arXiv subjects

Thomas Colcombet

Publications and source records attributed to Thomas Colcombet.

27 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2018

An algebraic approach to MSO-definability on countable linear orderings

We develop an algebraic notion of recognizability for languages of words indexed by countable linear orderings. We prove that this notion is effectively equivalent to definability in monadic second-order (MSO) logic. We also provide three logical applications. First, we establish the first known collapse result for the quantifier alternation of MSO logic over countable linear orderings. Second, we solve an open problem posed by Gurevich and Rabinovich, concerning the MSO-definability of sets of rational numbers using the reals in the background. Third, we establish the MSO-definability of the set of yields induced by an MSO-definable set of trees, confirming a conjecture posed by Bruy{è}re, Carton, and S{é}nizergues.

cs.LO↗

arXiv2017

Automata in the Category of Glued Vector Spaces

In this paper we adopt a category-theoretic approach to the conception of automata classes enjoying minimization by design. The main instantiation of our construction is a new class of automata that are hybrid between deterministic automata and automata weighted over a field.

cs.FL↗

arXiv2017

Automata Minimization: a Functorial Approach

In this paper we regard languages and their acceptors -- such as deterministic or weighted automata, transducers, or monoids -- as functors from input categories that specify the type of the languages and of the machines to categories that specify the type of outputs. Our results are as follows: a) We provide sufficient conditions on the output category so that minimization of the corresponding automata is guaranteed. b) We show how to lift adjunctions between the categories for output values to adjunctions between categories of automata. c) We show how this framework can be applied to several phenomena in automata theory, starting with determinization and minimization (previously studied from a coalgebraic and duality theoretic perspective). We apply in particular these techniques to Choffrut's minimization algorithm for subsequential transducers and revisit Brzozowski's minimization algorithm.

cs.FL↗

arXiv2017

Boundedness in languages of infinite words

We define a new class of languages of $ω$-words, strictly extending $ω$-regular languages. One way to present this new class is by a type of regular expressions. The new expressions are an extension of $ω$-regular expressions where two new variants of the Kleene star $L^*$ are added: $L^B$ and $L^S$. These new exponents are used to say that parts of the input word have bounded size, and that parts of the input can have arbitrarily large sizes, respectively. For instance, the expression $(a^Bb)^ω$ represents the language of infinite words over the letters $a,b$ where there is a common bound on the number of consecutive letters $a$. The expression $(a^Sb)^ω$ represents a similar language, but this time the distance between consecutive $b$'s is required to tend toward the infinite. We develop a theory for these languages, with a focus on decidability and closure. We define an equivalent automaton model, extending Büchi automata. The main technical result is a complementation lemma that works for languages where only one type of exponent---either $L^B$ or $L^S$---is used. We use the closure and decidability results to obtain partial decidability results for the logic MSOLB, a logic obtained by extending monadic second-order logic with new quantifiers that speak about the size of sets.

cs.LO↗

arXiv2017

Perfect Half Space Games

We introduce perfect half space games, in which the goal of Player 2 is to make the sums of encountered multi-dimensional weights diverge in a direction which is consistent with a chosen sequence of perfect half spaces (chosen dynamically by Player 2). We establish that the bounding games of Jurdziński et al. (ICALP 2015) can be reduced to perfect half space games, which in turn can be translated to the lexicographic energy games of Colcombet and Niwiński, and are positionally determined in a strong sense (Player 2 can play without knowing the current perfect half space). We finally show how perfect half space games and bounding games can be employed to solve multi-dimensional energy parity games in pseudo-polynomial time when both the numbers of energy dimensions and of priorities are fixed, regardless of whether the initial credit is given as part of the input or existentially quantified. This also yields an optimal 2-EXPTIME complexity with given initial credit, where the best known upper bound was non-elementary.

cs.GT↗

arXiv2015

Logics with rigidly guarded data tests

The notion of orbit finite data monoid was recently introduced by Bojanczyk as an algebraic object for defining recognizable languages of data words. Following Buchi's approach, we introduce a variant of monadic second-order logic with data equality tests that captures precisely the data languages recognizable by orbit finite data monoids. We also establish, following this time the approach of Schutzenberger, McNaughton and Papert, that the first-order fragment of this logic defines exactly the data languages recognizable by aperiodic orbit finite data monoids. Finally, we consider another variant of the logic that can be interpreted over generic structures with data. The data languages defined in this variant are also recognized by unambiguous finite memory automata.

cs.FL↗

arXiv2013

Regular Cost Functions, Part I: Logic and Algebra over Words

The theory of regular cost functions is a quantitative extension to the classical notion of regularity. A cost function associates to each input a non-negative integer value (or infinity), as opposed to languages which only associate to each input the two values "inside" and "outside". This theory is a continuation of the works on distance automata and similar models. These models of automata have been successfully used for solving the star-height problem, the finite power property, the finite substitution problem, the relative inclusion star-height problem and the boundedness problem for monadic-second order logic over words. Our notion of regularity can be -- as in the classical theory of regular languages -- equivalently defined in terms of automata, expressions, algebraic recognisability, and by a variant of the monadic second-order logic. These equivalences are strict extensions of the corresponding classical results. The present paper introduces the cost monadic logic, the quantitative extension to the notion of monadic second-order logic we use, and show that some problems of existence of bounds are decidable for this logic. This is achieved by introducing the corresponding algebraic formalism: stabilisation monoids.

cs.FL↗

arXiv2007

Transforming structures by set interpretations

We consider a new kind of interpretation over relational structures: finite sets interpretations. Those interpretations are defined by weak monadic second-order (WMSO) formulas with free set variables. They transform a given structure into a structure with a domain consisting of finite sets of elements of the orignal structure. The definition of these interpretations directly implies that they send structures with a decidable WMSO theory to structures with a decidable first-order theory. In this paper, we investigate the expressive power of such interpretations applied to infinite deterministic trees. The results can be used in the study of automatic and tree-automatic structures.

cs.LO↗

arXiv2007

On factorisation forests

The theorem of factorisation forests shows the existence of nested factorisations -- a la Ramsey -- for finite words. This theorem has important applications in semigroup theory, and beyond. The purpose of this paper is to illustrate the importance of this approach in the context of automata over infinite words and trees. We extend the theorem of factorisation forest in two directions: we show that it is still valid for any word indexed by a linear ordering; and we show that it admits a deterministic variant for words indexed by well-orderings. A byproduct of this work is also an improvement on the known bounds for the original result. We apply the first variant for giving a simplified proof of the closure under complementation of rational sets of words indexed by countable scattered linear orderings. We apply the second variant in the analysis of monadic second-order logic over trees, yielding new results on monadic interpretations over trees. Consequences of it are new caracterisations of prefix-recognizable structures and of the Caucal hierarchy.

cs.LO↗