Related papers: Algebraic characterization of logically defined tr…
We propose a new algebraic framework to discuss and classify recognizable tree languages, and to characterize interesting classes of such languages. Our algebraic tool, called preclones, encompasses the classical notion of syntactic…
We explore from an algebraic viewpoint the properties of the tree languages definable with a first-order formula involving the ancestor predicate, using the description of these languages as those recognized by iterated block products of…
We study the question of whether a given regular language of finite trees can be defined in first-order logic. We develop an algebraic approach to address this question and we use it to derive several necessary and sufficient conditions for…
We study tree languages that can be defined in \Delta_2 . These are tree languages definable by a first-order formula whose quantifier prefix is forall exists, and simultaneously by a first-order formula whose quantifier prefix is . For the…
We use the recently developed theory of forest algebras to find algebraic characterizations of the languages of unranked trees and forests definable in various logics. These include the temporal logics CTL and EF, and first-order logic over…
We consider the problem of computing the measure of a regular language of infinite binary trees. While the general case remains unsolved, we show that the measure of a language defined by a first-order formula with no descendant relation or…
We give an algebraic characterisation of first-order logic with the neighbour relation, on finite words. For this, we consider languages of finite words over alphabets with an involution on them. The natural algebras for such languages are…
We study varieties that contain unranked tree languages over all alphabets. Trees are labeled with symbols from two alphabets, an unranked operator alphabet and an alphabet used for leaves only. Syntactic algebras of unranked tree languages…
One of the major open problems in automata and logic is the following: is there an algorithm which inputs a regular tree language and decides if the language can be defined in first-order logic? The goal of this paper is to present this…
Various feature descriptions are being employed in logic programming languages and constrained-based grammar formalisms. The common notational primitive of these descriptions are functional attributes called features. The descriptions…
We consider a language together with the subword relation, the cover relation, and regular predicates. For such structures, we consider the extension of first-order logic by threshold- and modulo-counting quantifiers. Depending on the…
The theory of finite term algebras provides a natural framework to describe the semantics of functional languages. The ability to efficiently reason about term algebras is essential to automate program analysis and verification for…
This paper provides a geometric characterization of subclasses of the regular languages. We use finite model theory to characterize objects like strings and trees as relational structures. Logical statements meeting certain criteria over…
We show that the decidability of the first-order theory of the language that combines Boolean algebras of sets of uninterpreted elements with Presburger arithmetic operations. We thereby disprove a recent conjecture that this theory is…
In this paper we define future-time branching temporal logics evaluated over forests, that is, ordered tuples of ordered, but unranked, finite trees. We associate a rich class FL[$\mathcal{L}$] of temporal logics to each set L of (regular)…
This paper involves generalizing the Goldblatt-Thomason and the Lindstr\"om characterization theorems to first-order modal logic.
We contribute to the refined understanding of the language-logic-algebra interplay in the context of first-order properties of countable words. We establish decidable algebraic characterizations of one variable fragment of FO as well as…
We develop an algebraic notion of recognizability for languages of words indexed by countable linear orderings. We prove that this notion is effectively equivalent to definability in monadic second-order (MSO) logic. We also provide three…
Rational word languages can be defined by several equivalent means: finite state automata, rational expressions, finite congruences, or monadic second-order (MSO) logic. The robust subclass of aperiodic languages is defined by: counter-free…
A classic result in formal language theory is the equivalence among non-counting, or aperiodic, regular languages, and languages defined through star-free regular expressions, or first-order logic. Past attempts to extend this result beyond…