Related papers: Fife's Theorem Revisited
Alternating automata have been widely used to model and verify systems that handle data from finite domains, such as communication protocols or hardware. The main advantage of the alternating model of computation is that complementation is…
This text, Chapter 23 in the "AutoMathA" handbook, is devoted to the study of rational subsets of groups, with particular emphasis on the automata-theoretic approach to finitely generated subgroups of free groups. Indeed, Stallings'…
By operations on models we show how to relate completeness with respect to permissive-nominal models to completeness with respect to nominal models with finite support. Models with finite support are a special case of permissive-nominal…
We show that the set of binary words containing overlaps is not unambiguously context-free and that the set of ternary words containing overlaps is not context-free. We also show that the set of binary words that are not subwords of the…
To each one-dimensional subshift $X$, we may associate a winning shift $W(X)$ which arises from a combinatorial game played on the language of $X$. Previously it has been studied what properties of $X$ does $W(X)$ inherit. For example, $X$…
We study cube-free words over arbitrary non-unary finite alphabets and prove the following structural property: for every pair $(u,v)$ of $d$-ary cube-free words, if $u$ can be infinitely extended to the right and $v$ can be infinitely…
We study a well-known technique of using absoluteness for giving choice-free proofs to some statements which are known to be provable with the axiom of choice. The idea is to reduce the problem to an inner model where the axiom of choice…
When used as verifiers in Arthur-Merlin systems, two-way quantum finite automata can verify membership in all languages with bounded error with double-exponential expected running time, which cannot be achieved by their classical…
In this paper, we extend the notion of Lyndon word to transfinite words. We prove two main results. We first show that, given a transfinite word, there exists a unique factorization in Lyndon words that are densely non-increasing, a…
Transfinite set theory including the axiom of choice supplies the following basic theorems: (1) Mappings between infinite sets can always be completed, such that at least one of the sets is exhausted. (2) The real numbers can be well…
J.H.C. Whitehead's second free-group algorithm determines whether or not two given elements of a free group lie in the same orbit of the automorphism group of the free group. The algorithm involves certain connected graphs, and Whitehead…
There is a fundamental difficulty in generalizing weighted automata to the case of infinite words: in general the infinite sum-of-products from which the weight of a given word is derived will diverge. Many solutions to this problem have…
We explore a natural class of semigroups that have word problem decidable by finite state automata. Among the main results are invariance of this property under change of generators, invariance under basic algebraic constructions and…
A word is called a reset word for a deterministic finite automaton if it maps all the states of the automaton to a unique state. Deciding about the existence of a reset word of a given maximum length for a given automaton is known to be an…
We prove that a semigroup generated by a reversible two-state Mealy automaton is either finite or free of rank 2. This fact leads to the decidability of finiteness for groups generated by two-state or two-letter invertible-reversible Mealy…
We present an impossibility result, called a theorem about facts and words, which pertains to a general communication system. The theorem states that the number of distinct words used in a finite text is roughly greater than the number of…
Combining ideas from distributed algorithms and alternating automata, we introduce a new class of finite graph automata that recognize precisely the languages of finite graphs definable in monadic second-order logic. By restricting…
We study substitutive systems generated by nonprimitive substitutions and show that transitive subsystems of substitutive systems are substitutive. As an application we obtain a complete characterisation of the sets of words that can appear…
We study languages over infinite alphabets equipped with some structure that can be tested by recognizing automata. We develop a framework for studying such alphabets and the ensuing automata theory, where the key role is played by an…
Completion is one of the most studied techniques in term rewriting and fundamental to automated reasoning with equalities. In this paper we present new correctness proofs of abstract completion, both for finite and infinite runs. For the…