License: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license (CC BY 3.0)
When quoting this document, please refer to the following
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.MFCS.2019.29
URN: urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-109735
URL: http://dagstuhl.sunsite.rwth-aachen.de/volltexte/2019/10973/
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Figueira, Diego ; Ramanathan, Varun ; Weil, Pascal

The Quantifier Alternation Hierarchy of Synchronous Relations

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Abstract

The class of synchronous relations, also known as automatic or regular, is one of the most studied subclasses of rational relations. It enjoys many desirable closure properties and is known to be logically characterized: the synchronous relations are exactly those that are defined by a first-order formula on the structure of all finite words, with the prefix, equal-length and last-letter predicates. Here, we study the quantifier alternation hierarchy of this logic. We show that it collapses at level Sigma_3 and that all levels below admit decidable characterizations. Our results reveal the connections between this hierarchy and the well-known hierarchy of first-order defined languages of finite words.

BibTeX - Entry

@InProceedings{figueira_et_al:LIPIcs:2019:10973,
  author =	{Diego Figueira and Varun Ramanathan and Pascal Weil},
  title =	{{The Quantifier Alternation Hierarchy of Synchronous Relations}},
  booktitle =	{44th International Symposium on Mathematical Foundations of Computer Science (MFCS 2019)},
  pages =	{29:1--29:14},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-117-7},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2019},
  volume =	{138},
  editor =	{Peter Rossmanith and Pinar Heggernes and Joost-Pieter Katoen},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl--Leibniz-Zentrum fuer Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{http://drops.dagstuhl.de/opus/volltexte/2019/10973},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-109735},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.MFCS.2019.29},
  annote =	{Keywords: synchronous relations, automatic relations, first-order logic, characterization, quantifier alternation}
}

Keywords: synchronous relations, automatic relations, first-order logic, characterization, quantifier alternation
Collection: 44th International Symposium on Mathematical Foundations of Computer Science (MFCS 2019)
Issue Date: 2019
Date of publication: 20.08.2019

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