30 research outputs found
Partially Ordered Two-way B\"uchi Automata
We introduce partially ordered two-way B\"uchi automata and characterize
their expressive power in terms of fragments of first-order logic FO[<].
Partially ordered two-way B\"uchi automata are B\"uchi automata which can
change the direction in which the input is processed with the constraint that
whenever a state is left, it is never re-entered again. Nondeterministic
partially ordered two-way B\"uchi automata coincide with the first-order
fragment Sigma2. Our main contribution is that deterministic partially ordered
two-way B\"uchi automata are expressively complete for the first-order fragment
Delta2. As an intermediate step, we show that deterministic partially ordered
two-way B\"uchi automata are effectively closed under Boolean operations.
A small model property yields coNP-completeness of the emptiness problem and
the inclusion problem for deterministic partially ordered two-way B\"uchi
automata.Comment: The results of this paper were presented at CIAA 2010; University of
Stuttgart, Computer Scienc
Multi-Head Finite Automata: Characterizations, Concepts and Open Problems
Multi-head finite automata were introduced in (Rabin, 1964) and (Rosenberg,
1966). Since that time, a vast literature on computational and descriptional
complexity issues on multi-head finite automata documenting the importance of
these devices has been developed. Although multi-head finite automata are a
simple concept, their computational behavior can be already very complex and
leads to undecidable or even non-semi-decidable problems on these devices such
as, for example, emptiness, finiteness, universality, equivalence, etc. These
strong negative results trigger the study of subclasses and alternative
characterizations of multi-head finite automata for a better understanding of
the nature of non-recursive trade-offs and, thus, the borderline between
decidable and undecidable problems. In the present paper, we tour a fragment of
this literature
Algorithms and lower bounds in finite automata size complexity
Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 2006.Includes bibliographical references (p. 97-99).In this thesis we investigate the relative succinctness of several types of finite automata, focusing mainly on the following four basic models: one-way deterministic (1)FAs), one-way nondeterministic (1NFAs), two-way deterministic (2DFAS), and two-way nondeterministic (2NFAS). First, we establish the exact values of the trade-offs for all conversions from two-way to one-way automata. Specifically, we prove that the functions ... return the exact values of the trade-offs from 2DFAS to 1DFAS, from 2NFAS to 1DFAs, and from 2DFAs or 2NFAS to 1NFAs, respectively. Second, we examine the question whether the trade-offs from NFAs or 2NFAS to 2DiFAs are polynomial or not. We prove two theorems for liveness, the complete problem for the conversion from 1NFAS to 2DFAS. We first focus on moles, a restricted class of 2NFAs that includes the polynomially large 1NFAS which solve liveness. We prove that, in contrast, 2DFA moles cannot solve liveness, irrespective of size.(cont.) We then focus on sweeping 2NFAS, which can change the direction of their input head only on the end-markers. We prove that all sweeping 2NFAs solving the complement of liveness are of exponential size. A simple modification of this argument also proves that the trade-off from 2DFAS to sweeping 2NFAS is exponential. Finally, we examine conversions between two-way automata with more than one head-like devices (e.g., heads, linearly bounded counters, pebbles). We prove that, if the automata of some type A have enough resources to (i) solve problems that no automaton of some other type B can solve, and (ii) simulate any unary 2DFA that has additional access to a linearly-bounded counter, then the trade-off from automata of type A to automata of type B admits no recursive upper bound.by Christos Kapoutsis.Ph.D
Once-Marking and Always-Marking 1-Limited Automata
Single-tape nondeterministic Turing machines that are allowed to replace the
symbol in each tape cell only when it is scanned for the first time are also
known as 1-limited automata. These devices characterize, exactly as finite
automata, the class of regular languages. However, they can be extremely more
succinct. Indeed, in the worst case the size gap from 1-limited automata to
one-way deterministic finite automata is double exponential.
Here we introduce two restricted versions of 1-limited automata, once-marking
1-limited automata and always-marking 1-limited automata, and study their
descriptional complexity. We prove that once-marking 1-limited automata still
exhibit a double exponential size gap to one-way deterministic finite automata.
However, their deterministic restriction is polynomially related in size to
two-way deterministic finite automata, in contrast to deterministic 1-limited
automata, whose equivalent two-way deterministic finite automata in the worst
case are exponentially larger. For always-marking 1-limited automata, we prove
that the size gap to one-way deterministic finite automata is only a single
exponential. The gap remains exponential even in the case the given machine is
deterministic.
We obtain other size relationships between different variants of these
machines and finite automata and we present some problems that deserve
investigation.Comment: In Proceedings AFL 2023, arXiv:2309.0112
Converting two-way nondeterministic unary automata into simpler automata
AbstractWe show that, on inputs of length exceeding 5n2, any n-state unary two-way nondeterministic finite automaton (2nfa) can be simulated by a (2n+2)-state quasi-sweeping 2nfa. Such a result, besides providing a ânormal formâ for 2nfa's, enables us to get a subexponential simulation of unary 2nfa's by two-way deterministic finite automata (2dfa's). In fact, we prove that any n-state unary 2nfa can be simulated by a sweeping 2dfa with O(nâlog2(n+1)+3â) states
Partially ordered two-way BĂŒchi automata
We introduce partially ordered two-way BĂŒchi automata over infinite words. As for finite words, the nondeterministic variant recognizes the fragment Sigma2 of first-order logic FO[<] and the deterministic version yields the Delta2-definable omega-languages. As a byproduct of our results, we show that deterministic partially ordered two-way BĂŒchi automata are effectively closed under Boolean operations.
In addition, we have coNP-completeness results for the emptiness problem and the inclusion problem over deterministic partially ordered two-way BĂŒchi automata
Sweeping Permutation Automata
This paper introduces sweeping permutation automata, which move over an input
string in alternating left-to-right and right-to-left sweeps and have a
bijective transition function. It is proved that these automata recognize the
same family of languages as the classical one-way permutation automata
(Thierrin, "Permutation automata", Mathematical Systems Theory, 1968). An
n-state two-way permutation automaton is transformed to a one-way permutation
automaton with F(n)=\max_(k+l=n, m <= l) k (l \choose m) (k - 1 \choose l - m)
(l - m)! states. This number of states is proved to be necessary in the worst
case, and its growth rate is estimated as F(n) = n^(n/2 - (1 + \ln 2)/2 \cdot
n/(\ln n) \cdot (1 + o(1))).Comment: In Proceedings NCMA 2023, arXiv:2309.0733
DESCRIPTIONAL COMPLEXITY AND PARIKH EQUIVALENCE
The thesis deals with some topics in the theory of formal languages and automata. Speci\ufb01cally, the thesis deals with the theory of context-free languages and the study of their descriptional complexity.
The descriptional complexity of a formal structure (e.g., grammar, model of automata, etc) is the number of symbols needed to write down its description. While this aspect is extensively treated in regular languages, as evidenced by numerous references, in the case of context-free languages few results are known.
An important result in this area is the Parikh\u2019s theorem. The theorem states that for each context-free language there exists a regular language with the same Parikh image. Given an alphabet \u3a3 = {a1, . . . , am}, the Parikh image is a function \u3c8 : \u3a3^ 17\u2192 N^m that associates with each word w 08\u3a3^ 17, the vector \u3c8(w)=(|w|_a1, |w|_a2, . . . , |w|_am), where |w|_ai is the number of occurrences of ai in w. The Parikh image of a language L 86\u3a3^ 17 is the set of Parikh images of its words. For instance, the language {a^nb^n | n 65 0} has the same Parikh image as (ab)^ 17. Roughly speaking, the theorem shows that if the order of the letters in a word is disregarded, retaining only the number of their occurrences, then context-free languages are indistinguishable from regular languages.
Due to the interesting theoretical property of the Parikh\u2019s theorem, the goal of this thesis is to study some aspects of descriptional complexity according to Parikh equivalence. In particular, we investigate the conversion of one-way nondeterministic \ufb01nite automata and context-free grammars into Parikh equivalent one-way and two-way deterministic \ufb01nite automata, from a descriptional complexity point of view.
We prove that for each one-way nondeterministic automaton with n states there exist Parikh equivalent one-way and two-way deterministic automata with e^O(sqrt(n lnn)) and p(n) states, respectively, where p(n) is a polynomial. Furthermore, these costs are tight. In contrast, if all the words accepted by the given one-way nondeterministic automaton contain at least two different letters, then a Parikh equivalent one-way deterministic automaton with a polynomial number of states can be found.
Concerning context-free grammars, we prove that for each grammar in Chomsky normal form with h variables there exist Parikh equivalent one-way and two-way deterministic automata with 2^O(h^2 ) and 2^O(h) states, respectively. Even these bounds are tight.
A further investigation is the study under Parikh equivalence of the state complexity of some language operations which preserve regularity. For union, concatenation, Kleene star, complement, intersection, shuffle, and reversal, we obtain a polynomial state complexity over any \ufb01xed alphabet, in contrast to the intrinsic exponential state complexity of some of these operations in the classical version. For projection we prove a superpolynomial state complexity, which is lower than the exponential one of the corresponding classical operation. We also prove that for each two one-way deterministic automata A and B it is possible to obtain a one-way deterministic automaton with a polynomial number of states whose accepted language has as Parikh image the intersection of the Parikh images of the languages accepted by A and B