Higher-Order Pushdown Systems with Data

We propose a new extension of higher-order pushdown automata, which allows to use an infinite alphabet. The new automata recognize languages of data words (instead of normal words), which beside each its letter from a finite alphabet have a data value from an infinite alphabet. Those data values can be loaded to the stack of the automaton, and later compared with some farther data values on the input. Our main purpose for introducing these automata is that they may help in analyzing normal automata (without data). As an example, we give a proof that deterministic automata with collapse can recognize more languages than deterministic automata without collapse. This proof is simpler than in the no-data case. We also state a hypothesis how the new automaton model can be related to the original model of higher-order pushdown automata.Comment: In Proceedings GandALF 2012, arXiv:1210.202

A Type System Describing Unboundedness

We consider nondeterministic higher-order recursion schemes as recognizers of languages of finite words or finite trees. We propose a type system that allows to solve the simultaneous-unboundedness problem (SUP) for schemes, which asks, given a set of letters A and a scheme G, whether it is the case that for every number n the scheme accepts a word (a tree) in which every letter from A appears at least n times. Using this type system we prove that SUP is (m-1)-EXPTIME-complete for word-recognizing schemes of order m, and m-EXPTIME-complete for tree-recognizing schemes of order m. Moreover, we establish the reflection property for SUP: out of an input scheme G one can create its enhanced version that recognizes the same language but is aware of the answer to SUP

The MSO+U theory of (N, <) is undecidable

We consider the logic MSO+U, which is monadic second-order logic extended with the unbounding quantifier. The unbounding quantifier is used to say that a property of finite sets holds for sets of arbitrarily large size. We prove that the logic is undecidable on infinite words, i.e. the MSO+U theory of (N,<) is undecidable. This settles an open problem about the logic, and improves a previous undecidability result, which used infinite trees and additional axioms from set theory.Comment: 9 pages, with 2 figure

Cost Automata, Safe Schemes, and Downward Closures

Higher-order recursion schemes are an expressive formalism used to define languages of possibly infinite ranked trees. They extend regular and context-free grammars, and are equivalent to simply typed $\lambda Y$-calculus and collapsible pushdown automata. In this work we prove, under a syntactical constraint called safety, decidability of the model-checking problem for recursion schemes against properties defined by alternating B-automata, an extension of alternating parity automata for infinite trees with a boundedness acceptance condition. We then exploit this result to show how to compute downward closures of languages of finite trees recognized by safe recursion schemes.Comment: accepted at ICALP'2

A Recursive Approach to Solving Parity Games in Quasipolynomial Time

Zielonka's classic recursive algorithm for solving parity games is perhaps the simplest among the many existing parity game algorithms. However, its complexity is exponential, while currently the state-of-the-art algorithms have quasipolynomial complexity. Here, we present a modification of Zielonka's classic algorithm that brings its complexity down to $n^{O\left(\log\left(1+\frac{d}{\log n}\right)\right)}$, for parity games of size $n$ with $d$ priorities, in line with previous quasipolynomial-time solutions.</jats:p