English

Observation and Distinction. Representing Information in Infinite Games

Computer Science and Game Theory 2020-01-31 v3 Formal Languages and Automata Theory

Abstract

We compare two approaches for modelling imperfect information in infinite games by using finite-state automata. The first, more standard approach views information as the result of an observation process driven by a sequential Mealy machine. In contrast, the second approach features indistinguishability relations described by synchronous two-tape automata. The indistinguishability-relation model turns out to be strictly more expressive than the one based on observations. We present a characterisation of the indistinguishability relations that admit a representation as a finite-state observation function. We show that the characterisation is decidable, and give a procedure to construct a corresponding Mealy machine whenever one exists.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1809.05978,
  title  = {Observation and Distinction. Representing Information in Infinite Games},
  author = {Dietmar Berwanger and Laurent Doyen},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1809.05978},
  year   = {2020}
}

Comments

Full version of a contribution to the Proceedings of STACS 2020 (Symposium on Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science)

R2 v1 2026-06-23T04:08:09.357Z