Skip to main content

Decidable Hierarchies of Starfree Languages

  • Conference paper
  • First Online:
FST TCS 2000: Foundations of Software Technology and Theoretical Computer Science (FSTTCS 2000)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNCS,volume 1974))

  • 546 Accesses

Abstract

We introduce a strict hierarchy \( \{ \mathbb{L}_n^\mathcal{B} \} \) of language classes which exhausts the class of starfree regular languages. It is shown for all n ≥ 0 that the classes \( \mathbb{L}_n^\mathcal{B} \) have decidable membership problems. As the main result, we prove that our hierarchy is levelwise comparable by inclusion to the dot-depth hierarchy, more precisely, \( \mathbb{L}_n^\mathcal{B} \) contains all languages having dot-depth n +1...2. This yields a lower bound algorithm for the dot-depth of a given language. The same results hold for a hierarchy \( \left\{ {\mathbb{L}_n^\mathcal{L} } \right\}\) and the Straubing-Thérien hierarchy.

Supported by the Studienstiftung des Deutschen Volkes.

Supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG), grant Wa 847/4-1.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 39.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  1. M. Arfi. Opérations polynomiales et hiérarchies de concaténation. Theoretical Computer Science, 91: 71–84, 1991.

    Article  MATH  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  2. J. A. Brzozowski and R. Knast. The dot-depth hierarchy of star-free languages is infinite. Journal of Computer and System Sciences, 16: 37–55, 1978.

    Article  MATH  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  3. R. S. Cohen and J. A. Brzozowski. Dot-depth of star-free events. Journal of Computer and System Sciences, 5: 1–16, 1971.

    MATH  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  4. S. Eilenberg. Automata, languages and machines, volume B. Academic Press, New York, 1976.

    MATH  Google Scholar 

  5. C. Glaßer. A normal form for classes of concatenation hierarchies. Technical Report 216, Inst. für Informatik, Univ. Würzburg, 1998.

    Google Scholar 

  6. C. Glaßer and H. Schmitz. Languages of dot-depth 3/2. In Proceedings 17th STACS, volume 1770 of LNCS, pages 555–566. Springer Verlag, 2000.

    Google Scholar 

  7. R. Knast. A semigroup characterization of dot-depth one languages. RAIRO Inform. Théor., 17: 321–330, 1983.

    MATH  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  8. J.-E. Pin. Syntactic semigroups. In G. Rozenberg and A. Salomaa, editors, Handbook of formal languages, volume I, pages 679–746. Springer, 1996.

    Google Scholar 

  9. J.-E. Pin. Bridges for concatenation hierarchies. In Proceedings 25th ICALP, volume 1443 of LNCS, pages 431–442. Springer Verlag, 1998.

    Google Scholar 

  10. J.-E. Pin and P. Weil. Polynomial closure and unambiguous product. Theory of computing systems, 30: 383–422, 1997.

    MATH  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  11. I. Simon. Piecewise testable events. In Proceedings 2nd GI Conference, volume33 of Lecture Notes in Computer Science, pages 214–222. Springer-Verlag, 1975.

    Google Scholar 

  12. H. Straubing. A generalization of the Schützenberger product of finite monoids. Theoretical Computer Science, 13: 137–150, 1981.

    Article  MATH  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  13. H. Straubing. Finite semigroup varieties of the form V * D. J.Pure Appl.Algebra, 36: 53–94, 1985.

    Article  MATH  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  14. H. Straubing. Semigroups and languages of dot-depth two. Theoretical Computer Science, 58: 361–378, 1988.

    Article  MATH  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  15. D. Thérien. Classification of finite monoids: the language approach. Theoretical Computer Science, 14: 195–208, 1981.

    Article  MATH  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  16. W. Thomas. An application of the Ehrenfeucht-Fraïssé game in formal language theory. Société Mathématique de France, mémoire 16, 2: 11–21, 1984.

    MATH  Google Scholar 

  17. P. Weil. Some results on the dot-depth hierarchy. Semigroup Forum, 46: 352–370, 1993.

    Article  MATH  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2000 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

About this paper

Cite this paper

Gla\er, C., Schmitz, H. (2000). Decidable Hierarchies of Starfree Languages. In: Kapoor, S., Prasad, S. (eds) FST TCS 2000: Foundations of Software Technology and Theoretical Computer Science. FSTTCS 2000. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 1974. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-44450-5_41

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-44450-5_41

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-540-41413-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-540-44450-3

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

Publish with us

Policies and ethics