308 research outputs found
On the Synchronizing Probability Function and the Triple Rendezvous Time for Synchronizing Automata
Cerny's conjecture is a longstanding open problem in automata theory. We
study two different concepts, which allow to approach it from a new angle. The
first one is the triple rendezvous time, i.e., the length of the shortest word
mapping three states onto a single one. The second one is the synchronizing
probability function of an automaton, a recently introduced tool which
reinterprets the synchronizing phenomenon as a two-player game, and allows to
obtain optimal strategies through a Linear Program.
Our contribution is twofold. First, by coupling two different novel
approaches based on the synchronizing probability function and properties of
linear programming, we obtain a new upper bound on the triple rendezvous time.
Second, by exhibiting a family of counterexamples, we disprove a conjecture on
the growth of the synchronizing probability function. We then suggest natural
follow-ups towards Cernys conjecture.Comment: A preliminary version of the results has been presented at the
conference LATA 2015. The current ArXiv version includes the most recent
improvement on the triple rendezvous time upper bound as well as formal
proofs of all the result
On random primitive sets, directable NDFAs and the generation of slowly synchronizing DFAs
We tackle the problem of the randomized generation of slowly synchronizing
deterministic automata (DFAs) by generating random primitive sets of matrices.
We show that when the randomized procedure is too simple the exponent of the
generated sets is O(n log n) with high probability, thus the procedure fails to
return DFAs with large reset threshold. We extend this result to random
nondeterministic automata (NDFAs) by showing, in particular, that a uniformly
sampled NDFA has both a 2-directing word and a 3-directing word of length O(n
log n) with high probability. We then present a more involved randomized
algorithm that manages to generate DFAs with large reset threshold and we
finally leverage this finding for exhibiting new families of DFAs with reset
threshold of order .Comment: 31 pages, 9 figures. arXiv admin note: text overlap with
arXiv:1805.0672
Data-driven computation of invariant sets of discrete time-invariant black-box systems
We consider the problem of computing the maximal invariant set of
discrete-time black-box nonlinear systems without analytic dynamical models.
Under the assumption that the system is asymptotically stable, the maximal
invariant set coincides with the domain of attraction. A data-driven framework
relying on the observation of trajectories is proposed to compute
almost-invariant sets, which are invariant almost everywhere except a small
subset. Based on these observations, scenario optimization problems are
formulated and solved. We show that probabilistic invariance guarantees on the
almost-invariant sets can be established. To get explicit expressions of such
sets, a set identification procedure is designed with a verification step that
provides inner and outer approximations in a probabilistic sense. The proposed
data-driven framework is illustrated by several numerical examples.Comment: A shorter version with the title "Scenario-based set invariance
verification for black-box nonlinear systems" is published in the IEEE
Control Systems Letters (L-CSS
On feedback stabilization of linear switched systems via switching signal control
Motivated by recent applications in control theory, we study the feedback
stabilizability of switched systems, where one is allowed to chose the
switching signal as a function of in order to stabilize the system. We
propose new algorithms and analyze several mathematical features of the problem
which were unnoticed up to now, to our knowledge. We prove complexity results,
(in-)equivalence between various notions of stabilizability, existence of
Lyapunov functions, and provide a case study for a paradigmatic example
introduced by Stanford and Urbano.Comment: 19 pages, 3 figure
Efficient algorithms for deciding the type of growth of products of integer matrices
For a given finite set of matrices with nonnegative integer entries
we study the growth of We show how to determine in polynomial time whether the growth with
is bounded, polynomial, or exponential, and we characterize precisely all
possible behaviors.Comment: 20 pages, 4 figures, submitted to LA
The Four Bars Problem
A four-bar linkage is a mechanism consisting of four rigid bars which are
joined by their endpoints in a polygonal chain and which can rotate freely at
the joints (or vertices). We assume that the linkage lies in the 2-dimensional
plane so that one of the bars is held horizontally fixed. In this paper we
consider the problem of reconfiguring a four-bar linkage using an operation
called a \emph{pop}. Given a polygonal cycle, a pop reflects a vertex across
the line defined by its two adjacent vertices along the polygonal chain. Our
main result shows that for certain conditions on the lengths of the bars of the
four-bar linkage, the neighborhood of any configuration that can be reached by
smooth motion can also be reached by pops. The proof relies on the fact that
pops are described by a map on the circle with an irrational number of
rotation.Comment: 18 page
A linear bound on the k-rendezvous time for primitive sets of NZ matrices
A set of nonnegative matrices is called primitive if there exists a product
of these matrices that is entrywise positive. Motivated by recent results
relating synchronizing automata and primitive sets, we study the length of the
shortest product of a primitive set having a column or a row with k positive
entries, called its k-rendezvous time (k-RT}), in the case of sets of matrices
having no zero rows and no zero columns. We prove that the k-RT is at most
linear w.r.t. the matrix size n for small k, while the problem is still open
for synchronizing automata. We provide two upper bounds on the k-RT: the second
is an improvement of the first one, although the latter can be written in
closed form. We then report numerical results comparing our upper bounds on the
k-RT with heuristic approximation methods.Comment: 27 pages, 10 figur
A Note on a Recent Attempt to Improve the Pin-Frankl Bound
We provide a counterexample to a lemma used in a recent tentative improvement
of the the Pin-Frankl bound for synchronizing automata. This example naturally
leads us to formulate an open question, whose answer could fix the line of
proof, and improve the bound.Comment: Short note presenting a counterexample and the resulting open
questio
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