A hierarchy of reversible finite automata

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Radionova, Maria, Okhotin, Alexander
Format: Preprint
Published: 2024
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author Radionova, Maria
Okhotin, Alexander
author_facet Radionova, Maria
Okhotin, Alexander
contents In this paper, different variants of reversible finite automata are compared, and their hierarchy by the expressive power is established. It is shown that one-way reversible automata with multiple initial states (MRFA) recognize strictly more languages than sweeping reversible automata (sRFA), which are in turn stronger than one-way reversible automata with a single initial state (1RFA). The latter recognize strictly more languages than one-way permutation automata (1PerFA). It is also shown that the hierarchy of sRFA by the number of passes over the input string collapses: it turns out that three passes are always enough. On the other hand, MRFA form a hierarchy by the number of initial states: their subclass with at most $k$ initial states (MRFA$^k$) recognize strictly fewer languages than MRFA$^{k + 1}$, and also MRFA$^k$ are incomparable with sRFA. In the unary case, sRFA, MRFA$^k$ and MRFA become equal in their expressive power, and the inclusion of 1RFA into sRFA remains proper.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2411_14538
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle A hierarchy of reversible finite automata
Radionova, Maria
Okhotin, Alexander
Formal Languages and Automata Theory
68Q45
In this paper, different variants of reversible finite automata are compared, and their hierarchy by the expressive power is established. It is shown that one-way reversible automata with multiple initial states (MRFA) recognize strictly more languages than sweeping reversible automata (sRFA), which are in turn stronger than one-way reversible automata with a single initial state (1RFA). The latter recognize strictly more languages than one-way permutation automata (1PerFA). It is also shown that the hierarchy of sRFA by the number of passes over the input string collapses: it turns out that three passes are always enough. On the other hand, MRFA form a hierarchy by the number of initial states: their subclass with at most $k$ initial states (MRFA$^k$) recognize strictly fewer languages than MRFA$^{k + 1}$, and also MRFA$^k$ are incomparable with sRFA. In the unary case, sRFA, MRFA$^k$ and MRFA become equal in their expressive power, and the inclusion of 1RFA into sRFA remains proper.
title A hierarchy of reversible finite automata
topic Formal Languages and Automata Theory
68Q45
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2411.14538