Boolean Circuit Complexity of Regular Languages

In this paper we define a new descriptional complexity measure for Deterministic Finite Automata, BC-complexity, as an alternative to the state complexity. We prove that for two DFAs with the same number of states BC-complexity can differ exponentially. In some cases minimization of DFA can lead to an exponential increase in BC-complexity, on the other hand BC-complexity of DFAs with a large state space which are obtained by some standard constructions (determinization of NFA, language operations), is reasonably small. But our main result is the analogue of the "Shannon effect" for finite automata: almost all DFAs with a fixed number of states have BC-complexity that is close to the maximum.Comment: In Proceedings AFL 2014, arXiv:1405.527

Digraph Complexity Measures and Applications in Formal Language Theory

We investigate structural complexity measures on digraphs, in particular the cycle rank. This concept is intimately related to a classical topic in formal language theory, namely the star height of regular languages. We explore this connection, and obtain several new algorithmic insights regarding both cycle rank and star height. Among other results, we show that computing the cycle rank is NP-complete, even for sparse digraphs of maximum outdegree 2. Notwithstanding, we provide both a polynomial-time approximation algorithm and an exponential-time exact algorithm for this problem. The former algorithm yields an O((log n)^(3/2))- approximation in polynomial time, whereas the latter yields the optimum solution, and runs in time and space O*(1.9129^n) on digraphs of maximum outdegree at most two. Regarding the star height problem, we identify a subclass of the regular languages for which we can precisely determine the computational complexity of the star height problem. Namely, the star height problem for bideterministic languages is NP-complete, and this holds already for binary alphabets. Then we translate the algorithmic results concerning cycle rank to the bideterministic star height problem, thus giving a polynomial-time approximation as well as a reasonably fast exact exponential algorithm for bideterministic star height.Comment: 19 pages, 1 figur

Bounded Languages Meet Cellular Automata with Sparse Communication

Cellular automata are one-dimensional arrays of interconnected interacting finite automata. We investigate one of the weakest classes, the real-time one-way cellular automata, and impose an additional restriction on their inter-cell communication by bounding the number of allowed uses of the links between cells. Moreover, we consider the devices as acceptors for bounded languages in order to explore the borderline at which non-trivial decidability problems of cellular automata classes become decidable. It is shown that even devices with drastically reduced communication, that is, each two neighboring cells may communicate only constantly often, accept bounded languages that are not semilinear. If the number of communications is at least logarithmic in the length of the input, several problems are undecidable. The same result is obtained for classes where the total number of communications during a computation is linearly bounded

Quantum Arthur-Merlin Games

This paper studies quantum Arthur-Merlin games, which are Arthur-Merlin games in which Arthur and Merlin can perform quantum computations and Merlin can send Arthur quantum information. As in the classical case, messages from Arthur to Merlin are restricted to be strings of uniformly generated random bits. It is proved that for one-message quantum Arthur-Merlin games, which correspond to the complexity class QMA, completeness and soundness errors can be reduced exponentially without increasing the length of Merlin's message. Previous constructions for reducing error required a polynomial increase in the length of Merlin's message. Applications of this fact include a proof that logarithmic length quantum certificates yield no increase in power over BQP and a simple proof that QMA is contained in PP. Other facts that are proved include the equivalence of three (or more) message quantum Arthur-Merlin games with ordinary quantum interactive proof systems and some basic properties concerning two-message quantum Arthur-Merlin games.Comment: 22 page

On two-way communication in cellular automata with a fixed number of cells

The effect of adding two-way communication to k cells one-way cellular automata (kC-OCAs) on their size of description is studied. kC-OCAs are a parallel model for the regular languages that consists of an array of k identical deterministic finite automata (DFAs), called cells, operating in parallel. Each cell gets information from its right neighbor only. In this paper, two models with different amounts of two-way communication are investigated. Both models always achieve quadratic savings when compared to DFAs. When compared to a one-way cellular model, the result is that minimum two-way communication can achieve at most quadratic savings whereas maximum two-way communication may provide savings bounded by a polynomial of degree k

Uniform Random Sampling of Traces in Very Large Models

This paper presents some first results on how to perform uniform random walks (where every trace has the same probability to occur) in very large models. The models considered here are described in a succinct way as a set of communicating reactive modules. The method relies upon techniques for counting and drawing uniformly at random words in regular languages. Each module is considered as an automaton defining such a language. It is shown how it is possible to combine local uniform drawings of traces, and to obtain some global uniform random sampling, without construction of the global model