A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal
Undecidability of state complexity
Authors: Arto Salomaa, Kai Salomaa, Sheng Yu
Publisher: TAYLOR & FRANCIS LTD
Publication year: 2013
Journal: International Journal of Computer Mathematics
Journal name in source: INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF COMPUTER MATHEMATICS
Journal acronym: INT J COMPUT MATH
Number in series: 6
Volume: 90
Issue: 6
First page : 1310
Last page: 1320
Number of pages: 11
ISSN: 0020-7160
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/00207160.2012.704994
We consider the state complexity of compositions of regularity-preserving language operations. As our main result, we establish that determining the state complexity of an operation composed just from intersections and marked concatenations is undecidable. The proof relies on the undecidability of Hilbert's Tenth Problem. The languages used in the construction are over a fixed alphabet with at most 50 letters. We also consider some implications and generalizations, as well as discuss open problems.