Scalable Counting of Minimal Trap Spaces and Fixed Points in Boolean Networks

Fuente: arXiv
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Autori principali: Kabir, Mohimenul, Trinh, Van-Giang, Pastva, Samuel, Meel, Kuldeep S
Natura: Preprint
Pubblicazione: 2025
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author Kabir, Mohimenul
Trinh, Van-Giang
Pastva, Samuel
Meel, Kuldeep S
author_facet Kabir, Mohimenul
Trinh, Van-Giang
Pastva, Samuel
Meel, Kuldeep S
contents Boolean Networks (BNs) serve as a fundamental modeling framework for capturing complex dynamical systems across various domains, including systems biology, computational logic, and artificial intelligence. A crucial property of BNs is the presence of trap spaces -- subspaces of the state space that, once entered, cannot be exited. Minimal trap spaces, in particular, play a significant role in analyzing the long-term behavior of BNs, making their efficient enumeration and counting essential. The fixed points in BNs are a special case of minimal trap spaces. In this work, we formulate several meaningful counting problems related to minimal trap spaces and fixed points in BNs. These problems provide valuable insights both within BN theory (e.g., in probabilistic reasoning and dynamical analysis) and in broader application areas, including systems biology, abstract argumentation, and logic programming. To address these computational challenges, we propose novel methods based on {\em approximate answer set counting}, leveraging techniques from answer set programming. Our approach efficiently approximates the number of minimal trap spaces and the number of fixed points without requiring exhaustive enumeration, making it particularly well-suited for large-scale BNs. Our experimental evaluation on an extensive and diverse set of benchmark instances shows that our methods significantly improve the feasibility of counting minimal trap spaces and fixed points, paving the way for new applications in BN analysis and beyond.
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id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2506_06013
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
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spellingShingle Scalable Counting of Minimal Trap Spaces and Fixed Points in Boolean Networks
Kabir, Mohimenul
Trinh, Van-Giang
Pastva, Samuel
Meel, Kuldeep S
Logic in Computer Science
Boolean Networks (BNs) serve as a fundamental modeling framework for capturing complex dynamical systems across various domains, including systems biology, computational logic, and artificial intelligence. A crucial property of BNs is the presence of trap spaces -- subspaces of the state space that, once entered, cannot be exited. Minimal trap spaces, in particular, play a significant role in analyzing the long-term behavior of BNs, making their efficient enumeration and counting essential. The fixed points in BNs are a special case of minimal trap spaces. In this work, we formulate several meaningful counting problems related to minimal trap spaces and fixed points in BNs. These problems provide valuable insights both within BN theory (e.g., in probabilistic reasoning and dynamical analysis) and in broader application areas, including systems biology, abstract argumentation, and logic programming. To address these computational challenges, we propose novel methods based on {\em approximate answer set counting}, leveraging techniques from answer set programming. Our approach efficiently approximates the number of minimal trap spaces and the number of fixed points without requiring exhaustive enumeration, making it particularly well-suited for large-scale BNs. Our experimental evaluation on an extensive and diverse set of benchmark instances shows that our methods significantly improve the feasibility of counting minimal trap spaces and fixed points, paving the way for new applications in BN analysis and beyond.
title Scalable Counting of Minimal Trap Spaces and Fixed Points in Boolean Networks
topic Logic in Computer Science
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.06013