VLDB 2026 Research / reviewers in the wild / expert
Guillermo A. Pérez
dblp:135/6266 · also Guillermo Alberto Pérez
· DBLP profile ↗
62ranked-venue papers
4as first author
36since 2021 · last 2026
0000-0002-1200-4952ORCID · verified
Domains — the database's venue-derived domains; a paper can count in several
Theory of computation · 36 · 3 first-author · 18 since 2021Software engineering, systems software and programming languages · 13 · 8 since 2021Artificial intelligence and machine learning · 12 · 9 since 2021Graphics, computer vision, multimedia, augmented reality and games · 5 · 3 since 2021Systems, architecture and hardware · 3 · 1 first-author · 1 since 2021Databases, data management, data science and information retrieval · 2 · 1 first-author · 1 since 2021Applied, interdisciplinary, general and emerging computing · 1 · 1 since 2021
| Year | Publication | Venue | Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | On the Complexity of Robust Markov Decision Processes and Bisimulation MetricsabstractRobust Markov decision processes (RMDPs) extend standard Markov decision processes (MDPs) to account for uncertainty in the transition probabilities. RMDPs have an uncertainty set that defines a set of possible transition functions, each of which induces a standard MDP. The natural objective in an RMDP is to optimize the discounted cumulative reward under the worst-case transition function in the uncertainty set. We study the complexity of the associated threshold problem for RMDPs with polytopic uncertainty sets in halfspace representation. Previous results focused on approximating the optimum or restricted attention to specific subclasses of RMDPs, such as interval MDPs or L_∞-RMDPs. Our contributions are threefold: (1) For (s,a)-rectangular RMDPs, we prove that robust policy evaluation is in P via robust linear programming, and that the threshold problem is in NP. As a corollary, robust policy iteration is a polynomial-time algorithm for these RMDPs when the discount factor is fixed. (2) For s-rectangular RMDPs, we show that the threshold problem is in PSPACE via the first-order theory of the reals. (3) We establish lower bounds by reducing both parity games and bisimulation metrics between MDP states to the RMDP threshold problem. A polynomial-time algorithm for the threshold problem would resolve the long-standing open question of whether parity games can be solved in polynomial time. The reduction from bisimulation metrics also yields a practical benefit: it allows us to apply robust policy iteration as a more efficient alternative to the standard fixed-point iteration, as our empirical evaluation demonstrates. Marnix Suilen, Guillermo A. Pérez |
CONCUR | 2 |
| 2026 | Visibly Recursive Automata
Kévin Dubrulle, Véronique Bruyère, Guillermo A. Pérez, Gaëtan Staquet |
DLT | 3 |
| 2025 | Revelations: A Decidable Class of POMDPs with Omega-Regular ObjectivesabstractPartially observable Markov decision processes (POMDPs) form a prominent model for uncertainty in sequential decision making. We are interested in constructing algorithms with theoretical guarantees to determine whether the agent has a strategy ensuring a given specification with probability 1. This well-studied problem is known to be undecidable already for very simple omega-regular objectives, because of the difficulty of reasoning on uncertain events. We introduce a revelation mechanism which restricts information loss by requiring that almost surely the agent has eventually full information of the current state. Our main technical results are to construct exact algorithms for two classes of POMDPs called weakly and strongly revealing. Importantly, the decidable cases reduce to the analysis of a finite belief-support Markov decision process. This yields a conceptually simple and exact algorithm for a large class of POMDPs. Marius Belly, Nathanaël Fijalkow, Hugo Gimbert, Florian Horn 0001, Guillermo A. Pérez, Pierre Vandenhove |
AAAI | 5 |
| 2025 | Data Structures for Finite Downsets of Natural Vectors: Theory and Practice
Michaël Cadilhac, Vanessa Flügel, Guillermo A. Pérez, Shrisha Rao 0002 |
ATVA | 3 |
| 2025 | Data-Efficient Safe Policy Improvement Using Parametric StructureabstractSafe policy improvement (SPI) is an offline reinforcement learning problem in which a new policy that reliably outperforms the behavior policy with high confidence needs to be computed using only a dataset and the behavior policy. Markov decision processes (MDPs) are the standard formalism for modeling environments in SPI. In many applications, additional information in the form of parametric dependencies between distributions in the transition dynamics is available. We make SPI more data-efficient by leveraging these dependencies through three contributions: (1) a parametric SPI algorithm that exploits known correlations between distributions to more accurately estimate the transition dynamics using the same amount of data; (2) a preprocessing technique that prunes redundant actions from the environment through a game-based abstraction; and (3) a more advanced preprocessing technique, based on satisfiability modulo theory (SMT) solving, that can identify more actions to prune. Empirical results and an ablation study show that our techniques increase the data efficiency of SPI by multiple orders of magnitude while maintaining the same reliability guarantees. Kasper Engelen, Guillermo A. Pérez, Marnix Suilen |
ECAI | 2 |
| 2025 | Composing Reinforcement Learning Policies, with Formal Guarantees
Florent Delgrange, Guy Avni, Anna Lukina, Christian Schilling 0001, Ann Nowé, Guillermo A. Pérez |
AAMAS | 6 |
| 2025 | The geometry of reachability in continuous vector addition systems with states
Shaull Almagor, Arka Ghosh 0002, Tim Leys, Guillermo A. Pérez |
Inf. Comput. | 4 |
| 2025 | Parikh one-counter automata
Michaël Cadilhac, Arka Ghosh 0002, Guillermo A. Pérez, Ritam Raha |
Inf. Comput. | 3 |
| 2025 | Algorithms for Markov Binomial ChainsabstractWe study algorithms to analyze a particular class of Markov population processes that is often used in epidemiology. More specifically, Markov binomial chains are the model that arises from stochastic time-discretizations of classical compartmental models. In this work we formalize this class of Markov population processes and focus on the problem of computing the expected time to termination in a given such model. Our theoretical contributions include proving that Markov binomial chains whose flow of individuals through compartments is acyclic almost surely terminate. We give a PSPACE algorithm for the problem of approximating the time to termination and a direct algorithm for the exact problem in the Blum-Shub-Smale model of computation. Finally, we provide a natural encoding of Markov binomial chains into a common input language for probabilistic model checkers. We implemented the latter encoding and present some initial empirical results showcasing what formal methods can do for practicing epidemiologists. Alejandro Alarcón Gonzalez, Niel Hens, Tim Leys, Guillermo A. Pérez |
Log. Methods Comput. Sci. | 4 |
| 2024 | SLWM: A Library for Implementing Complex Training Workflows for surrogates of MPC'sabstractModel Predictive Control (MPC) is an advanced control technique that uses a model to predict the system’s future states to optimize its control actions. However, it can be computationally intensive and challenging to provide real-time guarantees. Controller surrogates, based on machine learning techniques, try to overcome this barrier. Training neural networks as surrogates for MPCs often involves intricate workflows, including data generation, model training, and iterative refinement, which can be challenging to manage efficiently. In this paper, we introduce SLWM, a Library that helps create complex workflows used when training a (deep) neural network to act as a surrogate of an MPC. Through a case study of an inverted pendulum, we demonstrate its effectiveness in implementing workflows like Dagger. The results of this implementation show that SLWM fulfils the requirements such as modularity, readability, simplified data management and reliability. Lastly, we list a few potential future applications of SLWM and the extensions of SLWM required for some of them. Stijn Bellis, Joachim Denil, Ramesh Krishnamurthy, Guillermo A. Pérez |
IEEE Big Data | 4 |
| 2024 | Work-in-Progress: Worst-Case Execution-Time Measurement Techniques for Nonlinear Model Predictive ControllersabstractReal-time safety-critical systems using nonlinear model predictive control (NMPC) require guaranteed worst-case execution time (WCET) bounds. Measuring the WCET of NMPC is challenging. We compare three model-informed ways of generating WCET measurement tests. The first two involve uniform partitioning of the state space and simulation; the third uses the concept of complexity certification for active-set solvers. We validate our approach on two benchmarks: an inverted cart pendulum and motion planning of a bicycle. Our results demonstrate a trade-off between the number of tests and the degree of WCET underestimation. Ramesh Krishnamurthy, Guillermo A. Pérez, Joachim Denil, Ward Goossens |
CODES+ISSS | 2 |
| 2024 | On Continuous Pushdown VASS in One Dimension
Guillermo A. Pérez, Shrisha Rao 0002 |
CONCUR | 1 |
| 2024 | The Wasserstein Believer: Learning Belief Updates for Partially Observable Environments through Reliable Latent Space ModelsabstractPartially Observable Markov Decision Processes (POMDPs) are used to model environments where the state cannot be perceived, necessitating reasoning based on past observations and actions. However, remembering the full history is generally intractable due to the exponential growth in the history space. Maintaining a probability distribution that models the belief over the current state can be used as a sufficient statistic of the history, but its computation requires access to the model of the environment and is often intractable. While SOTA algorithms use Recurrent Neural Networks to compress the observation-action history aiming to learn a sufficient statistic, they lack guarantees of success and can lead to sub-optimal policies. To overcome this, we propose the Wasserstein Belief Updater, an RL algorithm that learns a latent model of the POMDP and an approximation of the belief update under the assumption that the state is observable during training. Our approach comes with theoretical guarantees on the quality of our approximation ensuring that our latent beliefs allow for learning the optimal value function. Raphaël Avalos, Florent Delgrange, Ann Nowé, Guillermo A. Pérez, Diederik M. Roijers |
ICLR | 4 |
| 2024 | Integer Programming with GCD ConstraintsabstractWe study the non-linear extension of integer programming with greatest common divisor constraints of the form gcd(f, g) ~ d, where f and g are linear polynomials, d is a positive integer, and ~ is a relation among ≤, = ≠, = and ≥. We show that the feasibility problem for these systems is in NP, and that an optimal solution minimizing a linear objective function, if it exists, has polynomial bit length. To show these results, we identify an expressive fragment of the existential theory of the integers with addition and divisibility that admits solutions of polynomial bit length. It was shown by Lipshitz [Trans. Am. Math. Soc., 235, pp. 271-283, 1978] that this theory adheres to a local-to-global principle in the following sense: a formula Φ is equi-satisfiable with a formula Ψ in this theory such that Ψ has a solution if and only if Ψ has a solution modulo every prime p. We show that in our fragment, only a polynomial number of primes of polynomial bit length need to be considered, and that the solutions modulo prime numbers can be combined to yield a solution to Φ of polynomial bit length. As a technical by-product, we establish a Chinese-remainder-type theorem for systems of congruences and non-congruences showing that solution sizes do not depend on the magnitude of the moduli of non-congruences. Rémy Défossez, Christoph Haase, Alessio Mansutti, Guillermo A. Pérez |
SODA | 4 |
| 2024 | Synthesizing Efficiently Monitorable Formulas in Metric Temporal Logic
Ritam Raha, Rajarshi Roy 0002, Nathanaël Fijalkow, Daniel Neider, Guillermo A. Pérez |
VMCAI (2) | 5 |
| 2024 | The Reactive Synthesis Competition (SYNTCOMP): 2018-2021
Swen Jacobs, Guillermo A. Pérez, Remco Abraham, Véronique Bruyère, Michaël Cadilhac, Maximilien Colange, Charly Delfosse, Tom van Dijk, Alexandre Duret-Lutz, Peter Faymonville, Bernd Finkbeiner, Ayrat Khalimov 0001, Felix Klein 0001, Michael Luttenberger, Klara J. Meyer, Thibaud Michaud, Adrien Pommellet, Florian Renkin, Philipp Schlehuber-Caissier, Mouhammad Sakr, Salomon Sickert, Gaëtan Staquet, Clément Tamines, Leander Tentrup |
Int. J. Softw. Tools Technol. Transf. | 2 |
| 2023 | Bi-objective Lexicographic Optimization in Markov Decision Processes with Related Objectives
Damien Busatto-Gaston, Debraj Chakraborty 0002, Anirban Majumdar 0002, Sayan Mukherjee 0002, Guillermo A. Pérez, Jean-François Raskin |
ATVA (1) | 5 |
| 2023 | Graph-Based Reductions for Parametric and Weighted MDPs
Kasper Engelen, Guillermo A. Pérez, Shrisha Rao 0002 |
ATVA (1) | 2 |
| 2023 | Targeted Adversarial Attacks on Deep Reinforcement Learning Policies via Model CheckingabstractContains fulltext : 292388.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Open Access) Dennis Gross 0001, Thiago D. Simão, Nils Jansen 0001, Guillermo A. Pérez |
ICAART (3) | 4 |
| 2023 | Wasserstein Auto-encoded MDPs: Formal Verification of Efficiently Distilled RL Policies with Many-sided Guarantees
Florent Delgrange, Ann Nowé, Guillermo A. Pérez |
ICLR | 3 |
| 2023 | The Geometry of Reachability in Continuous Vector Addition Systems with StatesabstractWe study the geometry of reachability sets of continuous vector addition systems with states (VASS). In particular we establish that they are "almost" Minkowski sums of convex cones and zonotopes generated by the vectors labelling the transitions of the VASS. We use the latter to prove that short so-called linear path schemes suffice as witnesses of reachability in continuous VASS. Then, we give new polynomial-time algorithms for the reachability problem for linear path schemes. Finally, we also establish that enriching the model with zero tests makes the reachability problem intractable already for linear path schemes of dimension two. Shaull Almagor, Arka Ghosh 0002, Tim Leys, Guillermo A. Pérez |
MFCS | 4 |
| 2023 | Parikh One-Counter Automata
Michaël Cadilhac, Arka Ghosh 0002, Guillermo A. Pérez, Ritam Raha |
MFCS | 3 |
| 2023 | Validating Streaming JSON Documents with Learned VPAsabstractAbstract We present a new streaming algorithm to validate JSON documents against a set of constraints given as a JSON schema. Among the possible values a JSON document can hold, objects are unordered collections of key-value pairs while arrays are ordered collections of values. We prove that there always exists a visibly pushdown automaton (VPA) that accepts the same set of JSON documents as a JSON schema. Leveraging this result, our approach relies on learning a VPA for the provided schema. As the learned VPA assumes a fixed order on the key-value pairs of the objects, we abstract its transitions in a special kind of graph, and propose an efficient streaming algorithm using the VPA and its graph to decide whether a JSON document is valid for the schema. We evaluate the implementation of our algorithm on a number of random JSON documents, and compare it to the classical validation algorithm. Véronique Bruyère, Guillermo A. Pérez, Gaëtan Staquet |
TACAS (1) | 2 |
| 2023 | Acacia-Bonsai: A Modern Implementation of Downset-Based LTL RealizabilityabstractAbstract We describe our implementation of downset-manipulating algorithms used to solve the realizability problem for linear temporal logic (LTL). These algorithms were introduced by Filiot et al. in the 2010s and implemented in the tools Acacia and Acacia+ in C and Python. We identify degrees of freedom in the original algorithms and provide a complete rewriting of Acacia in C++20 articulated around genericity and leveraging modern techniques for better performance. These techniques include compile-time specialization of the algorithms, the use of SIMD registers to store vectors, and several preprocessing steps, some relying on efficient Binary Decision Diagram (BDD) libraries. We also explore different data structures to store downsets. The resulting tool is competitive against comparable modern tools. Michaël Cadilhac, Guillermo A. Pérez |
TACAS (2) | 2 |
| 2023 | Continuous One-counter AutomataabstractWe study the reachability problem for continuous one-counter automata, COCA for short. In such automata, transitions are guarded by upper- and lower-bound tests against the counter value. Additionally, the counter updates associated with taking transitions can be (non-deterministically) scaled down by a nonzero factor between zero and one. Our three main results are as follows: we prove (1) that the reachability problem for COCA with global upper- and lower-bound tests is in NC 2 ; (2) that, in general, the problem is decidable in polynomial time; and (3) that it is NP-complete for COCA with parametric counter updates and bound tests. Michael Blondin, Tim Leys, Filip Mazowiecki, Philip Offtermatt, Guillermo A. Pérez |
ACM Trans. Comput. Log. | 5 |
| 2022 | Distillation of RL Policies with Formal Guarantees via Variational Abstraction of Markov Decision ProcessesabstractWe consider the challenge of policy simplification and verification in the context of policies learned through reinforcement learning (RL) in continuous environments. In well-behaved settings, RL algorithms have convergence guarantees in the limit. While these guarantees are valuable, they are insufficient for safety-critical applications. Furthermore, they are lost when applying advanced techniques such as deep-RL. To recover guarantees when applying advanced RL algorithms to more complex environments with (i) reachability, (ii) safety-constrained reachability, or (iii) discounted-reward objectives, we build upon the DeepMDP framework to derive new bisimulation bounds between the unknown environment and a learned discrete latent model of it. Our bisimulation bounds enable the application of formal methods for Markov decision processes. Finally, we show how one can use a policy obtained via state-of-the-art RL to efficiently train a variational autoencoder that yields a discrete latent model with provably approximately correct bisimulation guarantees. Additionally, we obtain a distilled version of the policy for the latent model. Florent Delgrange, Ann Nowé, Guillermo A. Pérez |
AAAI | 3 |
| 2022 | Revisiting Parameter Synthesis for One-Counter AutomataabstractWe study the synthesis problem for one-counter automata with parameters. One-counter automata are obtained by extending classical finite-state automata with a counter whose value can range over non-negative integers and be tested for zero. The updates and tests applicable to the counter can further be made parametric by introducing a set of integer-valued variables called parameters. The synthesis problem for such automata asks whether there exists a valuation of the parameters such that all infinite runs of the automaton satisfy some ω-regular property. Lechner showed that (the complement of) the problem can be encoded in a restricted one-alternation fragment of Presburger arithmetic with divisibility. In this work (i) we argue that said fragment, called ∀∃_RPAD^+, is unfortunately undecidable. Nevertheless, by a careful re-encoding of the problem into a decidable restriction of ∀∃_RPAD^+, (ii) we prove that the synthesis problem is decidable in general and in 2NEXP for several fixed ω-regular properties. Finally, (iii) we give polynomial-space algorithms for the special cases of the problem where parameters can only be used in counter tests. Guillermo A. Pérez, Ritam Raha |
CSL | 1 |
| 2022 | COOL-MC: A Comprehensive Tool for Reinforcement Learning and Model Checking
Dennis Gross 0001, Nils Jansen 0001, Sebastian Junges, Guillermo A. Pérez |
SETTA | 4 |
| 2022 | Learning Realtime One-Counter AutomataabstractAbstract We present a new learning algorithm for realtime one-counter automata. Our algorithm uses membership and equivalence queries as in Angluin’s $${L}^*$$ L ∗ algorithm, as well as counter value queries and partial equivalence queries. In a partial equivalence query, we ask the teacher whether the language of a given finite-state automaton coincides with a counter-bounded subset of the target language. We evaluate an implementation of our algorithm on a number of random benchmarks and on a use case regarding efficient JSON-stream validation. Véronique Bruyère, Guillermo A. Pérez, Gaëtan Staquet |
TACAS (1) | 2 |
| 2022 | Correction to: Reactive synthesis without regret
Paul Hunter 0001, Guillermo A. Pérez, Jean-François Raskin |
Acta Informatica | 2 |
| 2022 | Preface for the formal methods in system design special issue on SYNT 2021
Elizabeth Polgreen, Guillermo A. Pérez |
Formal Methods Syst. Des. | 2 |
| 2021 | Active Learning of Sequential Transducers with Side Information About the Domain
Raphaël Berthon, Adrien Boiret, Guillermo A. Pérez, Jean-François Raskin |
DLT | 3 |
| 2021 | Let's Agree to Degree: Comparing Graph Convolutional Networks in the Message-Passing FrameworkabstractIn this paper we cast neural networks defined on graphs as message-passing neural networks (MPNNs) to study the distinguishing power of different classes of such models. We are interested in when certain architectures are able to tell vertices apart based on the feature labels given as input with the graph. We consider two variants of MPNNS: anonymous MPNNs whose message functions depend only on the labels of vertices involved; and degree-aware MPNNs whose message functions can additionally use information regarding the degree of vertices. The former class covers popular graph neural network (GNN) formalisms for which the distinguished power is known. The latter covers graph convolutional networks (GCNs), introduced by Kipf and Welling, for which the distinguishing power was unknown. We obtain lower and upper bounds on the distinguishing power of (anonymous and degree-aware) MPNNs in terms of the distinguishing power of the Weisfeiler-Lehman (WL) algorithm. Our main results imply that (i) the distinguishing power of GCNs is bounded by the WL algorithm, but they may be one step ahead; (ii) the WL algorithm cannot be simulated by “plain vanilla” GCNs but the addition of a trade-off parameter between features of the vertex and those of its neighbours (as proposed by Kipf and Welling) resolves this problem. Floris Geerts, Filip Mazowiecki, Guillermo A. Pérez |
ICML | 3 |
| 2021 | Continuous One-Counter AutomataabstractWe study the reachability problem for continuous one-counter automata, COCA for short. In such automata, transitions are guarded by upper and lower bound tests against the counter value. Additionally, the counter updates associated with taking transitions can be (non-deterministically) scaled down by a nonzero factor between zero and one. Our three main results are as follows: (1) We prove that the reachability problem for COCA with global upper and lower bound tests is in NC2; (2) that, in general, the problem is decidable in polynomial time; and (3) that it is decidable in the polynomial hierarchy for COCA with parametric counter updates and bound tests. Michael Blondin, Tim Leys, Filip Mazowiecki, Philip Offtermatt, Guillermo A. Pérez |
LICS | 5 |
| 2021 | When are emptiness and containment decidable for probabilistic automata?
Laure Daviaud, Marcin Jurdzinski, Ranko Lazic 0001, Filip Mazowiecki, Guillermo A. Pérez, James Worrell 0001 |
J. Comput. Syst. Sci. | 5 |
| 2021 | The complexity of reachability in parametric Markov decision processes
Sebastian Junges, Joost-Pieter Katoen, Guillermo A. Pérez, Tobias Winkler 0001 |
J. Comput. Syst. Sci. | 3 |
| 2020 | Robustness Verification for Classifier Ensembles
Dennis Gross 0001, Nils Jansen 0001, Guillermo A. Pérez, Stephan Raaijmakers |
ATVA | 3 |
| 2020 | Coverability in 1-VASS with Disequality TestsabstractWe study a class of reachability problems in weighted graphs with constraints on the accumulated weight of paths. The problems we study can equivalently be formulated in the model of vector addition systems with states (VASS). We consider a version of the vertex-to-vertex reachability problem in which the accumulated weight of a path is required always to be non-negative. This is equivalent to the so-called control-state reachability problem (also called the coverability problem) for 1-dimensional VASS. We show that this problem lies in NC: the class of problems solvable in polylogarithmic parallel time. In our main result we generalise the problem to allow disequality constraints on edges (i.e., we allow edges to be disabled if the accumulated weight is equal to a specific value). We show that in this case the vertex-to-vertex reachability problem is solvable in polynomial time even though a shortest path may have exponential length. In the language of VASS this means that control-state reachability is in polynomial time for 1-dimensional VASS with disequality tests. Shaull Almagor, Nathann Cohen, Guillermo A. Pérez, Mahsa Shirmohammadi, James Worrell 0001 |
CONCUR | 3 |
| 2020 | Finite-Memory Near-Optimal Learning for Markov Decision Processes with Long-Run Average RewardabstractWe consider learning policies online in Markov decision processes with the long-run average reward (a.k.a. mean payoff). To ensure implementability of the policies, we focus on policies with finite memory. Firstly, we show that near optimality can be achieved almost surely, using an unintuitive gadget we call forgetfulness. Secondly, we extend the approach to a setting with partial knowledge of the system topology, introducing two optimality measures and providing near-optimal algorithms also for these cases. Jan Kretínský, Fabian Michel, Lukas Michel, Guillermo A. Pérez |
UAI | 4 |
| 2019 | On the Complexity of Reachability in Parametric Markov Decision ProcessesabstractThis paper studies parametric Markov decision processes (pMDPs), an extension to Markov decision processes (MDPs) where transitions probabilities are described by polynomials over a finite set of parameters. Fixing values for all parameters yields MDPs. In particular, this paper studies the complexity of finding values for these parameters such that the induced MDP satisfies some reachability constraints. We discuss different variants depending on the comparison operator in the constraints and the domain of the parameter values. We improve all known lower bounds for this problem, and notably provide ETR-completeness results for distinct variants of this problem. Furthermore, we provide insights in the functions describing the induced reachability probabilities, and how pMDPs generalise concurrent stochastic reachability games. Tobias Winkler 0001, Sebastian Junges, Guillermo A. Pérez, Joost-Pieter Katoen |
CONCUR | 3 |
| 2019 | The Impatient May Use Limited Optimism to Minimize RegretabstractAbstract Discounted-sum games provide a formal model for the study of reinforcement learning, where the agent is enticed to get rewards early since later rewards are discounted. When the agent interacts with the environment, she may realize that, with hindsight, she could have increased her reward by playing differently: this difference in outcomes constitutes her regret value. The agent may thus elect to follow a regret- minimal strategy. In this paper, it is shown that (1) there always exist regret-minimal strategies that are admissible—a strategy being inadmissible if there is another strategy that always performs better; (2) computing the minimum possible regret or checking that a strategy is regret-minimal can be done in "Equation missing", disregarding the computational cost of numerical analysis (otherwise, this bound becomes "Equation missing"). Michaël Cadilhac, Guillermo A. Pérez, Marie van den Bogaard |
FoSSaCS | 2 |
| 2019 | On the Complexity of Value IterationabstractValue iteration is a fundamental algorithm for solving Markov Decision Processes (MDPs). It computes the maximal $n$-step payoff by iterating $n$ times a recurrence equation which is naturally associated to the MDP. At the same time, value iteration provides a policy for the MDP that is optimal on a given finite horizon $n$. In this paper, we settle the computational complexity of value iteration. We show that, given a horizon $n$ in binary and an MDP, computing an optimal policy is EXP-complete, thus resolving an open problem that goes back to the seminal 1987 paper on the complexity of MDPs by Papadimitriou and Tsitsiklis. As a stepping stone, we show that it is EXP-complete to compute the $n$-fold iteration (with $n$ in binary) of a function given by a straight-line program over the integers with $\max$ and $+$ as operators. Nikhil Balaji, Stefan Kiefer, Petr Novotný 0001, Guillermo A. Pérez, Mahsa Shirmohammadi |
ICALP | 4 |
| 2018 | Learning-Based Mean-Payoff Optimization in an Unknown MDP under Omega-Regular ConstraintsabstractWe formalize the problem of maximizing the mean-payo value with high probability while satisfying a parity objective in a Markov decision process (MDP) with unknown probabilistic transition function and unknown reward function. Assuming the support of the unknown transition function and a lower bound on the minimal transition probability are known in advance, we show that in MDPs consisting of a single end component, two combinations of guarantees on the parity and mean-payo objectives can be achieved depending on how much memory one is willing to use. (i) For all ε and γ we can construct an online-learning finite-memory strategy that almost-surely satisfies the parity objective and which achieves an ε-optimal mean payo with probability at least 1 − γ. (ii) Alternatively, for all ε and γ there exists an online-learning infinite-memory strategy that satisfies the parity objective surely and which achieves an ε-optimal mean payo with probability at least 1 − γ. We extend the above results to MDPs consisting of more than one end component in a natural way. Finally, we show that the aforementioned guarantees are tight, i.e. there are MDPs for which stronger combinations of the guarantees cannot be ensured. Jan Kretínský, Guillermo A. Pérez, Jean-François Raskin |
CONCUR | 2 |
| 2018 | Weak Cost Register Automata Are Still Powerful
Shaull Almagor, Michaël Cadilhac, Filip Mazowiecki, Guillermo A. Pérez |
DLT | 4 |
| 2018 | The Complexity of Graph-Based Reductions for Reachability in Markov Decision ProcessesabstractWe study the never-worse relation (NWR) for Markov decision processes with an infinite-horizon reachability objective. A state q is never worse than a state p if the maximal probability of reaching the target set of states from p is at most the same value from q , regardless of the probabilities labelling the transitions. Extremal-probability states, end components, and essential states are all special cases of the equivalence relation induced by the NWR. Using the NWR, states in the same equivalence class can be collapsed. Then, actions leading to sub-optimal states can be removed. We show that the natural decision problem associated to computing the NWR is coNP -complete. Finally, we extend a previously known incomplete polynomial-time iterative algorithm to under-approximate the NWR. These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves. Stéphane Le Roux 0001, Guillermo A. Pérez |
FoSSaCS | 2 |
| 2018 | When is Containment Decidable for Probabilistic Automata?abstractThe containment problem for quantitative automata is the natural quantitative generalisation of the classical language inclusion problem for Boolean automata. We study it for probabilistic automata, where it is known to be undecidable in general. We restrict our study to the class of probabilistic automata with bounded ambiguity. There, we show decidability (subject to Schanuel's conjecture) when one of the automata is assumed to be unambiguous while the other one is allowed to be finitely ambiguous. Furthermore, we show that this is close to the most general decidable fragment of this problem by proving that it is already undecidable if one of the automata is allowed to be linearly ambiguous. Laure Daviaud, Marcin Jurdzinski, Ranko Lazic 0001, Filip Mazowiecki, Guillermo A. Pérez, James Worrell 0001 |
ICALP | 5 |
| 2018 | Looking at mean payoff through foggy windows
Paul Hunter 0001, Guillermo A. Pérez, Jean-François Raskin |
Acta Informatica | 2 |
| 2018 | Mean-payoff games with partial observation
Paul Hunter 0001, Arno Pauly, Guillermo A. Pérez, Jean-François Raskin |
Theor. Comput. Sci. | 3 |
| 2017 | Optimizing Expectation with Guarantees in POMDPsabstractA standard objective in partially-observable Markov decision processes (POMDPs) is to find a policy that maximizes the expected discounted-sum payoff. However, such policies may still permit unlikely but highly undesirable outcomes, which is problematic especially in safety-critical applications. Recently, there has been a surge of interest in POMDPs where the goal is to maximize the probability to ensure that the payoff is at least a given threshold, but these approaches do not consider any optimization beyond satisfying this threshold constraint. In this work we go beyond both the “expectation” and “threshold” approaches and consider a “guaranteed payoff optimization (GPO)” problem for POMDPs, where we are given a threshold t and the objective is to find a policy σ such that a) each possible outcome of σ yields a discounted-sum payoff of at least t, and b) the expected discounted-sum payoff of σ is optimal (or near-optimal) among all policies satisfying a). We present a practical approach to tackle the GPO problem and evaluate it on standard POMDP benchmarks. Krishnendu Chatterjee, Petr Novotný 0001, Guillermo A. Pérez, Jean-François Raskin, Dorde Zikelic |
AAAI | 3 |
| 2017 | Reduction Techniques for Model Checking and Learning in MDPsabstractOmega-regular objectives in Markov decision processes (MDPs) reduce to reachability: find a policy which maximizes the probability of reaching a target set of states. Given an MDP, an initial distribution, and a target set of states, such a policy can be computed by most probabilistic model checking tools. If the MDP is only partially specified, i.e., some prob- abilities are unknown, then model-learning techniques can be used to statistically approximate the probabilities and enable the computation of the de- sired policy. For fully specified MDPs, reducing the size of the MDP translates into faster model checking; for partially specified MDPs, into faster learning. We provide reduction techniques that al- low us to remove irrelevant transition probabilities: transition probabilities (known, or to be learned) that do not influence the maximal reachability probability. Among other applications, these reductions can be seen as a pre-processing of MDPs before model checking or as a way to reduce the number of experiments required to obtain a good approximation of an unknown MDP. Suda Bharadwaj, Stéphane Le Roux 0001, Guillermo A. Pérez, Ufuk Topcu |
IJCAI | 3 |
| 2017 | On delay and regret determinization of max-plus automataabstractDecidability of the determinization problem for weighted automata over the semiring (ℤ∪{−∞}, max; +), WA for short, is a long-standing open question. We propose two ways of approaching it by constraining the search space of deterministic WA: k-delay and r-regret. A WA N is k-delay determinizable if there exists a deterministic automaton D that defines the same function as N and for all words α in the language of N, the accepting run of D on α is always at most k-away from a maximal accepting run of N on α. That is, along all prefixes of the same length, the absolute difference between the running sums of weights of the two runs is at most k. A WA N is r-regret determinizable if for all words α in its language, its non-determinism can be resolved on the fly to construct a run of N such that the absolute difference between its value and the value assigned to α by N is at most r. We show that a WA is determinizable if and only if it is k-delay determinizable for some k. Hence deciding the existence of some k is as difficult as the general determinization problem. When k and r are given as input, the k-delay and r-regret determinization problems are shown to be EXPTIME-complete. We also show that determining whether a WA is r-regret determinizable for some r is in EXPTIME. Emmanuel Filiot, Ismaël Jecker, Nathan Lhote, Guillermo A. Pérez, Jean-François Raskin |
LICS | 4 |
| 2017 | Reactive synthesis without regretabstractTwo-player zero-sum games of infinite duration and their quantitative versions are used in verification to model the interaction between a controller (Eve) and its environment (Adam). The question usually addressed is that of the existence (and computability) of a strategy for Eve that can maximize her payoff against any strategy of Adam. In this work, we are interested in strategies of Eve that minimize her regret, i.e. strategies that minimize the difference between her actual payoff and the payoff she could have achieved if she had known the strategy of Adam in advance. We give algorithms to compute the strategies of Eve that ensure minimal regret against an adversary whose choice of strategy is (1) unrestricted, (2) limited to positional strategies, or (3) limited to word strategies, and show that the two last cases have natural modelling applications. These results apply for quantitative games defined with the classical payoff functions $$\mathsf {Inf}$$ , $$\mathsf {Sup}$$ , $${\mathsf {LimInf}}$$ , $$\mathsf {LimSup}$$ , and mean-payoff. We also show that our notion of regret minimization in which Adam is limited to word strategies generalizes the notion of good for games introduced by Henzinger and Piterman, and is related to the notion of determinization by pruning due to Aminof, Kupferman and Lampert. Paul Hunter 0001, Guillermo A. Pérez, Jean-François Raskin |
Acta Informatica | 2 |
| 2017 | The fixed initial credit problem for partial-observation energy games is Ack-complete
Guillermo A. Pérez |
Inf. Process. Lett. | 1 |
| 2017 | The first reactive synthesis competition (SYNTCOMP 2014)
Swen Jacobs, Roderick Bloem, Romain Brenguier, Rüdiger Ehlers, Timotheus Hell, Robert Könighofer, Guillermo A. Pérez, Jean-François Raskin, Leonid Ryzhyk, Ocan Sankur, Martina Seidl, Leander Tentrup |
Int. J. Softw. Tools Technol. Transf. | 7 |
| 2016 | Minimizing Regret in Discounted-Sum GamesabstractIn this paper, we study the problem of minimizing regret in discounted-sum games played on weighted game graphs. We give algorithms for the general problem of computing the minimal regret of the controller (Eve) as well as several variants depending on which strategies the environment (Adam) is permitted to use. We also consider the problem of synthesizing regret-free strategies for Eve in each of these scenarios. Paul Hunter 0001, Guillermo A. Pérez, Jean-François Raskin |
CSL | 2 |
| 2016 | Admissibility in Quantitative Graph GamesabstractAdmissibility has been studied for games of infinite duration with Boolean objectives. We extend here this study to games of infinite duration with quantitative objectives. First, we show that, under the assumption that optimal worst-case and cooperative strategies exist, admissible strategies are guaranteed to exist. Second, we give a characterization of admissible strategies using the notion of adversarial and cooperative values of a history, and we characterize the set of outcomes that are compatible with admissible strategies. Finally, we show how these characterizations can be used to design algorithms to decide relevant verification and synthesis problems. Romain Brenguier, Guillermo A. Pérez, Jean-François Raskin, Ocan Sankur |
FSTTCS | 2 |
| 2016 | Non-Zero Sum Games for Reactive Synthesis
Romain Brenguier, Lorenzo Clemente, Paul Hunter 0001, Guillermo A. Pérez, Mickael Randour, Jean-François Raskin, Ocan Sankur, Mathieu Sassolas |
LATA | 4 |
| 2015 | Looking at Mean-Payoff Through Foggy Windows
Paul Hunter 0001, Guillermo A. Pérez, Jean-François Raskin |
ATVA | 2 |
| 2015 | Reactive Synthesis Without Regret
Paul Hunter 0001, Guillermo A. Pérez, Jean-François Raskin |
CONCUR | 2 |
| 2015 | Quantitative Games under FailuresabstractWe study a generalisation of sabotage games, a model of dynamic network games introduced by van Benthem. The original definition of the game is inherently finite and therefore does not allow one to model infinite processes. We propose an extension of the sabotage games in which the first player (Runner) traverses an arena with dynamic weights determined by the second player (Saboteur). In our model of quantitative sabotage games, Saboteur is now given a budget that he can distribute amongst the edges of the graph, whilst Runner attempts to minimise the quantity of budget witnessed while completing his task. We show that, on the one hand, for most of the classical cost functions considered in the literature, the problem of determining if Runner has a strategy to ensure a cost below some threshold is EXPTIME-complete. On the other hand, if the budget of Saboteur is fixed a priori, then the problem is in PTIME for most cost functions. Finally, we show that restricting the dynamics of the game also leads to better complexity. Thomas Brihaye, Gilles Geeraerts, Axel Haddad, Benjamin Monmege, Guillermo A. Pérez, Gabriel Renault |
FSTTCS | 5 |
| 2012 | A hybrid just-in-time compiler for android: comparing JIT types and the result of cooperationabstractThe Dalvik virtual machine is the main application platform running on Google's Android operating system for mobile devices and tablets. It is a Java Virtual Machine running a basic trace-based JIT compiler, unlike web browser JavaScript engines that usually run a combination of both method and trace-based JIT types. We developed a method-based JIT compiler based on the Low Level Virtual Machine framework that delivers performance improvement comparable to that of an Ahead-Of-Time compiler. We compared our method-based JIT against Dalvik's own trace-based JIT using common benchmarks available in the Android Market. Our results show that our method-based JIT is better than a basic trace-based JIT, and that, by sharing profiling and compilation information among each other, a smart combination of both JIT techniques can achieve a great performance gain. Guillermo A. Pérez, Chung-Min Kao, Yeh-Ching Chung, Wei-Chung Hsu |
CASES | 1 |
| 2011 | A method-based ahead-of-time compiler for android applicationsabstractThe execution environment of Android system is based on a virtual machine called Dalvik virtual machine (DVM) in which the execution of an application program is in interpret-mode. To reduce the interpretation overhead of DVM, Google has included a trace-based just-in-time compiler (JITC) in the latest version of Android. Due to limited resources and the requirement for reasonable response time, the JITC is unable to apply deep optimizations to generate high quality code. In this paper, we propose a method-based ahead-of-time compiler (AOTC), called Icing, to speed up the execution of Android applications without the modification of any components of Android framework. The main idea of Icing is to convert the hot methods of an application program from DEX code to C code and uses the GCC compiler to translate the C code to the corresponding native code. With the Java Native Interface (JNI) library, the translated native code can be called by DVM. Both AOTC and JITC have their strength and weakness. In order to combine the strength and avoid the weakness of AOTC and JITC, in Icing, we have proposed a cost model to determine whether a method should be handled by AOTC or JITC during profiling. To evaluate the performance of Icing, four benchmarks used by Google JITC are used as test cases. The performance results show that, with Icing, the execution time of an application is two to three times faster than that without JITC, and 25% to 110% faster than that with JITC. Chih-Sheng Wang, Guillermo A. Pérez, Yeh-Ching Chung, Wei-Chung Hsu, Wei-Kuan Shih, Hong-Rong Hsu |
CASES | 2 |