English

On the Separability Problem of VASS Reachability Languages

Formal Languages and Automata Theory 2025-08-12 v3

Abstract

We show that the regular separability problem of VASS reachability languages is decidable and Fω\mathbf{F}_{\omega}-complete. At the heart of our decision procedure are doubly-marked graph transition sequences, a new proof object that tracks a suitable product of the VASS we wish to separate. We give a decomposition algorithm for DMGTS that not only achieves perfectness as known from MGTS, but also a new property called faithfulness. Faithfulness allows us to construct, from a regular separator for the Z\mathbb{Z}-versions of the VASS, a regular separator for the N\mathbb{N}-versions. Behind faithfulness is the insight that, for separability, it is sufficient to track the counters of one VASS modulo a large number that is determined by the decomposition.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2401.16095,
  title  = {On the Separability Problem of VASS Reachability Languages},
  author = {Eren Keskin and Roland Meyer},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2401.16095},
  year   = {2025}
}
R2 v1 2026-06-28T14:30:05.050Z