591 research outputs found
On Termination for Faulty Channel Machines
A channel machine consists of a finite controller together with several fifo
channels; the controller can read messages from the head of a channel and write
messages to the tail of a channel. In this paper, we focus on channel machines
with insertion errors, i.e., machines in whose channels messages can
spontaneously appear. Such devices have been previously introduced in the study
of Metric Temporal Logic. We consider the termination problem: are all the
computations of a given insertion channel machine finite? We show that this
problem has non-elementary, yet primitive recursive complexity
The decision problem of modal product logics with a diagonal, and faulty counter machines
In the propositional modal (and algebraic) treatment of two-variable
first-order logic equality is modelled by a `diagonal' constant, interpreted in
square products of universal frames as the identity (also known as the
`diagonal') relation. Here we study the decision problem of products of two
arbitrary modal logics equipped with such a diagonal. As the presence or
absence of equality in two-variable first-order logic does not influence the
complexity of its satisfiability problem, one might expect that adding a
diagonal to product logics in general is similarly harmless. We show that this
is far from being the case, and there can be quite a big jump in complexity,
even from decidable to the highly undecidable. Our undecidable logics can also
be viewed as new fragments of first- order logic where adding equality changes
a decidable fragment to undecidable. We prove our results by a novel
application of counter machine problems. While our formalism apparently cannot
force reliable counter machine computations directly, the presence of a unique
diagonal in the models makes it possible to encode both lossy and
insertion-error computations, for the same sequence of instructions. We show
that, given such a pair of faulty computations, it is then possible to
reconstruct a reliable run from them
The Parametric Ordinal-Recursive Complexity of Post Embedding Problems
Post Embedding Problems are a family of decision problems based on the
interaction of a rational relation with the subword embedding ordering, and are
used in the literature to prove non multiply-recursive complexity lower bounds.
We refine the construction of Chambart and Schnoebelen (LICS 2008) and prove
parametric lower bounds depending on the size of the alphabet.Comment: 16 + vii page
On computing fixpoints in well-structured regular model checking, with applications to lossy channel systems
We prove a general finite convergence theorem for "upward-guarded" fixpoint
expressions over a well-quasi-ordered set. This has immediate applications in
regular model checking of well-structured systems, where a main issue is the
eventual convergence of fixpoint computations. In particular, we are able to
directly obtain several new decidability results on lossy channel systems.Comment: 16 page
Forward Analysis and Model Checking for Trace Bounded WSTS
We investigate a subclass of well-structured transition systems (WSTS), the
bounded---in the sense of Ginsburg and Spanier (Trans. AMS 1964)---complete
deterministic ones, which we claim provide an adequate basis for the study of
forward analyses as developed by Finkel and Goubault-Larrecq (Logic. Meth.
Comput. Sci. 2012). Indeed, we prove that, unlike other conditions considered
previously for the termination of forward analysis, boundedness is decidable.
Boundedness turns out to be a valuable restriction for WSTS verification, as we
show that it further allows to decide all -regular properties on the
set of infinite traces of the system
A Survey on Continuous Time Computations
We provide an overview of theories of continuous time computation. These
theories allow us to understand both the hardness of questions related to
continuous time dynamical systems and the computational power of continuous
time analog models. We survey the existing models, summarizing results, and
point to relevant references in the literature
On the decidability and complexity of Metric Temporal Logic over finite words
Metric Temporal Logic (MTL) is a prominent specification formalism for
real-time systems. In this paper, we show that the satisfiability problem for
MTL over finite timed words is decidable, with non-primitive recursive
complexity. We also consider the model-checking problem for MTL: whether all
words accepted by a given Alur-Dill timed automaton satisfy a given MTL
formula. We show that this problem is decidable over finite words. Over
infinite words, we show that model checking the safety fragment of MTL--which
includes invariance and time-bounded response properties--is also decidable.
These results are quite surprising in that they contradict various claims to
the contrary that have appeared in the literature
Complexity Hierarchies Beyond Elementary
We introduce a hierarchy of fast-growing complexity classes and show its
suitability for completeness statements of many non elementary problems. This
hierarchy allows the classification of many decision problems with a
non-elementary complexity, which occur naturally in logic, combinatorics,
formal languages, verification, etc., with complexities ranging from simple
towers of exponentials to Ackermannian and beyond.Comment: Version 3 is the published version in TOCT 8(1:3), 2016. I will keep
updating the catalogue of problems from Section 6 in future revision
Verifying nondeterministic probabilistic channel systems against -regular linear-time properties
Lossy channel systems (LCSs) are systems of finite state automata that
communicate via unreliable unbounded fifo channels. In order to circumvent the
undecidability of model checking for nondeterministic
LCSs, probabilistic models have been introduced, where it can be decided
whether a linear-time property holds almost surely. However, such fully
probabilistic systems are not a faithful model of nondeterministic protocols.
We study a hybrid model for LCSs where losses of messages are seen as faults
occurring with some given probability, and where the internal behavior of the
system remains nondeterministic. Thus the semantics is in terms of
infinite-state Markov decision processes. The purpose of this article is to
discuss the decidability of linear-time properties formalized by formulas of
linear temporal logic (LTL). Our focus is on the qualitative setting where one
asks, e.g., whether a LTL-formula holds almost surely or with zero probability
(in case the formula describes the bad behaviors). Surprisingly, it turns out
that -- in contrast to finite-state Markov decision processes -- the
satisfaction relation for LTL formulas depends on the chosen type of schedulers
that resolve the nondeterminism. While all variants of the qualitative LTL
model checking problem for the full class of history-dependent schedulers are
undecidable, the same questions for finite-memory scheduler can be solved
algorithmically. However, the restriction to reachability properties and
special kinds of recurrent reachability properties yields decidable
verification problems for the full class of schedulers, which -- for this
restricted class of properties -- are as powerful as finite-memory schedulers,
or even a subclass of them.Comment: 39 page
Decisive Markov Chains
We consider qualitative and quantitative verification problems for
infinite-state Markov chains. We call a Markov chain decisive w.r.t. a given
set of target states F if it almost certainly eventually reaches either F or a
state from which F can no longer be reached. While all finite Markov chains are
trivially decisive (for every set F), this also holds for many classes of
infinite Markov chains. Infinite Markov chains which contain a finite attractor
are decisive w.r.t. every set F. In particular, this holds for probabilistic
lossy channel systems (PLCS). Furthermore, all globally coarse Markov chains
are decisive. This class includes probabilistic vector addition systems (PVASS)
and probabilistic noisy Turing machines (PNTM). We consider both safety and
liveness problems for decisive Markov chains, i.e., the probabilities that a
given set of states F is eventually reached or reached infinitely often,
respectively. 1. We express the qualitative problems in abstract terms for
decisive Markov chains, and show an almost complete picture of its decidability
for PLCS, PVASS and PNTM. 2. We also show that the path enumeration algorithm
of Iyer and Narasimha terminates for decisive Markov chains and can thus be
used to solve the approximate quantitative safety problem. A modified variant
of this algorithm solves the approximate quantitative liveness problem. 3.
Finally, we show that the exact probability of (repeatedly) reaching F cannot
be effectively expressed (in a uniform way) in Tarski-algebra for either PLCS,
PVASS or (P)NTM.Comment: 32 pages, 0 figure
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