4 research outputs found
On the Finiteness Problem for Automaton (Semi)groups
This paper addresses a decision problem highlighted by Grigorchuk,
Nekrashevich, and Sushchanskii, namely the finiteness problem for automaton
(semi)groups.
For semigroups, we give an effective sufficient but not necessary condition
for finiteness and, for groups, an effective necessary but not sufficient
condition. The efficiency of the new criteria is demonstrated by testing all
Mealy automata with small stateset and alphabet. Finally, for groups, we
provide a necessary and sufficient condition that does not directly lead to a
decision procedure