2,337 research outputs found
Logic Meets Algebra: the Case of Regular Languages
The study of finite automata and regular languages is a privileged meeting
point of algebra and logic. Since the work of Buchi, regular languages have
been classified according to their descriptive complexity, i.e. the type of
logical formalism required to define them. The algebraic point of view on
automata is an essential complement of this classification: by providing
alternative, algebraic characterizations for the classes, it often yields the
only opportunity for the design of algorithms that decide expressibility in
some logical fragment.
We survey the existing results relating the expressibility of regular
languages in logical fragments of MSO[S] with algebraic properties of their
minimal automata. In particular, we show that many of the best known results in
this area share the same underlying mechanics and rely on a very strong
relation between logical substitutions and block-products of pseudovarieties of
monoid. We also explain the impact of these connections on circuit complexity
theory.Comment: 37 page
Computing Strong and Weak Permissions in Defeasible Logic
In this paper we propose an extension of Defeasible Logic to represent and
compute three concepts of defeasible permission. In particular, we discuss
different types of explicit permissive norms that work as exceptions to
opposite obligations. Moreover, we show how strong permissions can be
represented both with, and without introducing a new consequence relation for
inferring conclusions from explicit permissive norms. Finally, we illustrate
how a preference operator applicable to contrary-to-duty obligations can be
combined with a new operator representing ordered sequences of strong
permissions which derogate from prohibitions. The logical system is studied
from a computational standpoint and is shown to have liner computational
complexity
Reachability in fixed dimension vector addition systems with states
The reachability problem is a central decision problem in verification of vector addition systems with states (VASS). In spite of recent progress, the complexity of the reachability problem remains unsettled, and it is closely related to the lengths of shortest VASS runs that witness reachability. We obtain three main results for VASS of fixed dimension. For the first two, we assume that the integers in the input are given in unary, and that the control graph of the given VASS is flat (i.e., without nested cycles). We obtain a family of VASS in dimension 3 whose shortest runs are exponential, and we show that the reachability problem is NP-hard in dimension 7. These results resolve negatively questions that had been posed by the works of Blondin et al. in LICS 2015 and Englert et al. in LICS 2016, and contribute a first construction that distinguishes 3-dimensional flat VASS from 2-dimensional ones. Our third result, by means of a novel family of products of integer fractions, shows that 4-dimensional VASS can have doubly exponentially long shortest runs. The smallest dimension for which this was previously known is 14
Structure Theorem and Strict Alternation Hierarchy for FO^2 on Words
It is well-known that every first-order property on words is expressible
using at most three variables. The subclass of properties expressible with only
two variables is also quite interesting and well-studied. We prove precise
structure theorems that characterize the exact expressive power of first-order
logic with two variables on words. Our results apply to both the case with and
without a successor relation. For both languages, our structure theorems show
exactly what is expressible using a given quantifier depth, n, and using m
blocks of alternating quantifiers, for any m \leq n. Using these
characterizations, we prove, among other results, that there is a strict
hierarchy of alternating quantifiers for both languages. The question whether
there was such a hierarchy had been completely open. As another consequence of
our structural results, we show that satisfiability for first-order logic with
two variables without successor, which is NEXP-complete in general, becomes
NP-complete once we only consider alphabets of a bounded size
Set-Theoretic Geology
A ground of the universe V is a transitive proper class W subset V, such that
W is a model of ZFC and V is obtained by set forcing over W, so that V = W[G]
for some W-generic filter G subset P in W . The model V satisfies the ground
axiom GA if there are no such W properly contained in V . The model W is a
bedrock of V if W is a ground of V and satisfies the ground axiom. The mantle
of V is the intersection of all grounds of V . The generic mantle of V is the
intersection of all grounds of all set-forcing extensions of V . The generic
HOD, written gHOD, is the intersection of all HODs of all set-forcing
extensions. The generic HOD is always a model of ZFC, and the generic mantle is
always a model of ZF. Every model of ZFC is the mantle and generic mantle of
another model of ZFC. We prove this theorem while also controlling the HOD of
the final model, as well as the generic HOD. Iteratively taking the mantle
penetrates down through the inner mantles to what we call the outer core, what
remains when all outer layers of forcing have been stripped away. Many
fundamental questions remain open.Comment: 44 pages; commentary concerning this article can be made at
http://jdh.hamkins.org/set-theoreticgeology
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