown that
all results presented there extend to deterministic computations. In
particular, nondeterminism is not needed for a lineage to generate all
autopoietic automata
The Complexity of Enriched Mu-Calculi
The fully enriched μ-calculus is the extension of the propositional
μ-calculus with inverse programs, graded modalities, and nominals. While
satisfiability in several expressive fragments of the fully enriched
μ-calculus is known to be decidable and ExpTime-complete, it has recently
been proved that the full calculus is undecidable. In this paper, we study the
fragments of the fully enriched μ-calculus that are obtained by dropping at
least one of the additional constructs. We show that, in all fragments obtained
in this way, satisfiability is decidable and ExpTime-complete. Thus, we
identify a family of decidable logics that are maximal (and incomparable) in
expressive power. Our results are obtained by introducing two new automata
models, showing that their emptiness problems are ExpTime-complete, and then
reducing satisfiability in the relevant logics to these problems. The automata
models we introduce are two-way graded alternating parity automata over
infinite trees (2GAPTs) and fully enriched automata (FEAs) over infinite
forests. The former are a common generalization of two incomparable automata
models from the literature. The latter extend alternating automata in a similar
way as the fully enriched μ-calculus extends the standard μ-calculus.Comment: A preliminary version of this paper appears in the Proceedings of the
33rd International Colloquium on Automata, Languages and Programming (ICALP),
2006. This paper has been selected for a special issue in LMC
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