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

Automata with Nested Pebbles Capture First-Order Logic with Transitive Closure

String languages recognizable in (deterministic) log-space are characterized either by two-way (deterministic) multi-head automata, or following Immerman, by first-order logic with (deterministic) transitive closure. Here we elaborate this result, and match the number of heads to the arity of the transitive closure. More precisely, first-order logic with k-ary deterministic transitive closure has the same power as deterministic automata walking on their input with k heads, additionally using a finite set of nested pebbles. This result is valid for strings, ordered trees, and in general for families of graphs having a fixed automaton that can be used to traverse the nodes of each of the graphs in the family. Other examples of such families are grids, toruses, and rectangular mazes. For nondeterministic automata, the logic is restricted to positive occurrences of transitive closure. The special case of k=1 for trees, shows that single-head deterministic tree-walking automata with nested pebbles are characterized by first-order logic with unary deterministic transitive closure. This refines our earlier result that placed these automata between first-order and monadic second-order logic on trees.Comment: Paper for Logical Methods in Computer Science, 27 pages, 1 figur

NL Is Strictly Contained in P

We prove that NL is strictly contained in P. We get this separation as a corollary of the following result: the set of context-free languages is not contained in NL. The reader should recall that CFL is contained in DTIME(n^3

Linear Bounded Composition of Tree-Walking Tree Transducers: Linear Size Increase and Complexity

Compositions of tree-walking tree transducers form a hierarchy with respect to the number of transducers in the composition. As main technical result it is proved that any such composition can be realized as a linear bounded composition, which means that the sizes of the intermediate results can be chosen to be at most linear in the size of the output tree. This has consequences for the expressiveness and complexity of the translations in the hierarchy. First, if the computed translation is a function of linear size increase, i.e., the size of the output tree is at most linear in the size of the input tree, then it can be realized by just one, deterministic, tree-walking tree transducer. For compositions of deterministic transducers it is decidable whether or not the translation is of linear size increase. Second, every composition of deterministic transducers can be computed in deterministic linear time on a RAM and in deterministic linear space on a Turing machine, measured in the sum of the sizes of the input and output tree. Similarly, every composition of nondeterministic transducers can be computed in simultaneous polynomial time and linear space on a nondeterministic Turing machine. Their output tree languages are deterministic context-sensitive, i.e., can be recognized in deterministic linear space on a Turing machine. The membership problem for compositions of nondeterministic translations is nondeterministic polynomial time and deterministic linear space. The membership problem for the composition of a nondeterministic and a deterministic tree-walking tree translation (for a nondeterministic IO macro tree translation) is log-space reducible to a context-free language, whereas the membership problem for the composition of a deterministic and a nondeterministic tree-walking tree translation (for a nondeterministic OI macro tree translation) is possibly NP-complete

Automata with Modulo Counters and Nondeterministic Counter Bounds

We introduce and investigate Nondeterministically Bounded Modulo Counter Automata (NBMCA), which are two-way multi-head automata that comprise a constant number of modulo counters, where the counter bounds are nondeterministically guessed, and this is the only element of nondeterminism. NBMCA are tailored to recognising those languages that are characterised by the existence of a specific factorisation of their words, e. g., pattern languages. In this work, we subject NBMCA to a theoretically sound analysis

Computação quântica : autômatos, jogos e complexidade

Orientador: Arnaldo Vieira MouraDissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de ComputaçãoResumo: Desde seu surgimento, Teoria da Computação tem lidado com modelos computacionais de maneira matemática e abstrata. A noção de computação eficiente foi investigada usando esses modelos sem procurar entender as capacidades e limitações inerentes ao mundo físico. A Computação Quântica representa uma ruptura com esse paradigma. Enraizada nos postulados da Mecânica Quântica, ela é capaz de atribuir um sentido físico preciso à computação segundo nosso melhor entendimento da natureza. Esses postulados dão origem a propriedades fundamentalmente diferentes, uma em especial, chamada emaranhamento, é de importância central para computação e processamento de informação. O emaranhamento captura uma noção de correlação que é única a modelos quânticos. Essas correlações quânticas podem ser mais fortes do que qualquer correlação clássica estando dessa forma no coração de algumas capacidades quânticas que vão além do clássico. Nessa dissertação, nós investigamos o emaranhamento da perspectiva da complexidade computacional quântica. Mais precisamente, nós estudamos uma classe bem conhecida, definida em termos de verificação de provas, em que um verificador tem acesso à múltiplas provas não emaranhadas (QMA(k)). Assumir que as provas não contêm correlações quânticas parece ser uma hipótese não trivial, potencialmente fazendo com que essa classe seja maior do que aquela em que há apenas uma prova. Contudo, encontrar cotas de complexidade justas para QMA(k) permanece uma questão central sem resposta por mais de uma década. Nesse contexto, nossa contribuição é tripla. Primeiramente, estudamos classes relacionadas mostrando como alguns recursos computacionais podem afetar seu poder de forma a melhorar a compreensão a respeito da própria classe QMA(k). Em seguida, estabelecemos uma relação entre Probabilistically Checkable Proofs (PCP) clássicos e QMA(k). Isso nos permite recuperar resultados conhecidos de maneira unificada e simplificada. Para finalizar essa parte, mostramos que alguns caminhos para responder essa questão em aberto estão obstruídos por dificuldades computacionais. Em um segundo momento, voltamos nossa atenção para modelos restritos de computação quântica, mais especificamente, autômatos quânticos finitos. Um modelo conhecido como Two-way Quantum Classical Finite Automaton (2QCFA) é o objeto principal de nossa pesquisa. Seu estudo tem o intuito de revelar o poder computacional provido por memória quântica de dimensão finita. Nos estendemos esse autômato com a capacidade de colocar um número finito de marcadores na fita de entrada. Para qualquer número de marcadores, mostramos que essa extensão é mais poderosa do que seus análogos clássicos determinístico e probabilístico. Além de trazer avanços em duas linhas complementares de pesquisa, essa dissertação provê uma vasta exposição a ambos os campos: complexidade computacional e autômatosAbstract: Since its inception, Theoretical Computer Science has dealt with models of computation primarily in a very abstract and mathematical way. The notion of efficient computation was investigated using these models mainly without seeking to understand the inherent capabilities and limitations of the actual physical world. In this regard, Quantum Computing represents a rupture with respect to this paradigm. Rooted on the postulates of Quantum Mechanics, it is able to attribute a precise physical notion to computation as far as our understanding of nature goes. These postulates give rise to fundamentally different properties one of which, namely entanglement, is of central importance to computation and information processing tasks. Entanglement captures a notion of correlation unique to quantum models. This quantum correlation can be stronger than any classical one, thus being at the heart of some quantum super-classical capabilities. In this thesis, we investigate entanglement from the perspective of quantum computational complexity. More precisely, we study a well known complexity class, defined in terms of proof verification, in which a verifier has access to multiple unentangled quantum proofs (QMA(k)). Assuming the proofs do not exhibit quantum correlations seems to be a non-trivial hypothesis, potentially making this class larger than the one in which only a single proof is given. Notwithstanding, finding tight complexity bounds for QMA(k) has been a central open question in quantum complexity for over a decade. In this context, our contributions are threefold. Firstly, we study closely related classes showing how computational resources may affect its power in order to shed some light on \QMA(k) itself. Secondly, we establish a relationship between classical Probabilistically Checkable Proofs and QMA(k) allowing us to recover known results in unified and simplified way, besides exposing the interplay between them. Thirdly, we show that some paths to settle this open question are obstructed by computational hardness. In a second moment, we turn our attention to restricted models of quantum computation, more specifically, quantum finite automata. A model known as Two-way Quantum Classical Finite Automaton (2QCFA) is the main object of our inquiry. Its study is intended to reveal the computational power provided by finite dimensional quantum memory. We extend this automaton with the capability of placing a finite number of markers in the input tape. For any number of markers, we show that this extension is more powerful than its classical deterministic and probabilistic analogues. Besides bringing advances to these two complementary lines of inquiry, this thesis also provides a vast exposition to both subjects: computational complexity and automata theoryMestradoCiência da ComputaçãoMestre em Ciência da Computaçã

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

On the membership problem for pattern languages and related topics

In this thesis, we investigate the complexity of the membership problem for pattern languages. A pattern is a string over the union of the alphabets A and X, where X := {x_1, x_2, x_3, ...} is a countable set of variables and A is a finite alphabet containing terminals (e.g., A := {a, b, c, d}). Every pattern, e.g., p := x_1 x_2 a b x_2 b x_1 c x_2, describes a pattern language, i.e., the set of all words that can be obtained by uniformly substituting the variables in the pattern by arbitrary strings over A. Hence, u := cacaaabaabcaccaa is a word of the pattern language of p, since substituting cac for x_1 and aa for x_2 yields u. On the other hand, there is no way to obtain the word u' := bbbababbacaaba by substituting the occurrences of x_1 and x_2 in p by words over A. The problem to decide for a given pattern q and a given word w whether or not w is in the pattern language of q is called the membership problem for pattern languages. Consequently, (p, u) is a positive instance and (p, u') is a negative instance of the membership problem for pattern languages. For the unrestricted case, i.e., for arbitrary patterns and words, the membership problem is NP-complete. In this thesis, we identify classes of patterns for which the membership problem can be solved efficiently. Our first main result in this regard is that the variable distance, i.e., the maximum number of different variables that separate two consecutive occurrences of the same variable, substantially contributes to the complexity of the membership problem for pattern languages. More precisely, for every class of patterns with a bounded variable distance the membership problem can be solved efficiently. The second main result is that the same holds for every class of patterns with a bounded scope coincidence degree, where the scope coincidence degree is the maximum number of intervals that cover a common position in the pattern, where each interval is given by the leftmost and rightmost occurrence of a variable in the pattern. The proof of our first main result is based on automata theory. More precisely, we introduce a new automata model that is used as an algorithmic framework in order to show that the membership problem for pattern languages can be solved in time that is exponential only in the variable distance of the corresponding pattern. We then take a closer look at this automata model and subject it to a sound theoretical analysis. The second main result is obtained in a completely different way. We encode patterns and words as relational structures and we then reduce the membership problem for pattern languages to the homomorphism problem of relational structures, which allows us to exploit the concept of the treewidth. This approach turns out be successful, and we show that it has potential to identify further classes of patterns with a polynomial time membership problem. Furthermore, we take a closer look at two aspects of pattern languages that are indirectly related to the membership problem. Firstly, we investigate the phenomenon that patterns can describe regular or context-free languages in an unexpected way, which implies that their membership problem can be solved efficiently. In this regard, we present several sufficient conditions and necessary conditions for the regularity and context-freeness of pattern languages. Secondly, we compare pattern languages with languages given by so-called extended regular expressions with backreferences (REGEX). The membership problem for REGEX languages is very important in practice and since REGEX are similar to pattern languages, it might be possible to improve algorithms for the membership problem for REGEX languages by investigating their relationship to patterns. In this regard, we investigate how patterns can be extended in order to describe large classes of REGEX languages

LIPIcs, Volume 261, ICALP 2023, Complete Volume

LIPIcs, Volume 261, ICALP 2023, Complete Volum