In P systems with active membranes, the question of understanding the
power of non-confluence within a polynomial time bound is still an open problem. It is
known that, for shallow P systems, that is, with only one level of nesting, non-con
uence
allows them to solve conjecturally harder problems than con
uent P systems, thus reaching PSPACE. Here we show that PSPACE is not only a bound, but actually an exact
characterization. Therefore, the power endowed by non-con
uence to shallow P systems
is equal to the power gained by con
uent P systems when non-elementary membrane
division and polynomial depth are allowed, thus suggesting a connection between the
roles of non-confluence and nesting depth
