Efficient universal pushdown cellular automata and their application to complexity

In order to obtain universal classical cellular automata an infinite space is required. Therefore, the number of required processors depends on the length of input data and, additionally, may increase during the computation. On the other hand, Turing machines are universal devices which have one processor only and additionally an infinite storage tape. Here an in some sense intermediate model is studied. The pushdown cellular automata are a stack augmented generalization of classical cellular automata. They form a massively parallel universal model where the number of processors is bounded by the length of input data. Effcient universal pushdown cellular automata and their efficiently verifiable encodings are proposed. They are applied to computational complexity, and tight time and stack-space hierarchies are shown. CR Subject Classification (1998): F.1, F.4.3, B.6.1, E.

Transductions Computed by One-Dimensional Cellular Automata

Cellular automata are investigated towards their ability to compute transductions, that is, to transform inputs into outputs. The families of transductions computed are classified with regard to the time allowed to process the input and to compute the output. Since there is a particular interest in fast transductions, we mainly focus on the time complexities real time and linear time. We first investigate the computational capabilities of cellular automaton transducers by comparing them to iterative array transducers, that is, we compare parallel input/output mode to sequential input/output mode of massively parallel machines. By direct simulations, it turns out that the parallel mode is not weaker than the sequential one. Moreover, with regard to certain time complexities cellular automaton transducers are even more powerful than iterative arrays. In the second part of the paper, the model in question is compared with the sequential devices single-valued finite state transducers and deterministic pushdown transducers. It turns out that both models can be simulated by cellular automaton transducers faster than by iterative array transducers.Comment: In Proceedings AUTOMATA&JAC 2012, arXiv:1208.249

Measuring Communication in Parallel Communicating Finite Automata

Systems of deterministic finite automata communicating by sending their states upon request are investigated, when the amount of communication is restricted. The computational power and decidability properties are studied for the case of returning centralized systems, when the number of necessary communications during the computations of the system is bounded by a function depending on the length of the input. It is proved that an infinite hierarchy of language families exists, depending on the number of messages sent during their most economical recognitions. Moreover, several properties are shown to be not semi-decidable for the systems under consideration.Comment: In Proceedings AFL 2014, arXiv:1405.527

On the Number of Membranes in Unary P Systems

We consider P systems with a linear membrane structure working on objects over a unary alphabet using sets of rules resembling homomorphisms. Such a restricted variant of P systems allows for a unique minimal representation of the generated unary language and in that way for an effective solution of the equivalence problem. Moreover, we examine the descriptional complexity of unary P systems with respect to the number of membranes

Reversible Two-Party Computations

Deterministic synchronous systems consisting of two finite automata running in opposite directions on a shared read-only input are studied with respect to their ability to perform reversible computations, which means that the automata are also backward deterministic and, thus, are able to uniquely step the computation back and forth. We study the computational capacity of such devices and obtain on the one hand that there are regular languages that cannot be accepted by such systems. On the other hand, such systems can accept even non-semilinear languages. Since the systems communicate by sending messages, we consider also systems where the number of messages sent during a computation is restricted. We obtain a finite hierarchy with respect to the allowed amount of communication inside the reversible classes and separations to general, not necessarily reversible, classes. Finally, we study closure properties and decidability questions and obtain that the questions of emptiness, finiteness, inclusion, and equivalence are not semidecidable if a superlogarithmic amount of communication is allowed.Comment: In Proceedings AFL 2023, arXiv:2309.0112

Fast cellular automata with restricted inter-cell communication: computational capacity

A d-dimensional cellular automaton with sequential input mode is a d-dimensional grid of interconnected interacting finite automata. The distinguished automaton at the origin, the communication cell, is connected to the outside world and fetches the input sequentially. Often in the literature this model is referred to as iterative array. We investigate d-dimensional iterative arrays and one-dimensional cellular automata operating in real and linear time, whose inter-cell communication is restricted to some constant number of bits independent of the number of states. It is known that even one-dimensional one-bit iterative arrays accept rather complicated languages such as {ap│prim} or {a2n│n∈N}[16]. We show that there is an infinite strict double dimension-bit hierarchy. The computational capacity of the one-dimensional devices in question is compared with the power of communication-restricted two-way cellular automata. It turns out that the relations are quite diferent from the relations in the unrestricted case. On passing, we obtain an infinite strict bit hierarchy for real-time two-way cellular automata and, moreover, a very dense time hierarchy for every k-bit cellular automata, i.e., just one more time step leads to a proper superfamily of accepted languages.4th IFIP International Conference on Theoretical Computer ScienceRed de Universidades con Carreras en Informática (RedUNCI

Fast cellular automata with restricted inter-cell communication: computational capacity

A d-dimensional cellular automaton with sequential input mode is a d-dimensional grid of interconnected interacting finite automata. The distinguished automaton at the origin, the communication cell, is connected to the outside world and fetches the input sequentially. Often in the literature this model is referred to as iterative array. We investigate d-dimensional iterative arrays and one-dimensional cellular automata operating in real and linear time, whose inter-cell communication is restricted to some constant number of bits independent of the number of states. It is known that even one-dimensional one-bit iterative arrays accept rather complicated languages such as {ap│prim} or {a2n│n∈N}[16]. We show that there is an infinite strict double dimension-bit hierarchy. The computational capacity of the one-dimensional devices in question is compared with the power of communication-restricted two-way cellular automata. It turns out that the relations are quite diferent from the relations in the unrestricted case. On passing, we obtain an infinite strict bit hierarchy for real-time two-way cellular automata and, moreover, a very dense time hierarchy for every k-bit cellular automata, i.e., just one more time step leads to a proper superfamily of accepted languages.4th IFIP International Conference on Theoretical Computer ScienceRed de Universidades con Carreras en Informática (RedUNCI

Deterministic Real-Time Tree-Walking-Storage Automata

We study deterministic tree-walking-storage automata, which are finite-state devices equipped with a tree-like storage. These automata are generalized stack automata, where the linear stack storage is replaced by a non-linear tree-like stack. Therefore, tree-walking-storage automata have the ability to explore the interior of the tree storage without altering the contents, with the possible moves of the tree pointer corresponding to those of tree-walking automata. In addition, a tree-walking-storage automaton can append (push) non-existent descendants to a tree node and remove (pop) leaves from the tree. Here we are particularly considering the capacities of deterministic tree-walking-storage automata working in real time. It is shown that even the non-erasing variant can accept rather complicated unary languages as, for example, the language of words whose lengths are powers of two, or the language of words whose lengths are Fibonacci numbers. Comparing the computational capacities with automata from the classical automata hierarchy, we derive that the families of languages accepted by real-time deterministic (non-erasing) tree-walking-storage automata is located between the regular and the deterministic context-sensitive languages. There is a context-free language that is not accepted by any real-time deterministic tree-walking-storage automaton. On the other hand, these devices accept a unary language in non-erasing mode that cannot be accepted by any classical stack automaton, even in erasing mode and arbitrary time. Basic closure properties of the induced families of languages are shown. In particular, we consider Boolean operations (complementation, union, intersection) and AFL operations (union, intersection with regular languages, homomorphism, inverse homomorphism, concatenation, iteration). It turns out that the two families in question have the same properties and, in particular, share all but one of these closure properties with the important family of deterministic context-free languages.Comment: In Proceedings NCMA 2023, arXiv:2309.0733

Context-dependent nondeterminism for pushdown automata

AbstractPushdown automata using a limited and unlimited amount of nondeterminism are investigated. Moreover, nondeterministic steps are allowed only within certain contexts, i.e., in configurations that meet particular conditions. The relationships of the accepted language families with closures of the deterministic context-free languages (DCFL) under regular operations are studied. For example, automata with unbounded nondeterminism that have to empty their pushdown store up to the initial symbol in order to make a guess are characterized by the regular closure of DCFL. Automata that additionally have to reenter the initial state are (almost) characterized by the Kleene star closure of the union closure of the prefix-free deterministic context-free languages. Pushdown automata with bounded nondeterminism are characterized by the union closure of DCFL in any of the considered contexts. Proper inclusions between all language classes discussed are shown. Finally, closure properties of these families under AFL operations are investigated