Trace Semantics is Fully Abstract

Abstract

The discussion in the computer-science literature of the relative merits of linear- versus branching-time frameworks goes back to the early 1980s. One of the beliefs dominating this discussion has been that the linear-time framework is not expressive enough semantically, making linear-time logics lacking in expressiveness. In this work we examine the branching-linear issue from the perspective of process equivalence, which is one of the most fundamental concepts in concurrency theory, as defining a notion of equivalence essentially amounts to defining semantics for processes. We accept three principles that have been recently proposed for concurrent-process equivalence. The first principle takes contextual equivalence as the primary notion of equivalence. The second principle requires the description of a process to specify all relevant behavioral aspects of the process. The third principle requires observable process behavior to be reflected in its input/output behavior. It has been recently shown that under these principles trace semantics for nondeterministic transducers is fully abstract. Here we consider two extensions of the earlier model: probabilistic transducers and asynchronous transducers. We show that in both cases trace semantics is fully abstract.