Complexity of Two-Dimensional Patterns

In dynamical systems such as cellular automata and iterated maps, it is often useful to look at a language or set of symbol sequences produced by the system. There are well-established classification schemes, such as the Chomsky hierarchy, with which we can measure the complexity of these sets of sequences, and thus the complexity of the systems which produce them. In this paper, we look at the first few levels of a hierarchy of complexity for two-or-more-dimensional patterns. We show that several definitions of ``regular language'' or ``local rule'' that are equivalent in d=1 lead to distinct classes in d >= 2. We explore the closure properties and computational complexity of these classes, including undecidability and L-, NL- and NP-completeness results. We apply these classes to cellular automata, in particular to their sets of fixed and periodic points, finite-time images, and limit sets. We show that it is undecidable whether a CA in d >= 2 has a periodic point of a given period, and that certain ``local lattice languages'' are not finite-time images or limit sets of any CA. We also show that the entropy of a d-dimensional CA's finite-time image cannot decrease faster than t^{-d} unless it maps every initial condition to a single homogeneous state.Comment: To appear in J. Stat. Phy

Deterministic recognizability of picture languages with Wang automata

special issue dedicated to the second edition of the conference AutoMathA: from Mathematics to ApplicationsInternational audienceWe present a model of automaton for picture language recognition, called Wang automaton, which is based on labeled Wang tiles. Wang automata combine features of both online tessellation acceptors and 4-way automata: as in online tessellation acceptors, computation assigns states to each picture position; as in 4-way automata, the input head visits the picture moving from one pixel to an adjacent one, according to some scanning strategy. Wang automata recognize the class REC, i.e. they are equivalent to tiling systems or online tessellation acceptors, and hence strictly more powerful than 4-way automata. We also introduce a natural notion of determinism for Wang automata, and study the resulting class, extending the more traditional approach of diagonal-based determinism, used e. g. by deterministic tiling systems. In particular, we prove that the concept of row (or column) ambiguity defines the class of languages recognized by Wang automata directed by boustrophedonic scanning strategies

Weighted Automata and Logics on Hierarchical Structures and Graphs

Formal language theory, originally developed to model and study our natural spoken languages, is nowadays also put to use in many other fields. These include, but are not limited to, the definition and visualization of programming languages and the examination and verification of algorithms and systems. Formal languages are instrumental in proving the correct behavior of automated systems, e.g., to avoid that a flight guidance system navigates two airplanes too close to each other. This vast field of applications is built upon a very well investigated and coherent theoretical basis. It is the goal of this dissertation to add to this theoretical foundation and to explore ways to make formal languages and their models more expressive. More specifically, we are interested in models that are able to model quantitative features of the behavior of systems. To this end, we define and characterize weighted automata over structures with hierarchical information and over graphs. In particular, we study infinite nested words, operator precedence languages, and finite and infinite graphs. We show Büchi-like results connecting weighted automata and weighted monadic second order (MSO) logic for the respective classes of weighted languages over these structures. As special cases, we obtain Büchi-type equivalence results known from the recent literature for weighted automata and weighted logics on words, trees, pictures, and nested words. Establishing such a general result for graphs has been an open problem for weighted logics for some time. We conjecture that our techniques can be applied to derive similar equivalence results in other contexts like traces, texts, and distributed systems

Accepting networks of evolutionary picture processors

We extend the study of networks of evolutionary processors accepting words to a similar model, processing rectangular pictures. To this aim, we introduce accepting networks of evolutionary picture processors and investigate their computational power. We show that these networks can accept the complement of any local picture language as well as picture languages that are not recognizable. Some open problems regarding decidability issues and closure properties are finally discussed

Accepting networks of evolutionary picture processors

We extend the study of networks of evolutionary processors accepting words to a similar model, processing rectangular pictures. To this aim, we introduce accepting networks of evolutionary picture processors and investigate their computational power. We show that these networks can accept the complement of any local picture language as well as picture languages that are not recognizable. Some open problems regarding decidability issues and closure properties are finally discussed

Deterministic recognizability of picture languages with Wang automata

special issue dedicated to the second edition of the conference AutoMathA: from Mathematics to Application