arXiv subjects

Arno Pauly

Publications and source records attributed to Arno Pauly.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2019

Game characterizations and lower cones in the Weihrauch degrees

We introduce a parametrized version of the Wadge game for functions and show that each lower cone in the Weihrauch degrees is characterized by such a game. These parametrized Wadge games subsume the original Wadge game, the eraser and backtrack games as well as Semmes's tree games. In particular, we propose that the lower cones in the Weihrauch degrees are the answer to Andretta's question on which classes of functions admit game characterizations. We then discuss some applications of such parametrized Wadge games. Using machinery from Weihrauch reducibility theory, we introduce games characterizing every (transfinite) level of the Baire hierarchy via an iteration of a pruning derivative on countably branching trees.

math.LO↗

arXiv2019

Convex choice, finite choice and sorting

We study the Weihrauch degrees of closed choice for finite sets, closed choice for convex sets and sorting infinite sequences over finite alphabets. Our main results are: One, that choice for finite sets of cardinality $i + 1$ is reducible to choice for convex sets in dimension $j$, which in turn is reducible to sorting infinite sequences over an alphabet of size $k + 1$, iff $i \leq j \leq k$. Two, that convex choice in dimension two is not reducible to the product of convex choice in dimension one with itself. Three, that sequential composition of one-dimensional convex choice is not reducible to convex choice in any dimension. The latter solves an open question raised at a Dagstuhl seminar on Weihrauch reducibility in 2015. Our proofs invoke Kleene's recursion theorem, and we describe in some detail how Kleene's recursion theorem gives rise to a technique for proving separations of Weihrauch degrees.

math.LO↗

arXiv2019

Effective local compactness and the hyperspace of located sets

We revisit the definition of effective local compactness, and propose an approach that works for arbitrary countably-based spaces extending the previous work on computable metric spaces. We use this to show that effective local compactness suffices to ensure that the hyperspace of closed-and-overt sets (aka located sets, aka closed sets with full information) is computably compact and computably metrizable.

cs.LO↗

arXiv2019

Computability Aspects of Differential Games in Euclidian Spaces

We study computability-theoretic aspects of differential games. Our focus is on pursuit and evasion games played in Euclidean spaces in the tradition of Rado's "Lion versus Man" game. In some ways, these games can be viewed as continuous versions of reachability games. We prove basic undecidability of differential games, and study natural classes of pursuit-evasion games in Euclidean spaces where the winners can win via computable strategies. The winning strategy for Man found by Besicovitch for the traditional "Lion versus Man" is not computable. We show how to modify it to yield a computable non-deterministic winning strategy, and raise the question whether Man can win in a computable and deterministic way.

math.OC↗

arXiv2019

Overt choice

We introduce and study the notion of overt choice for countably-based spaces and for CoPolish spaces. Overt choice is the task of producing a point in a closed set specified by what open sets intersect it. We show that the question of whether overt choice is continuous for a given space is related to topological completeness notions such as the Choquet-property; and to whether variants of Michael's selection theorem hold for that space. For spaces where overt choice is discontinuous it is interesting to explore the resulting Weihrauch degrees, which in turn are related to whether or not the space is Frechet-Urysohn.

math.LO↗

arXiv2018

Combinatorial principles equivalent to weak induction

We consider two combinatorial principles, ${\sf{ERT}}$ and ${\sf{ECT}}$. Both are easily proved in ${\sf{RCA}}_0$ plus ${Σ^0_2}$ induction. We give two proofs of ${\sf{ERT}}$ in ${\sf{RCA}}_0$, using different methods to eliminate the use of ${Σ^0_2}$ induction. Working in the weakened base system ${\sf{RCA}}_0^*$, we prove that ${\sf{ERT}}$ is equivalent to ${Σ^0_1}$ induction and ${\sf{ECT}}$ is equivalent to ${Σ^0_2}$ induction. We conclude with a Weihrauch analysis of the principles, showing ${\sf{ERT}} {\equiv_{\rm W}} {\sf{LPO}}^* {<_{\rm W}}{\sf{TC}_{\mathbb N}}^* {\equiv_{\rm W}} {\sf{ECT}}$.

math.LO↗

arXiv2018

Weihrauch Complexity in Computable Analysis

We provide a self-contained introduction into Weihrauch complexity and its applications to computable analysis. This includes a survey on some classification results and a discussion of the relation to other approaches.

math.LO↗

arXiv2018

Computable dyadic subbases and $\mathbf{T}^ω$-representations of compact sets

We explore representing the compact subsets of a given represented space by infinite sequences over Plotkin's $\mathbb{T}$. We show that computably compact computable metric spaces admit representations of their compact subsets in such a way that compact sets are essentially underspecified points. We can even ensure that a name of an $n$-element compact set contains $n$ occurrences of $\bot$. We undergo this study effectively and show that such a $\mathbb{T}^ω$-representation is effectively obtained from structures of computably compact computable metric spaces. As an application, we prove some statements about the Weihrauch degree of closed choice for finite subsets of computably compact computable metric spaces. Along the way, we introduce the notion of a computable dyadic subbase, and prove that every computably compact computable metric space admits a proper computable dyadic subbase.

cs.LO↗

arXiv2018

Connected Choice and the Brouwer Fixed Point Theorem

We study the computational content of the Brouwer Fixed Point Theorem in the Weihrauch lattice. Connected choice is the operation that finds a point in a non-empty connected closed set given by negative information. One of our main results is that for any fixed dimension the Brouwer Fixed Point Theorem of that dimension is computably equivalent to connected choice of the Euclidean unit cube of the same dimension. Another main result is that connected choice is complete for dimension greater than or equal to two in the sense that it is computably equivalent to Weak Kőnig's Lemma. While we can present two independent proofs for dimension three and upwards that are either based on a simple geometric construction or a combinatorial argument, the proof for dimension two is based on a more involved inverse limit construction. The connected choice operation in dimension one is known to be equivalent to the Intermediate Value Theorem; we prove that this problem is not idempotent in contrast to the case of dimension two and upwards. We also prove that Lipschitz continuity with Lipschitz constants strictly larger than one does not simplify finding fixed points. Finally, we prove that finding a connectedness component of a closed subset of the Euclidean unit cube of any dimension greater or equal to one is equivalent to Weak Kőnig's Lemma. In order to describe these results, we introduce a representation of closed subsets of the unit cube by trees of rational complexes.

math.LO↗

arXiv2018

Projection operators in the Weihrauch lattice

In this paper we study the Weihrauch complexity of projection operators onto closed subsets of the Euclidean space. We show that some fundamental degrees of the Weihrauch lattice can be characterized in terms of such operators.

math.LO↗

arXiv2018

On the algebraic structure of Weihrauch degrees

We introduce two new operations (compositional products and implication) on Weihrauch degrees, and investigate the overall algebraic structure. The validity of the various distributivity laws is studied and forms the basis for a comparison with similar structures such as residuated lattices and concurrent Kleene algebras. Introducing the notion of an ideal with respect to the compositional product, we can consider suitable quotients of the Weihrauch degrees. We also prove some specific characterizations using the implication. In order to introduce and study compositional products and implications, we introduce and study a function space of multi-valued continuous functions. This space turns out to be particularly well-behaved for effectively traceable spaces that are closely related to admissibly represented spaces.

cs.LO↗

arXiv2018

Extending finite-memory determinacy by Boolean combination of winning conditions

We study finite-memory (FM) determinacy in games on finite graphs, a central question for applications in controller synthesis, as FM strategies correspond to implementable controllers. We establish general conditions under which FM strategies suffice to play optimally, even in a broad multi-objective setting. We show that our framework encompasses important classes of games from the literature, and permits to go further, using a unified approach. While such an approach cannot match ad-hoc proofs with regard to tightness of memory bounds, it has two advantages: first, it gives a widely-applicable criterion for FM determinacy; second, it helps to understand the cornerstones of FM determinacy, which are often hidden but common in proofs for specific (combinations of) winning conditions.

cs.GT↗

arXiv2018

Parameterized Games and Parameterized Automata

We introduce a way to parameterize automata and games on finite graphs with natural numbers. The parameters are accessed essentially by allowing counting down from the parameter value to 0 and branching depending on whether 0 has been reached. The main technical result is that in games, a player can win for some values of the parameters at all, if she can win for some values below an exponential bound. For many winning conditions, this implies decidability of any statements about a player being able to win with arbitrary quantification over the parameter values. While the result seems broadly applicable, a specific motivation comes from the study of chains of strategies in games. Chains of games were recently suggested as a means to define a rationality notion based on dominance that works well with quantitative games by Bassett, Jecker, P., Raskin and Van den Boogard. From the main result of this paper, we obtain generalizations of their decidability results with much simpler proofs. As both a core technical notion in the proof of the main result, and as a notion of potential independent interest, we look at boolean functions defined via graph game forms. Graph game forms have properties akin to monotone circuits, albeit are more concise. We raise some open questions regarding how concise they are exactly, which have a flavour similar to circuit complexity. Answers to these questions could improve the bounds in the main theorem.

cs.GT↗

arXiv2018

Beyond admissibility: Dominance between chains of strategies

Admissible strategies, i.e. those that are not dominated by any other strategy, are a typical rationality notion in game theory. In many classes of games this is justified by results showing that any strategy is admissible or dominated by an admissible strategy. However, in games played on finite graphs with quantitative objectives (as used for reactive synthesis), this is not the case. We consider increasing chains of strategies instead to recover a satisfactory rationality notion based on dominance in such games. We start with some order-theoretic considerations establishing sufficient criteria for this to work. We then turn our attention to generalised safety/reachability games as a particular application. We propose the notion of maximal uniform chain as the desired dominance-based rationality concept in these games. Decidability of some fundamental questions about uniform chains is established.

cs.GT↗

arXiv2018

Weihrauch-completeness for layerwise computability

We introduce the notion of being Weihrauch-complete for layerwise computability and provide several natural examples related to complex oscillations, the law of the iterated logarithm and Birkhoff's theorem. We also consider hitting time operators, which share the Weihrauch degree of the former examples but fail to be layerwise computable.

cs.LO↗

arXiv2017

Mean-payoff Games with Partial Observation

Mean-payoff games are important quantitative models for open reactive systems. They have been widely studied as games of full observation. In this paper we investigate the algorithmic properties of several sub-classes of mean-payoff games where the players have asymmetric information about the state of the game. These games are in general undecidable and not determined according to the classical definition. We show that such games are determined under a more general notion of winning strategy. We also consider mean-payoff games where the winner can be determined by the winner of a finite cycle-forming game. This yields several decidable classes of mean-payoff games of asymmetric information that require only finite-memory strategies, including a generalization of full-observation games where positional strategies are sufficient. We give an exponential time algorithm for determining the winner of the latter.

cs.GT↗

arXiv2017

On the existence of weak subgame perfect equilibria

We study multi-player turn-based games played on (potentially infinite) directed graphs. An outcome is assigned to every play of the game. Each player has a preference relation on the set of outcomes which allows him to compare plays. We focus on the recently introduced notion of weak subgame perfect equilibrium (weak SPE). This is a variant of the classical notion of SPE, where players who deviate can only use strategies deviating from their initial strategy in a finite number of histories. Having an SPE in a game implies having a weak SPE but the contrary is generally false. We propose general conditions on the structure of the game graph and on the preference relations of the players that guarantee the existence of a weak SPE, that additionally is finite-memory. From this general result, we derive two large classes of games for which there always exists a weak SPE: (i) the games with a finite-range outcome function, and (ii) the games with a finite underlying graph and a prefix-independent outcome function. For the second class, we identify conditions on the preference relations that guarantee memoryless strategies for the weak SPE.

cs.GT↗

arXiv2017

Point degree spectra of represented spaces

We introduce the point degree spectrum of a represented space as a substructure of the Medvedev degrees, which integrates the notion of Turing degrees, enumeration degrees, continuous degrees, and so on. The notion of point degree spectrum creates a connection among various areas of mathematics including computability theory, descriptive set theory, infinite dimensional topology and Banach space theory. Through this new connection, for instance, we construct a family of continuum many infinite dimensional Cantor manifolds with property $C$ whose Borel structures at an arbitrary finite rank are mutually non-isomorphic. This provides new examples of Banach algebras of real valued Baire class two functions on metrizable compacta, and strengthen various theorems in infinite dimensional topology such as Pol's solution to Alexandrov's old problem.

math.GN↗