Enumeration Algorithms for Minimal Siphons in Petri Nets Based on Place Constraints

Abstract

The paper addresses the problem of enumerating minimal siphons in an ordinary Petri net. The algorithms developed in this work recursively use a problem partitioning procedure to reduce the original search problem to multiple simpler search subproblems. Each subproblem has specific additional place constraints with respect to the original problem. Some results on algorithm correctness, convergence, and computational complexity are provided, as well as an experimental evaluation of performance. The algorithms can be applied to enumerate minimal, place-minimal siphons, or even siphons that are minimal with respect to given subsets of places.