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Showing papers in "ACM Transactions on Computational Logic in 2017"


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: It is shown that the problem of solving parity games over the configuration graphs of order-n CPDA is n-EXPTIME complete, subsuming several well-known results about the solvability of games over higher-order pushdown graphs by (respectively) Walukiewicz, Cachat, and Knapik et al.
Abstract: We consider recursion schemes (not assumed to be homogeneously typed, and hence not necessarily safe) and use them as generators of (possibly infinite) ranked trees. A recursion scheme is essentially a finite typed deterministic term rewriting system that generates, when one applies the rewriting rules ad infinitum, an infinite tree, called its value tree. A fundamental question is to provide an equivalent description of the trees generated by recursion schemes by a class of machines. In this article, we answer this open question by introducing collapsible pushdown automata (CPDA), which are an extension of deterministic (higher-order) pushdown automata. A CPDA generates a tree as follows. One considers its transition graph, unfolds it, and contracts its silent transitions, which leads to an infinite tree, which is finally node labelled thanks to a map from the set of control states of the CPDA to a ranked alphabet. Our contribution is to prove that these two models, higher-order recursion schemes and collapsible pushdown automata, are equi-expressive for generating infinite ranked trees. This is achieved by giving effective transformations in both directions.

86 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: A new algorithm to determine stuttering equivalence with time complexity O(mlogn), where n is the number of states and m is theNumber of transitions of a Kripke structure, and can be used to determine branching bisimulation in O(m(log |Act| + log n)) time.
Abstract: We provide a new algorithm to determine stuttering equivalence with time complexity O(mlogn), where n is the number of states and m is the number of transitions of a Kripke structure. This algorithm can also be used to determine branching bisimulation in O(m(log vActv + log n)) time, where Act is the set of actions in a labeled transition system. Theoretically, our algorithm substantially improves upon existing algorithms, which all have time complexity of the form O(mn) at best. Moreover, it has better or equal space complexity. Practical results confirm these findings: they show that our algorithm can outperform existing algorithms by several orders of magnitude, especially when the Kripke structures are large. The importance of our algorithm stretches far beyond stuttering equivalence and branching bisimulation. The known O(mn) algorithms were already far more efficient (both in space and time) than most other algorithms to determine behavioral equivalences (including weak bisimulation), and therefore they were often used as an essential preprocessing step. This new algorithm makes this use of stuttering equivalence and branching bisimulation even more attractive.

49 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This article augments differential game logic with modalities for the combined dynamics of differential hybrid games and introduces differential game invariants and differential game variants for proving properties of differential games inductively.
Abstract: This article introduces differential hybrid games, which combine differential games with hybrid games. In both kinds of games, two players interact with continuous dynamics. The difference is that hybrid games also provide all the features of hybrid systems and discrete games, but only deterministic differential equations. Differential games, instead, provide differential equations with continuous-time game input by both players, but not the luxury of hybrid games, such as mode switches and discrete-time or alternating adversarial interaction. This article augments differential game logic with modalities for the combined dynamics of differential hybrid games. It shows how hybrid games subsume differential games and introduces differential game invariants and differential game variants for proving properties of differential games inductively.

36 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The proof of the main result combines results and techniques from various research areas: a recent classification of the model-complete cores of the reducts of the homogeneous binary branching C-relation, Leeb's Ramsey theorem for rooted trees, and universal algebra.
Abstract: We systematically study the computational complexity of a broad class of computational problems in phylogenetic reconstruction. The class contains, for example, the rooted triple consistency problem, forbidden subtree problems, the quartet consistency problem, and many other problems studied in the bioinformatics literature. The studied problems can be described as constraint satisfaction problems, where the constraints have a first-order definition over the rooted triple relation. We show that every such phylogeny problem can be solved in polynomial time or is NP-complete. On the algorithmic side, we generalize a well-known polynomial-time algorithm of Aho, Sagiv, Szymanski, and Ullman for the rooted triple consistency problem. Our algorithm repeatedly solves linear equation systems to construct a solution in polynomial time. We then show that every phylogeny problem that cannot be solved by our algorithm is NP-complete. Our classification establishes a dichotomy for a large class of infinite structures that we believe is of independent interest in universal algebra, model theory, and topology. The proof of our main result combines results and techniques from various research areas: a recent classification of the model-complete cores of the reducts of the homogeneous binary branching C-relation, Leeb’s Ramsey theorem for rooted trees, and universal algebra.

33 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: A new algorithm for the statistical model checking of Markov chains with respect to unbounded temporal properties, including full linear temporal logic, which is not only faster in many cases but also requires less information about the system, namely, only the minimum transition probability that occurs in the Markov chain.
Abstract: We present a new algorithm for the statistical model checking of Markov chains with respect to unbounded temporal properties, including full linear temporal logic. The main idea is that we monitor each simulation run on the fly, in order to detect quickly if a bottom strongly connected component is entered with high probability, in which case the simulation run can be terminated early. As a result, our simulation runs are often much shorter than required by termination bounds that are computed a priori for a desired level of confidence on a large state space. In comparison to previous algorithms for statistical model checking our method is not only faster in many cases but also requires less information about the system, namely, only the minimum transition probability that occurs in the Markov chain. In addition, our method can be generalised to unbounded quantitative properties such as mean-payoff bounds.

27 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This article extends transformation methods based on integer term rewriting systems to handle arbitrary data types, global variables, function calls, and arrays, and to encode safety checks, and shows that it can automatically verify memory safety and prove correctness of realistic functions.
Abstract: This article aims to develop a verification method for procedural programs via a transformation into logically constrained term rewriting systems (LCTRSs). To this end, we extend transformation methods based on integer term rewriting systems to handle arbitrary data types, global variables, function calls, and arrays, and to encode safety checks. Then we adapt existing rewriting induction methods to LCTRSs and propose a simple yet effective method to generalize equations. We show that we can automatically verify memory safety and prove correctness of realistic functions. Our approach proves equivalence between two implementations; thus, in contrast to other works, we do not require an explicit specification in a separate specification language.

25 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The premise of this article is to show that the reachability relation for continuous Petri nets is definable by a sentence of linear size in the existential theory of the rationals with addition and order, and to leverage the power of modern SMT-solvers to yield a highly performant and robust decision procedure for coverability in Petrinets.
Abstract: Continuous Petri nets are a relaxation of classical discrete Petri nets in which transitions can be fired a fractional number of times, and consequently places may contain a fractional number of tokens. Such continuous Petri nets are an appealing object to study, since they over-approximate the set of reachable configurations of their discrete counterparts, and their reachability problem is known to be decidable in polynomial time. The starting point of this article is to show that the reachability relation for continuous Petri nets is definable by a sentence of linear size in the existential theory of the rationals with addition and order. Using this characterization, we obtain decidability and complexity results for a number of classical decision problems for continuous Petri nets. In particular, we settle the open problem about the precise complexity of reachability set inclusion. Finally, we show how continuous Petri nets can be incorporated inside the classical backward coverability algorithm for discrete Petri nets as a pruning heuristic to tackle the symbolic state explosion problem. The cornerstone of the approach we present is that our logical characterization enables us to leverage the power of modern SMT-solvers to yield a highly performant and robust decision procedure for coverability in Petri nets. We demonstrate the applicability of our approach on a set of standard benchmarks from the literature.

22 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors investigated the satisfiability problem for Horn fragments of the Halpern-Shoham interval temporal logic depending on the type (box or diamond) of the interval modal operators, the type of the underlying linear order (discrete or dense), and the semantics for the interval relations.
Abstract: We investigate the satisfiability problem for Horn fragments of the Halpern-Shoham interval temporal logic depending on the type (box or diamond) of the interval modal operators, the type of the underlying linear order (discrete or dense), and the type of semantics for the interval relations (reflexive or irreflexive). For example, we show that satisfiability of Horn formulas with diamonds is undecidable for any type of linear orders and semantics. On the contrary, satisfiability of Horn formulas with boxes is tractable over both discrete and dense orders under the reflexive semantics and over dense orders under the irreflexive semantics but becomes undecidable over discrete orders under the irreflexive semantics. Satisfiability of binary Horn formulas with both boxes and diamonds is always undecidable under the irreflexive semantics.

19 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the notion of abstract program slicing is formally defined, a general form of program slicing where properties of data are considered instead of their exact value, and applied to a language with numeric and reference values.
Abstract: In the present article, we formally define the notion of abstract program slicing, a general form of program slicing where properties of data are considered instead of their exact value. This approach is applied to a language with numeric and reference values and relies on the notion of abstract dependencies between program statements. The different forms of (backward) abstract slicing are added to an existing formal framework where traditional, nonabstract forms of slicing could be compared. The extended framework allows us to appreciate that abstract slicing is a generalization of traditional slicing, since each form of traditional slicing (dealing with syntactic dependencies) is generalized by a semantic (nonabstract) form of slicing, which is actually equivalent to an abstract form where the identity abstraction is performed on data. Sound algorithms for computing abstract dependencies and a systematic characterization of program slices are provided, which rely on the notion of agreement between program states.

19 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This article assesses whether similar techniques are effective for resolution calculi for quantified Boolean formulas (QBFs) and shows that the relations both between size and width and between space and width drastically fail in Q-resolution, even in its weaker tree-like version.
Abstract: The ground-breaking paper “Short Proofs Are Narrow -- Resolution Made Simple” by Ben-Sasson and Wigderson (J. ACM 2001) introduces what is today arguably the main technique to obtain resolution lower bounds: to show a lower bound for the width of proofs. Another important measure for resolution is space, and in their fundamental work, Atserias and Dalmau (J. Comput. Syst. Sci. 2008) show that lower bounds for space again can be obtained via lower bounds for width. In this article, we assess whether similar techniques are effective for resolution calculi for quantified Boolean formulas (QBFs). There are a number of different QBF resolution calculi like Q-resolution (the classical extension of propositional resolution to QBF) and the more recent calculi ∀Exp+Res and IR-calc. For these systems, a mixed picture emerges. Our main results show that the relations both between size and width and between space and width drastically fail in Q-resolution, even in its weaker tree-like version. On the other hand, we obtain positive results for the expansion-based resolution systems ∀Exp+Res and IR-calc, however, only in the weak tree-like models. Technically, our negative results rely on showing width lower bounds together with simultaneous upper bounds for size and space. For our positive results, we exhibit space and width-preserving simulations between QBF resolution calculi.

17 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, a bisimulation up-to-context proof method based on a unique solution of special forms of inequations called contractions is proposed, inspired by Milner's theorem on unique solutions of equations.
Abstract: One of the most studied behavioural equivalences is bisimilarity. Its success is much due to the associated bisimulation proof method, which can be further enhanced by means of “bisimulation up-to” techniques such as “up-to context.” A different proof method is discussed, based on a unique solution of special forms of inequations called contractions and inspired by Milner’s theorem on unique solution of equations. The method is as powerful as the bisimulation proof method and its “up-to context” enhancements. The definition of contraction can be transferred onto other behavioural equivalences, possibly contextual and non-coinductive. This enables a coinductive reasoning style on such equivalences, either by applying the method based on unique solution of contractions or by injecting appropriate contraction preorders into the bisimulation game. The techniques are illustrated in CCS-like languages; an example dealing with higher-order languages is also shown.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors give an algebraic characterization of the quantifier alternation hierarchy in two-variable first-order logic on finite words, based on the bilateral semidirect product of finite monoids.
Abstract: We give an algebraic characterization, based on the bilateral semidirect product of finite monoids, of the quantifier alternation hierarchy in two-variable first-order logic on finite words. As a consequence, we obtain a new proof that this hierarchy is strict. Moreover, by application of the theory of finite categories, we are able to make our characterization effective: that is, there is an algorithm for determining the exact quantifier alternation depth for a given language definable in two-variable logic.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The consistency search problems for Frege and extended Frege systems are shown to be many-one complete for the provably total NP search problems of the second-order bounded arithmetic theories U12 and V12, respectively.
Abstract: We study consistency search problems for Frege and extended Frege proofs—namely the NP search problems of finding syntactic errors in Frege and extended Frege proofs of contradictions. The input is a polynomial time function, or an oracle, describing a proof of a contradiction; the output is the location of a syntactic error in the proof. The consistency search problems for Frege and extended Frege systems are shown to be many-one complete for the provably total NP search problems of the second-order bounded arithmetic theories U12 and V12, respectively.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: An almost complete decidability picture for the basic decision problems about nested weighted automata is established, and their applicability in several domains is illustrated, including average response time properties.
Abstract: Recently there has been a significant effort to handle quantitative properties in formal verification and synthesis. While weighted automata over finite and infinite words provide a natural and flexible framework to express quantitative properties, perhaps surprisingly, some basic system properties such as average response time cannot be expressed using weighted automata or in any other known decidable formalism. In this work, we introduce nested weighted automata as a natural extension of weighted automata, which makes it possible to express important quantitative properties such as average response time. In nested weighted automata, a master automaton spins off and collects results from weighted slave automata, each of which computes a quantity along a finite portion of an infinite word. Nested weighted automata can be viewed as the quantitative analogue of monitor automata, which are used in runtime verification. We establish an almost-complete decidability picture for the basic decision problems about nested weighted automata and illustrate their applicability in several domains. In particular, nested weighted automata can be used to decide average response time properties.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: A new technique based on the definition of mappings from arguments to strings of function symbols, representing possible values which could be taken by arguments during the bottom-up evaluation, that can detect terminating programs not identified by other criteria proposed so far.
Abstract: In this article, we propose a new technique for checking whether the bottom-up evaluation of logic programs with function symbols terminates. The technique is based on the definition of mappings from arguments to strings of function symbols, representing possible values which could be taken by arguments during the bottom-up evaluation. Starting from mappings, we identify mapping-restricted arguments, a subset of limited arguments, namely arguments that take values from finite domains. Mapping-restricted programs, consisting of rules whose arguments are all mapping restricted, are terminating under the bottom-up computation, as all of its arguments take values from finite domains. We show that mappings can be computed by transforming the original program into a unary logic program: this allows us to establish decidability of checking if a program is mapping restricted. We study the complexity of the presented approach and compare it to other techniques known in the literature. We also introduce an extension of the proposed approach that is able to recognize a wider class of logic programs. The presented technique provides a significant improvement, as it can detect terminating programs not identified by other criteria proposed so far. Furthermore, it can be combined with other techniques to further enlarge the class of programs recognized as terminating under the bottom-up evaluation.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: It is shown that connected Datalog¬ (the fragment of DatalOG¬ where all rules are connected) provides an effective syntax for Datalogs programs that distribute over components under the stratified as well as under the well-founded semantics.
Abstract: We investigate the class D of queries that distribute over components. These are the queries that can be evaluated by taking the union of the query results over the connected components of the database instance. We show that it is undecidable whether a (positive) Datalog program distributes over components. Additionally, we show that connected Datalog¬ (the fragment of Datalog¬ where all rules are connected) provides an effective syntax for Datalog¬ programs that distribute over components under the stratified as well as under the well-founded semantics. As a corollary, we obtain a simple proof for one of the main results in previous work [Zinn et al. 2012], namely that the classic win-move query is in F2 (a particular class of coordination-free queries).

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The complexity of evaluation is pinpointed for each of the most basic graph pattern logics, which shows that all of them are decidable in elementary time (Pspace or NExptime).
Abstract: Graph databases make use of logics that combine traditional first-order features with navigation on paths, in the same way logics for model checking do. However, modern applications of graph databases impose a new requirement on the expressiveness of the logics: they need comparing labels of paths based on word relations (such as prefix, subword, or subsequence). This has led to the study of logics that extend basic graph languages with features for comparing labels of paths based on regular relations or the strictly more powerful rational relations. The evaluation problem for the former logic is decidable (and even tractable in data complexity), but already extending this logic with such a common rational relation as subword or suffix makes evaluation undecidable. In practice, however, it is rare to have the need for such powerful logics. Therefore, it is more realistic to study the complexity of less expressive logics that still allow comparing paths based on practically motivated rational relations. Here we concentrate on the most basic languages, which extend graph pattern logics with path comparisons based only on suffix, subword, or subsequence. We pinpoint the complexity of evaluation for each one of these logics, which shows that all of them are decidable in elementary time (Pspace or NExptime). Furthermore, the extension with suffix is even tractable in data complexity (but the other two are not). In order to obtain our results we establish a link between the evaluation problem for graph logics and two important problems in word combinatorics: word equations with regular constraints and longest common subsequence.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This work presents a classification in terms of parametrised complexity of the satisfiability problem, where it shows a dichotomy between W[1]-hard and fixed-parameter tractable operator fragments almost independently of the chosen graph representation.
Abstract: We apply the concept of formula treewidth and pathwidth to computation tree logic, linear temporal logic, and the full branching time logic. Several representations of formulas as graphlike structures are discussed, and corresponding notions of treewidth and pathwidth are introduced. As an application for such structures, we present a classification in terms of parametrised complexity of the satisfiability problem, where we make use of Courcelle’s famous theorem for recognition of certain classes of structures. Our classification shows a dichotomy between W[1]-hard and fixed-parameter tractable operator fragments almost independently of the chosen graph representation. The only fragments that are proven to be fixed-parameter tractable (FPT) are those that are restricted to the X operator. By investigating Boolean operator fragments in the sense of Post’s lattice, we achieve the same complexity as in the unrestricted case if the set of available Boolean functions can express the function “negation of the implication.” Conversely, we show containment in FPT for almost all other clones.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: A possibilistic justification logic is introduced, its syntax and semantics are presented, and its metaproperties, such as soundness, completeness, and realizability are investigated.
Abstract: Justification logic originated from the study of the logic of proofs However, in a more general setting, it may be regarded as a kind of explicit epistemic logic In such logic, the reasons a fact is believed are explicitly represented as justification terms Traditionally, the modeling of uncertain beliefs is crucially important for epistemic reasoning Graded modal logics interpreted with possibility theory semantics have been successfully applied to the representation and reasoning of uncertain beliefs; however, they cannot keep track of the reasons an agent believes a fact This article is aimed at extending the graded modal logics with explicit justifications We introduce a possibilistic justification logic, present its syntax and semantics, and investigate its metaproperties, such as soundness, completeness, and realizability

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: An algorithm to optimally compress a finite set of terms using a vectorial totally rigid acyclic tree grammar, based on a polynomial-time reduction to the MaxSAT optimization problem.
Abstract: We present an algorithm to optimally compress a finite set of terms using a vectorial totally rigid acyclic tree grammar. This class of grammars has a tight connection to proof theory, and the grammar compression problem considered in this article has applications in automated deduction. The algorithm is based on a polynomial-time reduction to the MaxSAT optimization problem. The crucial step necessary to justify this reduction consists of applying a term rewriting relation to vectorial totally rigid acyclic tree grammars. Our implementation of this algorithm performs well on a large real-world dataset.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This article considers a semantics in which all threads execute in lockstep (this semantics simplifies the actual execution model of GPUs) and adapt Hoare Logic to this setting by augmenting the usual Hoare triples with an additional component representing the set of enabled threads.
Abstract: We study a Hoare Logic to reason about parallel programs executed on graphics processing units (GPUs), called GPU kernels. During the execution of GPU kernels, multiple threads execute in lockstep, that is, execute the same instruction simultaneously. When the control branches, the two branches are executed sequentially, but during the execution of each branch only those threads that take it are enabled; after the control converges, all the threads are enabled and again execute in lockstep. In this article, we first consider a semantics in which all threads execute in lockstep (this semantics simplifies the actual execution model of GPUs) and adapt Hoare Logic to this setting by augmenting the usual Hoare triples with an additional component representing the set of enabled threads. It is determined that the soundness and relative completeness of the logic do not hold for all programs; a difficulty arises from the fact that one thread can invalidate the loop termination condition of another thread through shared memory. We overcome this difficulty by identifying an appropriate class of programs for which the soundness and relative completeness hold. Additionally, we discuss thread interleaving, which is present in the actual execution of GPUs but not in the lockstep semantics mentioned above. We show that if a program is race free, then the lockstep and interleaving semantics produce the same result. This implies that our logic is sound and relatively complete for race-free programs, even if the thread interleaving is taken into account.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors consider the setting of graph-structured data that evolves as a result of operations carried out by users or applications and study different reasoning problems, which range from deciding whether a given sequence of actions preserves the satisfaction of a given set of integrity constraints, for every possible initial data instance, to deciding the (non)existence of actions that would take the data to an (un)desirable state, starting either from a specific data instance or from an incomplete description of it.
Abstract: In this article, we consider the setting of graph-structured data that evolves as a result of operations carried out by users or applications. We study different reasoning problems, which range from deciding whether a given sequence of actions preserves the satisfaction of a given set of integrity constraints, for every possible initial data instance, to deciding the (non)existence of a sequence of actions that would take the data to an (un)desirable state, starting either from a specific data instance or from an incomplete description of it. For describing states of the data instances and expressing integrity constraints on them, we use description logics (DLs) closely related to the two-variable fragment of first-order logic with counting quantifiers. The updates are defined as actions in a simple yet flexible language, as finite sequences of conditional insertions and deletions, which allow one to use complex DL formulas to select the (pairs of) nodes for which (node or arc) labels are added or deleted. We formalize the preceding data management problems as a static verification problem and several planning problems and show that, due to the adequate choice of formalisms for describing actions and states of the data, most of these data management problems can be effectively reduced to the (un)satisfiability of suitable formulas in decidable logical formalisms. Leveraging this, we provide algorithms and tight complexity bounds for the formalized problems, both for expressive DLs and for a variant of the popular DL-Lite, advocated for data management in recent years.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The largest part of this work is the algebraic classification of precisely which semicomplete digraphs enjoy only essentially unary polymorphisms, which is combinatorially interesting in its own right.
Abstract: We study the (non-uniform) quantified constraint satisfaction problem QCSP(H) as H ranges over semicomplete digraphs. We obtain a complexity-theoretic trichotomy: QCSP(H) is either in P, is NP-complete, or is Pspace-complete. The largest part of our work is the algebraic classification of precisely which semicomplete digraphs enjoy only essentially unary polymorphisms, which is combinatorially interesting in its own right.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The expressive power and succinctness of order-invariant sentences of first-order (FO) and monadic second-order logic on structures of bounded tree-depth were studied in this paper.
Abstract: We study the expressive power and succinctness of order-invariant sentences of first-order (FO) and monadic second-order (MSO) logic on structures of bounded tree-depth. Order-invariance is undecidable in general and, thus, one strives for logics with a decidable syntax that have the same expressive power as order-invariant sentences. We show that on structures of bounded tree-depth, order-invariant FO has the same expressive power as FO. Our proof technique allows for a fine-grained analysis of the succinctness of this translation. We show that for every order-invariant FO sentence there exists an FO sentence whose size is elementary in the size of the original sentence, and whose number of quantifier alternations is linear in the tree-depth. We obtain similar results for MSO. It is known that the expressive power of MSO and FO coincide on structures of bounded tree-depth. We provide a translation from MSO to FO and we show that this translation is essentially optimal regarding the formula size. As a further result, we show that order-invariant MSO has the same expressive power as FO with modulo-counting quantifiers on bounded tree-depth structures.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The proposed approach of integration of formal erotetic logic with computational tools provides extensive insight into the former and helps with the development of efficient ESSs.
Abstract: This article concerns automated generation and processing of erotetic search scenarios (ESSs). ESSs are formal constructs characterized in Inferential Erotetic Logic that enable finding possible answers to a posed question by decomposing it into auxiliary questions. The first part of this work describes a formal account on ESSs. The formal approach is then applied to automatically generate ESSs, and the resulting scenarios are evaluated according to a number of criteria. These criteria are subjected to discordance analysis that reveals their mutual relationships. Finally, knowledge concerning relationships between different values of evaluation criteria is extracted by applying Apriori—an association rules mining algorithm. The proposed approach of integration of formal erotetic logic with computational tools provides extensive insight into the former and helps with the development of efficient ESSs.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: A comprehensive complexity classification of homomorphic problems is presented, which strongly links graph-theoretic properties of A to the complexity of the corresponding homomorphism problem, and a binary relation on graph classes is defined, which is a preorder, and the resulting hierarchy given by this relation is described.
Abstract: We study the problem of conjunctive query evaluation relative to a class of queries. This problem is formulated here as the relational homomorphism problem relative to a class of structures A, in which each instance must be a pair of structures such that the first structure is an element of A. We present a comprehensive complexity classification of these problems, which strongly links graph-theoretic properties of A to the complexity of the corresponding homomorphism problem. In particular, we define a binary relation on graph classes, which is a preorder, and completely describe the resulting hierarchy given by this relation. This relation is defined in terms of a notion that we call graph deconstruction and that is a variant of the well-known notion of tree decomposition. We then use this hierarchy of graph classes to infer a complexity hierarchy of homomorphism problems that is comprehensive up to a computationally very weak notion of reduction, namely, a parameterized version of quantifier-free, first-order reduction. In doing so, we obtain a significantly refined complexity classification of homomorphism problems as well as a unifying, modular, and conceptually clean treatment of existing complexity classifications. We then present and develop the theory of Ehrenfeucht-Fraisse-style pebble games, which solve the homomorphism problems where the cores of the structures in A have bounded tree depth. This condition characterizes those classical homomorphism problems decidable in logarithmic space, assuming a hypothesis from parameterized space complexity. Finally, we use our framework to classify the complexity of model checking existential sentences having bounded quantifier rank.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, it was shown that the uniqueness of normal forms property is undecidable for linear, shallow term rewrite systems, in contrast to confluence, reachability, and other related properties.
Abstract: Uniqueness of normal forms (UN=) is an important property of term rewrite systems. UN= is decidable for ground (i.e., variable-free) systems and undecidable in general. Recently, it was shown to be decidable for linear, shallow systems. We generalize this previous result and show that this property is decidable for shallow rewrite systems, in contrast to confluence, reachability, and other related properties, which are all undecidable for flat systems. We also prove an upper bound on the complexity of our algorithm. Our decidability result is optimal in a sense, since we prove that the UN= property is undecidable for two classes of linear rewrite systems: left-flat systems in which right-hand sides are of height at most two and right-flat systems in which left-hand sides are of height at most two.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This article generalizes Armstrong's axioms to a setting in which there is a cost associated with information, and proposes a logical system that captures general principles of dependencies between pieces of information constrained by a given budget.
Abstract: Although first proposed in the database theory as properties of functional dependencies between attributes, Armstrong’s axioms capture general principles of information flow by describing properties of dependencies between sets of pieces of information. This article generalizes Armstrong’s axioms to a setting in which there is a cost associated with information. The proposed logical system captures general principles of dependencies between pieces of information constrained by a given budget.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors consider decomposability and inseparability, two component properties known from the literature, and study the conditions when these properties are preserved and when they are lost wrt progression and the related operation of forgetting.
Abstract: In many tasks related to reasoning about consequences of a logical theory, it is desirable to decompose the theory into a number of weakly related or independent components However, a theory may represent knowledge that is subject to change, as a result of executing actions that have effects on some of the initial properties mentioned in the theory Having once computed a decomposition of a theory, it is advantageous to know whether a decomposition has to be computed again in the newly changed theory (obtained from taking into account changes resulting from execution of an action) In this article, we address this problem in the scope of the situation calculus, where a change of an initial theory is related to the notion of progression Progression provides a form of forward reasoning; it relies on forgetting values of those properties, which are subject to change, and computing new values for them We consider decomposability and inseparability, two component properties known from the literature, and contribute by studying the conditions (1) when these properties are preserved and (2) when they are lost wrt progression and the related operation of forgetting To show the latter, we demonstrate the boundaries using a number of negative examples To show the former, we identify cases when these properties are preserved under forgetting and progression of initial theories in local-effect basic action theories of the situation calculus Our article contributes to bridging two different communities in knowledge representation, namely, research on modularity and research on reasoning about actions

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors consider a universal oracle Turing machine that produces a finite or an infinite binary sequence, based on the answers to the binary queries that it makes during the computation and study the probability that this output is infinite and computable when the machine is given a random (in the probabilistic sense) stream of bits as the answer to its queries during an infinitary computation.
Abstract: Consider a universal oracle Turing machine that prints a finite or an infinite binary sequence, based on the answers to the binary queries that it makes during the computation. We study the probability that this output is infinite and computable when the machine is given a random (in the probabilistic sense) stream of bits as the answers to its queries during an infinitary computation. Surprisingly, we find that these probabilities are the entire class of real numbers in (0,1) that can be written as the difference of two halting probabilities relative to the halting problem. In particular, there are universal Turing machines that produce a computable infinite output with probability exactly 1/2. Our results contrast a large array of facts (the most well-known being the randomness of Chaitin’s halting probability) that witness maximal initial segment complexity of probabilities associated with universal machines. Our proof uses recent advances in algorithmic randomness.