A Nivat Theorem for Weighted Alternating Automata over Commutative Semirings

Abstract

In this paper, we give a Nivat-like characterization for weighted alternating automata over commutative semirings (WAFA). To this purpose we prove that weighted alternating can be characterized as the concatenation of weighted finite tree automata (WFTA) and a specific class of tree homomorphism. We show that the class of series recognized by weighted alternating automata is closed under inverses of homomorphisms, but not under homomorphisms. We give a logical characterization of weighted alternating automata, which uses weighted MSO logic for trees. Finally we investigate the strong connection between weighted alternating automata and polynomial automata. Using the corresponding result for polynomial automata, we are able to prove that the ZERONESS problem for weighted alternating automata with the rational numbers as weights is decidable.