Abstract: We prove that several problems associated with probabilistic finite automata are undecidable for automata whose number of input letters and number of states are fixed. As a corollary of one of our results we prove that the problem of determining if the set of all products of two 47 x 47 matrices with nonnegative rational entries is bounded is undecidable.

Abstract: We present a generic aproach to the static analysis of concurrent programs with procedures. We model programs as communicating pushdown systems. It is known that typical dataflow problems for this model are undecidable, because the emptiness problem for the intersection of context-free languages, which is undecidable, can be reduced to them. In this paper we propose an algebraic framework for defining abstractions (upper approximations) of context-free languages. We consider two classes of abstractions: finite-chain abstractions, which are abstractions whose domains do not contain any infinite chains, and commutative abstractions corresponding to classes of languages that contain a word if and only if they contain all its permutations. We show how to compute such approximations by combining automata theoretic techniques with algorithms for solving systems of polynomial inequations in Kleene algebras.

Abstract: Coverage checking is the problem of deciding whether any closed term of a given type is an instance of at least one of a given set of patterns It can be used to verify if a function defined by pattern matching covers all possible cases This problem has a straightforward solution for the first-order, simply-typed case, but is in general undecidable in the presence of dependent types In this paper we present a terminating algorithm for verifying coverage of higher-order, dependently typed patterns It either succeeds or presents a set of counterexamples with free variables, some of which may not have closed instances (a question which is undecidable) Our algorithm, together with strictness and termination checking, can be used to certify the correctness of numerous proofs of properties of deductive systems encoded in a system for reasoning about LF signatures

Abstract: Computable analysis is the Turing machine based theory of computability on the real numbers and other topological spaces. Similarly as Ersov’s concept of numberings can be used to deal with discrete structures, Kreitz and Weihrauch’s concept of representations can be used to handle structures of continuum cardinality. In this context the choice of representations is very sensitively related to the underlying notion of approximation, hence to topology. In this paper we summarize some basic ideas of the representation based approach to computable analysis and we introduce an abstract and purely set theoretic characterization of this theory which can be considered as a generalization of the classical concept of µ-recursive functions. Together with this characterization we introduce the notion of a perfect topological structure. In particular, these structures are effectively categorical, i.e. they characterize their own computability theory. Important examples of perfect structures are provided by metric spaces and additional attention is paid to their effective subsets.

Abstract: Given a program and two variables p and q, the goal of points-to analysis is to check if p can point to q in some execution of the program. This well-studied problem plays a crucial role in compiler optimization. The problem is known to be undecidable when dynamic memory is allowed. But the result is known only when variables are allowed to be structures. We extend the result to show that, the problem remains undecidable, even when only scalar variables are allowed. Our second result deals with a version of points-to analysis called flow-insensitive analysis, where one ignores the control flow of the program and assumes that the statements can be executed in any order. The problem is known to be NP-Hard, even when dynamic memory is not allowed and variables are scalar. We show that when the variables are further restricted to have well-defined data types, the problem is in P. The corresponding flow-sensitive version, even with further restrictions, is known to be PSPACE-Complete. Thus, our result gives some theoretical evidence that flow-insensitive analysis is easier than flow-sensitive analysis. Moreover, while most variations of the points-to analysis are known to be computationally hard, our result gives a rare instance of a non-trivial points-to problem solvable in polynomial time.

Abstract: In this paper, we study the model-checking and parameter synthesis problems of the logic TCTL over discrete-timed automata where parameters are allowed both in the model and in the property. We show that the model-checking problem of TCTL extended with parameters is undecidable over discrete-timed automata with only one parametric clock. The undecidability result needs equality in the logic. When equality is not allowed, we show that the model-checking and the parameter synthesis problems become decidable.

Abstract: Motivated by the need to export relational databases as XML data in the context of the Web, we investigate the typechecking problem for transformations of relational data into tree data (XML). The problem consists of statically verifying that the output of every transformation belongs to a given output tree language (specified for XML by a DTD), for input databases satisfying given integrity constraints. The typechecking problem is parameterized by the class of formulas defining the transformation, the class of output tree languages, and the class of integrity constraints. While undecidable in its most general formulation, the typechecking problem has many special cases of practical interest that turn out to be decidable. The main contribution of this article is to trace a fairly tight boundary of decidability for typechecking in this framework. In the decidable cases we examine the complexity, and show lower and upper bounds. We also exhibit a practically appealing restriction for which typechecking is in PTIME.

Abstract: Modular multiplication and exponentiation are common operations in modern cryptography. Unification problems with respect to some equational theories that these operations satisfy are investigated. Two different but related equational theories are analyzed. A unification algorithm is given for one of the theories which relies on solving syzygies over multivariate integral polynomials with noncommuting indeterminates. For the other theory, in which the distributivity property of exponentiation over multiplication is assumed, the unifiability problem is shown to be undecidable by adapting a construction developed by one of the authors to reduce Hilbert's 10th problem to the solvability problem for linear equations over semi-rings. A new algorithm for computing strong Grobner bases of right ideals over the polynomial ring Z is proposed; unlike earlier algorithms proposed by Baader as well as by Madlener and Reinert which work only for right admissible term orderings with the boundedness property, this algorithm works for any right admissible term ordering. The algorithms for some of these unification problems are expected to be integrated into Naval Research Lab.'s Protocol Analyzer (NPA), a tool developed by Catherine Meadows, which has been successfully used to analyze cryptographic protocols, particularly emerging standards such as the Internet Engineering Task Force's (IETF) Internet Key Exchange [11] and Group Domain of Interpretation [12] protocols. Techniques from several different fields - particularly symbolic computation (ideal theory and Groebner basis algorithms) and unification theory - are thus used to address problems arising in state-based cryptographic protocol analysis.

Abstract: Context-free processes (BPA) have been used for dataflow analysis in recursive procedures with applications in optimizing compilers (Proceedings of FOSSaCS'99, Lecture Notes in Computer Science, Vol. 1578, Springer, Berlin, 1999, pp. 14-30). We introduce a more refined model called BPA(Z) that can model not only recursive dependencies, but also the passing of an integer parameter to a subroutine. Moreover, this parameter can be tested against conditions expressible in Presburger arithmetic. This new and more expressive model can still be analyzed automatically. We define Z-input 1-CM, a new class of 1-counter machines (cm) that take integer numbers as input, to describe sets of configurations of BPA(Z). We show that the Post* (the set of successors) of a set of BPA(Z)-configurations described by a Z-input 1-CM can be effectively constructed. The Pre* (set of predecessors) of a regular set can be effectively constructed as well. However, the Pre* of a set described by a Z-input 1-CM cannot be represented by a Z-input 1-CM, in general, and has an undecidable membership problem. Then we develop a new temporal logic based on reversal-bounded counter machines (i.e. machines which use counters such that the change between increasing and decreasing mode of each counter is bounded (J. Assoc. Comput. Mach. 25 (1978) 116) that can be used to describe properties of BPA(Z) and show that the model-checking problem is decidable.

Abstract: We investigate a contractionless naive set theory, due to Grisin [11] We prove that the theory is undecidable

Abstract: We study two-way tree automata modulo equational theories. We deal with the theories of Abelian groups (ACUM), idempotent commutative monoids (ACUI), and the theory of exclusive-or (ACUX), as well as some variants including the theory of commutative monoids (ACU). We show that the one-way automata for all these theories are closed under union and intersection, and emptiness is decidable. For two-way automata the situation is more complex. In all these theories except ACUI, we show that two-way automata can be effectively reduced to one-way automata, provided some care is taken in the definition of the so-called push clauses. (The ACUI case is open.) In particular, the two-way automata modulo these theories are closed under union and intersection, and emptiness is decidable. We also note that alternating variants have undecidable emptiness problem for most theories, contrarily to the non-equational case where alternation is essentially harmless.

Abstract: Modular multiplication and exponentiation are common operations in modern cryptography. Unification problems with respect to some equational theories that these operations satisfy are investigated. Two different but related equational theories are analyzed. A unification algorithm is given for one of the theories which relies on solving syzygies over multivariate integral polynomials with noncommuting indeterminates. For the other theory, in which the distributivity property of exponentiation over multiplication is assumed, the unifiability problem is shown to be undecidable by adapting a construction developed by one of the authors to reduce Hilbert's 10th problem to the solvability problem for linear equations over semi-rings. A new algorithm for computing strong Grobner bases of right ideals over the polynomial ring Z〈X1, . . . , Xn〉 is proposed; unlike earlier algorithms proposed by Baader as well as by Madlener and Reinert which work only for right admissible term orderings with the boundedness property, this algorithm works for any right admissible term ordering. The algorithms for some of these unification problems are expected to be integrated into Naval Research Lab.'s Protocol Analyzer (NPA), a tool developed by Catherine Meadows, which has been successfully used to analyze cryptographic protocols, particularly emerging standards such as the Internet Engineering Task Force's (IETF) Internet Key Exchange [11] and Group Domain of Interpretation [12] protocols. Techniques from several different fields - particularly symbolic computation (ideal theory and Groebner basis algorithms) and unification theory -- are thus used to address problems arising in state-based cryptographic protocol analysis.

Abstract: Hypercomputation or super-Turing computation is a ``computation'' that transcends the limit imposed by Turing's model of computability. The field still faces some basic questions, technical (can we mathematically and/or physically build a hypercomputer?), cognitive (can hypercomputers realize the AI dream?), philosophical (is thinking more than computing?). The aim of this paper is to address the question: can we mathematically build a hypercomputer? We will discuss the solutions of the Infinite Merchant Problem, a decision problem equivalent to the Halting Problem, based on results obtained in \cite{Coins,acp}. The accent will be on the new computational technique and results rather than formal proofs.

Abstract: We prove that the problem whether two PA-processes are weakly bisimilar is undecidable. We combine several proof techniques to provide a reduction from Post's correspondence problem to our problem: existential quantification technique, masking technique and deadlock elimination technique.

Abstract: Path constraints are capable of expressing inclusion and inverse relationships and have proved useful in modeling and querying semistructured data [Abiteboul and Vianu 1999; Buneman et al. 2000]. Types also constrain the structure of data and are commonly found in traditional databases. There has also been work on imposing structure or a type system on semistructured data for storing and querying semistructured data in a traditional database system [Alon et al. 2001; Deutsch et al. 1999a; Florescu and Kossmann 1999; Shanmugasundaram et al. 1999]. One wants to know whether complexity results for reasoning about path constraints established in the untyped (semistructured) context could carry over to traditional databases, and vice versa. It is therefore appropriate to understand the interaction between types and path constraints. In addition, XML [Bray et al. 1998], which may involve both an optional schema (e.g., DTDs or XML Schema [Thompson et al. 2001]) and integrity constraints, highlights the importance of the study of the interaction.This article investigates that interaction. In particular it studies constraint implication problems, which are important both in understanding the semantics of type/constraint systems and in query optimization. It shows that path constraints interact with types in a highly intricate way. For that purpose a number of results on path constraint implication are established in the presence and absence of type systems. These results demonstrate that adding a type system may in some cases simplify reasoning about path constraints and in other cases make it harder. For example, it is shown that there is a path constraint implication problem that is decidable in PTIME in the untyped context, but that becomes undecidable when a type system is added. On the other hand, there is an implication problem that is undecidable in the untyped context, but becomes not only decidable in cubic time but also finitely axiomatizable when a type system is imposed.

Abstract: We first discuss some technical questions which arise in connection with the construction of undecidable propositions in analysis, in particular in connection with the notion of the normal form of a function representing a predicate. Then it is stressed that while a function f(x) may be computable in the sense of recursive function theory, it may nevertheless have undecidable properties in the realm of Fourier analysis. This has an implication for a conjecture of Penrose's which states that classical physics is computable.

Abstract: In this paper we study the expressive power and algorithmic properties of the language of Σ-formulas intended to represent computability over the real numbers In order to adequately represent computability, we extend the reals by the structure of hereditarily finite sets In this setting it is crucial to consider the real numbers without equality since the equality test is undecidable over the reals We prove Engeler’s Lemma for Σ-definability over the reals without the equality test which relates Σ-definability with definability in the constructive infinitary language \(L_{\omega_1\omega}\) Thus, a relation over the real numbers is Σ-definable if and only if it is definable by a disjunction of a recursively enumerable set of quantifier free formulas This result reveals computational aspects of Σ-definability and also gives topological characterisation of Σ-definable relations over the reals without the equality test

Abstract: In this article two undecidable problems belonging to the domain of analysis will be constructed. The basic idea is sketched as follows: Let us imagine an area B of functions (rational functions, trigonometric and exponential functions) and certain operations (addition, multiplication, integration over finite or infinite domains, etc.) and consider the smallest quantity M of functions which contains B and is closed with regard to the selected operations. The question will then be examined whether there is in M a function f( x)for which the predicate P( n)≡ � f( x)cos nxdx > 0 is not recursive. It will be shown that by suitably choosing the area B and the operations, the answer comes out positively. We will deal in general with complex functions of real variables, although one could with somewhat more effort carry out all considerations in the real domain. In the first example, new functions will be generated by means of the following operations: addition, multiplication, integration over finite intervals and the solution of Fredholm integral equations of the second kind. Following this, it will be shown that certain logically characterised functions can be represented as limits of functions of the area M. In these constructions care will be taken that the number of integral equations to be solved remains as small as possible (namely two). In the second example, instead of the solution of Fredholm integral equations, we permit integration over infinite intervals, and then prove for this instance the same theorems as in the first example, in the context of which considerable use will be made of the result of M. Davis, H. Putnam and J. Robinson (cf. (1)) on the unsolvability of exponential diophantine equations.

Abstract: We show that it is undecidable whether or not two finite substitutions are equivalent on the fixed regular language ab*c. This gives an unexpected answer to a question proposed in 1985 by Culik II and Karhumaki. At the same time it can be seen as the final result in a series of undecidability results for finite transducers initiated in 1968 by Griffiths. An application to systems of equations over finite languages is given.

Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to survey our recent research in computability and definability over continuous data types such as the real numbers, real-valued functions and functionals. We investigate the expressive power and algorithmic properties of the language of Sigma-formulas intended to represent computability over the real numbers. In order to adequately represent computability we extend the reals by the structure of hereditarily finite sets. In this setting it is crucial to consider the real numbers without equality since the equality test is undecidable over the reals. We prove Engeler's Lemma for Sigma-definability over the reals without the equality test which relates Sigma-definability with definability in the constructive infinitary language L_{omega_1 omega}. Thus, a relation over the real numbers is Sigma-definable if and only if it is definable by a disjunction of a recursively enumerable set of quantifier free formulas. This result reveals computational aspects of Sigma-definability and also gives topological characterisation of Sigma-definable relations over the reals without the equality test. We also illustrate how computability over the real numbers can be expressed in the language of Sigma-formulas.

Abstract: The three quantifier theory of (R, ≤T), the recursively enumerable degrees under Turing reducibility, was proven undecidable by Lempp, Nies and Slaman (1998). The two quantifier theory includes the lattice embedding problem and its decidability is a long-standing open question. A negative solution to this problem seems out of reach of the standard methods of interpretation of theories because the language is relational. We prove the undecidability of a fragment of the theory of R that lies between the two and three quantifier theories with ≤ T but includes function symbols. Theorem. The two quantifier theory of (R,≤,V,), the r.e. degrees with Turing reducibility, supremum and infimum (taken to be any total function extending the infimum relation on R) is undecidable. The same result holds for various lattices of ideals of R which are natural extensions of R preserving join and infimum when it exits.

Abstract: The evolution of Description Logics (DLs) and Propositional Dynamic Logics produced a hierarchy of decidable logics with multiple maximal elements. It would be desirable to combine different maximal logics into one super-logic, but then inference may turn out to be undecidable. Then it is important to characterize the decidability threshold for these logics. In this perspective, an interesting open question pointed out by Sattler and Vardi [Sattler and Vardi, 1999] is whether inference in a hybrid µ-calculus with restricted forms of graded modalities is decidable, and which complexity class it belongs to. In this paper we prove that this calculus and the corresponding DL µALCIOf are undecidable. Second, we prove undecidability results for logics that support both a transitive closure operator over roles and number restrictions.

Abstract: LTLC is a continuous-time linear temporal logic for the specification of real-time systems. It can express both real-time systems and their properties. With LTLC, real-time systems can be described at different levels of abstraction, from high-level requirement specifications to low-level implementation models, and the conformance between different descriptions can be expressed by logical implication. The full logic of LTLC is undecidable. This paper will show that the existentially quantified fragment of LTLC is decidable. We achieve this goal by showing that the fragment can be translated into timed automata. Because the emptiness problem for timed automata is decidable, we then get a decision procedure for satisfiability for this fragment. This decidable part of LTLC is quite expressive. Many important real-time properties, such as bounded-response and bounded-invariance properties, can be expressed in it. The translation also enables us to develop a decision procedure for model checking real-time systems with quantifier-free LTLC specifications.

Abstract: We study extensions of first-order logic over the reals with different types of transitive-closure operators as query languages for constraint databases that can be described by Boolean combinations of polynomial inequalities over the reals. We are in particular interested in deciding the termination of the evaluation of queries expressible in these transitive-closure logics. It turns out that termination is undecidable in general. However, we show that the termination of the transitive closure of a continuous function graph in the two-dimensional plane, viewed as a binary relation over the reals, is decidable, and even expressible in first-order logic over the reals. Based on this result, we identify a particular transitive-closure logic for which termination of query evaluation is decidable and which is more expressive than first-order logic over the reals. Furthermore, we can define a guarded fragment in which exactly the terminating queries of this language are expressible.