Monadic Second-order Research Articles

Path- and index-sensitive string analysis based on monadic second-order logic

We propose a novel technique for statically verifying the strings generated by a program. The verification is conducted by encoding the program in Monadic Second-order Logic (M2L). We use M2L to describe constraints among program variables and to abstract built-in string operations. Once we encode a program in M2L, a theorem prover for M2L, such as MONA, can automatically check if a string generated by the program satisfies a given specification, and if not, exhibit a counterexample. With this approach, we can naturally encode relationships among strings, accounting also for cases in which a program manipulates strings using indices. In addition, our string analysis is path sensitive in that it accounts for the effects of string and Boolean comparisons, as well as regular-expression matches. We have implemented our string analysis algorithm, and used it to augment an industrial security analysis for Web applications by automatically detecting and verifying sanitizers —methods that eliminate malicious patterns from untrusted strings, making these strings safe to use in security-sensitive operations. On the 8 benchmarks we analyzed, our string analyzer discovered 128 previously unknown sanitizers, compared to 71 sanitizers detected by a previously presented string analysis.

Verified decision procedures for MSO on words based on derivatives of regular expressions

Monadic second-order logic on finite words (MSO) is a decidable yet expressive logic into which many decision problems can be encoded. Since MSO formulas correspond to regular languages, equivalence of MSO formulas can be reduced to the equivalence of some regular structures (e.g. automata). This paper presents a verified functional decision procedure for MSO formulas that is not based on automata but on regular expressions. Functional languages are ideally suited for this task: regular expressions are data types and functions on them are defined by pattern matching and recursion and are verified by structural induction. Decision procedures for regular expression equivalence have been formalized before, usually based on Brzozowski derivatives. Yet, for a straightforward embedding of MSO formulas into regular expressions an extension of regular expressions with a projection operation is required. We prove total correctness and completeness of an equivalence checker for regular expressions extended in that way. We also define a language-preserving translation of formulas into regular expressions with respect to two different semantics of MSO. Our results have been formalized and verified in the theorem prover Isabelle. Using Isabelle's code generation facility, this yields purely functional, formally verified programs that decide equivalence of MSO formulas.

On the expressiveness of second-order spider diagrams

Existing diagrammatic notations based on Euler diagrams are mostly limited in expressiveness to monadic first-order logic with an order predicate. The most expressive monadic diagrammatic notation is known as spider diagrams of order. A primary contribution of this paper is to develop and formalise a second-order diagrammatic logic, called second-order spider diagrams, extending spider diagrams of order. A motivation for this lies in the limited expressiveness of first-order logics. They are incapable of defining a variety of common properties, like ‘is even’, which are second-order definable. We show that second-order spider diagrams are at least as expressive as monadic second-order logic. This result is proved by giving a method for constructing a second-order spider diagram for any regular expression. Since monadic second-order logic sentences and regular expressions are equivalent in expressive power, this shows second-order spider diagrams can express any sentence of monadic second-order logic.

Models for quantitative distributed systems and multi-valued logics

We investigate weighted asynchronous cellular automata (wACAs) with weights in valuation monoids. These automata form a distributed extension of weighted finite automata (wFAs) and allow us to model concurrency. Valuation monoids are abstract weight structures that include semirings and (non-distributive) bounded lattices but also offer the possibility to model average behaviours. We prove that wACAs and wFAs which satisfy an I-diamond property are equally expressive. The main result of this paper gives a characterization of this expressiveness by weighted monadic second-order logic.

Subshifts as models for MSO logic

We study the Monadic Second Order (MSO) Hierarchy over colorings of the discrete plane, and draw links between classes of formula and classes of subshifts. We give a characterization of existential MSO in terms of projections of tilings, and of universal sentences in terms of combinations of “pattern counting” subshifts. Conversely, we characterize logic fragments corresponding to various classes of subshifts (subshifts of finite type, sofic subshifts, all subshifts). Finally, we show by a separation result how the situation here is different from the case of tiling pictures studied earlier by Giammarresi et al.

Event clock message passing automata: a logical characterization and an emptiness checking algorithm

We are interested in modeling behaviors and verifying properties of systems in which time and concurrency play a crucial role. We introduce a model of distributed automata which are equipped with event clocks as in Alur et al. (Theor Comput Sci 211:253---273, 1999), which we call Event Clock Message Passing Automata (ECMPA). To describe the behaviors of such systems we use timed partial orders (modeled as message sequence charts with timing). Our first goal is to extend the classical Buchi-Elgot-Trakhtenbrot equivalence to the timed and distributed setting, by showing an equivalence between ECMPA and a timed extension of monadic second-order (MSO) logic. We obtain such a constructive equivalence in two different ways: (1) by restricting the semantics by bounding the set of timed partial orders; (2) by restricting the timed MSO logic to its existential fragment. We next consider the emptiness problem for ECMPA, which asks if a given ECMPA has some valid timed execution. In general this problem is undecidable and we show that by considering only bounded timed executions, we can obtain decidability. We do this by constructing a timed automaton which accepts all bounded timed executions of the ECMPA and checking emptiness of this timed automaton.

Complete Axiomatizations of Fragments of Monadic Second-Order Logic on Finite Trees

We consider a specific class of tree structures that can represent basic structures in linguistics and computer science such as XML documents, parse trees, and treebanks, namely, finite node-labeled sibling-ordered trees. We present axiomatizations of the monadic second-order logic (MSO), monadic transitive closure logic (FO(TC1)) and monadic least fixed-point logic (FO(LFP1)) theories of this class of structures. These logics can express important properties such as reachability. Using model-theoretic techniques, we show by a uniform argument that these axiomatizations are complete, i.e., each formula that is valid on all finite trees is provable using our axioms. As a backdrop to our positive results, on arbitrary structures, the logics that we study are known to be non-recursively axiomatizable.

Weighted automata and weighted MSO logics for average and long-time behaviors

Weighted automata model quantitative aspects of systems like memory or power consumption. Recently, Chatterjee, Doyen, and Henzinger introduced a new kind of weighted automata which compute objectives like the average cost or the long-time peak power consumption. In these automata, operations like average, limit superior, limit inferior, limit average, or discounting are used to assign values to finite or infinite words. In general, these weighted automata are not semiring weighted anymore. Here, we establish a connection between such new kinds of weighted automata and weighted logics. We show that suitable weighted MSO logics and these new weighted automata are expressively equivalent, both for finite and infinite words. The constructions employed are effective, leading to decidability results for the weighted logic formulas considered.

Automata for the verification of monadic second-order graph properties

The model-checking problem for monadic second-order logic on graphs is fixed-parameter tractable with respect to tree-width and clique-width. The proof constructs finite automata from monadic second-order sentences. These automata recognize the terms over fixed finite signatures that define graphs satisfying the given sentences. However, this construction produces automata of hyper-exponential sizes, and is thus impossible to use in practice in many cases. To overcome this difficulty, we propose to specify the transitions of automata by programs instead of tables. Such automata are called fly-automata. By using them, we can check certain monadic second-order graph properties with limited quantifier alternation depth, that are nevertheless interesting for Graph Theory. We give explicit constructions of automata relative to graphs of bounded clique-width, and we report on experiments.

Monadic Second-Order Classes of Forests with a Monadic Second-Order 0-1 Law

Automata, Logic and Semantics Let T be a monadic-second order class of finite trees, and let T(x) be its (ordinary) generating function, with radius of convergence rho. If rho >= 1 then T has an explicit specification (without using recursion) in terms of the operations of union, sum, stack, and the multiset operators n and (>= n). Using this, one has an explicit expression for T(x) in terms of the initial functions x and x . (1 - x(n))(-1), the operations of addition and multiplication, and the Polya exponentiation operators E-n, E-(>= n). Let F be a monadic-second order class of finite forests, and let F (x) = Sigma(n) integral(n)x(n) be its (ordinary) generating function. Suppose F is closed under extraction of component trees and sums of forests. Using the above-mentioned structure theory for the class T of trees in F, Compton's theory of 0-1 laws, and a significantly strengthened version of 2003 results of Bell and Burris on generating functions, we show that F has a monadic second-order 0-1 law iff the radius of convergence of F (x) is 1 iff the radius of convergence of T (x) is >= 1.

Groups, graphs, languages, automata, games and second-order monadic logic

In this paper we survey some surprising connections between group theory, the theory of automata and formal languages, the theory of ends, infinite games of perfect information, and monadic second-order logic.

On the Parameterized Intractability of Monadic Second-Order Logic

One of Courcelle's celebrated results states that if C is a class of graphs of bounded tree-width, then model-checking for monadic second order logic (MSO_2) is fixed-parameter tractable (fpt) on C by linear time parameterized algorithms, where the parameter is the tree-width plus the size of the formula. An immediate question is whether this is best possible or whether the result can be extended to classes of unbounded tree-width. In this paper we show that in terms of tree-width, the theorem cannot be extended much further. More specifically, we show that if C is a class of graphs which is closed under colourings and satisfies certain constructibility conditions and is such that the tree-width of C is not bounded by \log^{84} n then MSO_2-model checking is not fpt unless SAT can be solved in sub-exponential time. If the tree-width of C is not poly-logarithmically bounded, then MSO_2-model checking is not fpt unless all problems in the polynomial-time hierarchy can be solved in sub-exponential time.

On the existence of a modal-logical basis for monadic second-order logic

Kamp (PhD Thesis, University of California, LA) proved that the tense logic of the connectives Until and Since is expressively complete over the class DCLO of Dedekind complete linear orders in the sense that this logic can express exactly the same conditions over DCLO as first-order logic. In the present article a modification of the question of expressive completeness is considered—the question of whether there exists a basis consisting of a finite number of modal-logical connectives for monadic second-order logic. The notion of k-dimensional basis that Gabbay (1981, Aspects of Philosophical Logic, 91–117) defined relative to FO is generalized to arbitrary abstract logics, and it is shown that a finite 2-dimensional basis exists for MSO on the class FLO of all finite linear structures. Beauquier and Rabinovich (2002, J. Logic. Comput., 12, 243–253) have proven that there is no finite 1-dimensional basis for MSO on FLO. Thus, the result yielding a 2-dimensional basis cannot be improved.

A Note on the Logical Definability of Rational Trace Languages

The regular languages in the free monoid generated by a finite alphabet A are exactly the languages that are the models of some sentence of the second-order monadic logic of one successor and a unary predicate for each letter. For trace monoids the natural extension obtained by adapting the successor to the partial order underlying the traces is insufficient to capture the family of their rational subsets. We show that these subsets can be expressed by formulas of the form ∃Γp where p is a first-order formula over the structure of traces and Γ is an n-ary predicate semantically restricted, where n is the cardinality of the alphabet.

Temporal logics over linear time domains are in PSPACE

We investigate the complexity of the satisfiability problem of temporal logics with a finite set of modalities definable in the existential fragment of monadic second-order logic. We show that the problem is in pspace over the class of all linear orders. The same techniques show that the problem is in pspace over many interesting classes of linear orders.

Regular sets over extended tree structures

We investigate notions of decidability and definability for the Monadic Second-Order Logic over labeled tree structures, and its relations with finite automata using oracles to test input prefixes. A general framework is defined allowing to transfer some MSO-properties from a graph-structure to a labeled tree structure. Transferred properties are the decidability of sentences and the existence of a definable model for every satisfiable formula. A class of finite automata with prefix-oracles is also defined, recognizing exactly languages defined by MSO-formulas in any labeled tree-structure. Applying these results, the well-known equivalence between languages recognized by finite automata, sets of vertices MSO definable in a tree-structure and sets of pushdown contexts generated by pushdown-automata is extended to k -iterated pushdown automata.

Randomisation and Derandomisation in Descriptive Complexity Theory

We study probabilistic complexity classes and questions of derandomisation from a logical point of view. For each logic L we introduce a new logic BPL, bounded error probabilistic L, which is defined from L in a similar way as the complexity class BPP, bounded error probabilistic polynomial time, is defined from PTIME. Our main focus lies on questions of derandomisation, and we prove that there is a query which is definable in BPFO, the probabilistic version of first-order logic, but not in Cinf, finite variable infinitary logic with counting. This implies that many of the standard logics of finite model theory, like transitive closure logic and fixed-point logic, both with and without counting, cannot be derandomised. Similarly, we present a query on ordered structures which is definable in BPFO but not in monadic second-order logic, and a query on additive structures which is definable in BPFO but not in FO. The latter of these queries shows that certain uniform variants of AC0 (bounded-depth polynomial sized circuits) cannot be derandomised. These results are in contrast to the general belief that most standard complexity classes can be derandomised. Finally, we note that BPIFP+C, the probabilistic version of fixed-point logic with counting, captures the complexity class BPP, even on unordered structures.

Regular model checking for LTL(MSO)

Regular model checking is a form of symbolic model checking for parameterized and infinite-state systems whose states can be represented as words of arbitrary length over a finite alphabet, in which regular sets of words are used to represent sets of states. We present LTL(MSO), a combination of the logics monadic second-order logic (MSO) and LTL as a natural logic for expressing the temporal properties to be verified in regular model checking. In other words, LTL(MSO) is a natural specification language for both the system and the property under consideration. LTL(MSO) is a two-dimensional modal logic, where MSO is used for specifying properties of system states and transitions, and LTL is used for specifying temporal properties. In addition, the first-order quantification in MSO can be used to express properties parameterized on a position or process. We give a technique for model checking LTL(MSO), which is adapted from the automata-theoretic approach: a formula is translated to a buchi regular transition system with a regular set of accepting states, and regular model checking techniques are used to search for models. We have implemented the technique, and show its application to a number of parameterized algorithms from the literature.

Algorithmic Meta-theorems for Restrictions of Treewidth

Possibly the most famous algorithmic meta-theorem is Courcelle’s theorem, which states that all MSO-expressible graph properties are decidable in linear time for graphs of bounded treewidth. Unfortunately, the running time’s dependence on the formula describing the problem is in general a tower of exponentials of unbounded height, and there exist lower bounds proving that this cannot be improved even if we restrict ourselves to deciding FO logic on trees. We investigate whether this parameter dependence can be improved by focusing on two proper subclasses of the class of bounded treewidth graphs: graphs of bounded vertex cover and graphs of bounded max-leaf number. We prove stronger algorithmic meta-theorems for these more restricted classes of graphs. More specifically, we show it is possible to decide any FO property in both of these classes with a singly exponential parameter dependence and that it is possible to decide MSO logic on graphs of bounded vertex cover with a doubly exponential parameter dependence. We also prove lower bound results which show that our upper bounds cannot be improved significantly, under widely believed complexity assumptions. Our work addresses an open problem posed by Michael Fellows.

Courcelle’s theorem—A game-theoretic approach

Courcelle’s theorem states that every problem definable in Monadic Second-Order logic can be solved in linear time on structures of bounded treewidth, for example, by constructing a tree automaton that recognizes or rejects a tree decomposition of the structure. Existing, optimized software like the MONA tool can be used to build the corresponding tree automata, which for bounded treewidth are of constant size. Unfortunately, the constants involved can become extremely large—every quantifier alternation requires a power set construction for the automaton. Here, the required space can become a problem in practical applications. In this paper, we present a novel, direct approach based on model checking games, which avoids the expensive power set construction. Experiments with an implementation are promising, and we can solve problems on graphs where the automata-theoretic approach fails in practice.