Related papers: Separability by Piecewise Testable Languages is PT…
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…
Separation is a classical problem asking whether, given two sets belonging to some class, it is possible to separate them by a set from a smaller class. We discuss the separation problem for regular languages. We give a Ptime algorithm to…
The separability problem for word languages of a class $\mathcal{C}$ by languages of a class $\mathcal{S}$ asks, for two given languages $I$ and $E$ from $\mathcal{C}$, whether there exists a language $S$ from $\mathcal{S}$ that includes…
Partially ordered automata are automata where the transition relation induces a partial order on states. The expressive power of partially ordered automata is closely related to the expressivity of fragments of first-order logic on finite…
For a non-negative integer $k$, a language is $k$-piecewise test\-able ($k$-PT) if it is a finite boolean combination of languages of the form $\Sigma^* a_1 \Sigma^* \cdots \Sigma^* a_n \Sigma^*$ for $a_i\in\Sigma$ and $0\le n \le k$. We…
Separation is a classical problem in mathematics and computer science. It asks whether, given two sets belonging to some class, it is possible to separate them by another set of a smaller class. We present and discuss the separation problem…
We investigate the complexity of the separation problem associated to classes of regular languages. For a class C, C-separation takes two regular languages as input and asks whether there exists a third language in C which includes the…
The class of local languages is a well-known subclass of the regular languages that admits many equivalent characterizations. In this short note we establish the PSPACE-completeness of the problem of determining, given as input a…
The height of a piecewise-testable language $L$ is the maximum length of the words needed to define $L$ by excluding and requiring given subwords. The height of $L$ is an important descriptive complexity measure that has not yet been…
We introduce a flexible class of well-quasi-orderings (WQOs) on words that generalizes the ordering of (not necessarily contiguous) subwords. Each such WQO induces a class of piecewise testable languages (PTLs) as Boolean combinations of…
We address the separability problem for straight-line string constraints. The separability problem for languages of a class C by a class S asks: given two languages A and B in C, does there exist a language I in S separating A and B (i.e.,…
The regular separability problem asks, for two given languages, if there exists a regular language including one of them but disjoint from the other. Our main result is decidability, and PSpace-completeness, of the regular separability…
An automaton is partially ordered if the only cycles in its transition diagram are self-loops. The expressivity of partially ordered NFAs (poNFAs) can be characterized by the Straubing-Th\'erien hierarchy. Level 3/2 is recognized by poNFAs,…
Two languages are separable by a piecewise testable language if and only if there exists no infinite tower between them. An infinite tower is an infinite sequence of strings alternating between the two languages such that every string is a…
We show that the shuffle $L \unicode{x29E2} F$ of a piecewise-testable language $L$ and a finite language $F$ is piecewise-testable. The proof relies on a classic but little-used automata-theoretic characterization of piecewise-testable…
When can two regular word languages K and L be separated by a simple language? We investigate this question and consider separation by piecewise- and suffix-testable languages and variants thereof. We give characterizations of when two…
A separator for two languages is a third language containing the first one and disjoint from the second one. We investigate the following decision problem: given two regular input languages, decide whether there exists a locally testable…
We study the ($\omega$-)regular separability problem for B\"uchi VASS languages: Given two B\"uchi VASS with languages $L_1$ and $L_2$, check whether there is a regular language that fully contains $L_1$ while remaining disjoint from $L_2$.…
We prove that all standard subregular language classes are linearly separable when represented by their deciding predicates. This establishes finite observability and guarantees learnability with simple linear models. Synthetic experiments…
We show that the regular separability problem of VASS reachability languages is decidable and $\mathbf{F}_{\omega}$-complete. At the heart of our decision procedure are doubly-marked graph transition sequences, a new proof object that…