21 Search Results for "Purser, David"


Document
On the p-adic Skolem Problem

Authors: Piotr Bacik, Joël Ouaknine, David Purser, and James Worrell

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 364, 43rd International Symposium on Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science (STACS 2026)


Abstract
The Skolem Problem asks to determine whether a given linear recurrence sequence (LRS) has a zero term. Showing decidability of this problem is equivalent to giving an effective proof of the Skolem-Mahler-Lech Theorem, which asserts that a non-degenerate LRS has finitely many zeros. The latter result was proven over 90 years ago via an ineffective method showing that such an LRS has only finitely many p-adic zeros. In this paper we consider the problem of determining whether a given LRS has a p-adic zero, as well as the corresponding function problem of computing exact representations of all p-adic zeros. We present algorithms for both problems and report on their implementation. The output of the algorithms is unconditionally correct, and termination is guaranteed subject to the p-adic Schanuel Conjecture (a standard number-theoretic hypothesis concerning the p-adic exponential function). While these algorithms do not solve the Skolem Problem, they can be exploited to find natural-number and rational zeros under additional hypotheses. To illustrate this, we apply our results to show decidability of the Simultaneous Skolem Problem (determine whether two coprime linear recurrences have a common natural-number zero), again subject to the p-adic Schanuel Conjecture.

Cite as

Piotr Bacik, Joël Ouaknine, David Purser, and James Worrell. On the p-adic Skolem Problem. In 43rd International Symposium on Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science (STACS 2026). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 364, pp. 8:1-8:20, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)


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@InProceedings{bacik_et_al:LIPIcs.STACS.2026.8,
  author =	{Bacik, Piotr and Ouaknine, Jo\"{e}l and Purser, David and Worrell, James},
  title =	{{On the p-adic Skolem Problem}},
  booktitle =	{43rd International Symposium on Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science (STACS 2026)},
  pages =	{8:1--8:20},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-412-3},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2026},
  volume =	{364},
  editor =	{Mahajan, Meena and Manea, Florin and McIver, Annabelle and Thắng, Nguy\~{ê}n Kim},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.STACS.2026.8},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-254979},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.STACS.2026.8},
  annote =	{Keywords: Skolem Problem, p-adic Schanuel Conjecture, Skolem Conjecture, Exponential Local-Global Principle, exponential polynomial}
}
Document
Pumping-Like Results for Copyless Cost Register Automata and Polynomially Ambiguous Weighted Automata

Authors: Filip Mazowiecki, Antoni Puch, and Daniel Smertnig

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 364, 43rd International Symposium on Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science (STACS 2026)


Abstract
In this work we consider two rich subclasses of weighted automata over fields: polynomially ambiguous weighted automata and copyless cost register automata. Primarily we are interested in understanding their expressiveness power. Over the field of rationals and 1-letter alphabets, it is known that the two classes coincide; they are equivalent to linear recurrence sequences (LRS) whose exponential bases are roots of rationals. We develop a tool we call Pumping Sequence Families, which, by exploiting the simple single-letter behaviour of the models, yields two pumping-like results over arbitrary fields with unrestricted alphabets, one for each class. As a corollary of these results, we present examples proving that the two classes become incomparable over the field of rationals with unrestricted alphabets. We complement the results by analysing the zeroness and equivalence problems. For weighted automata (even unrestricted) these problems are well understood: there are polynomial time, and even NC² algorithms. For copyless cost register automata we show that the two problems are PSpace-complete, where the difficulty is to show the lower bound.

Cite as

Filip Mazowiecki, Antoni Puch, and Daniel Smertnig. Pumping-Like Results for Copyless Cost Register Automata and Polynomially Ambiguous Weighted Automata. In 43rd International Symposium on Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science (STACS 2026). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 364, pp. 67:1-67:21, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)


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@InProceedings{mazowiecki_et_al:LIPIcs.STACS.2026.67,
  author =	{Mazowiecki, Filip and Puch, Antoni and Smertnig, Daniel},
  title =	{{Pumping-Like Results for Copyless Cost Register Automata and Polynomially Ambiguous Weighted Automata}},
  booktitle =	{43rd International Symposium on Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science (STACS 2026)},
  pages =	{67:1--67:21},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-412-3},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2026},
  volume =	{364},
  editor =	{Mahajan, Meena and Manea, Florin and McIver, Annabelle and Thắng, Nguy\~{ê}n Kim},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.STACS.2026.67},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-255568},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.STACS.2026.67},
  annote =	{Keywords: weighted automata, cost register automata, ambiguity, linear recurrence sequences, equivalence problem}
}
Document
Deciding Robust Instances of an Escape Problem for Dynamical Systems in Euclidean Space

Authors: Eike Neumann

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 345, 50th International Symposium on Mathematical Foundations of Computer Science (MFCS 2025)


Abstract
We study the problem of deciding whether a point escapes a closed subset of ℝ^d under the iteration of a continuous map f : ℝ^d → ℝ^d in the bit-model of real computation. We give a sound partial decision method for this problem which is complete in the sense that its halting set contains the halting set of all sound partial decision methods for the problem. Equivalently, our decision method terminates on all problem instances whose answer is robust under all sufficiently small perturbations of the function. We further show that the halting set of our algorithm is dense in the set of all problem instances. While our algorithm applies to general continuous functions, we demonstrate that it also yields complete decision methods for much more rigid function families: affine linear systems and quadratic complex polynomials. In the latter case, completeness is subject to the density of hyperbolicity conjecture in complex dynamics. This in particular yields an alternative proof of Hertling’s (2004) conditional answer to a question raised by Penrose (1989) regarding the computability of the Mandelbrot set.

Cite as

Eike Neumann. Deciding Robust Instances of an Escape Problem for Dynamical Systems in Euclidean Space. In 50th International Symposium on Mathematical Foundations of Computer Science (MFCS 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 345, pp. 79:1-79:20, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)


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@InProceedings{neumann:LIPIcs.MFCS.2025.79,
  author =	{Neumann, Eike},
  title =	{{Deciding Robust Instances of an Escape Problem for Dynamical Systems in Euclidean Space}},
  booktitle =	{50th International Symposium on Mathematical Foundations of Computer Science (MFCS 2025)},
  pages =	{79:1--79:20},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-388-1},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{345},
  editor =	{Gawrychowski, Pawe{\l} and Mazowiecki, Filip and Skrzypczak, Micha{\l}},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.MFCS.2025.79},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-241866},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.MFCS.2025.79},
  annote =	{Keywords: Dynamical Systems, Computability in Analysis, Non-Linear Functions}
}
Document
On Expansions of Monadic Second-Order Logic with Dynamical Predicates

Authors: Joris Nieuwveld and Joël Ouaknine

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 345, 50th International Symposium on Mathematical Foundations of Computer Science (MFCS 2025)


Abstract
Expansions of the monadic second-order (MSO) theory of the structure ⟨ℕ;<⟩ have been a fertile and active area of research ever since the publication of the seminal papers of Büchi and Elgot & Rabin on the subject in the 1960s. In the present paper, we establish decidability of the MSO theory of ⟨ℕ;<,P⟩, where P ranges over a large class of unary "dynamical" predicates, i.e., sets of non-negative values assumed by certain integer linear recurrence sequences. One of our key technical tools is the novel concept of (effective) prodisjunctivity, which we expect may also find independent applications further afield.

Cite as

Joris Nieuwveld and Joël Ouaknine. On Expansions of Monadic Second-Order Logic with Dynamical Predicates. In 50th International Symposium on Mathematical Foundations of Computer Science (MFCS 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 345, pp. 80:1-80:17, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)


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@InProceedings{nieuwveld_et_al:LIPIcs.MFCS.2025.80,
  author =	{Nieuwveld, Joris and Ouaknine, Jo\"{e}l},
  title =	{{On Expansions of Monadic Second-Order Logic with Dynamical Predicates}},
  booktitle =	{50th International Symposium on Mathematical Foundations of Computer Science (MFCS 2025)},
  pages =	{80:1--80:17},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-388-1},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{345},
  editor =	{Gawrychowski, Pawe{\l} and Mazowiecki, Filip and Skrzypczak, Micha{\l}},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.MFCS.2025.80},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-241879},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.MFCS.2025.80},
  annote =	{Keywords: Monadic second-order logic, linear recurrence sequences, decidability, Baker’s theorem}
}
Document
Resolving Nondeterminism by Chance

Authors: Soumyajit Paul, David Purser, Sven Schewe, Qiyi Tang, Patrick Totzke, and Di-De Yen

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 348, 36th International Conference on Concurrency Theory (CONCUR 2025)


Abstract
History-deterministic automata are those in which nondeterministic choices can be correctly resolved stepwise: there is a strategy to select a continuation of a run given the next input letter so that if the overall input word admits some accepting run, then the constructed run is also accepting. Motivated by checking qualitative properties in probabilistic verification, we consider the setting where the resolver strategy can randomise and only needs to succeed with lower-bounded probability. We study the expressiveness of such stochastically-resolvable automata as well as consider the decision questions of whether a given automaton has this property. In particular, we show that it is undecidable to check if a given NFA is λ-stochastically resolvable. This problem is decidable for finitely-ambiguous automata. We also present complexity upper and lower bounds for several well-studied classes of automata for which this problem remains decidable.

Cite as

Soumyajit Paul, David Purser, Sven Schewe, Qiyi Tang, Patrick Totzke, and Di-De Yen. Resolving Nondeterminism by Chance. In 36th International Conference on Concurrency Theory (CONCUR 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 348, pp. 32:1-32:22, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)


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@InProceedings{paul_et_al:LIPIcs.CONCUR.2025.32,
  author =	{Paul, Soumyajit and Purser, David and Schewe, Sven and Tang, Qiyi and Totzke, Patrick and Yen, Di-De},
  title =	{{Resolving Nondeterminism by Chance}},
  booktitle =	{36th International Conference on Concurrency Theory (CONCUR 2025)},
  pages =	{32:1--32:22},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-389-8},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{348},
  editor =	{Bouyer, Patricia and van de Pol, Jaco},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.CONCUR.2025.32},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-239822},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.CONCUR.2025.32},
  annote =	{Keywords: History-determinism, finite automata, probabilistic automata}
}
Document
Explainability is a Game for Probabilistic Bisimilarity Distances

Authors: Emily Vlasman, Anto Nanah Ji, James Worrell, and Franck van Breugel

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 348, 36th International Conference on Concurrency Theory (CONCUR 2025)


Abstract
We revisit a game from the literature that characterizes the probabilistic bisimilarity distances of a labelled Markov chain. We illustrate how an optimal policy of the game can explain these distances. Like the games that characterize bisimilarity and probabilistic bisimilarity, the game is played on pairs of states and matches transitions of those states. To obtain more convincing and interpretable explanations than those provided by generic optimal policies, we restrict to optimal policies that delay reaching observably inequivalent state pairs for as long as possible (called 1-maximal) while quickly reaching equivalent ones (called 0-minimal). We present iterative algorithms that compute 1-maximal and 0-minimal policies and prove an exponential lower bound for the number of iterations of the algorithm that computes 1-maximal policies.

Cite as

Emily Vlasman, Anto Nanah Ji, James Worrell, and Franck van Breugel. Explainability is a Game for Probabilistic Bisimilarity Distances. In 36th International Conference on Concurrency Theory (CONCUR 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 348, pp. 36:1-36:20, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)


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@InProceedings{vlasman_et_al:LIPIcs.CONCUR.2025.36,
  author =	{Vlasman, Emily and Nanah Ji, Anto and Worrell, James and van Breugel, Franck},
  title =	{{Explainability is a Game for Probabilistic Bisimilarity Distances}},
  booktitle =	{36th International Conference on Concurrency Theory (CONCUR 2025)},
  pages =	{36:1--36:20},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-389-8},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{348},
  editor =	{Bouyer, Patricia and van de Pol, Jaco},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.CONCUR.2025.36},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-239861},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.CONCUR.2025.36},
  annote =	{Keywords: probabilistic bisimilarity distance, labelled Markov chain, game, policy, explainability}
}
Document
Languages of Boundedly-Ambiguous Vector Addition Systems with States

Authors: Wojciech Czerwiński and Łukasz Orlikowski

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 348, 36th International Conference on Concurrency Theory (CONCUR 2025)


Abstract
The aim of this paper is to deliver broad understanding of a class of languages of boundedly-ambiguous VASSs, that is k-ambiguous VASSs for some natural k. These are languages of Vector Addition Systems with States with the acceptance condition defined by the set of accepting states such that each accepted word has at most k accepting runs. We develop tools for proving that a given language is not accepted by any k-ambiguous VASS. Using them we show a few negative results: lack of some closure properties of languages of k-ambiguous VASSs and undecidability of the k-ambiguity problem, namely the question whether a given VASS language is a language of some k-ambiguous VASS. In fact we show an even more general undecidability result stating that for any class containing all regular languages and only k-ambiguous VASS languages for some k ∈ ℕ it is undecidable whether a language of a given 1-dimensional VASS belongs to this class. Finally, we show that the regularity problem is decidable for k-ambiguous VASSs.

Cite as

Wojciech Czerwiński and Łukasz Orlikowski. Languages of Boundedly-Ambiguous Vector Addition Systems with States. In 36th International Conference on Concurrency Theory (CONCUR 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 348, pp. 13:1-13:23, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)


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@InProceedings{czerwinski_et_al:LIPIcs.CONCUR.2025.13,
  author =	{Czerwi\'{n}ski, Wojciech and Orlikowski, {\L}ukasz},
  title =	{{Languages of Boundedly-Ambiguous Vector Addition Systems with States}},
  booktitle =	{36th International Conference on Concurrency Theory (CONCUR 2025)},
  pages =	{13:1--13:23},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-389-8},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{348},
  editor =	{Bouyer, Patricia and van de Pol, Jaco},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.CONCUR.2025.13},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-239635},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.CONCUR.2025.13},
  annote =	{Keywords: vector addition systems, Petri nets, unambiguity, bounded-ambiguity, languages}
}
Document
Track B: Automata, Logic, Semantics, and Theory of Programming
Verification of Linear Dynamical Systems via O-Minimality of the Real Numbers

Authors: Toghrul Karimov

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 334, 52nd International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming (ICALP 2025)


Abstract
A discrete-time linear dynamical system (LDS) is given by an update matrix M ∈ ℝ^{d× d}, and has the trajectories ⟨s, Ms, M²s, …⟩ for s ∈ ℝ^d. Reachability-type decision problems of linear dynamical systems, most notably the Skolem Problem, lie at the forefront of decidability: typically, sound and complete algorithms are known only in low dimensions, and these rely on sophisticated tools from number theory and Diophantine approximation. Recently, however, o-minimality has emerged as a counterpoint to these number-theoretic tools that allows us to decide certain modifications of the classical problems of LDS without any dimension restrictions. In this paper, we first introduce the Decomposition Method, a framework that captures all applications of o-minimality to decision problems of LDS that are currently known to us. We then use the Decomposition Method to show decidability of the Robust Safety Problem (restricted to bounded initial sets) in arbitrary dimension: given a matrix M, a bounded semialgebraic set S of initial points, and a semialgebraic set T of unsafe points, it is decidable whether there exists ε > 0 such that all orbits that begin in the ε-ball around S avoid T.

Cite as

Toghrul Karimov. Verification of Linear Dynamical Systems via O-Minimality of the Real Numbers. In 52nd International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming (ICALP 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 334, pp. 163:1-163:17, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)


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@InProceedings{karimov:LIPIcs.ICALP.2025.163,
  author =	{Karimov, Toghrul},
  title =	{{Verification of Linear Dynamical Systems via O-Minimality of the Real Numbers}},
  booktitle =	{52nd International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming (ICALP 2025)},
  pages =	{163:1--163:17},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-372-0},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{334},
  editor =	{Censor-Hillel, Keren and Grandoni, Fabrizio and Ouaknine, Jo\"{e}l and Puppis, Gabriele},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.ICALP.2025.163},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-235401},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ICALP.2025.163},
  annote =	{Keywords: Linear dynamical systems, reachability problems, o-minimality}
}
Document
On the Existential Theory of the Reals Enriched with Integer Powers of a Computable Number

Authors: Jorge Gallego-Hernández and Alessio Mansutti

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 327, 42nd International Symposium on Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science (STACS 2025)


Abstract
This paper investigates ∃ℝ(ξ^ℤ), that is the extension of the existential theory of the reals by an additional unary predicate ξ^ℤ for the integer powers of a fixed computable real number ξ > 0. If all we have access to is a Turing machine computing ξ, it is not possible to decide whether an input formula from this theory is satisfiable. However, we show an algorithm to decide this problem when - ξ is known to be transcendental, or - ξ is a root of some given integer polynomial (that is, ξ is algebraic). In other words, knowing the algebraicity of ξ suffices to circumvent undecidability. Furthermore, we establish complexity results under the proviso that ξ enjoys what we call a polynomial root barrier. Using this notion, we show that the satisfiability problem of ∃ℝ(ξ^ℤ) is - in ExpSpace if ξ is an algebraic number, and - in 3Exp if ξ is a logarithm of an algebraic number, Euler’s e, or the number π, among others. To establish our results, we first observe that the satisfiability problem of ∃ℝ(ξ^ℤ) reduces in exponential time to the problem of solving quantifier-free instances of the theory of the reals where variables range over ξ^ℤ. We then prove that these instances have a small witness property: only finitely many integer powers of ξ must be considered to find whether a formula is satisfiable. Our complexity results are shown by relying on well-established machinery from Diophantine approximation and transcendental number theory, such as bounds for the transcendence measure of numbers. As a by-product of our results, we are able to remove the appeal to Schanuel’s conjecture from the proof of decidability of the entropic risk threshold problem for stochastic games with rational probabilities, rewards and threshold [Baier et al., MFCS, 2023]: when the base of the entropic risk is e and the aversion factor is a fixed algebraic number, the problem is (unconditionally) in Exp.

Cite as

Jorge Gallego-Hernández and Alessio Mansutti. On the Existential Theory of the Reals Enriched with Integer Powers of a Computable Number. In 42nd International Symposium on Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science (STACS 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 327, pp. 37:1-37:18, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)


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@InProceedings{gallegohernandez_et_al:LIPIcs.STACS.2025.37,
  author =	{Gallego-Hern\'{a}ndez, Jorge and Mansutti, Alessio},
  title =	{{On the Existential Theory of the Reals Enriched with Integer Powers of a Computable Number}},
  booktitle =	{42nd International Symposium on Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science (STACS 2025)},
  pages =	{37:1--37:18},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-365-2},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{327},
  editor =	{Beyersdorff, Olaf and Pilipczuk, Micha{\l} and Pimentel, Elaine and Thắng, Nguy\~{ê}n Kim},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.STACS.2025.37},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-228635},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.STACS.2025.37},
  annote =	{Keywords: Theory of the reals with exponentiation, decision procedures, computability}
}
Document
Boundedness of Cost Register Automata over the Integer Min-Plus Semiring

Authors: Andrei Draghici, Radosław Piórkowski, and Andrew Ryzhikov

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 326, 33rd EACSL Annual Conference on Computer Science Logic (CSL 2025)


Abstract
Cost register automata (CRAs) are deterministic automata with registers taking values from a fixed semiring. A CRA computes a function from words to values from this semiring. CRAs are tightly related to well-studied weighted automata. Given a CRA, the boundedness problem asks if there exists a natural number N such that for every word, the value of the CRA on this word does not exceed N. This problem is known to be undecidable for the class of linear CRAs over the integer min-plus semiring (ℤ∪{+∞}, min, +), but very little is known about its subclasses. In this paper, we study boundedness of copyless linear CRAs with resets over the integer min-plus semiring. We show that it is decidable for such CRAs with at most two registers. More specifically, we show that it is, respectively, NL-complete and in coNP if the numbers in the input are presented in unary and binary. We also provide complexity results for two classes with an arbitrary number of registers. Namely, we show that for CRAs that use the minimum operation only in the output function, boundedness is PSPACE-complete if transferring values to other registers is allowed, and is coNP-complete otherwise. Finally, for each f_i in the hierarchy of fast-growing functions, we provide a stateless CRA with i registers whose output exceeds N only on runs longer than f_i(N). Our construction yields a non-elementary lower bound already for four registers.

Cite as

Andrei Draghici, Radosław Piórkowski, and Andrew Ryzhikov. Boundedness of Cost Register Automata over the Integer Min-Plus Semiring. In 33rd EACSL Annual Conference on Computer Science Logic (CSL 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 326, pp. 20:1-20:23, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)


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@InProceedings{draghici_et_al:LIPIcs.CSL.2025.20,
  author =	{Draghici, Andrei and Pi\'{o}rkowski, Rados{\l}aw and Ryzhikov, Andrew},
  title =	{{Boundedness of Cost Register Automata over the Integer Min-Plus Semiring}},
  booktitle =	{33rd EACSL Annual Conference on Computer Science Logic (CSL 2025)},
  pages =	{20:1--20:23},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-362-1},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{326},
  editor =	{Endrullis, J\"{o}rg and Schmitz, Sylvain},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.CSL.2025.20},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-227775},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.CSL.2025.20},
  annote =	{Keywords: cost register automata, boundedness, decidability}
}
Document
The Power of Counting Steps in Quantitative Games

Authors: Sougata Bose, Rasmus Ibsen-Jensen, David Purser, Patrick Totzke, and Pierre Vandenhove

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 311, 35th International Conference on Concurrency Theory (CONCUR 2024)


Abstract
We study deterministic games of infinite duration played on graphs and focus on the strategy complexity of quantitative objectives. Such games are known to admit optimal memoryless strategies over finite graphs, but require infinite-memory strategies in general over infinite graphs. We provide new lower and upper bounds for the strategy complexity of mean-payoff and total-payoff objectives over infinite graphs, focusing on whether step-counter strategies (sometimes called Markov strategies) suffice to implement winning strategies. In particular, we show that over finitely branching arenas, three variants of limsup mean-payoff and total-payoff objectives admit winning strategies that are based either on a step counter or on a step counter and an additional bit of memory. Conversely, we show that for certain liminf total-payoff objectives, strategies resorting to a step counter and finite memory are not sufficient. For step-counter strategies, this settles the case of all classical quantitative objectives up to the second level of the Borel hierarchy.

Cite as

Sougata Bose, Rasmus Ibsen-Jensen, David Purser, Patrick Totzke, and Pierre Vandenhove. The Power of Counting Steps in Quantitative Games. In 35th International Conference on Concurrency Theory (CONCUR 2024). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 311, pp. 13:1-13:18, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2024)


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@InProceedings{bose_et_al:LIPIcs.CONCUR.2024.13,
  author =	{Bose, Sougata and Ibsen-Jensen, Rasmus and Purser, David and Totzke, Patrick and Vandenhove, Pierre},
  title =	{{The Power of Counting Steps in Quantitative Games}},
  booktitle =	{35th International Conference on Concurrency Theory (CONCUR 2024)},
  pages =	{13:1--13:18},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-339-3},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2024},
  volume =	{311},
  editor =	{Majumdar, Rupak and Silva, Alexandra},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.CONCUR.2024.13},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-207852},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.CONCUR.2024.13},
  annote =	{Keywords: Games on graphs, Markov strategies, quantitative objectives, infinite-state systems}
}
Document
History-Deterministic Vector Addition Systems

Authors: Sougata Bose, David Purser, and Patrick Totzke

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 279, 34th International Conference on Concurrency Theory (CONCUR 2023)


Abstract
We consider history-determinism, a restricted form of non-determinism, for Vector Addition Systems with States (VASS) when used as acceptors to recognise languages of finite words. History-determinism requires that the non-deterministic choices can be resolved on-the-fly; based on the past and without jeopardising acceptance of any possible continuation of the input word. Our results show that the history-deterministic (HD) VASS sit strictly between deterministic and non-deterministic VASS regardless of the number of counters. We compare the relative expressiveness of HD systems, and closure-properties of the induced language classes, with coverability and reachability semantics, and with and without ε-labelled transitions. Whereas in dimension 1, inclusion and regularity remain decidable, from dimension two onwards, HD-VASS with suitable resolver strategies, are essentially able to simulate 2-counter Minsky machines, leading to several undecidability results: It is undecidable whether a VASS is history-deterministic, or if a language equivalent history-deterministic VASS exists. Checking language inclusion between history-deterministic 2-VASS is also undecidable.

Cite as

Sougata Bose, David Purser, and Patrick Totzke. History-Deterministic Vector Addition Systems. In 34th International Conference on Concurrency Theory (CONCUR 2023). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 279, pp. 18:1-18:17, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2023)


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@InProceedings{bose_et_al:LIPIcs.CONCUR.2023.18,
  author =	{Bose, Sougata and Purser, David and Totzke, Patrick},
  title =	{{History-Deterministic Vector Addition Systems}},
  booktitle =	{34th International Conference on Concurrency Theory (CONCUR 2023)},
  pages =	{18:1--18:17},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-299-0},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2023},
  volume =	{279},
  editor =	{P\'{e}rez, Guillermo A. and Raskin, Jean-Fran\c{c}ois},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.CONCUR.2023.18},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-190120},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.CONCUR.2023.18},
  annote =	{Keywords: Vector Addition Systems, History-determinism, Good-for Games}
}
Document
Parameter Synthesis for Parametric Probabilistic Dynamical Systems and Prefix-Independent Specifications

Authors: Christel Baier, Florian Funke, Simon Jantsch, Toghrul Karimov, Engel Lefaucheux, Joël Ouaknine, David Purser, Markus A. Whiteland, and James Worrell

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 243, 33rd International Conference on Concurrency Theory (CONCUR 2022)


Abstract
We consider the model-checking problem for parametric probabilistic dynamical systems, formalised as Markov chains with parametric transition functions, analysed under the distribution-transformer semantics (in which a Markov chain induces a sequence of distributions over states). We examine the problem of synthesising the set of parameter valuations of a parametric Markov chain such that the orbits of induced state distributions satisfy a prefix-independent ω-regular property. Our main result establishes that in all non-degenerate instances, the feasible set of parameters is (up to a null set) semialgebraic, and can moreover be computed (in polynomial time assuming that the ambient dimension, corresponding to the number of states of the Markov chain, is fixed).

Cite as

Christel Baier, Florian Funke, Simon Jantsch, Toghrul Karimov, Engel Lefaucheux, Joël Ouaknine, David Purser, Markus A. Whiteland, and James Worrell. Parameter Synthesis for Parametric Probabilistic Dynamical Systems and Prefix-Independent Specifications. In 33rd International Conference on Concurrency Theory (CONCUR 2022). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 243, pp. 10:1-10:16, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2022)


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@InProceedings{baier_et_al:LIPIcs.CONCUR.2022.10,
  author =	{Baier, Christel and Funke, Florian and Jantsch, Simon and Karimov, Toghrul and Lefaucheux, Engel and Ouaknine, Jo\"{e}l and Purser, David and Whiteland, Markus A. and Worrell, James},
  title =	{{Parameter Synthesis for Parametric Probabilistic Dynamical Systems and Prefix-Independent Specifications}},
  booktitle =	{33rd International Conference on Concurrency Theory (CONCUR 2022)},
  pages =	{10:1--10:16},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-246-4},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2022},
  volume =	{243},
  editor =	{Klin, Bartek and Lasota, S{\l}awomir and Muscholl, Anca},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.CONCUR.2022.10},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-170732},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.CONCUR.2022.10},
  annote =	{Keywords: Model checking, parametric Markov chains, distribution transformer semantics}
}
Document
Language Inclusion for Boundedly-Ambiguous Vector Addition Systems Is Decidable

Authors: Wojciech Czerwiński and Piotr Hofman

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 243, 33rd International Conference on Concurrency Theory (CONCUR 2022)


Abstract
We consider the problems of language inclusion and language equivalence for Vector Addition Systems with States (VASSes) with the acceptance condition defined by the set of accepting states (and more generally by some upward-closed conditions). In general the problem of language equivalence is undecidable even for one-dimensional VASSes, thus to get decidability we investigate restricted subclasses. On one hand we show that the problem of language inclusion of a VASS in k-ambiguous VASS (for any natural k) is decidable and even in Ackermann. On the other hand we prove that the language equivalence problem is Ackermann-hard already for deterministic VASSes. These two results imply Ackermann-completeness for language inclusion and equivalence in several possible restrictions. Some of our techniques can be also applied in much broader generality in infinite-state systems, namely for some subclass of well-structured transition systems.

Cite as

Wojciech Czerwiński and Piotr Hofman. Language Inclusion for Boundedly-Ambiguous Vector Addition Systems Is Decidable. In 33rd International Conference on Concurrency Theory (CONCUR 2022). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 243, pp. 16:1-16:22, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2022)


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@InProceedings{czerwinski_et_al:LIPIcs.CONCUR.2022.16,
  author =	{Czerwi\'{n}ski, Wojciech and Hofman, Piotr},
  title =	{{Language Inclusion for Boundedly-Ambiguous Vector Addition Systems Is Decidable}},
  booktitle =	{33rd International Conference on Concurrency Theory (CONCUR 2022)},
  pages =	{16:1--16:22},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-246-4},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2022},
  volume =	{243},
  editor =	{Klin, Bartek and Lasota, S{\l}awomir and Muscholl, Anca},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.CONCUR.2022.16},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-170796},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.CONCUR.2022.16},
  annote =	{Keywords: vector addition systems, language inclusion, language equivalence, determinism, unambiguity, bounded ambiguity, Petri nets, well-structured transition systems}
}
Document
Skolem Meets Schanuel

Authors: Yuri Bilu, Florian Luca, Joris Nieuwveld, Joël Ouaknine, David Purser, and James Worrell

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


Abstract
The celebrated Skolem-Mahler-Lech Theorem states that the set of zeros of a linear recurrence sequence is the union of a finite set and finitely many arithmetic progressions. The corresponding computational question, the Skolem Problem, asks to determine whether a given linear recurrence sequence has a zero term. Although the Skolem-Mahler-Lech Theorem is almost 90 years old, decidability of the Skolem Problem remains open. The main contribution of this paper is an algorithm to solve the Skolem Problem for simple linear recurrence sequences (those with simple characteristic roots). Whenever the algorithm terminates, it produces a stand-alone certificate that its output is correct - a set of zeros together with a collection of witnesses that no further zeros exist. We give a proof that the algorithm always terminates assuming two classical number-theoretic conjectures: the Skolem Conjecture (also known as the Exponential Local-Global Principle) and the p-adic Schanuel Conjecture. Preliminary experiments with an implementation of this algorithm within the tool Skolem point to the practical applicability of this method.

Cite as

Yuri Bilu, Florian Luca, Joris Nieuwveld, Joël Ouaknine, David Purser, and James Worrell. Skolem Meets Schanuel. In 47th International Symposium on Mathematical Foundations of Computer Science (MFCS 2022). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 241, pp. 20:1-20:15, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2022)


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@InProceedings{bilu_et_al:LIPIcs.MFCS.2022.20,
  author =	{Bilu, Yuri and Luca, Florian and Nieuwveld, Joris and Ouaknine, Jo\"{e}l and Purser, David and Worrell, James},
  title =	{{Skolem Meets Schanuel}},
  booktitle =	{47th International Symposium on Mathematical Foundations of Computer Science (MFCS 2022)},
  pages =	{20:1--20:15},
  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.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.MFCS.2022.20},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-168180},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.MFCS.2022.20},
  annote =	{Keywords: Skolem Problem, Skolem Conjecture, Exponential Local-Global Principle, p-adic Schanuel Conjecture}
}
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