Pub Date : 2025-08-04DOI: 10.1007/s00236-025-00495-x
Zhengyang John Lu, Joel Day, Piyush Jha, Paul Sarnighausen-Cahn, Stefan Siemer, Florin Manea, Vijay Ganesh
Modern SMT solvers, such as Z3, allow solver users to customize strategies to improve performance on their specific use cases. However, handcrafting an optimized strategy for a specific class of SMT instances remains a complex and demanding task for both solver developers and users alike. In this paper, we address the problem of automated SMT strategy synthesis via a novel method based on Monte-Carlo Tree Search (MCTS). We formulate strategy synthesis as a sequential decision-making process, where the search tree corresponds to the strategy space. Subsequently, we employ MCTS to navigate this vast search space. Compared to the conventional MCTS, we introduce two heuristics—layered and staged search—that enable our method to identify effective strategies with lower costs. We implement our method, dubbed Z3alpha, upon the Z3 SMT solver. Our experiments demonstrate that Z3alpha outperforms the default Z3 solver and the state-of-the-art synthesis tool Fastsmt on the majority of the evaluated benchmark sets, while producing more interpretable strategies than FastSMT. At SMT-COMP’24, among the 16 participating logics, Z3alpha improved upon the default Z3 in 12 cases and helped solve hundreds more instances in QF_NIA and QF_NRA, winning their respective divisions.
{"title":"Novel tree-search method for synthesizing SMT strategies","authors":"Zhengyang John Lu, Joel Day, Piyush Jha, Paul Sarnighausen-Cahn, Stefan Siemer, Florin Manea, Vijay Ganesh","doi":"10.1007/s00236-025-00495-x","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s00236-025-00495-x","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Modern SMT solvers, such as Z3, allow solver users to customize strategies to improve performance on their specific use cases. However, handcrafting an optimized strategy for a specific class of SMT instances remains a complex and demanding task for both solver developers and users alike. In this paper, we address the problem of automated SMT strategy synthesis via a novel method based on Monte-Carlo Tree Search (MCTS). We formulate strategy synthesis as a sequential decision-making process, where the search tree corresponds to the strategy space. Subsequently, we employ MCTS to navigate this vast search space. Compared to the conventional MCTS, we introduce two heuristics—layered and staged search—that enable our method to identify effective strategies with lower costs. We implement our method, dubbed Z3alpha, upon the Z3 SMT solver. Our experiments demonstrate that Z3alpha outperforms the default Z3 solver and the state-of-the-art synthesis tool Fastsmt on the majority of the evaluated benchmark sets, while producing more interpretable strategies than FastSMT. At SMT-COMP’24, among the 16 participating logics, Z3alpha improved upon the default Z3 in 12 cases and helped solve hundreds more instances in QF_NIA and QF_NRA, winning their respective divisions.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":7189,"journal":{"name":"Acta Informatica","volume":"62 3","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.5,"publicationDate":"2025-08-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s00236-025-00495-x.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145161738","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"计算机科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-06-27DOI: 10.1007/s00236-025-00494-y
Othman Echi
Let (Sigma ) be an alphabet of size at least 2, and let (textbf{Q}(Sigma )) denote the set of all primitive strings over (Sigma ). Let p and q be two distinct primitive strings over (Sigma ). In 1967, Lentin and Schützenberger proved that the language (p^+q^+:= {p^n q^m: m, n in mathbb {N} setminus {0}}) contains at most one periodic string. Moreover, if (p^n q^m) is periodic, then either (n = 1) or (m = 1). They also showed that if (pq^m) is periodic, then
$$begin{aligned} m le dfrac{2|p|}{|q|} + 3. end{aligned}$$
The aim of this paper is to provide a complete characterization of all pairs of distinct primitive strings p and q such that (pq^m) is periodic. As a consequence, we show that if (|p| >|q|) and (pq^m) is periodic, and if t is the quotient of the integer division of|p| by|q|, then
$$begin{aligned} m le t + 2. end{aligned}$$
Furthermore, if t and i are integers such that (t ge 2) and (1 le i le t + 2), we show that there exist two primitive strings p and q with (|p| >|q|) such that t is the quotient of the integer division of|p| by|q|, and (pq^i) is periodic.
设(Sigma )是一个大小至少为2的字母,并设(textbf{Q}(Sigma ))表示(Sigma )上所有原始字符串的集合。设p和q是(Sigma )上两个不同的原始字符串。1967年,Lentin和sch岑伯格证明了语言(p^+q^+:= {p^n q^m: m, n in mathbb {N} setminus {0}})最多包含一个周期字符串。此外,如果(p^n q^m)是周期性的,那么就是(n = 1)或(m = 1)。他们还表明,如果(pq^m)是周期的,那么$$begin{aligned} m le dfrac{2|p|}{|q|} + 3. end{aligned}$$本文的目的是提供所有不同的原始字符串p和q对的完整表征,使得(pq^m)是周期的。因此,我们证明,如果(|p| >|q|)和(pq^m)是周期的,如果t是|p|除以|q|的整数除法的商,那么$$begin{aligned} m le t + 2. end{aligned}$$进一步,如果t和i是整数,使得(t ge 2)和(1 le i le t + 2),我们证明存在两个原语字符串p和q,使得(|p| >|q|)是|p|除以|q|的整数除法的商,并且(pq^i)是周期的。
{"title":"The Primitive Deficiency of two Primitive Strings","authors":"Othman Echi","doi":"10.1007/s00236-025-00494-y","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s00236-025-00494-y","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Let <span>(Sigma )</span> be an alphabet of size at least 2, and let <span>(textbf{Q}(Sigma ))</span> denote the set of all primitive strings over <span>(Sigma )</span>. Let <i>p</i> and <i>q</i> be two distinct primitive strings over <span>(Sigma )</span>. In 1967, Lentin and Schützenberger proved that the language <span>(p^+q^+:= {p^n q^m: m, n in mathbb {N} setminus {0}})</span> contains at most one periodic string. Moreover, if <span>(p^n q^m)</span> is periodic, then either <span>(n = 1)</span> or <span>(m = 1)</span>. They also showed that if <span>(pq^m)</span> is periodic, then </p><div><div><span>$$begin{aligned} m le dfrac{2|p|}{|q|} + 3. end{aligned}$$</span></div></div><p>The aim of this paper is to provide a complete characterization of all pairs of distinct primitive strings <i>p</i> and <i>q</i> such that <span>(pq^m)</span> is periodic. As a consequence, we show that if <span>(|p| >|q|)</span> and <span>(pq^m)</span> is periodic, and if <i>t</i> is the quotient of the integer division of|<i>p</i>| by|<i>q</i>|, then </p><div><div><span>$$begin{aligned} m le t + 2. end{aligned}$$</span></div></div><p>Furthermore, if <i>t</i> and <i>i</i> are integers such that <span>(t ge 2)</span> and <span>(1 le i le t + 2)</span>, we show that there exist two primitive strings <i>p</i> and <i>q</i> with <span>(|p| >|q|)</span> such that <i>t</i> is the quotient of the integer division of|<i>p</i>| by|<i>q</i>|, and <span>(pq^i)</span> is periodic.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":7189,"journal":{"name":"Acta Informatica","volume":"62 3","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.5,"publicationDate":"2025-06-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145169414","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"计算机科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-06-03DOI: 10.1007/s00236-025-00490-2
Jona Dirks, Enna Gerhard, Mario Grobler, Amer E. Mouawad, Sebastian Siebertz
<div><p>We study reduction rules for <span>Directed Feedback Vertex Set (DFVS)</span> on directed graphs without long cycles. A <span>DFVS</span> instance without cycles longer than <i>d</i> naturally corresponds to an instance of <i>d</i><span>-Hitting Set</span>, however, enumerating all cycles in an <i>n</i>-vertex graph and then kernelizing the resulting <i>d</i><span>-Hitting Set</span> instance can be too costly, as already enumerating all cycles can take time <span>(Omega (n^d))</span>. To the best of our knowledge, the kernelization of <span>DFVS</span> on graphs without long cycles has not been studied in the literature, except for very restricted cases, e.g., for tournaments, in which all induced cycles are of length three. We show that the natural reduction rule to delete all vertices and edges that do not lie on induced cycles cannot be implemented efficiently, that is, it is <i>W</i>[1]-hard (with respect to parameter <i>d</i>) to decide if a vertex or edge lies on an induced cycle of length at most <i>d</i> even on graphs that become acyclic after the deletion of a single vertex or edge. Based on different reduction rules we then show how to compute a kernel with at most <span>(2^dk^d)</span> vertices and at most <span>(d^{3d}k^d)</span> induced cycles of length at most <i>d</i> (which however, cannot be enumerated efficiently), where <i>k</i> is the size of a minimum directed feedback vertex set. We then study classes of graphs whose underlying undirected graphs have bounded expansion or are nowhere dense. These are very general classes of sparse graphs, containing e.g. classes excluding a minor or a topological minor. We prove that for every class <span>(mathscr {C} )</span> with bounded expansion there is a function <span>(f_mathscr {C} (d))</span> such that for graphs <span>(Gin mathscr {C} )</span> without induced cycles of length greater than <i>d</i> we can compute a kernel with <span>(f_mathscr {C} (d)cdot k)</span> vertices in time <span>(f_mathscr {C} (d)cdot n^{mathcal {O}(1)})</span>. For every nowhere dense class <span>(mathscr {C} )</span> there is a function <span>(f_mathscr {C} (d,varepsilon ))</span> such that for graphs <span>(Gin mathscr {C} )</span> without induced cycles of length greater than <i>d</i> we can compute a kernel with <span>(f_mathscr {C} (d,varepsilon )cdot k^{1+varepsilon })</span> vertices for any <span>(varepsilon >0)</span> in time <span>(f_mathscr {C} (d,varepsilon )cdot n^{mathcal {O}(1)})</span>. The most restricted classes we consider are strongly connected planar graphs without any (induced or non-induced) long cycles. We show that these classes have treewidth <span>(mathcal {O}(d))</span> and hence <span>DFVS</span> on planar graphs without cycles of length greater than <i>d</i> can be solved in time <span>(2^{mathcal {O}(d)}cdot n^{mathcal {O}(1)})</span>. We finally present a new data reduction rule for general <span>DFVS</span> and prove that the rule together with a few standard
{"title":"Data reduction for directed feedback vertex set on graphs without long induced cycles","authors":"Jona Dirks, Enna Gerhard, Mario Grobler, Amer E. Mouawad, Sebastian Siebertz","doi":"10.1007/s00236-025-00490-2","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s00236-025-00490-2","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>We study reduction rules for <span>Directed Feedback Vertex Set (DFVS)</span> on directed graphs without long cycles. A <span>DFVS</span> instance without cycles longer than <i>d</i> naturally corresponds to an instance of <i>d</i><span>-Hitting Set</span>, however, enumerating all cycles in an <i>n</i>-vertex graph and then kernelizing the resulting <i>d</i><span>-Hitting Set</span> instance can be too costly, as already enumerating all cycles can take time <span>(Omega (n^d))</span>. To the best of our knowledge, the kernelization of <span>DFVS</span> on graphs without long cycles has not been studied in the literature, except for very restricted cases, e.g., for tournaments, in which all induced cycles are of length three. We show that the natural reduction rule to delete all vertices and edges that do not lie on induced cycles cannot be implemented efficiently, that is, it is <i>W</i>[1]-hard (with respect to parameter <i>d</i>) to decide if a vertex or edge lies on an induced cycle of length at most <i>d</i> even on graphs that become acyclic after the deletion of a single vertex or edge. Based on different reduction rules we then show how to compute a kernel with at most <span>(2^dk^d)</span> vertices and at most <span>(d^{3d}k^d)</span> induced cycles of length at most <i>d</i> (which however, cannot be enumerated efficiently), where <i>k</i> is the size of a minimum directed feedback vertex set. We then study classes of graphs whose underlying undirected graphs have bounded expansion or are nowhere dense. These are very general classes of sparse graphs, containing e.g. classes excluding a minor or a topological minor. We prove that for every class <span>(mathscr {C} )</span> with bounded expansion there is a function <span>(f_mathscr {C} (d))</span> such that for graphs <span>(Gin mathscr {C} )</span> without induced cycles of length greater than <i>d</i> we can compute a kernel with <span>(f_mathscr {C} (d)cdot k)</span> vertices in time <span>(f_mathscr {C} (d)cdot n^{mathcal {O}(1)})</span>. For every nowhere dense class <span>(mathscr {C} )</span> there is a function <span>(f_mathscr {C} (d,varepsilon ))</span> such that for graphs <span>(Gin mathscr {C} )</span> without induced cycles of length greater than <i>d</i> we can compute a kernel with <span>(f_mathscr {C} (d,varepsilon )cdot k^{1+varepsilon })</span> vertices for any <span>(varepsilon >0)</span> in time <span>(f_mathscr {C} (d,varepsilon )cdot n^{mathcal {O}(1)})</span>. The most restricted classes we consider are strongly connected planar graphs without any (induced or non-induced) long cycles. We show that these classes have treewidth <span>(mathcal {O}(d))</span> and hence <span>DFVS</span> on planar graphs without cycles of length greater than <i>d</i> can be solved in time <span>(2^{mathcal {O}(d)}cdot n^{mathcal {O}(1)})</span>. We finally present a new data reduction rule for general <span>DFVS</span> and prove that the rule together with a few standard ","PeriodicalId":7189,"journal":{"name":"Acta Informatica","volume":"62 2","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.5,"publicationDate":"2025-06-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s00236-025-00490-2.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145161722","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"计算机科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-05-30DOI: 10.1007/s00236-025-00492-0
Ivan Bliznets, Jesper Nederlof
In the Choosability problem (or list chromatic number problem), for a given graph G, we need to find the smallest k such that G admits a list coloring for any list assignment where all lists contain at least k colors. The problem is tightly connected with the well-studied Coloring and List Coloring problems. However, the knowledge of the complexity landscape for the Choosability problem is pretty scarce. Moreover, most of the known results only provide lower bounds for its computational complexity and do not provide ways to cope with the intractability. The main objective of our paper is to construct the first non-trivial exact exponential algorithms for the Choosability problem, and complete the picture with parameterized results. Specifically, we present the first single-exponential algorithm for the decision version of the problem with fixed k. This result answers an implicit question from Eppstein on a stackexchange thread discussing upper bounds on the union of lists assigned to vertices. We also present a (2^{n^2} poly(n)) time algorithm for the general Choosability problem. In the parameterized setting, we give a polynomial kernel for the problem parameterized by vertex cover, and algorithms that run in FPT time when parameterized by a size of a clique-modulator and by the dual parameterization (n-k). Additionally, we show that Choosability admits a significant running time improvement if it is parameterized by cutwidth in comparison with the parameterization by treewidth studied by Marx and Mitsou [ICALP’16]. On the negative side, we provide a lower bound parameterized by a size of a modulator to split graphs under assumption of the Exponential Time Hypothesis.
{"title":"Exact and parameterized algorithms for choosability","authors":"Ivan Bliznets, Jesper Nederlof","doi":"10.1007/s00236-025-00492-0","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s00236-025-00492-0","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>In the C<span>hoosability</span> problem (or list chromatic number problem), for a given graph <i>G</i>, we need to find the smallest <i>k</i> such that <i>G</i> admits a list coloring for any list assignment where all lists contain at least <i>k</i> colors. The problem is tightly connected with the well-studied C<span>oloring</span> and L<span>ist </span> C<span>oloring</span> problems. However, the knowledge of the complexity landscape for the C<span>hoosability</span> problem is pretty scarce. Moreover, most of the known results only provide lower bounds for its computational complexity and do not provide ways to cope with the intractability. The main objective of our paper is to construct the first non-trivial exact exponential algorithms for the C<span>hoosability</span> problem, and complete the picture with parameterized results. Specifically, we present the first single-exponential algorithm for the decision version of the problem with fixed <i>k</i>. This result answers an implicit question from Eppstein on a stackexchange thread discussing upper bounds on the union of lists assigned to vertices. We also present a <span>(2^{n^2} poly(n))</span> time algorithm for the general C<span>hoosability</span> problem. In the parameterized setting, we give a polynomial kernel for the problem parameterized by vertex cover, and algorithms that run in FPT time when parameterized by a size of a clique-modulator and by the dual parameterization <span>(n-k)</span>. Additionally, we show that C<span>hoosability</span> admits a significant running time improvement if it is parameterized by cutwidth in comparison with the parameterization by treewidth studied by Marx and Mitsou [ICALP’16]. On the negative side, we provide a lower bound parameterized by a size of a modulator to split graphs under assumption of the Exponential Time Hypothesis.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":7189,"journal":{"name":"Acta Informatica","volume":"62 2","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.5,"publicationDate":"2025-05-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12125139/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144198053","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"计算机科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-05-22DOI: 10.1007/s00236-025-00491-1
Masood Ur Rehman, Muhammad Ajmal
The distance energy of a simple undirected graph (mathcal {G}), denoted by (mathcal {E}_D(mathcal {G})), is the sum of the absolute values of the eigenvalues of the distance matrix (D(mathcal {G})) of (mathcal {G}). In this paper, we study the effects on distance energy of some special complete t-partite graphs due to embedding an edge. This paper is motivated by the study in a 2022 paper by Wang and Meng.
{"title":"Effects on distance energy of some special complete multipartite graphs by embedding an edge","authors":"Masood Ur Rehman, Muhammad Ajmal","doi":"10.1007/s00236-025-00491-1","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s00236-025-00491-1","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>The distance energy of a simple undirected graph <span>(mathcal {G})</span>, denoted by <span>(mathcal {E}_D(mathcal {G}))</span>, is the sum of the absolute values of the eigenvalues of the distance matrix <span>(D(mathcal {G}))</span> of <span>(mathcal {G})</span>. In this paper, we study the effects on distance energy of some special complete <i>t</i>-partite graphs due to embedding an edge. This paper is motivated by the study in a 2022 paper by Wang and Meng.\u0000</p></div>","PeriodicalId":7189,"journal":{"name":"Acta Informatica","volume":"62 2","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2025-05-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144108446","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"计算机科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-05-22DOI: 10.1007/s00236-025-00489-9
Stefano Crespi Reghizzi, Antonio Restivo, Pierluigi San Pietro
We extend the notion of the Dyck language from words to two-dimensional arrays of symbols, i.e., pictures, using the row-column combination (also known as the crossword) of two Dyck languages over the same alphabet. In a Dyck crossword picture, each column and each row must be a word from the respective Dyck language. The pairing of open and closed parentheses in a Dyck word can be represented by edges connecting corresponding cells in the same row or column. This defines a matching graph, which serves as the two-dimensional analogue of the syntactic tree of a Dyck word. A matching graph is partitioned into simple circuits of unbounded length (always a multiple of four), whose labels form a regular language. These circuits exhibit a wide variety of forms and labelings, which we illustrate and partially classify. With a two-letter alphabet, a Dyck crossword is necessarily empty. The minimal non-trivial case, requiring an alphabet of size four, already generates all possible forms of matching graphs and is the primary focus of our study. We prove that the only picture with a single matching circuit (i.e., a Hamiltonian cycle) has size 2 by 2. Two key properties of Dyck words–cancellation and well-nesting–can be generalized to two dimensions, leading to two alternative definitions of 2D Dyck languages: neutralizable and well-nested. These languages are special cases of Dyck crossword pictures called quaternate, where all circuits have length 4 (i.e., are rectangles). This results in a strict language inclusion hierarchy: well-nested (subset ) neutralizable (subset ) quaternate (subset ) Dyck crosswords. When the alphabet size exceeds four, not all combinations of row and column Dyck languages yield non-empty crosswords. To identify productive combinations, we introduce an alphabetic graph, where nodes represent alphabet symbols and edges represent their couplings. A matching circuit corresponds to the unrolling of an alphabetic graph circuit. Finally, we prove that Dyck crosswords are not tiling-recognizable, as expected for a definition extending Dyck word languages to pictures.
{"title":"Row-column combination of Dyck words","authors":"Stefano Crespi Reghizzi, Antonio Restivo, Pierluigi San Pietro","doi":"10.1007/s00236-025-00489-9","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s00236-025-00489-9","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>We extend the notion of the Dyck language from words to two-dimensional arrays of symbols, i.e., pictures, using the row-column combination (also known as the crossword) of two Dyck languages over the same alphabet. In a Dyck crossword picture, each column and each row must be a word from the respective Dyck language. The pairing of open and closed parentheses in a Dyck word can be represented by edges connecting corresponding cells in the same row or column. This defines a <i>matching graph</i>, which serves as the two-dimensional analogue of the syntactic tree of a Dyck word. A matching graph is partitioned into simple circuits of unbounded length (always a multiple of four), whose labels form a regular language. These circuits exhibit a wide variety of forms and labelings, which we illustrate and partially classify. With a two-letter alphabet, a Dyck crossword is necessarily empty. The minimal non-trivial case, requiring an alphabet of size four, already generates all possible forms of matching graphs and is the primary focus of our study. We prove that the only picture with a single matching circuit (i.e., a Hamiltonian cycle) has size 2 by 2. Two key properties of Dyck words–cancellation and well-nesting–can be generalized to two dimensions, leading to two alternative definitions of 2D Dyck languages: <i>neutralizable </i> and <i>well-nested</i>. These languages are special cases of Dyck crossword pictures called quaternate, where all circuits have length 4 (i.e., are rectangles). This results in a strict language inclusion hierarchy: well-nested <span>(subset )</span> neutralizable <span>(subset )</span> quaternate <span>(subset )</span> Dyck crosswords. When the alphabet size exceeds four, not all combinations of row and column Dyck languages yield non-empty crosswords. To identify productive combinations, we introduce an <i>alphabetic graph</i>, where nodes represent alphabet symbols and edges represent their couplings. A matching circuit corresponds to the unrolling of an alphabetic graph circuit. Finally, we prove that Dyck crosswords are not tiling-recognizable, as expected for a definition extending Dyck word languages to pictures.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":7189,"journal":{"name":"Acta Informatica","volume":"62 2","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2025-05-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s00236-025-00489-9.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144117700","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"计算机科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-05-03DOI: 10.1007/s00236-025-00488-w
Martin Kutrib, Uwe Meyer
We study deterministic tree-walking-storage automata, which are finite-state devices equipped with a tree-like storage. These automata are generalized stack automata, where the linear stack storage is replaced by a non-linear tree-like stack. Therefore, tree-walking-storage automata have the ability to explore the interior of the tree storage without altering the contents, with the possible moves of the tree pointer corresponding to those of tree-walking automata. In addition, a tree-walking-storage automaton can append (push) non-existent descendants to a tree node and remove (pop) leaves from the tree. Here we are particularly considering the capacities of deterministic tree-walking-storage automata working in real time. It is shown that even the non-erasing variant can accept rather complicated unary languages as, for example, the language of words whose lengths are powers of two, or the language of words whose lengths are double Fibonacci numbers. Comparing the computational capacities with automata from the classical automata hierarchy, we derive that the family of languages accepted by real-time deterministic (non-erasing) tree-walking-storage automata is located between the regular and the deterministic context-sensitive languages. Moreover, the families are incomparable with the families of context-free and growing context-sensitive languages. It turns out that the devices under consideration accept unary languages in non-erasing mode that cannot be accepted by any classical stack automaton, even in erasing mode and arbitrary time. Basic closure properties of the induced families of languages are shown. In particular, we consider Boolean operations and AFL operations. It turns out that the two families in question have the same properties and, in particular, share all but one of these closure properties with the important family of deterministic context-free languages. Then, we consider the computational capacity of the counterpart to counter- and stack-counter automata, where the set of stack symbols is a singleton. Finally, we explore several decidability problems and show, that even for devices with a single tree symbol, the problems are all non-semidecidable by reductions of non-semidecidable problems of Turing machines.
{"title":"Deterministic real-time tree-walking-storage automata","authors":"Martin Kutrib, Uwe Meyer","doi":"10.1007/s00236-025-00488-w","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s00236-025-00488-w","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>We study deterministic tree-walking-storage automata, which are finite-state devices equipped with a tree-like storage. These automata are generalized stack automata, where the linear stack storage is replaced by a non-linear tree-like stack. Therefore, tree-walking-storage automata have the ability to explore the interior of the tree storage without altering the contents, with the possible moves of the tree pointer corresponding to those of tree-walking automata. In addition, a tree-walking-storage automaton can append (push) non-existent descendants to a tree node and remove (pop) leaves from the tree. Here we are particularly considering the capacities of deterministic tree-walking-storage automata working in real time. It is shown that even the non-erasing variant can accept rather complicated unary languages as, for example, the language of words whose lengths are powers of two, or the language of words whose lengths are double Fibonacci numbers. Comparing the computational capacities with automata from the classical automata hierarchy, we derive that the family of languages accepted by real-time deterministic (non-erasing) tree-walking-storage automata is located between the regular and the deterministic context-sensitive languages. Moreover, the families are incomparable with the families of context-free and growing context-sensitive languages. It turns out that the devices under consideration accept unary languages in non-erasing mode that cannot be accepted by any classical stack automaton, even in erasing mode and arbitrary time. Basic closure properties of the induced families of languages are shown. In particular, we consider Boolean operations and AFL operations. It turns out that the two families in question have the same properties and, in particular, share all but one of these closure properties with the important family of deterministic context-free languages. Then, we consider the computational capacity of the counterpart to counter- and stack-counter automata, where the set of stack symbols is a singleton. Finally, we explore several decidability problems and show, that even for devices with a single tree symbol, the problems are all non-semidecidable by reductions of non-semidecidable problems of Turing machines.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":7189,"journal":{"name":"Acta Informatica","volume":"62 2","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2025-05-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s00236-025-00488-w.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143900799","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"计算机科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-04-16DOI: 10.1007/s00236-025-00487-x
Chunhua Cao, Lei Liao, Zhongmei Yan, Di Yang, Yuguang Yuan
Does every three-word code have a finite completion? Up to now, this famous question in the theory of codes remains open. Motivated by this problem, we construct several types of three-word codes with the form ({a, aba, u}) and ({a, ab, v}) which have finite completions.
{"title":"Three-word codes ({a, aba, u}) and ({a, ab, v}) having finite completions","authors":"Chunhua Cao, Lei Liao, Zhongmei Yan, Di Yang, Yuguang Yuan","doi":"10.1007/s00236-025-00487-x","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s00236-025-00487-x","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Does every three-word code have a finite completion? Up to now, this famous question in the theory of codes remains open. Motivated by this problem, we construct several types of three-word codes with the form <span>({a, aba, u})</span> and <span>({a, ab, v})</span> which have finite completions.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":7189,"journal":{"name":"Acta Informatica","volume":"62 2","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2025-04-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143840353","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"计算机科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-04-03DOI: 10.1007/s00236-025-00483-1
Alon Efrat, William Evans, Kassian Köck, Stephen Kobourov, Jacob Miller
Bipartite graphs are commonly used to visualize objects and their features. An object may possess several features and several objects may share a common feature. The standard visualization of bipartite graphs, with objects and features on two (say horizontal) parallel lines at integer coordinates and edges drawn as line segments, can often be difficult to work with. A common task in visualization of such graphs is to consider one object and all its features. This naturally defines a drawing window, defined as the smallest interval that contains the x-coordinates of the object and all its features. We show that if both objects and features can be reordered, minimizing the average window size is NP-hard. However, if the features are fixed, then we provide an efficient polynomial-time algorithm for arranging the objects, so as to minimize the average window size. Finally, we introduce a different way of visualizing the bipartite graph, by placing the nodes of the two parts on two concentric circles. For this setting we also show NP-hardness for the general case and a polynomial-time algorithm when the features are fixed.
{"title":"Visualization of bipartite graphs in limited window size","authors":"Alon Efrat, William Evans, Kassian Köck, Stephen Kobourov, Jacob Miller","doi":"10.1007/s00236-025-00483-1","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s00236-025-00483-1","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Bipartite graphs are commonly used to visualize objects and their features. An object may possess several features and several objects may share a common feature. The standard visualization of bipartite graphs, with objects and features on two (say horizontal) parallel lines at integer coordinates and edges drawn as line segments, can often be difficult to work with. A common task in visualization of such graphs is to consider one object and all its features. This naturally defines a drawing window, defined as the smallest interval that contains the x-coordinates of the object and all its features. We show that if both objects and features can be reordered, minimizing the average window size is NP-hard. However, if the features are fixed, then we provide an efficient polynomial-time algorithm for arranging the objects, so as to minimize the average window size. Finally, we introduce a different way of visualizing the bipartite graph, by placing the nodes of the two parts on two concentric circles. For this setting we also show NP-hardness for the general case and a polynomial-time algorithm when the features are fixed.\u0000</p></div>","PeriodicalId":7189,"journal":{"name":"Acta Informatica","volume":"62 2","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2025-04-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s00236-025-00483-1.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143761776","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"计算机科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}