Register automata with linear arithmetic

We propose a novel automata model over the alphabet of rational numbers, which we call register automata over the rationals (RA-Q). It reads a sequence of rational numbers and outputs another rational number. RA-Q is an extension of the well-known register automata (RA) over infinite alphabets, which are finite automata equipped with a finite number of registers/variables for storing values. Like in the standard RA, the RA-Q model allows both equality and ordering tests between values. It, moreover, allows to perform linear arithmetic between certain variables. The model is quite expressive: in addition to the standard RA, it also generalizes other well-known models such as affine programs and arithmetic circuits. The main feature of RA-Q is that despite the use of linear arithmetic, the so-called invariant problem---a generalization of the standard non-emptiness problem---is decidable. We also investigate other natural decision problems, namely, commutativity, equivalence, and reachability. For deterministic RA-Q, commutativity and equivalence are polynomial-time inter-reducible with the invariant problem

Binary Reachability of Timed Pushdown Automata via Quantifier Elimination and Cyclic Order Atoms

We study an expressive model of timed pushdown automata extended with modular and fractional clock constraints. We show that the binary reachability relation is effectively expressible in hybrid linear arithmetic with a rational and an integer sort. This subsumes analogous expressibility results previously known for finite and pushdown timed automata with untimed stack. As key technical tools, we use quantifier elimination for a fragment of hybrid linear arithmetic and for cyclic order atoms, and a reduction to register pushdown automata over cyclic order atoms

A Robust Class of Linear Recurrence Sequences

We introduce a subclass of linear recurrence sequences which we call poly-rational sequences because they are denoted by rational expressions closed under sum and product. We show that this class is robust by giving several characterisations: polynomially ambiguous weighted automata, copyless cost-register automata, rational formal series, and linear recurrence sequences whose eigenvalues are roots of rational numbers

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

An Application of the Feferman-Vaught Theorem to Automata and Logics for<br> Words over an Infinite Alphabet

We show that a special case of the Feferman-Vaught composition theorem gives rise to a natural notion of automata for finite words over an infinite alphabet, with good closure and decidability properties, as well as several logical characterizations. We also consider a slight extension of the Feferman-Vaught formalism which allows to express more relations between component values (such as equality), and prove related decidability results. From this result we get new classes of decidable logics for words over an infinite alphabet.Comment: 24 page

Modelling Nonlinear Sequence Generators in terms of Linear Cellular Automata

In this work, a wide family of LFSR-based sequence generators, the so-called Clock-Controlled Shrinking Generators (CCSGs), has been analyzed and identified with a subset of linear Cellular Automata (CA). In fact, a pair of linear models describing the behavior of the CCSGs can be derived. The algorithm that converts a given CCSG into a CA-based linear model is very simple and can be applied to CCSGs in a range of practical interest. The linearity of these cellular models can be advantageously used in two different ways: (a) for the analysis and/or cryptanalysis of the CCSGs and (b) for the reconstruction of the output sequence obtained from this kind of generators.Comment: 15 pages, 0 figure