Showing papers on "Undecidable problem published in 2020"

Denial-of-Service Attacks on Communication Systems: Detectability and Jammer Knowledge

Abstract: Wireless communication systems are inherently vulnerable to intentional jamming. In this paper, two classes of such jammers are considered: those with partial and full knowledge. While the first class accounts for those jammers that know the encoding and decoding function, the latter accounts for those that are further aware of the actual transmitted message. Of particular interest are so-called denial-of-service (DoS) attacks in which the jammer is able to completely disrupt any transmission. Accordingly, it is of crucial interest for the legitimate users to detect such adversarial DoS attacks. This paper develops a detection framework based on Turing machines. Turing machines have no limitations on computational complexity and computing capacity and storage and can simulate any given algorithm. For both scenarios of a jammer with partial and full knowledge, it is shown that there exists no Turing machine which can decide whether or not a DoS attack is possible for a given channel and the corresponding decision problem is undecidable. On the other hand, it is shown for both scenarios that it is possible to algorithmically characterize those channels for which a DoS attack is not possible. This means that it is possible to detect those scenarios in which the jammer is not able to disrupt the communication. For all other channels, the Turing machine does not stop and runs forever making this decision problem semidecidable. Finally, it is shown that additional coordination resources such as common randomness make the communication robust against such attacks.

Probabilistic Hyperproperties of Markov Decision Processes

Abstract: Hyperproperties are properties that describe the correctness of a system as a relation between multiple executions. Hyperproperties generalize trace properties and include information-flow security requirements, like noninterference, as well as requirements like symmetry, partial observation, robustness, and fault tolerance. We initiate the study of the specification and verification of hyperproperties of Markov decision processes (MDPs). We introduce the temporal logic PHL (Probabilistic Hyper Logic), which extends classic probabilistic logics with quantification over schedulers and traces. PHL can express a wide range of hyperproperties for probabilistic systems, including both classical applications, such as probabilistic noninterference, and novel applications in areas such as robotics and planning. While the model checking problem for PHL is in general undecidable, we provide methods both for proving and for refuting formulas from a fragment of the logic. The fragment includes many probabilistic hyperproperties of interest.

Formal Verification of Neural Agents in Non-deterministic Environments

Abstract: We introduce a model for agent-environment systems where the agents are implemented via feed-forward ReLU neural networks and the environment is non-deterministic We study the verification problem of such systems against CTL properties We show that verifying these systems against reachability properties is undecidable We introduce a bounded fragment of CTL, show its usefulness in identifying shallow bugs in the system, and prove that the verification problem against specifications in bounded CTL is in coNEXPTIME and PSPACE-hard We present a novel parallel algorithm for MILP-based verification of agent-environment systems, present an implementation, and report the experimental results obtained against a variant of the VerticalCAS use-case

Synthesis from hyperproperties.

Abstract: We study the reactive synthesis problem for hyperproperties given as formulas of the temporal logic HyperLTL. Hyperproperties generalize trace properties, i.e., sets of traces, to sets of sets of traces. Typical examples are information-flow policies like noninterference, which stipulate that no sensitive data must leak into the public domain. Such properties cannot be expressed in standard linear or branching-time temporal logics like LTL, CTL, or $$\hbox {CTL}^*$$. Furthermore, HyperLTL subsumes many classical extensions of the LTL realizability problem, including realizability under incomplete information, distributed synthesis, and fault-tolerant synthesis. We show that, while the synthesis problem is undecidable for full HyperLTL, it remains decidable for the $$\exists ^*$$, $$\exists ^*\forall ^1$$, and the $${{ linear }}\;\forall ^*$$ fragments. Beyond these fragments, the synthesis problem immediately becomes undecidable. For universal HyperLTL, we present a semi-decision procedure that constructs implementations and counterexamples up to a given bound. We report encouraging experimental results obtained with a prototype implementation on example specifications with hyperproperties like symmetric responses, secrecy, and information flow.

Probabilistic Automata of Bounded Ambiguity

Abstract: Probabilistic automata are a computational model introduced by Michael Rabin, extending nondeterministic finite automata with probabilistic transitions. Despite its simplicity, this model is very expressive and many of the associated algorithmic questions are undecidable. In this work we focus on the emptiness problem, which asks whether a given probabilistic automaton accepts some word with probability higher than a given threshold. We consider a natural and well-studied structural restriction on automata, namely the degree of ambiguity, which is defined as the maximum number of accepting runs over all words. We observe that undecidability of the emptiness problem requires infinite ambiguity and so we focus on the case of finitely ambiguous probabilistic automata. Our main results are to construct efficient algorithms for analysing finitely ambiguous probabilistic automata through a reduction to a multi-objective optimisation problem, called the stochastic path problem. We obtain a polynomial time algorithm for approximating the value of finitely ambiguous probabilistic automata and a quasi-polynomial time algorithm for the emptiness problem for 2-ambiguous probabilistic automata.

Qualitative Numeric Planning: Reductions and Complexity

Abstract: Qualitative numerical planning is classical planning extended with non-negative real variables that can be increased or decreased "qualitatively", i.e., by positive indeterminate amounts. While deterministic planning with numerical variables is undecidable in general, qualitative numerical planning is decidable and provides a convenient abstract model for generalized planning. The solutions to qualitative numerical problems (QNPs) were shown to correspond to the strong cyclic solutions of an associated fully observable non-deterministic (FOND) problem that terminate. This leads to a generate-and-test algorithm for solving QNPs where solutions to a FOND problem are generated one by one and tested for termination. The computational shortcomings of this approach for solving QNPs, however, are that it is not simple to amend FOND planners to generate all solutions, and that the number of solutions to check can be doubly exponential in the number of variables. In this work we address these limitations while providing additional insights on QNPs. More precisely, we introduce two polynomial-time reductions, one from QNPs to FOND problems and the other from FOND problems to QNPs both of which do not involve termination tests. A result of these reductions is that QNPs are shown to have the same expressive power and the same complexity as FOND problems.

Automata and Fixpoints for Asynchronous Hyperproperties

Abstract: Hyperproperties have received increasing attention in the last decade due to their importance e.g. for security analyses. Past approaches have focussed on synchronous analyses, i.e. techniques in which different paths are compared lockstepwise. In this paper, we systematically study asynchronous analyses for hyperproperties by introducing both a novel automata model (Alternating Asynchronous Parity Automata) and the temporal fixpoint calculus $\Hmu$, the first fixpoint calculus that can systematically express hyperproperties in an asynchronous manner and at the same time subsumes the existing logic HyperLTL. We show that the expressive power of both models coincides over fixed path assignments. The high expressive power of both models is evidenced by the fact that decision problems of interest are highly undecidable, i.e. not even arithmetical. As a remedy, we propose approximative analyses for both models that also induce natural decidable fragments.

The word and order problems for self-similar and automata groups

Abstract: We prove that the word problem is undecidable in functionally recursive groups, and that the order problem is undecidable in automata groups, even under the assumption that they are contracting

Undecidability of the word problem for one-relator inverse monoids via right-angled Artin subgroups of one-relator groups

Abstract: We prove the following results: (1) There is a one-relator inverse monoid $$\mathrm {Inv}\langle A\,|\,w=1 \rangle $$ with undecidable word problem; and (2) There are one-relator groups with undecidable submonoid membership problem. The second of these results is proved by showing that for any finite forest the associated right-angled Artin group embeds into a one-relator group. Combining this with a result of Lohrey and Steinberg (J Algebra 320(2):728–755, 2008), we use this to prove that there is a one-relator group containing a fixed finitely generated submonoid in which the membership problem is undecidable. To prove (1) a new construction is introduced which uses the one-relator group and submonoid in which membership is undecidable from (2) to construct a one-relator inverse monoid $$\mathrm {Inv}\langle A\,|\,w=1 \rangle $$ with undecidable word problem. Furthermore, this method allows the construction of an E-unitary one-relator inverse monoid of this form with undecidable word problem. The results in this paper answer a problem originally posed by Margolis et al. (in: Semigroups and their applications, Reidel, Dordrecht, pp. 99–110, 1987).

Scenario-Based Verification of Uncertain MDPs.

Abstract: We consider Markov decision processes (MDPs) in which the transition probabilities and rewards belong to an uncertainty set parametrized by a collection of random variables. The probability distributions for these random parameters are unknown. The problem is to compute the probability to satisfy a temporal logic specification within any MDP that corresponds to a sample from these unknown distributions. In general, this problem is undecidable, and we resort to techniques from so-called scenario optimization. Based on a finite number of samples of the uncertain parameters, each of which induces an MDP, the proposed method estimates the probability of satisfying the specification by solving a finite-dimensional convex optimization problem. The number of samples required to obtain a high confidence on this estimate is independent from the number of states and the number of random parameters. Experiments on a large set of benchmarks show that a few thousand samples suffice to obtain high-quality confidence bounds with a high probability.

Bag Query Containment and Information Theory

Abstract: The query containment problem is a fundamental algorithmic problem in data management. While this problem is well understood under set semantics, it is by far less understood under bag semantics. In particular, it is a long-standing open question whether or not the conjunctive query containment problem under bag semantics is decidable. We unveil tight connections between information theory and the conjunctive query containment under bag semantics. These connections are established using information inequalities, which are considered to be the laws of information theory. Our first main result asserts that deciding the validity of a generalization of information inequalities is many-one equivalent to the restricted case of conjunctive query containment in which the containing query is acyclic; thus, either both these problems are decidable or both are undecidable. Our second main result identifies a new decidable case of the conjunctive query containment problem under bag semantics. Specifically, we give an exponential time algorithm for conjunctive query containment under bag semantics, provided the containing query is chordal and admits a simple junction tree.

Undecidability in quantum thermalization

Abstract: The investigation of thermalization in isolated quantum many-body systems has a long history, dating back to the time of developing statistical mechanics. Most quantum many-body systems in nature are considered to thermalize, while some never achieve thermal equilibrium. The central problem is to clarify whether a given system thermalizes, which has been addressed previously, but not resolved. Here, we show that this problem is undecidable. The resulting undecidability even applies when the system is restricted to one-dimensional shift-invariant systems with nearest-neighbour interaction, and the initial state is a fixed product state. We construct a family of Hamiltonians encoding dynamics of a reversible universal Turing machine, where the fate of a relaxation process changes considerably depending on whether the Turing machine halts. Our result indicates that there is no general theorem, algorithm, or systematic procedure determining the presence or absence of thermalization in any given Hamiltonian.

SHACL Satisfiability and Containment

Abstract: The Shapes Constraint Language (SHACL) is a recent W3C recommendation language for validating RDF data. Specifically, SHACL documents are collections of constraints that enforce particular shapes on an RDF graph. Previous work on the topic has provided theoretical and practical results for the validation problem, but did not consider the standard decision problems of satisfiability and containment, which are crucial for verifying the feasibility of the constraints and important for design and optimization purposes. In this paper, we undertake a thorough study of the different features of SHACL by providing a translation to a new first-order language, called Open image in new window , that precisely captures the semantics of SHACL w.r.t. satisfiability and containment. We study the interaction of SHACL features in this logic and provide the detailed map of decidability and complexity results of the aforementioned decision problems for different SHACL sublanguages. Notably, we prove that both problems are undecidable for the full language, but we present decidable combinations of interesting features.

Satisfiability and Query Answering in Description Logics with Global and Local Cardinality Constraints

Abstract: We introduce and investigate the expressive description logic (DL) ALCSCC++, in which the global and local cardinality constraints introduced in previous papers can be mixed. On the one hand, we prove that this does not increase the complexity of satisfiability checking and other standard inference problems. On the other hand, the satisfiability problem becomes undecidable if inverse roles are added to the languages. In addition, even without inverse roles, conjunctive query entailment in this DL turns out to be undecidable. We prove that decidability of querying can be regained if global and local constraints are not mixed and the global constraints are appropriately restricted. The latter result is based on a locally-acyclic model construction, and it reduces query entailment to ABox consistency in the restricted setting, i.e., to ABox consistency w.r.t. restricted cardinality constraints in ALCSCC, for which we can show an ExpTime upper bound.

Losing connection: the modal logic of definable link deletion

Abstract: In this article, we start with a two-player game that models communication under adverse circumstances in everyday life and study it from the perspective of a modal logic of graphs, where links can be deleted locally according to definitions available to the adversarial player. We first introduce a new language, semantics, and some typical validities. We then formulate a new type of first-order translation for this modal logic and prove its correctness. Then, a novel notion of bisimulation is proposed which leads to a characterization theorem for the logic as a fragment of first-order logic, and a further investigation is made of its expressive power against hybrid modal languages. Next, we discuss how to axiomatize this logic of link deletion, using dynamic-epistemic logics as a contrast. Finally, we show that our new modal logic lacks both the tree model property and the finite model property, and that its satisfiability problem is undecidable.

Local Fact Change Logic

Abstract: We investigate a modal logic of model change, introducing a new operator which allows for changing the valuation at a particular state in a model. After investigating some properties of the logic, and aspects of its expressive power, we show it to be undecidable by way of a reduction using memory logic.

Equivalence of the Frame and Halting Problems

Abstract: The open-domain Frame Problem is the problem of determining what features of an open task environment need to be updated following an action. Here we prove that the open-domain Frame Problem is equivalent to the Halting Problem and is therefore undecidable. We discuss two other open-domain problems closely related to the Frame Problem, the system identification problem and the symbol-grounding problem, and show that they are similarly undecidable. We then reformulate the Frame Problem as a quantum decision problem, and show that it is undecidable by any finite quantum computer.

The Subtrace Order and Counting First-Order Logic

Abstract: We study the subtrace relation among Mazurkiewicz traces which generalizes the much-studied subword order Here, we consider the 2-variable fragment of a counting extension of first-order logic with regular predicates It is shown that all definable trace languages are effectively recognizable implying that validity of a sentence of this logic is decidable (this problem is known to be undecidable for virtually all stronger logics already for the subword relation)

Automaton semigroups and groups: On the undecidability of problems related to freeness and finiteness

Abstract: In this paper, we study algorithmic problems for automaton semigroups and automaton groups related to freeness and finiteness. In the course of this study, we also exhibit some connections between the algebraic structure of automaton (semi)groups and their dynamics on the boundary. First, we show that it is undecidable to check whether the group generated by a given invertible automaton has a positive relation, i.e., a relation p = 1 such that p only contains positive generators. Besides its obvious relation to the freeness of the group, the absence of positive relations has previously been studied by the first two authors and is connected to the triviality of some stabilizers of the boundary. We show that the emptiness of the set of positive relations is equivalent to the dynamical property that all (directed positive) orbital graphs centered at non-singular points are acyclic. Our approach also works to show undecidability of the freeness problem for automaton semigroups, which negatively solves an open problem by Grigorchuk, Nekrashevych and Sushchansky. In fact, we show undecidability of a strengthened version where the input automaton is complete and invertible. Gillibert showed that the finiteness problem for automaton semigroups is undecidable. In the second part of the paper, we show that this undecidability result also holds if the input is restricted to be bi-reversible and invertible (but, in general, not complete). As an immediate consequence, we obtain that the finiteness problem for automaton subsemigroups of semigroups generated by invertible, yet partial automata, so called automaton-inverse semigroups, is also undecidable.

The Modal Logic of Stepwise Removal

Abstract: We investigate the modal logic of stepwise removal of objects, both for its intrinsic interest as a logic of quantification without replacement, and as a pilot study to better understand the complexity jumps between dynamic epistemic logics of model transformations and logics of freely chosen graph changes that get registered in a growing memory. After introducing this logic ($\textsf{MLSR}$) and its corresponding removal modality, we analyze its expressive power and prove a bisimulation characterization theorem. We then provide a complete Hilbert-style axiomatization for the logic of stepwise removal in a hybrid language enriched with nominals and public announcement operators. Next, we show that model-checking for $\textsf{MLSR}$ is PSPACE-complete, while its satisfiability problem is undecidable. Lastly, we consider an issue of fine-structure: the expressive power gained by adding the stepwise removal modality to fragments of first-order logic.

What's decidable about weighted automata?

Abstract: Weighted automata map input words to values, and have numerous applications in computer science. A result by Krob from the 90s implies that the universality problem is decidable for weighted automata over the tropical semiring with weights in N ∪ { ∞ } and is undecidable when the weights are in Z ∪ { ∞ } . We continue the study of the borders of decidability in weighted automata over the tropical semiring. We give a complete picture of the decidability and complexity of various decision problems for them, including non-emptiness, universality, equality, and containment. For the undecidability results, we provide direct proofs, which stay in the terrain of state machines. This enables us to tighten the results and apply them to a very simple class of automata. In addition, we provide a toolbox of algorithms and techniques for weighted automata, on top of which we establish the complexity bounds.

Knapsack and the power word problem in solvable Baumslag-Solitar groups

Abstract: We prove that the power word problem for the solvable Baumslag-Solitar groups $\mathsf{BS}(1,q) = \langle a,t \mid t a t^{-1} = a^q \rangle$ can be solved in $\mathsf{TC}^0$. In the power word problem, the input consists of group elements $g_1, \ldots, g_d$ and binary encoded integers $n_1, \ldots, n_d$ and it is asked whether $g_1^{n_1} \cdots g_d^{n_d} = 1$ holds. Moreover, we prove that the knapsack problem for $\mathsf{BS}(1,q)$ is $\mathsf{NP}$-complete. In the knapsack problem, the input consists of group elements $g_1, \ldots, g_d,h$ and it is asked whether the equation $g_1^{x_1} \cdots g_d^{x_d} = h$ has a solution in $\mathbb{N}^d$.

Critical Observability for Automata and Petri Nets

Abstract: Critical observability is a property of cyber-physical systems to detect whether the current state belongs to a set of critical states. In safety-critical applications, critical states model operations that may be unsafe or of a particular interest. De Santis et al. introduced critical observability for linear switching systems, and Pola et al. adapted it for discrete-event systems, focusing on algorithmic complexity. We study the computational complexity of deciding critical observability for systems modeled as (networks of) finite-state automata and Petri nets. We show that deciding critical observability is: 1) NL-complete for finite automata, i.e., it is efficiently verifiable on parallel computers; 2) PSPACE-complete for networks of finite automata, i.e., it is very unlikely solvable in polynomial time; and 3) undecidable for labeled Petri nets, but becoming decidable if the set of critical states (markings) is finite or cofinite, in which case the problem is as hard as the nonreachability problem for Petri nets.

A computable and compositional semantics for hybrid automata

Abstract: Hybrid Systems are systems having a mixed discrete and continuous behaviour that cannot be characterized faithfully using either only discrete or only continuous models. A good framework for hybrid systems should support their compositional description and analysis, since commonly systems are specified by a composition of smaller subsystems, to cope with the complexity of their monolithic representation. Moreover, since the reachability problem for hybrid systems is undecidable, one should investigate the conditions that guarantee approximate computability of composition, when only approximations to the exact problem data are available. In this paper, we propose an automata-based formalism (HIOA) for hybrid systems that is compositional and for which the evolution can be computed approximately. The main results are that the composition of compatible HIOA yields a pre-HIOA; a dominance result on the composition of HIOA by which we can replace any component in a composition by another one that exhibits the same external behaviour without affecting the behaviour of the composition; finally, the key result that the composition of two compatible upper(lower)-semicontinuous HIOA is a computable upper(lower)-semicontinuous pre-HIOA, which entails that the evolution of the composition is upper(lower)-semicomputable. A discussion on how compositionality/computability are handled in state-of-art libraries for reachability analysis closes the paper.

Probabilistic Hyperproperties with Nondeterminism

Abstract: We study the problem of formalizing and checking probabilistic hyperproperties for models that allow nondeterminism in actions. We extend the temporal logic HyperPCTL, which has been previously introduced for discrete-time Markov chains, to enable the specification of hyperproperties also for Markov decision processes. We generalize HyperPCTL by allowing explicit and simultaneous quantification over schedulers and probabilistic computation trees and show that it can express important quantitative requirements in security and privacy. We show that HyperPCTL model checking over MDPs is in general undecidable for quantification over probabilistic schedulers with memory, but restricting the domain to memoryless non-probabilistic schedulers turns the model checking problem decidable. Subsequently, we propose an SMT-based encoding for model checking this language and evaluate its performance.

Linear-time Temporal Logic with Team Semantics: Expressivity and Complexity.

Abstract: We study the expressivity and the model checking problem of linear temporal logic with team semantics (TeamLTL). In contrast to LTL, TeamLTL is capable of defining hyperproperties, i.e., properties which relate multiple execution traces. Logics for hyperproperties have so far been mostly obtained by extending temporal logics like LTL and QPTL with trace quantification, resulting in HyperLTL and HyperQPTL. We study the expressivity of TeamLTL and its extensions in comparison to HyperLTL and HyperQPTL. By doing so we obtain a number of model checking results for TeamLTL and identify its undecidability frontier. The two types of logics follow a fundamentally different approach to hyperproperties and are of incomparable expressivity. We establish that the universally quantified fragment of HyperLTL subsumes the so-called k-coherent fragment of TeamLTL with contradictory negation. This also implies that the model checking problem is decidable for the fragment. We show decidability of model checking of the so-called left-flat fragment of TeamLTL with downward-closed generalised atoms and Boolean disjunction via a translation to a decidable fragment of HyperQPTL. Finally, we show that the model checking problem of TeamLTL with Boolean disjunction and inclusion atoms is undecidable.

Embeddability of simplicial complexes is undecidable

Abstract: We consider the following decision problem EMBEDk→d in computational topology (where k ≤ d are fixed positive integers): Given a finite simplicial complex K of dimension k, does there exist a (piecewise-linear) embedding of K into Rd? The special case EMBED1→2 is graph planarity, which is decidable in linear time, as shown by Hopcroft and Tarjan. In higher dimensions, EMBED2→3 and EMBED3→3 are known to be decidable (as well as NP-hard), and recent results of Cadek et al. in computational homotopy theory, in combination with the classical Haefliger-Weber theorem in geometric topology, imply that EMBEDk→d can be solved in polynomial time for any fixed pair (k, d) of dimensions in the so-called metastable range [MATH HERE]. Here, by contrast, we prove that EMBEDk→d is algorithmically undecidable for almost all pairs of dimensions outside the metastable range, namely for [MATH HERE]. This almost completely resolves the decidability vs. undecidability of EMBEDk→d in higher dimensions and establishes a sharp dichotomy between polynomial-time solvability and undecidability. Our result complements (and in a wide range of dimensions strengthens) earlier results of Matousek, Tancer, and the second author, who showed that EMBEDk→d is undecidable for 4 ≤ k ∈ {d − 1, d}, and NP-hard for all remaining pairs (k, d) outside the metastable range and satisfying d ≥ 4.

Decidability and Complexity of Action-Based Temporal Planning over Dense Time

Abstract: This paper studies the computational complexity of temporal planning, as represented by PDDL 2.1, interpreted over dense time. When time is considered discrete, the problem is known to be EXPSPACE-complete. However, the official PDDL 2.1 semantics, and many implementations, interpret time as a dense domain. This work provides several results about the complexity of the problem, studying a few interesting cases: whether a minimum amount ϵ of separation between mutually exclusive events is given, in contrast to the separation being simply required to be non-zero, and whether or not actions are allowed to overlap already running instances of themselves. We prove the problem to be PSPACE-complete when self-overlap is forbidden, whereas, when allowed, it becomes EXPSPACE-complete with ϵ-separation and undecidable with non-zero separation. These results clarify the computational consequences of different choices in the definition of the PDDL 2.1 semantics, which were vague until now.

Trakhtenbrot's Theorem in Coq, A Constructive Approach to Finite Model Theory

Abstract: We study finite first-order satisfiability (FSAT) in the constructive setting of dependent type theory. Employing synthetic accounts of enumerability and decidability, we give a full classification of FSAT depending on the first-order signature of non-logical symbols. On the one hand, our development focuses on Trakhtenbrot's theorem, stating that FSAT is undecidable as soon as the signature contains an at least binary relation symbol. Our proof proceeds by a many-one reduction chain starting from the Post correspondence problem. On the other hand, we establish the decidability of FSAT for monadic first-order logic, i.e. where the signature only contains at most unary function and relation symbols, as well as the enumerability of FSAT for arbitrary enumerable signatures. All our results are mechanised in the framework of a growing Coq library of synthetic undecidability proofs.

Formal Verification of Invariants for Attributed Graph Transformation Systems Based on Nested Attributed Graph Conditions

Abstract: The behavior of various kinds of dynamic systems can be formalized using typed attributed graph transformation systems (GTSs) The states of these systems are then modelled using graphs and the evolution of the system from one state to another is described by a finite set of graph transformation rules GTSs with small finite state spaces can be analyzed with ease but analysis is intractable/undecidable for GTSs inducing large/infinite state spaces due to the inherent expressiveness of GTSs Hence, automatic analysis procedures do not terminate or return indefinite or incorrect results