English

Degrees of Restriction for Two-Dimensional Automata

Formal Languages and Automata Theory 2021-05-05 v1

Abstract

A three-way (resp., two-way) two-dimensional automaton has a read-only input head that moves in three (resp., two) directions on a finite array of cells labelled by symbols of the input alphabet. Restricting the input head movement of a two-dimensional automaton results in a model that is weaker in terms of recognition power. In this paper, we introduce the notion of "degrees of restriction" for two-dimensional automata, and we develop sets of extended two-dimensional automaton models that allow for some bounded number of restricted moves. We establish recognition hierarchies for both deterministic and nondeterministic extended three-way two-dimensional automata, and we find similar hierarchies for both deterministic and nondeterministic extended two-way two-dimensional automata. We also prove incomparability results between nondeterministic and deterministic extended three-way two-dimensional automata. Lastly, we consider closure properties for some operations on languages recognized by extended three-way two-dimensional automata.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2105.01179,
  title  = {Degrees of Restriction for Two-Dimensional Automata},
  author = {Taylor J. Smith and Kai Salomaa},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2105.01179},
  year   = {2021}
}
R2 v1 2026-06-24T01:44:58.639Z