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The Futures of Reactive Synthesis (Dagstuhl Seminar 23391)

Authors: Nathanaël Fijalkow, Bernd Finkbeiner, Guillermo A. Pérez, Elizabeth Polgreen, and Rémi Morvan

Published in: Dagstuhl Reports, Volume 13, Issue 9 (2024)

Abstract

The Dagstuhl Seminar 23391 "The Futures of Reactive Synthesis" held in September 2023 was meant to gather neighbouring communities on a joint goal: Reactive Synthesis. We identified five trends: neural-symbolic computation, template-based solving for constraint programming, symbolic algorithms, syntax-guided synthesis, and model learning; and the objective was to discuss the potential futures of the field.

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Nathanaël Fijalkow, Bernd Finkbeiner, Guillermo A. Pérez, Elizabeth Polgreen, and Rémi Morvan. The Futures of Reactive Synthesis (Dagstuhl Seminar 23391). In Dagstuhl Reports, Volume 13, Issue 9, pp. 166-184, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2024)

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@Article{fijalkow_et_al:DagRep.13.9.166,
  author =	{Fijalkow, Nathana\"{e}l and Finkbeiner, Bernd and P\'{e}rez, Guillermo A. and Polgreen, Elizabeth and Morvan, R\'{e}mi},
  title =	{{The Futures of Reactive Synthesis (Dagstuhl Seminar 23391)}},
  pages =	{166--184},
  journal =	{Dagstuhl Reports},
  ISSN =	{2192-5283},
  year =	{2024},
  volume =	{13},
  number =	{9},
  editor =	{Fijalkow, Nathana\"{e}l and Finkbeiner, Bernd and P\'{e}rez, Guillermo A. and Polgreen, Elizabeth and Morvan, R\'{e}mi},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/DagRep.13.9.166},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-198259},
  doi =		{10.4230/DagRep.13.9.166},
  annote =	{Keywords: program synthesis, program verification, reactive synthesis, temporal synthesis}
}

Document

Track B: Automata, Logic, Semantics, and Theory of Programming

DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.ICALP.2023.118

How to Play Optimally for Regular Objectives?

Authors: Patricia Bouyer, Nathanaël Fijalkow, Mickael Randour, and Pierre Vandenhove

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 261, 50th International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming (ICALP 2023)

Abstract

This paper studies two-player zero-sum games played on graphs and makes contributions toward the following question: given an objective, how much memory is required to play optimally for that objective? We study regular objectives, where the goal of one of the two players is that eventually the sequence of colors along the play belongs to some regular language of finite words. We obtain different characterizations of the chromatic memory requirements for such objectives for both players, from which we derive complexity-theoretic statements: deciding whether there exist small memory structures sufficient to play optimally is NP-complete for both players. Some of our characterization results apply to a more general class of objectives: topologically closed and topologically open sets.

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Patricia Bouyer, Nathanaël Fijalkow, Mickael Randour, and Pierre Vandenhove. How to Play Optimally for Regular Objectives?. In 50th International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming (ICALP 2023). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 261, pp. 118:1-118:18, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2023)

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@InProceedings{bouyer_et_al:LIPIcs.ICALP.2023.118,
  author =	{Bouyer, Patricia and Fijalkow, Nathana\"{e}l and Randour, Mickael and Vandenhove, Pierre},
  title =	{{How to Play Optimally for Regular Objectives?}},
  booktitle =	{50th International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming (ICALP 2023)},
  pages =	{118:1--118:18},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-278-5},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2023},
  volume =	{261},
  editor =	{Etessami, Kousha and Feige, Uriel and Puppis, Gabriele},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops-dev.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.ICALP.2023.118},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-181700},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ICALP.2023.118},
  annote =	{Keywords: two-player games on graphs, strategy complexity, regular languages, finite-memory strategies, NP-completeness}
}

Document

Track B: Automata, Logic, Semantics, and Theory of Programming

DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.ICALP.2023.122

Characterising Memory in Infinite Games

Authors: Antonio Casares and Pierre Ohlmann

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 261, 50th International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming (ICALP 2023)

Abstract

This paper is concerned with games of infinite duration played over potentially infinite graphs. Recently, Ohlmann (TheoretiCS 2023) presented a characterisation of objectives admitting optimal positional strategies, by means of universal graphs: an objective is positional if and only if it admits well-ordered monotone universal graphs. We extend Ohlmann’s characterisation to encompass (finite or infinite) memory upper bounds. We prove that objectives admitting optimal strategies with ε-memory less than m (a memory that cannot be updated when reading an ε-edge) are exactly those which admit well-founded monotone universal graphs whose antichains have size bounded by m. We also give a characterisation of chromatic memory by means of appropriate universal structures. Our results apply to finite as well as infinite memory bounds (for instance, to objectives with finite but unbounded memory, or with countable memory strategies). We illustrate the applicability of our framework by carrying out a few case studies, we provide examples witnessing limitations of our approach, and we discuss general closure properties which follow from our results.

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Antonio Casares and Pierre Ohlmann. Characterising Memory in Infinite Games. In 50th International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming (ICALP 2023). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 261, pp. 122:1-122:18, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2023)

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@InProceedings{casares_et_al:LIPIcs.ICALP.2023.122,
  author =	{Casares, Antonio and Ohlmann, Pierre},
  title =	{{Characterising Memory in Infinite Games}},
  booktitle =	{50th International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming (ICALP 2023)},
  pages =	{122:1--122:18},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-278-5},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2023},
  volume =	{261},
  editor =	{Etessami, Kousha and Feige, Uriel and Puppis, Gabriele},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops-dev.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.ICALP.2023.122},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-181740},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ICALP.2023.122},
  annote =	{Keywords: Infinite duration games, Memory, Universal graphs}
}

Document

DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.FSTTCS.2022.44

A Technique to Speed up Symmetric Attractor-Based Algorithms for Parity Games

Authors: K. S. Thejaswini, Pierre Ohlmann, and Marcin Jurdziński

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 250, 42nd IARCS Annual Conference on Foundations of Software Technology and Theoretical Computer Science (FSTTCS 2022)

Abstract

The classic McNaughton-Zielonka algorithm for solving parity games has excellent performance in practice, but its worst-case asymptotic complexity is worse than that of the state-of-the-art algorithms. This work pinpoints the mechanism that is responsible for this relative underperformance and proposes a new technique that eliminates it. The culprit is the wasteful manner in which the results obtained from recursive calls are indiscriminately discarded by the algorithm whenever subgames on which the algorithm is run change. Our new technique is based on firstly enhancing the algorithm to compute attractor decompositions of subgames instead of just winning strategies on them, and then on making it carefully use attractor decompositions computed in prior recursive calls to reduce the size of subgames on which further recursive calls are made. We illustrate the new technique on the classic example of the recursive McNaughton-Zielonka algorithm, but it can be applied to other symmetric attractor-based algorithms that were inspired by it, such as the quasi-polynomial versions of the McNaughton-Zielonka algorithm based on universal trees.

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K. S. Thejaswini, Pierre Ohlmann, and Marcin Jurdziński. A Technique to Speed up Symmetric Attractor-Based Algorithms for Parity Games. In 42nd IARCS Annual Conference on Foundations of Software Technology and Theoretical Computer Science (FSTTCS 2022). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 250, pp. 44:1-44:20, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2022)

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@InProceedings{thejaswini_et_al:LIPIcs.FSTTCS.2022.44,
  author =	{Thejaswini, K. S. and Ohlmann, Pierre and Jurdzi\'{n}ski, Marcin},
  title =	{{A Technique to Speed up Symmetric Attractor-Based Algorithms for Parity Games}},
  booktitle =	{42nd IARCS Annual Conference on Foundations of Software Technology and Theoretical Computer Science (FSTTCS 2022)},
  pages =	{44:1--44:20},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-261-7},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2022},
  volume =	{250},
  editor =	{Dawar, Anuj and Guruswami, Venkatesan},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops-dev.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.FSTTCS.2022.44},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-174365},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.FSTTCS.2022.44},
  annote =	{Keywords: Parity games, Attractor decomposition, Quasipolynomial Algorithms, Universal trees}
}

Document

DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.MFCS.2022.63

Beyond Value Iteration for Parity Games: Strategy Iteration with Universal Trees

Authors: Zhuan Khye Koh and Georg Loho

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 241, 47th International Symposium on Mathematical Foundations of Computer Science (MFCS 2022)

Abstract

Parity games have witnessed several new quasi-polynomial algorithms since the breakthrough result of Calude et al. (STOC 2017). The combinatorial object underlying these approaches is a universal tree, as identified by Czerwiński et al. (SODA 2019). By proving a quasi-polynomial lower bound on the size of a universal tree, they have highlighted a barrier that must be overcome by all existing approaches to attain polynomial running time. This is due to the existence of worst case instances which force these algorithms to explore a large portion of the tree. As an attempt to overcome this barrier, we propose a strategy iteration framework which can be applied on any universal tree. It is at least as fast as its value iteration counterparts, while allowing one to take bigger leaps in the universal tree. Our main technical contribution is an efficient method for computing the least fixed point of 1-player games. This is achieved via a careful adaptation of shortest path algorithms to the setting of ordered trees. By plugging in the universal tree of Jurdziński and Lazić (LICS 2017), or the Strahler universal tree of Daviaud et al. (ICALP 2020), we obtain instantiations of the general framework that take time O(mn²log nlog d) and O(mn²log³ n log d) respectively per iteration.

Cite as

Zhuan Khye Koh and Georg Loho. Beyond Value Iteration for Parity Games: Strategy Iteration with Universal Trees. In 47th International Symposium on Mathematical Foundations of Computer Science (MFCS 2022). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 241, pp. 63:1-63:15, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2022)

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@InProceedings{koh_et_al:LIPIcs.MFCS.2022.63,
  author =	{Koh, Zhuan Khye and Loho, Georg},
  title =	{{Beyond Value Iteration for Parity Games: Strategy Iteration with Universal Trees}},
  booktitle =	{47th International Symposium on Mathematical Foundations of Computer Science (MFCS 2022)},
  pages =	{63:1--63:15},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-256-3},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2022},
  volume =	{241},
  editor =	{Szeider, Stefan and Ganian, Robert and Silva, Alexandra},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops-dev.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.MFCS.2022.63},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-168619},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.MFCS.2022.63},
  annote =	{Keywords: parity games, strategy iteration, value iteration, progress measure, universal trees}
}

Document

DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.CSL.2022.12

On the Minimisation of Transition-Based Rabin Automata and the Chromatic Memory Requirements of Muller Conditions

Authors: Antonio Casares

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 216, 30th EACSL Annual Conference on Computer Science Logic (CSL 2022)

Abstract

In this paper, we relate the problem of determining the chromatic memory requirements of Muller conditions with the minimisation of transition-based Rabin automata. Our first contribution is a proof of the NP-completeness of the minimisation of transition-based Rabin automata. Our second contribution concerns the memory requirements of games over graphs using Muller conditions. A memory structure is a finite state machine that implements a strategy and is updated after reading the edges of the game; the special case of chromatic memories being those structures whose update function only consider the colours of the edges. We prove that the minimal amount of chromatic memory required in games using a given Muller condition is exactly the size of a minimal Rabin automaton recognising this condition. Combining these two results, we deduce that finding the chromatic memory requirements of a Muller condition is NP-complete. This characterisation also allows us to prove that chromatic memories cannot be optimal in general, disproving a conjecture by Kopczyński.

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Antonio Casares. On the Minimisation of Transition-Based Rabin Automata and the Chromatic Memory Requirements of Muller Conditions. In 30th EACSL Annual Conference on Computer Science Logic (CSL 2022). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 216, pp. 12:1-12:17, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2022)

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@InProceedings{casares:LIPIcs.CSL.2022.12,
  author =	{Casares, Antonio},
  title =	{{On the Minimisation of Transition-Based Rabin Automata and the Chromatic Memory Requirements of Muller Conditions}},
  booktitle =	{30th EACSL Annual Conference on Computer Science Logic (CSL 2022)},
  pages =	{12:1--12:17},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-218-1},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2022},
  volume =	{216},
  editor =	{Manea, Florin and Simpson, Alex},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops-dev.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.CSL.2022.12},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-157322},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.CSL.2022.12},
  annote =	{Keywords: Automata on Infinite Words, Games on Graphs, Arena-Independent Memory, Complexity}
}

Document

DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.CSL.2022.33

Revisiting Parameter Synthesis for One-Counter Automata

Authors: Guillermo A. Pérez and Ritam Raha

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 216, 30th EACSL Annual Conference on Computer Science Logic (CSL 2022)

Abstract

We study the synthesis problem for one-counter automata with parameters. One-counter automata are obtained by extending classical finite-state automata with a counter whose value can range over non-negative integers and be tested for zero. The updates and tests applicable to the counter can further be made parametric by introducing a set of integer-valued variables called parameters. The synthesis problem for such automata asks whether there exists a valuation of the parameters such that all infinite runs of the automaton satisfy some ω-regular property. Lechner showed that (the complement of) the problem can be encoded in a restricted one-alternation fragment of Presburger arithmetic with divisibility. In this work (i) we argue that said fragment, called ∀∃_RPAD^+, is unfortunately undecidable. Nevertheless, by a careful re-encoding of the problem into a decidable restriction of ∀∃_RPAD^+, (ii) we prove that the synthesis problem is decidable in general and in 2NEXP for several fixed ω-regular properties. Finally, (iii) we give polynomial-space algorithms for the special cases of the problem where parameters can only be used in counter tests.

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Guillermo A. Pérez and Ritam Raha. Revisiting Parameter Synthesis for One-Counter Automata. In 30th EACSL Annual Conference on Computer Science Logic (CSL 2022). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 216, pp. 33:1-33:18, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2022)

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@InProceedings{perez_et_al:LIPIcs.CSL.2022.33,
  author =	{P\'{e}rez, Guillermo A. and Raha, Ritam},
  title =	{{Revisiting Parameter Synthesis for One-Counter Automata}},
  booktitle =	{30th EACSL Annual Conference on Computer Science Logic (CSL 2022)},
  pages =	{33:1--33:18},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-218-1},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2022},
  volume =	{216},
  editor =	{Manea, Florin and Simpson, Alex},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops-dev.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.CSL.2022.33},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-157534},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.CSL.2022.33},
  annote =	{Keywords: Parametric one-counter automata, Reachability, Software Verification}
}

Document

DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.CP.2021.43

Statistical Comparison of Algorithm Performance Through Instance Selection

Authors: Théo Matricon, Marie Anastacio, Nathanaël Fijalkow, Laurent Simon, and Holger H. Hoos

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 210, 27th International Conference on Principles and Practice of Constraint Programming (CP 2021)

Abstract

Empirical performance evaluations, in competitions and scientific publications, play a major role in improving the state of the art in solving many automated reasoning problems, including SAT, CSP and Bayesian network structure learning (BNSL). To empirically demonstrate the merit of a new solver usually requires extensive experiments, with computational costs of CPU years. This not only makes it difficult for researchers with limited access to computational resources to test their ideas and publish their work, but also consumes large amounts of energy. We propose an approach for comparing the performance of two algorithms: by performing runs on carefully chosen instances, we obtain a probabilistic statement on which algorithm performs best, trading off between the computational cost of running algorithms and the confidence in the result. We describe a set of methods for this purpose and evaluate their efficacy on diverse datasets from SAT, CSP and BNSL. On all these datasets, most of our approaches were able to choose the correct algorithm with about 95% accuracy, while using less than a third of the CPU time required for a full comparison; the best methods reach this level of accuracy within less than 15% of the CPU time for a full comparison.

Cite as

Théo Matricon, Marie Anastacio, Nathanaël Fijalkow, Laurent Simon, and Holger H. Hoos. Statistical Comparison of Algorithm Performance Through Instance Selection. In 27th International Conference on Principles and Practice of Constraint Programming (CP 2021). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 210, pp. 43:1-43:21, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2021)

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@InProceedings{matricon_et_al:LIPIcs.CP.2021.43,
  author =	{Matricon, Th\'{e}o and Anastacio, Marie and Fijalkow, Nathana\"{e}l and Simon, Laurent and Hoos, Holger H.},
  title =	{{Statistical Comparison of Algorithm Performance Through Instance Selection}},
  booktitle =	{27th International Conference on Principles and Practice of Constraint Programming (CP 2021)},
  pages =	{43:1--43:21},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-211-2},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2021},
  volume =	{210},
  editor =	{Michel, Laurent D.},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops-dev.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.CP.2021.43},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-153346},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.CP.2021.43},
  annote =	{Keywords: Performance assessment, early stopping, automated reasoning solvers}
}

Document

Track B: Automata, Logic, Semantics, and Theory of Programming

DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.ICALP.2021.123

Optimal Transformations of Games and Automata Using Muller Conditions

Authors: Antonio Casares, Thomas Colcombet, and Nathanaël Fijalkow

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 198, 48th International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming (ICALP 2021)

Abstract

We consider the following question: given an automaton or a game with a Muller condition, how can we efficiently construct an equivalent one with a parity condition? There are several examples of such transformations in the literature, including in the determinisation of Büchi automata. We define a new transformation called the alternating cycle decomposition, inspired and extending Zielonka’s construction. Our transformation operates on transition systems, encompassing both automata and games, and preserves semantic properties through the existence of a locally bijective morphism. We show a strong optimality result: the obtained parity transition system is minimal both in number of states and number of priorities with respect to locally bijective morphisms. We give two applications: the first is related to the determinisation of Büchi automata, and the second is to give crisp characterisations on the possibility of relabelling automata with different acceptance conditions.

Cite as

Antonio Casares, Thomas Colcombet, and Nathanaël Fijalkow. Optimal Transformations of Games and Automata Using Muller Conditions. In 48th International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming (ICALP 2021). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 198, pp. 123:1-123:14, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2021)

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@InProceedings{casares_et_al:LIPIcs.ICALP.2021.123,
  author =	{Casares, Antonio and Colcombet, Thomas and Fijalkow, Nathana\"{e}l},
  title =	{{Optimal Transformations of Games and Automata Using Muller Conditions}},
  booktitle =	{48th International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming (ICALP 2021)},
  pages =	{123:1--123:14},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-195-5},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2021},
  volume =	{198},
  editor =	{Bansal, Nikhil and Merelli, Emanuela and Worrell, James},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops-dev.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.ICALP.2021.123},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-141928},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ICALP.2021.123},
  annote =	{Keywords: Automata over infinite words, Omega regular languages, Determinisation of automata}
}

Document

DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.MFCS.2020.34

Value Iteration Using Universal Graphs and the Complexity of Mean Payoff Games

Authors: Nathanaël Fijalkow, Paweł Gawrychowski, and Pierre Ohlmann

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 170, 45th International Symposium on Mathematical Foundations of Computer Science (MFCS 2020)

Abstract

We study the computational complexity of solving mean payoff games. This class of games can be seen as an extension of parity games, and they have similar complexity status: in both cases solving them is in NP ∩ coNP and not known to be in P. In a breakthrough result Calude, Jain, Khoussainov, Li, and Stephan constructed in 2017 a quasipolynomial time algorithm for solving parity games, which was quickly followed by a few other algorithms with the same complexity. Our objective is to investigate how these techniques can be extended to mean payoff games. The starting point is the combinatorial notion of universal trees: all quasipolynomial time algorithms for parity games have been shown to exploit universal trees. Universal graphs extend universal trees to arbitrary (positionally determined) objectives. We show that they yield a family of value iteration algorithms for solving mean payoff games which includes the value iteration algorithm due to Brim, Chaloupka, Doyen, Gentilini, and Raskin. The contribution of this paper is to prove tight bounds on the complexity of algorithms for mean payoff games using universal graphs. We consider two parameters: the largest weight N in absolute value and the number k of weights. The dependence in N in the existing value iteration algorithm is linear, we show that this can be improved to N^{1 - 1/n} and obtain a matching lower bound. However, we show that we cannot break the linear dependence in the exponent in the number k of weights implying that universal graphs do not yield a quasipolynomial time algorithm for solving mean payoff games.

Cite as

Nathanaël Fijalkow, Paweł Gawrychowski, and Pierre Ohlmann. Value Iteration Using Universal Graphs and the Complexity of Mean Payoff Games. In 45th International Symposium on Mathematical Foundations of Computer Science (MFCS 2020). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 170, pp. 34:1-34:15, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2020)

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@InProceedings{fijalkow_et_al:LIPIcs.MFCS.2020.34,
  author =	{Fijalkow, Nathana\"{e}l and Gawrychowski, Pawe{\l} and Ohlmann, Pierre},
  title =	{{Value Iteration Using Universal Graphs and the Complexity of Mean Payoff Games}},
  booktitle =	{45th International Symposium on Mathematical Foundations of Computer Science (MFCS 2020)},
  pages =	{34:1--34:15},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-159-7},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2020},
  volume =	{170},
  editor =	{Esparza, Javier and Kr\'{a}l', Daniel},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops-dev.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.MFCS.2020.34},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-127011},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.MFCS.2020.34},
  annote =	{Keywords: Mean payoff games, Universal graphs, Value iteration}
}

Document

DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.STACS.2020.24

Lower Bounds for Arithmetic Circuits via the Hankel Matrix

Authors: Nathanaël Fijalkow, Guillaume Lagarde, Pierre Ohlmann, and Olivier Serre

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 154, 37th International Symposium on Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science (STACS 2020)

Abstract

We study the complexity of representing polynomials by arithmetic circuits in both the commutative and the non-commutative settings. To analyse circuits we count their number of parse trees, which describe the non-associative computations realised by the circuit. In the non-commutative setting a circuit computing a polynomial of degree d has at most 2^{O(d)} parse trees. Previous superpolynomial lower bounds were known for circuits with up to 2^{d^{1/3-ε}} parse trees, for any ε > 0. Our main result is to reduce the gap by showing a superpolynomial lower bound for circuits with just a small defect in the exponent for the total number of parse trees, that is 2^{d^{1 - ε}}, for any ε > 0. In the commutative setting a circuit computing a polynomial of degree d has at most 2^{O(d log d)} parse trees. We show a superpolynomial lower bound for circuits with up to 2^{d^{1/3 - ε}} parse trees, for any ε > 0. When d is polylogarithmic in n, we push this further to up to 2^{d^{1 - ε}} parse trees. While these two main results hold in the associative setting, our approach goes through a precise understanding of the more restricted setting where multiplication is not associative, meaning that we distinguish the polynomials (xy)z and x(yz). Our first and main conceptual result is a characterization result: we show that the size of the smallest circuit computing a given non-associative polynomial is exactly the rank of a matrix constructed from the polynomial and called the Hankel matrix. This result applies to the class of all circuits in both commutative and non-commutative settings, and can be seen as an extension of the seminal result of Nisan giving a similar characterization for non-commutative algebraic branching programs. Our key technical contribution is to provide generic lower bound theorems based on analyzing and decomposing the Hankel matrix, from which we derive the results mentioned above. The study of the Hankel matrix also provides a unifying approach for proving lower bounds for polynomials in the (classical) associative setting. We demonstrate this by giving alternative proofs of recent lower bounds as corollaries of our generic lower bound results.

Cite as

Nathanaël Fijalkow, Guillaume Lagarde, Pierre Ohlmann, and Olivier Serre. Lower Bounds for Arithmetic Circuits via the Hankel Matrix. In 37th International Symposium on Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science (STACS 2020). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 154, pp. 24:1-24:16, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2020)

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@InProceedings{fijalkow_et_al:LIPIcs.STACS.2020.24,
  author =	{Fijalkow, Nathana\"{e}l and Lagarde, Guillaume and Ohlmann, Pierre and Serre, Olivier},
  title =	{{Lower Bounds for Arithmetic Circuits via the Hankel Matrix}},
  booktitle =	{37th International Symposium on Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science (STACS 2020)},
  pages =	{24:1--24:16},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-140-5},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2020},
  volume =	{154},
  editor =	{Paul, Christophe and Bl\"{a}ser, Markus},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops-dev.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.STACS.2020.24},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-118859},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.STACS.2020.24},
  annote =	{Keywords: Arithmetic Circuit Complexity, Lower Bounds, Parse Trees, Hankel Matrix}
}

Document

DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.CSL.2020.9

A Robust Class of Linear Recurrence Sequences

Authors: Corentin Barloy, Nathanaël Fijalkow, Nathan Lhote, and Filip Mazowiecki

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 152, 28th EACSL Annual Conference on Computer Science Logic (CSL 2020)

Abstract

We introduce a subclass of linear recurrence sequences which we call poly-rational sequences because they are denoted by rational expressions closed under sum and product. We show that this class is robust by giving several characterisations: polynomially ambiguous weighted automata, copyless cost-register automata, rational formal series, and linear recurrence sequences whose eigenvalues are roots of rational numbers.

Cite as

Corentin Barloy, Nathanaël Fijalkow, Nathan Lhote, and Filip Mazowiecki. A Robust Class of Linear Recurrence Sequences. In 28th EACSL Annual Conference on Computer Science Logic (CSL 2020). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 152, pp. 9:1-9:16, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2020)

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@InProceedings{barloy_et_al:LIPIcs.CSL.2020.9,
  author =	{Barloy, Corentin and Fijalkow, Nathana\"{e}l and Lhote, Nathan and Mazowiecki, Filip},
  title =	{{A Robust Class of Linear Recurrence Sequences}},
  booktitle =	{28th EACSL Annual Conference on Computer Science Logic (CSL 2020)},
  pages =	{9:1--9:16},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-132-0},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2020},
  volume =	{152},
  editor =	{Fern\'{a}ndez, Maribel and Muscholl, Anca},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops-dev.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.CSL.2020.9},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-116521},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.CSL.2020.9},
  annote =	{Keywords: linear recurrence sequences, weighted automata, cost-register automata}
}

Document

DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.CSL.2018.23

Quantifying Bounds in Strategy Logic

Authors: Nathanaël Fijalkow, Bastien Maubert, Aniello Murano, and Sasha Rubin

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 119, 27th EACSL Annual Conference on Computer Science Logic (CSL 2018)

Abstract

Program synthesis constructs programs from specifications in an automated way. Strategy Logic (SL) is a powerful and versatile specification language whose goal is to give theoretical foundations for program synthesis in a multi-agent setting. One limitation of Strategy Logic is that it is purely qualitative. For instance it cannot specify quantitative properties of executions such as "every request is quickly granted", or quantitative properties of trees such as "most executions of the system terminate". In this work, we extend Strategy Logic to include quantitative aspects in a way that can express bounds on "how quickly" and "how many". We define Prompt Strategy Logic, which encompasses Prompt LTL (itself an extension of LTL with a prompt eventuality temporal operator), and we define Bounded-Outcome Strategy Logic which has a bounded quantifier on paths. We supply a general technique, based on the study of automata with counters, that solves the model-checking problems for both these logics.

Cite as

Nathanaël Fijalkow, Bastien Maubert, Aniello Murano, and Sasha Rubin. Quantifying Bounds in Strategy Logic. In 27th EACSL Annual Conference on Computer Science Logic (CSL 2018). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 119, pp. 23:1-23:23, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2018)

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@InProceedings{fijalkow_et_al:LIPIcs.CSL.2018.23,
  author =	{Fijalkow, Nathana\"{e}l and Maubert, Bastien and Murano, Aniello and Rubin, Sasha},
  title =	{{Quantifying Bounds in Strategy Logic}},
  booktitle =	{27th EACSL Annual Conference on Computer Science Logic (CSL 2018)},
  pages =	{23:1--23:23},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-088-0},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2018},
  volume =	{119},
  editor =	{Ghica, Dan R. and Jung, Achim},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops-dev.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.CSL.2018.23},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-96901},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.CSL.2018.23},
  annote =	{Keywords: Prompt LTL, Strategy Logic, Model checking, Automata with counters}
}

Document

DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.CONCUR.2017.19

Probabilistic Automata of Bounded Ambiguity

Authors: Nathanaël Fijalkow, Cristian Riveros, and James Worrell

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 85, 28th International Conference on Concurrency Theory (CONCUR 2017)

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.

Cite as

Nathanaël Fijalkow, Cristian Riveros, and James Worrell. Probabilistic Automata of Bounded Ambiguity. In 28th International Conference on Concurrency Theory (CONCUR 2017). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 85, pp. 19:1-19:14, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2017)

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@InProceedings{fijalkow_et_al:LIPIcs.CONCUR.2017.19,
  author =	{Fijalkow, Nathana\"{e}l and Riveros, Cristian and Worrell, James},
  title =	{{Probabilistic Automata of Bounded Ambiguity}},
  booktitle =	{28th International Conference on Concurrency Theory (CONCUR 2017)},
  pages =	{19:1--19:14},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-048-4},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2017},
  volume =	{85},
  editor =	{Meyer, Roland and Nestmann, Uwe},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops-dev.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.CONCUR.2017.19},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-77716},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.CONCUR.2017.19},
  annote =	{Keywords: Probabilistic Automata, Emptiness Problem, Stochastic Path Problem, Multi-Objective Optimisation Problems}
}

Document

DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.ICALP.2017.105

Expressiveness of Probabilistic Modal Logics, Revisited

Authors: Nathanaël Fijalkow, Bartek Klin, and Prakash Panangaden

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 80, 44th International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming (ICALP 2017)

Abstract

Labelled Markov processes are probabilistic versions of labelled transition systems. In general, the state space of a labelled Markov process may be a continuum. Logical characterizations of probabilistic bisimulation and simulation were given by Desharnais et al. These results hold for systems defined on analytic state spaces and assume that there are countably many labels in the case of bisimulation and finitely many labels in the case of simulation. In this paper, we first revisit these results by giving simpler and more streamlined proofs. In particular, our proof for simulation has the same structure as the one for bisimulation, relying on a new result of a topological nature. This departs from the known proof for this result, which uses domain theory techniques and falls out of a theory of approximation of Labelled Markov processes. Both our proofs assume the presence of countably many labels. We investigate the necessity of this assumption, and show that the logical characterization of bisimulation may fail when there are uncountably many labels. However, with a stronger assumption on the transition functions (continuity instead of just measurability), we can regain the logical characterization result, for arbitrarily many labels. These new results arose from a new game-theoretic way of understanding probabilistic simulation and bisimulation.

Cite as

Nathanaël Fijalkow, Bartek Klin, and Prakash Panangaden. Expressiveness of Probabilistic Modal Logics, Revisited. In 44th International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming (ICALP 2017). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 80, pp. 105:1-105:12, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2017)

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@InProceedings{fijalkow_et_al:LIPIcs.ICALP.2017.105,
  author =	{Fijalkow, Nathana\"{e}l and Klin, Bartek and Panangaden, Prakash},
  title =	{{Expressiveness of Probabilistic Modal Logics, Revisited}},
  booktitle =	{44th International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming (ICALP 2017)},
  pages =	{105:1--105:12},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-041-5},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2017},
  volume =	{80},
  editor =	{Chatzigiannakis, Ioannis and Indyk, Piotr and Kuhn, Fabian and Muscholl, Anca},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops-dev.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.ICALP.2017.105},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-73683},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ICALP.2017.105},
  annote =	{Keywords: probabilistic modal logic, probabilistic bisimulation, probabilistic simulation}
}

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