Scoped MSO, Register Automata, and Expressions: Equivalence over Data Words

📅 2026-02-13
📈 Citations: 0
✨ Influential: 0
📄 PDF

Technology Category

Knowledge Representation and Reasoning: Knowledge Representation LanguagesMachine Learning: Statistical Relational/Logic LearningConstraint Satisfaction and Optimization: Satisfiability Modulo Theories

Application Category

Semantics and Knowledge: Methods, algorithms and applications for the development of semantic models, knowledge graphs and other forms of structured data models with machine-interpretable semanticsGraph Algorithms and Modeling for the Web: Algorithms and analysis for incomplete, noisy, or partially observed Web-related graphsSearch and Retrieval-Augmented AI: Multilingual and cross-lingual Web search
📝 Abstract
This paper establishes logical and expression-based characterizations for the class of languages recognized by nondeterministic register automata with guessing (NRA) over infinite alphabets. We introduce Scoped MSO, a logic featuring a novel segment modality and syntactic restrictions on data comparisons. We prove this logic is expressively equivalent to NRA over data domains where ``strong guessing''can be eliminated. Furthermore, we define Data-Regular Expressions, a minimalist regular-expression calculus built from quantifier-free regions and equipped with $k$-contracting concatenation, and demonstrate its equivalence to NRA over arbitrary relational structures. Together, these formalisms provide a robust descriptive theory for register automata, bridging the gap between automata, logic, and expressions.
Problem

Research questions and friction points this paper is trying to address.

register automata
data words
logical characterization
regular expressions
infinite alphabets
Innovation

Methods, ideas, or system contributions that make the work stand out.

Scoped MSO
Register Automata
Data-Regular Expressions
segment modality
k-contracting concatenation
💼 Related Jobs
No related jobs found.
R
Radosław Piórkowski
University of Warwick