Related papers: Complexity of Universality and Related Problems fo…
The infimal prefix-closed, controllable and observable superlanguage plays an essential role in the relationship between controllability, observability and co-observability -- the central notions of supervisory control theory. Existing…
We consider a computational model which is known as set automata. The set automata are one-way finite automata with an additional storage---the set. There are two kinds of set automata---the deterministic and the nondeterministic ones. We…
A regular language is $k$-piecewise testable if it is a finite boolean combination of languages of the form $\Sigma^* a_1 \Sigma^* \cdots \Sigma^* a_n \Sigma^*$, where $a_i\in\Sigma$ and $0\le n \le k$. Given a DFA $A$ and $k\ge 0$, it is…
We introduce a new complexity measure for finite strings using probabilistic finite-state automata (PFAs), in the same spirit as existing notions employing DFAs and NFAs, and explore its properties. The PFA complexity $A_P(x)$ is the least…
We show that there are quantum devices that accept all regular languages and that are exponentially more concise than deterministic finite automata (DFA). For this purpose, we introduce a new computing model of {\it one-way quantum finite…
The complexity and decidability of various decision problems involving the shuffle operation are studied. The following three problems are all shown to be $NP$-complete: given a nondeterministic finite automaton (NFA) $M$, and two words $u$…
We examine questions involving nondeterministic finite automata where all states are final, initial, or both initial and final. First, we prove hardness results for the nonuniversality and inequivalence problems for these NFAs. Next, we…
We present a language $L_n$ which is recognizable by a probabilistic finite automaton (PFA) with probability $1 - \epsilon$ for all $\epsilon > 0$ with $O(log^2n)$ states, with a deterministic finite automaton (DFA) with O(n) states, but a…
It is well known that computing a minimum DFA consistent with a given set of positive and negative examples is NP-hard. Previous work has identified conditions on the input sample under which the problem becomes tractable or remains hard.…
We consider a general class of decision problems concerning formal languages, called ``(one-dimensional) unboundedness predicates'', for automata that feature reversal-bounded counters (RBCA). We show that each problem in this class reduces…
For general input automata, there exist regular constraint languages such that asking if a given input automaton admits a synchronizing word in the constraint language is PSPACE-complete or NP-complete. Here, we investigate this problem for…
The ambiguity of a nondeterministic finite automaton (NFA) N for input size n is the maximal number of accepting computations of N for an input of size n. For all k, r 2 N we construct languages Lr,k which can be recognized by NFA's with…
We investigate the constrained synchronization problem for weakly acyclic, or partially ordered, input automata. We show that, for input automata of this type, the problem is always in NP. Furthermore, we give a full classification of the…
A finitary automaton group is a group generated by an invertible, deterministic finite-state letter-to-letter transducer whose only cycles are self-loops at an identity state. We show that, for this presentation of finite groups, the…
The class of Unambiguous Star-Free Regular Languages (UL) was defined by Schutzenberger as the class of languages defined by Unambiguous Polynomials. UL has been variously characterized (over finite words) by logics such as TL[X_a,Y_a],…
We consider decision problems for deterministic pushdown automata over a unary alphabet (udpda, for short). Udpda are a simple computation model that accept exactly the unary regular languages, but can be exponentially more succinct than…
Automatic structures are first-order structures whose universe and relations can be represented as regular languages. It follows from the standard closure properties of regular languages that the first-order theory of an automatic structure…
In this paper, we present a proof of the NP-completeness of computing the smallest Deterministic Finite Automaton (DFA) that distinguishes two given regular languages as DFAs. A distinguishing DFA is an automaton that recognizes a language…
This paper establishes a lower bound on the number of states necessary in the worst case to simulate an $n$-state two-way nondeterministic finite automaton (2NFA) by a one-way unambiguous finite automaton (UFA). It is proved that for every…
Unambiguous non-deterministic finite automata have intermediate expressive power and succinctness between deterministic and non-deterministic automata. It has been conjectured that every unambiguous non-deterministic one-way finite…