🔬 Research > Conferences
Well-quasi-orderings on word languages.
Published at FoSSACS 2026
Abstract
The set of finite words over a well-quasi-ordered set is itself well-quasi-ordered. This seminal result by Higman is a cornerstone of the theory of well-quasi-orderings and has found numerous applications in computer science. However, this result is based on a specific choice of ordering on words, the (scattered) subword ordering. In this paper, we describe to what extent other natural orderings (prefix, suffix, and infix) on words can be used to derive Higman-like theorems. More specifically, we are interested in characterizing *languages* of words that are well-quasi-ordered under these orderings, and explore their properties and connections with other language theoretic notions. We furthermore give decision procedures when the languages are given by various computational models such as automata, context-free grammars, and automatic structures.Labelled Well Quasi Ordered Classes of Bounded Linear Clique-Width.
Published at MFCS 2025
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Abstract
We construct an algorithm that inputs an MSO-interpretation from finite words to graphs, and decides if there exists a k ∈ ℕ such that the class of graphs induced by the interpretation is not well-quasi-ordered by the induced subgraph relation when vertices are freely labelled using {1, …, k}. In case no such k exists, we also prove that the class of graphs is not well-quasi-ordered by the induced subgraph relation when vertices are freely labelled using any well-quasi-ordered set of labels. As a byproduct of our analysis, we prove that for classes of bounded linear clique-width, a weak version of a conjecture by Pouzet holds.Commutative N-Rational Series of Polynomial Growth.
Published at STACS 2025
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Abstract
This paper studies which functions computed by ℤ-weighted automata can be realised by ℕ-weighted automata, under two extra assumptions: commutativity (the order of letters in the input does not matter) and polynomial growth (the output of the function is bounded by a polynomial in the size of the input). We leverage this effective characterization to decide whether a function computed by a commutative ℕ-weighted automaton of polynomial growth is star-free, a notion borrowed from the theory of regular languages that has been the subject of many investigations in the context of string-to-string functions during the last decade.Polyregular Model Checking.
Published at CAV 2025
Abstract
We introduce a high-level language with Python-like syntax for string-to-string, polyregular, first-order definable transductions. This language features function calls, boolean variables, and nested for-loops. We devise and implement a complete decision procedure for the verification of such programs against a first-order specification. The decision procedure reduces the verification problem to the decidable first-order theory of finite words (extensively studied in automata theory), which we discharge using either complete tools specific to this theory (MONA), or to general-purpose SMT solvers (Z3, CVC5).Z-polyregular functions.
Published at LICS 2023
[pdf] [slides] [bib] [arXiv] [doi]
Abstract
This paper studies a robust class of functions from finite words to integers that we call ℤ-polyregular functions. We show that it admits natural characterizations in terms of logics, ℤ-rational expressions, ℤ-rational series and transducers.We then study two subclass membership problems. First, we show that the asymptotic growth rate of a function is computable, and corresponds to the minimal number of variables required to represent it using logical formulas. Second, we show that first-order definability of ℤ-polyregular functions is decidable. To show the latter, we introduce an original notion of residual transducer, and provide a semantic characterization based on aperiodicity.Fixed Points and Noetherian Topologies.
Published at FoSSACS 2023
[pdf] [slides] [bib] [arXiv] [doi]
Abstract
Noetherian spaces are a generalisation of well-quasi-orderings to topologies, that can be used to prove termination of programs. They find applications in the verification of transition systems, some of which are better described using topology. The goal of this paper is to allow the systematic description of computations using inductively defined datatypes via Noetherian spaces. This is achieved through a fixed point theorem based on a topological minimal bad sequence argument.When Locality Meets Preservation.
Published at LICS 2022
[pdf] [slides] [bib] [arXiv] [doi]
Abstract
This paper investigates the expressiveness of a fragment of first-order sentences in Gaifman normal form, namely the positive Boolean combinations of basic local sentences. We show that they match exactly the first-order sentences preserved under local elementary embeddings, thus providing a new general preservation theorem and extending the Łós-Tarski Theorem. This full preservation result fails as usual in the finite, and we show furthermore that the naturally related decision problems are undecidable. In the more restricted case of preservation under extensions, it nevertheless yields new well-behaved classes of finite structures: we show that preservation under extensions holds if and only if it holds locally.Preservation Theorems Through the Lens of Topology.
Published at CSL 2021
[pdf] [slides] [bib] [arXiv] [doi]
Abstract
In this paper, we introduce a family of topological spaces that captures the existence of preservation theorems. The structure of those spaces allows us to study the relativisation of preservation theorems under suitable definitions of surjective morphisms, subclasses, sums, products, topological closures, and projective limits. Throughout the paper, we also integrate already known results into this new framework and show how it captures the essence of their proofs.Basic Operational Preorders for Algebraic Effects in General, and for Combined Probability and Nondeterminism in Particular.
Published at CSL 2018
Abstract
The "generic operational metatheory" of Johann, Simpson and Voigtländer (LiCS 2010) defines contextual equivalence, in the presence of algebraic effects, in terms of a basic operational preorder on ground-type effect trees. We propose three general approaches to specifying such preorders: (i) operational (ii) denotational, and (iii) axiomatic; coinciding with the three major styles of program semantics. We illustrate these via a nontrivial case study: the combination of probabilistic choice with nondeterminism, for which we show that natural instantiations of the three specification methods (operational in terms of Markov decision processes, denotational using a powerdomain, and axiomatic) all determine the same canonical preorder. We do this in the case of both angelic and demonic nondeterminism.Diagrammatic Semantics for Digital Circuits.
Published at CSL 2017
Abstract
We introduce a general diagrammatic theory of digital circuits, based on connections between monoidal categories and graph rewriting. The main achievement of the paper is conceptual, filling a foundational gap in reasoning syntactically and symbolically about a large class of digital circuits (discrete values, discrete delays, feedback). This complements the dominant approach to circuit modelling, which relies on simulation. The main advantage of our symbolic approach is the enabling of automated reasoning about parametrised circuits, with a potentially interesting new application to partial evaluation of digital circuits. Relative to the recent interest and activity in categorical and diagrammatic methods, our work makes several new contributions. The most important is establishing that categories of digital circuits are Cartesian and admit, in the presence of feedback expressive iteration axioms. The second is producing a general yet simple graph-rewrite framework for reasoning about such categories in which the rewrite rules are computationally efficient, opening the way for practical applications.A structural and nominal syntax for diagrams.
Published at QPL 2017
Abstract
The correspondence between monoidal categories and graphical languages of diagrams has been studied extensively, leading to applications in quantum computing and communication, systems theory, circuit design and more. From the categorical perspective, diagrams can be specified using (name-free) combinators which enjoy elegant equational properties. However, conventional notations for diagrammatic structures, such as hardware description languages (VHDL, Verilog) or graph languages (Dot), use a different style, which is flat, relational, and reliant on extensive use of names (labels). Such languages are not known to enjoy nice syntactic equational properties. However, since they make it relatively easy to specify (and modify) arbitrary diagrammatic structures they are more popular than the combinator style. In this paper we show how the two approaches to diagram syntax can be reconciled and unified in a way that does not change the semantics and the existing equational theory. Additionally, we give sound and complete equational theories for the combined syntax.