The Kleene-Schützenberger theorem for formal power series in partially commuting variables

TLDR: It is proved that the recognizable series are certain rational power series, which can be constructed from the polynomials by using the operations sum, product, and a restricted star which is applied only to series for which the elements in the support all have the same connected alphabet.

Abstract: Kleene's theorem on the coincidence of regular and rational languages in free monoids has been generalized by Schutzenberger to a description of the recognizable formal power series in noncommuting variables over arbitrary semirings and by Ochmanski to a characterization of the recognizable languages in trace monoids. We will describe the recognizable formal power series over arbitrary semirings and in partially commuting variables, i.e. over trace monoids. We prove that the recognizable series are certain rational power series, which can be constructed from the polynomials by using the operations sum, product, and a restricted star which is applied only to series for which the elements in the support all have the same connected alphabet. The converse is true if the underlying semiring is commutative. Moreover, if in addition the semiring is idempotent then the same result holds with a star restricted to series for which the elements in the support have connected (possibly different) alphabets. It is shown that these assumptions over the semiring are necessary. This provides a joint generalization of Kleene's, Schutzenberger's and Ochmanski's theorems.