Comparison of max-plus automata and joint spectral radius of tropical matrices

Laure Daviaud, Pierre Guillon, Glenn Merlet

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

5 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Weighted automata over the tropical semiring Zmax = (Z[{-∞}, max, +) are closely related to finitely generated semigroups of matrices over Zmax. In this paper, we use results in automata theory to study two quantities associated with sets of matrices: the joint spectral radius and the ultimate rank. We prove that these two quantities are not computable over the tropical semiring, i.e. there is no algorithm that takes as input a finite set of matrices ω and provides as output the joint spectral radius (resp. the ultimate rank) of ω. On the other hand, we prove that the joint spectral radius is nevertheless approximable and we exhibit restricted cases in which the joint spectral radius and the ultimate rank are computable. To reach this aim, we study the problem of comparing functions computed by weighted automata over the tropical semiring. This problem is known to be undecidable, and we prove that it remains undecidable in some specific subclasses of automata.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publication42nd International Symposium on Mathematical Foundations of Computer Science, MFCS 2017
EditorsKim G. Larsen, Jean-Francois Raskin, Hans L. Bodlaender
PublisherSchloss Dagstuhl- Leibniz-Zentrum fur Informatik GmbH, Dagstuhl Publishing
ISBN (Electronic)9783959770460
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Nov 2017
Externally publishedYes
Event42nd International Symposium on Mathematical Foundations of Computer Science, MFCS 2017 - Aalborg, Denmark
Duration: 21 Aug 201725 Aug 2017

Publication series

NameLeibniz International Proceedings in Informatics, LIPIcs
Volume83
ISSN (Print)1868-8969

Conference

Conference42nd International Symposium on Mathematical Foundations of Computer Science, MFCS 2017
Country/TerritoryDenmark
CityAalborg
Period21/08/1725/08/17

Keywords

  • Joint spectral radius
  • Max-plus automata
  • Max-plus matrices
  • Tropical semiring
  • Ultimate rank
  • Weighted automata

Cite this