711 research outputs found
Incremental branching programs
We propose a new model of restricted branching programs
which we call {em incremental branching programs}.
We show that {em syntactic}
incremental branching programs capture previously studied
structured models of computation for the problem GEN, namely marking
machines [Cook74].
and Poon\u27s extension [Poon93] of jumping automata
on graphs [CookRackoff80].
We then prove
exponential size lower bounds for our syntactic incremental model,
and for some other restricted branching program models as well.
We further show that nondeterministic syntactic incremental
branching programs are
provably stronger than their deterministic counterpart when solving a
natural NL-complete GEN subproblem.
It remains open if syntactic incremental branching programs are as powerful
as unrestricted branching programs for GEN problems.
Joint work with Anna GĂÂĄl and Michal KouckĂ
The descriptive complexity approach to LOGCFL
Building upon the known generalized-quantifier-based first-order
characterization of LOGCFL, we lay the groundwork for a deeper investigation.
Specifically, we examine subclasses of LOGCFL arising from varying the arity
and nesting of groupoidal quantifiers. Our work extends the elaborate theory
relating monoidal quantifiers to NC1 and its subclasses. In the absence of the
BIT predicate, we resolve the main issues: we show in particular that no single
outermost unary groupoidal quantifier with FO can capture all the context-free
languages, and we obtain the surprising result that a variant of Greibach's
``hardest context-free language'' is LOGCFL-complete under quantifier-free
BIT-free projections. We then prove that FO with unary groupoidal quantifiers
is strictly more expressive with the BIT predicate than without. Considering a
particular groupoidal quantifier, we prove that first-order logic with majority
of pairs is strictly more expressive than first-order with majority of
individuals. As a technical tool of independent interest, we define the notion
of an aperiodic nondeterministic finite automaton and prove that FO
translations are precisely the mappings computed by single-valued aperiodic
nondeterministic finite transducers.Comment: 10 pages, 1 figur
Nondeterminism and an abstract formulation of Ne\v{c}iporuk's lower bound method
A formulation of "Ne\v{c}iporuk's lower bound method" slightly more inclusive
than the usual complexity-measure-specific formulation is presented. Using this
general formulation, limitations to lower bounds achievable by the method are
obtained for several computation models, such as branching programs and Boolean
formulas having access to a sublinear number of nondeterministic bits. In
particular, it is shown that any lower bound achievable by the method of
Ne\v{c}iporuk for the size of nondeterministic and parity branching programs is
at most
Alternating and empty alternating auxiliary stack automata
AbstractWe consider variants of alternating auxiliary stack automata and characterize their computational power when the number of alternations is bounded by a constant or unlimited. In this way we get new characterizations of NP, the polynomial hierarchy, PSpace, and bounded query classes like co-DP=NLăNP[1]ă and Î2P=PNP[O(logn)], in a uniform framework
The complexity of Solitaire
AbstractKlondike is the well-known 52-card Solitaire game available on almost every computer. The problem of determining whether an n-card Klondike initial configuration can lead to a win is shown NP-complete. The problem remains NP-complete when only three suits are allowed instead of the usual four. When only two suits of opposite color are available, the problem is shown NL-hard. When the only two suits have the same color, two restrictions are shown in AC0 and in NL respectively. When a single suit is allowed, the problem drops in complexity down to AC0[3], that is, the problem is solvable by a family of constant-depth unbounded-fan-in {and, or, mod3 }-circuits. Other cases are studied: for example, âno Kingâ variant with an arbitrary number of suits of the same color and with an empty âpileâ is NL-complete
Parallel algorithms for solvable permutation groups
AbstractA number of basic problems involving solvable and nilpotent permutation groups are shown to have fast parallel solutions. Testing solvability is in NC as well as, for solvable groups, finding order, testing membership, finding centralizers, finding centers, finding the derived series and finding a composition series. Additionally, for nilpotent groups, one can, in NC, find a central composition series, and find pointwise stabilizers of sets. The latter is applied to an instance of graph isomorphism. A useful tool is the observation that the problem of finding the smallest subspace containing a given set of vectors and closed under a given set of linear transformations (all over a small field) belongs to NC
The Power of Programs over Monoids in DA
The program-over-monoid model of computation originates with Barrington\u27s proof that it captures the complexity class NC^1. Here we make progress in understanding the subtleties of the model. First, we identify a new tameness condition on a class of monoids that entails a natural characterization of the regular languages recognizable by programs over monoids from the class. Second, we prove that the class known as DA satisfies tameness and hence that the regular languages recognized by programs over monoids in DA are precisely those recognizable in the classical sense by morphisms from QDA. Third, we show by contrast that the well studied class of monoids called J is not tame and we exhibit a regular language, recognized by a program over a monoid from J, yet not recognizable classically by morphisms from the class QJ. Finally, we exhibit a program-length-based hierarchy within the class of languages recognized by programs over monoids from DA
- âŠ