Branching bisimulation for probabilistic systems: Characteristics and decidability

We address the concept of abstraction in the setting of probabilistic reactive systems, and study its formal underpinnings for the strictly alternating model of Hansson. In particular, we define the notion of branching bisimilarity and study its properties by studying two other equivalence relations, viz. coloured trace equivalence and branching bisimilarity using maximal probabilities. We show that both alternatives coincide with branching bisimilarity. The alternative characterisations have their own merits and focus on different aspects of branching bisimilarity. Coloured trace equivalence can be understood without knowledge of probability theory and is independent of the notion of a scheduler. Branching bisimilarity, rephrased in terms of maximal probabilities gives rise to an algorithm of polynomial complexity for deciding the equivalence. Together they give a better understanding of branching bisimilarity. Furthermore, we show that the notions of branching bisimilarity in the alternating model of Hansson and in the non-alternating model of Segala differ: branching bisimilarity in the latter setting turns out to discriminate between systems that are intuitively branching bisimilar.     

Branching bisimulation congruence for probabilistic systems

A notion of branching bisimilarity for the alternating model of probabilistic systems, compatible with parallel composition, is defined. For a congruence result, an internal transition immediately followed by a non-trivial probability distribution is not considered inert. A weaker definition of branching bisimilarity for the same model has been given earlier. Here we show that our branching bisimulation is the coarsest congruence for parallel composition that is included in the weaker version. To support the use of the present equivalence as a reduction technique, we also show that probabilistic CTL formulae are preserved by our equivalence, and we provide a polynomial-time algorithm deciding branching bisimilarity.     

Characterizing contextual equivalence in calculi with passivation

We study the problem of characterizing contextual equivalence in higher-order languages with passivation. To overcome the difficulties arising in the proof of congruence of candidate bisimilarities, we introduce a new form of labeled transition semantics together with its associated notion of bisimulation, which we call complementary semantics. Complementary semantics allows to apply the well-known Howe?s method for proving the congruence of bisimilarities in a higher-order setting, even in the presence of an early form of bisimulation. We use complementary semantics to provide a coinductive characterization of contextual equivalence in the HOπP calculus, an extension of the higher-order π-calculus with passivation, obtaining the first result of this kind. We then study the problem of defining a more effective variant of bisimilarity that still characterizes contextual equivalence, along the lines of Sangiorgi?s notion of normal bisimilarity. We provide partial results on this difficult problem: we show that a large class of test processes cannot be used to derive a normal bisimilarity in HOπP, but we show that a form of normal bisimilarity can be defined for HOπP without restriction.     

Deciding orthogonal bisimulation

Bergstra, Ponse and van der Zwaag introduced in 2003 the notion of orthogonal bisimulation equivalence on labeled transition systems. This equivalence is a refinement of branching bisimulation, in which consecutive tau’s (silent steps) can be compressed into one (but not zero) tau’s. The main advantage of orthogonal bisimulation is that it combines well with priorities. Here we solve the problem of deciding orthogonal bisimulation equivalence in finite (regular) labeled transition systems. Unlike as in branching bisimulation, in orthogonal bisimulation, cycles of silent steps cannot be eliminated. Hence, the algorithm of Groote and Vaandrager (1990) cannot be adapted easily. However, we show that it is still possible to decide orthogonal bisimulation with the same complexity as that of Groote and Vaandrager’s algorithm. Thus if n is the number of states, and m the number of transitions then it takes O(n(m + n)) time to decide orthogonal bisimilarity on finite labeled transition systems, using O(m + n) space. J. Parrow     

A modal characterization of alternating approximate bisimilarity

Recently, alternating transition systems are adopted to describe control systems with disturbances and their finite abstract systems. In order to capture the equivalence relation between these systems, a notion of alternating approximate bisimilarity is introduced. This paper aims to establish a modal characterization for alternating approximate bisimilarity. Based on this result, we provide a link between specifications satisfied by the samples of control systems with disturbances and their finite abstractions. Moreover, a simple example is given to illustrate the application of such link in the design of controller of control systems.     

Computable processes and bisimulation equivalence

A process is calledcomputable if it can be modelled by a transition system that has a recursive structure—implying finite branching. The equivalence relation between transition systems considered is strong bisimulation equivalence. The transition systems studied in this paper can be associated to processes specified in common specification languages such as CCS, LOTOS, ACP and PSF. As a means for defining transition systems up to bisimulation equivalence, the specification languageCRL is used. Two simple fragments of,CRL are singled out, yielding universal expressivity with respect to recursive and primitive recursive transition systems. For both these domains the following properties are classified in the arithmetical hierarchy:bisimilarity, perpetuity (both ₁ ⁰ ),regularity (having a bisimilar, finite representation, ₂ ⁰ ),acyclic regularity ( ₁ ⁰ ), anddeadlock freedom (distinguishing deadlock from successful termination, ₁ ⁰ ). Finally, it is shown that in the domain of primitive recursive transition systems over a fixed, finite label set, a genuine hierarchy in bisimilarity can be defined by the complexity of the witnessing relations, which extends r.e. bisimilarity. Hence, primitive recursive transition systems already form an interesting class.     

A Behavioural Pseudometric based on λ–Bisimilarity

In order to describe approximate equivalence among processes, the notions of λ–bisimilarity and behavioural pseudometric have been introduced by Ying and van Breugel respectively. Van Breugel provides a distance function induced by λ–bisimilarity, and conjectures that his behavioural pseudometric coincides with this function. This paper is inspired by this conjecture. We give a negative answer for van Breugel's conjecture first. Moreover, we show that the distance function induced by λ–bisimilarity is a pseudometric on states, and provide a fixed point characterization of this pseudometric.     

Decidability of Branching Bisimulation on Normed Commutative Context-Free Processes

We investigate normed commutative context-free processes (Basic Parallel Processes). We show that branching bisimilarity admits the bounded response property: in the Bisimulation Game, Duplicator always has a response leading to a process of size linearly bounded with respect to the Spoiler’s process. The linear bound is effective, which leads to decidability of branching bisimilarity. For weak bisimilarity, we are able merely to show existence of some linear bound, which is not sufficient for decidability. We conjecture however that the same effective bound holds for weak bisimilarity as well. We suppose that further elaboration of novel techniques developed in this paper may be sufficient to demonstrate decidability.     

On the representation of McCarthy's in the -calculus

We study the encoding of , the call-by-name λ-calculus enriched with McCarthy's amb operator, into the π-calculus. Semantically, amb is a challenging operator, for the fairness constraints that it expresses. We prove that, under a certain interpretation of divergence in the λ-calculus (weak divergence), a faithful encoding is impossible. However, with a different interpretation of divergence (strong divergence), the encoding is possible, and for this case we derive results and coinductive proof methods to reason about that are similar to those for the encoding of pure λ-calculi. We then use these methods to derive the most important laws concerning amb. We take bisimilarity as behavioural equivalence on the π-calculus, which sheds some light on the relationship between fairness and bisimilarity.     

Refining the Undecidability Border of Weak Bisimilarity

Weak bisimilarity is one of the most studied behavioural equivalences. This equivalence is undecidable for pushdown processes (PDA), process algebras (PA), and multiset automata (MSA, also known as parallel pushdown processes, PPDA). Its decidability is an open question for basic process algebras (BPA) and basic parallel processes (BPP). We move the undecidability border towards these classes by showing that the equivalence remains undecidable for weakly extended versions of BPA and BPP. In fact, we show that the weak bisimulation equivalence problem is undecidable even for normed subclasses of BPA and BPP extended with a finite constraint system.     

π-calculus with noisy channels

It is assumed in the π-calculus that communication channels are always noiseless. But it is usually not the case in the mobile systems that developers are faced with in the real life. In this paper, we introduce an extension of π, called π_N, in which noisy channels may be present. A probabilistic transitional semantics of π_N is given. The notions of approximate (strong) bisimilarity and equivalence between agents in π_N are proposed, and various algebraic laws for them are established. In particular, we introduce the notion of stratified bisimulation which is suited to describe behavior equivalence between infinite probabilistic processes. Some useful techniques for reasoning about approximate bisimilarity and equivalence are developed. We also introduce a notion of reliability in order to compare different behaviors of an agent in π and π_N. It is shown that reliability is preserved by the basic combinators in π. A link between reliability and bisimulation is given. This provides us with a uniform framework in which we can reason about both correctness properties and reliability of mobile systems. Also, a potential way of combing value-passing process algebras and Shannon’s information theory is pointed out.     

Bisimilarity Control of Partially Observed Deterministic Systems

Control for safety and nonblockingness using a deterministic supervisor requires the specification language be controllable and observable (under the setting that marking is also decided by a supervisor). We argue that there exist cases where the above properties do not hold, yet a safe and nonblocking control can be synthesized by allowing the supervisor to be nondeterministic. Use of a nondeterministic supervisor yields a controlled system that is nondeterministic for which a language equivalence only preserve the safety but not the nonblocking property, and so instead we require the stronger equivalence of bisimilarity (which preserves "sequential" behavior such as safety as well as "branching" behavior such as nonblockingness). This motivates us to consider control of deterministic systems for achieving bisimulation equivalence to possibly nondeterministic specifications. We introduce the notions of state-achievability (SA) and state-achievability-bisimilar (SAB) as part of the existence condition, and develop effective algorithms for verify the existence conditions as well as for synthesizing a supervisor when the existence condition holds. We show that the complexity of verifying the existence of a controller is polynomial, whereas that of computing a controller (when one exists) is singly exponential. The proposed approach can be applied to enforce any property that depends on branching and sequential behavior.     

(η,α)-互模拟的分层及判定算法

分层刻画是传统的互模拟概念研究中的一个重要内容,它为一些互模拟判定算法提供了理论基石。(η,α)-互模拟是一种带折扣的近似互模拟概念,其定义蕴涵着一种折扣思想:在比较系统差异时,越晚出现的差异越不重要。为(η,α)-互模拟建立分层刻画,将清晰地揭示这种折扣思想。此外,由于(η,α)-互模拟一般不是等价关系,所以传统的互模拟判定算法中常用的最粗划分方法不适用于(η,α)-互模拟的判定,基于(η,α)-互模拟的分层刻画给出一种该互模拟的判定算法。还提供一个简单的例子用于说明(η,α)-互模拟及其判定算法在描述实现与规范之间关系时的应用。     

Towards coalgebraic behaviourism

In this paper we show that it is possible to model observable behaviour of coalgebras independently from their internal dynamics, but within the general framework of representing behaviour by a map into a “final” coalgebra.In the first part of the paper we characterise Set-endofunctors F with the property that bisimilarity of elements of F-coalgebras coincides with having the same observable behaviour. We show that such functors have the final coalgebra of a rather simple nature, and preserve some weak pullbacks. We also show that this is the case if and only if F-bisimilarity corresponds to logical equivalence in the finitary fragment of the coalgebraic logic.In the second part of the paper, we present a construction of a “final” coalgebra that captures the observable behaviour of F-coalgebras. We keep the word “final” quoted since the object we are going to construct need not belong to the original category. The construction is carried out for arbitrary Set-endofunctor F, throughout the construction we remain in Set, but the price to pay is the introduction of new morphisms. The paper concludes with a hint to a possible application to modelling weak bisimilarity for coalgebras.     

Barbed Congruence of Asymmetry and Mismatch

The X calculus is a model of concurrent and mobile systems. It emphasizes that communications are information exchanges. In the paper, two constructions are incorporated into the framework of the chi calculus, which are asymmetric communication and mismatch condition widely used in applications. Since the barbed bisimilarity has proved its generality and gained its popularity as an effective approach to generating a reasonable observational equivalence, we study both the operational and algebraic properties of the barbed bisimilarity in this enriched calculus. The investigation supports an improved understanding of the bisimulation behaviors of the model. It also gives a general picture of how the two constructions affect the observational theory.     

Metrics for Action-labelled Quantitative Transition Systems

This paper defines action-labelled quantitative transition systems as a general framework for combining qualitative and quantitative analysis. We define state-metrics as a natural extension of bisimulation from non-quantitative systems to quantitative ones. We then prove that any single state-metric corresponds to a bisimulation and that the greatest state-metric corresponds to bisimilarity. Furthermore, we provide two extended examples which show that our results apply to both probabilistic and weighted automata as special cases of action-labelled quantitative transition systems.     

Probabilistic systems coalgebraically: A survey

We survey the work on both discrete and continuous-space probabilistic systems as coalgebras, starting with how probabilistic systems are modeled as coalgebras and followed by a discussion of their bisimilarity and behavioral equivalence, mentioning results that follow from the coalgebraic treatment of probabilistic systems. It is interesting to note that, for different reasons, for both discrete and continuous probabilistic systems it may be more convenient to work with behavioral equivalence than with bisimilarity.     

格值交替树自动机

交替（树）自动机因其本身关于取补运算的简洁性及其与非确定型（树）自动机的等价性,成为自动机与模型检测领域研究的一个新方向.在格值交替自动机与经典交替树自动机概念的基础上,引入格值交替树自动机的概念,并研究了格值交替树自动机的代数封闭性和表达能力.首先,证明了对格值交替树自动机的转移函数取对偶运算,终止权重取补之后所得自动机与原自动机接受语言互补这一结论.其次,证明了格值交替树自动机关于交、并运算的封闭性.最后,讨论了格值交替树自动机和格值树自动机、格值非确定型自动机的表达能力;证明了格值交替树自动机与格值树自动机的等价性,并给出了二者相互转化的算法及其复杂度分析;同时,提供了用格值非确定型自动机来模拟格值交替树自动机的方法.     

Encoding Cryptographic Primitives in a Calculus with Polyadic Synchronisation

We thoroughly study the behavioural theory of epi, a ??-calculus extended with polyadic synchronisation. We show that the natural contextual equivalence, barbed congruence, coincides with early bisimilarity, which is thus its co-inductive characterisation. Moreover, we relate early bisimilarity with the other usual notions, ground, late and open, obtaining a lattice of equivalence relations that clarifies the relationship among the ??standard?? bisimilarities. Furthermore, we apply the theory developed to obtain an expressiveness result: epi extended with key encryption primitives may be fully abstractly encoded in the original epi calculus. The proposed encoding is sound and complete with respect to barbed congruence; hence, cryptographic epi (crypto-epi) gets behavioural theory for free, which contrasts with other process languages with cryptographic constructs that usually require a big effort to develop such theory. Therefore, it is possible to use crypto-epi to analyse and to verify properties of security protocols using equational reasoning. To illustrate this claim, we prove compliance with symmetric and asymmetric cryptographic system laws, and the correctness of a protocol of secure message exchange.