952 research outputs found
Quasifree processes from nuclei: Meson photoproduction and electron scattering
We have developed a relativistic formalism for studying quasi-free processes
from nuclei. The formalism can be applied with ease to a variety of processes
and renders transparent analytical expressions for all observables. We have
applied it to kaon photoproduction and to electron scattering. For the case of
the kaon, we compute the recoil polarization of the lambda-hyperon and the
photon asymmetry. Our results indicate that polarization observables are
insensitive to relativistic, nuclear target, and distortion effects. Yet, they
are sensitive to the reactive content, making them ideal tools for the study of
modifications to the elementary amplitude -- such as in the production,
propagation, and decay of nucleon resonances -- in the nuclear medium. For the
case of the electron, we have calculated the spectral function of He-4. An
observable is identified for the clean and model-independent extraction of the
spectral function. Our calculations provide baseline predictions for the
recently measured, but not yet fully analyzed, momentum distribution of He-4 by
the A1-collaboration from Mainz. Our approach predicts momentum distributions
for He-4 that rival some of the best non-relativistic calculations to date.Comment: To appear in the proceedings of International Symposium on
Electromagnetic Interactions in Nuclear and Hadron Physics (EMI 2001), Osaka,
Ibaraki, Japan, 4-7 Dec 200
Separating regular languages with two quantifier alternations
We investigate a famous decision problem in automata theory: separation.
Given a class of language C, the separation problem for C takes as input two
regular languages and asks whether there exists a third one which belongs to C,
includes the first one and is disjoint from the second. Typically, obtaining an
algorithm for separation yields a deep understanding of the investigated class
C. This explains why a lot of effort has been devoted to finding algorithms for
the most prominent classes.
Here, we are interested in classes within concatenation hierarchies. Such
hierarchies are built using a generic construction process: one starts from an
initial class called the basis and builds new levels by applying generic
operations. The most famous one, the dot-depth hierarchy of Brzozowski and
Cohen, classifies the languages definable in first-order logic. Moreover, it
was shown by Thomas that it corresponds to the quantifier alternation hierarchy
of first-order logic: each level in the dot-depth corresponds to the languages
that can be defined with a prescribed number of quantifier blocks. Finding
separation algorithms for all levels in this hierarchy is among the most famous
open problems in automata theory.
Our main theorem is generic: we show that separation is decidable for the
level 3/2 of any concatenation hierarchy whose basis is finite. Furthermore, in
the special case of the dot-depth, we push this result to the level 5/2. In
logical terms, this solves separation for : first-order sentences
having at most three quantifier blocks starting with an existential one
Going higher in the First-order Quantifier Alternation Hierarchy on Words
We investigate the quantifier alternation hierarchy in first-order logic on
finite words. Levels in this hierarchy are defined by counting the number of
quantifier alternations in formulas. We prove that one can decide membership of
a regular language to the levels (boolean combination of
formulas having only 1 alternation) and (formulas having only 2
alternations beginning with an existential block). Our proof works by
considering a deeper problem, called separation, which, once solved for lower
levels, allows us to solve membership for higher levels
Languages of Dot-depth One over Infinite Words
Over finite words, languages of dot-depth one are expressively complete for
alternation-free first-order logic. This fragment is also known as the Boolean
closure of existential first-order logic. Here, the atomic formulas comprise
order, successor, minimum, and maximum predicates. Knast (1983) has shown that
it is decidable whether a language has dot-depth one. We extend Knast's result
to infinite words. In particular, we describe the class of languages definable
in alternation-free first-order logic over infinite words, and we give an
effective characterization of this fragment. This characterization has two
components. The first component is identical to Knast's algebraic property for
finite words and the second component is a topological property, namely being a
Boolean combination of Cantor sets.
As an intermediate step we consider finite and infinite words simultaneously.
We then obtain the results for infinite words as well as for finite words as
special cases. In particular, we give a new proof of Knast's Theorem on
languages of dot-depth one over finite words.Comment: Presented at LICS 201
Context-Free Path Querying with Structural Representation of Result
Graph data model and graph databases are very popular in various areas such
as bioinformatics, semantic web, and social networks. One specific problem in
the area is a path querying with constraints formulated in terms of formal
grammars. The query in this approach is written as grammar, and paths querying
is graph parsing with respect to given grammar. There are several solutions to
it, but how to provide structural representation of query result which is
practical for answer processing and debugging is still an open problem. In this
paper we propose a graph parsing technique which allows one to build such
representation with respect to given grammar in polynomial time and space for
arbitrary context-free grammar and graph. Proposed algorithm is based on
generalized LL parsing algorithm, while previous solutions are based mostly on
CYK or Earley algorithms, which reduces time complexity in some cases.Comment: Evaluation extende
A Characterization for Decidable Separability by Piecewise Testable Languages
The separability problem for word languages of a class by
languages of a class asks, for two given languages and
from , whether there exists a language from that
includes and excludes , that is, and . In this work, we assume some mild closure properties for
and study for which such classes separability by a piecewise
testable language (PTL) is decidable. We characterize these classes in terms of
decidability of (two variants of) an unboundedness problem. From this, we
deduce that separability by PTL is decidable for a number of language classes,
such as the context-free languages and languages of labeled vector addition
systems. Furthermore, it follows that separability by PTL is decidable if and
only if one can compute for any language of the class its downward closure wrt.
the scattered substring ordering (i.e., if the set of scattered substrings of
any language of the class is effectively regular).
The obtained decidability results contrast some undecidability results. In
fact, for all (non-regular) language classes that we present as examples with
decidable separability, it is undecidable whether a given language is a PTL
itself.
Our characterization involves a result of independent interest, which states
that for any kind of languages and , non-separability by PTL is
equivalent to the existence of common patterns in and
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