English

Primitive Automata that are Synchronizing

Formal Languages and Automata Theory 2023-07-06 v1

Abstract

A deterministic finite (semi)automaton is primitive if its transition monoid (semigroup) acting on the set of states has no non-trivial congruences. It is synchronizing if it contains a constant map (transformation). In analogy to synchronizing groups, we study the possibility of characterizing automata that are synchronizing if primitive. We prove that the implication holds for several classes of automata. In particular, we show it for automata whose every letter induce either a permutation or a semiconstant transformation (an idempotent with one point of contraction) unless all letters are of the first type. We propose and discuss two conjectures about possible more general characterizations.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2307.01302,
  title  = {Primitive Automata that are Synchronizing},
  author = {Igor Rystsov and Marek Szykuła},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2307.01302},
  year   = {2023}
}

Comments

Note: The weak variant of our conjecture in a stronger form has been recently solved by Mikhail Volkov arXiv:2306.13317, together with several new results concerning our problem

R2 v1 2026-06-28T11:21:10.767Z