Martin Zimmermann 0002

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63ranked-venue papers
6as first author
32since 2021 · last 2026
0000-0002-8038-2453ORCID · verified

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Theory of computation · 56 · 6 first-author · 26 since 2021Software engineering, systems software and programming languages · 9 · 7 since 2021Databases, data management, data science and information retrieval · 3 · 2 first-author · 3 since 2021Artificial intelligence and machine learning · 1 · 1 since 2021
YearPublicationVenuePosition
2026 Logics for Context-Free Hyperproperties
abstract
We introduce a novel logic for the specification of context-free hyperproperties, which capture, e.g., the flow of information in security-critical recursive systems. Intuitively, the logic extends visibly pushdown automata by quantification over traces, just like HyperLTL, the most important logic for regular hyperproperties, extends LTL by quantification over traces. Using a game-based approach, we show that model-checking is decidable for formulas with a single quantifier alternation, provided the stack height of the visibly pushdown automaton only depends on the traces bound to the variables of the first quantifier block. A single quantifier alternation suffices to express many information-flow properties studied in the literature. Complementarily, we show that model-checking is undecidable for formulas with a single quantifier alternation, if the stack behavior of the visibly pushdown automaton may depend on the second quantifier block. This also implies that model-checking is undecidable for almost all fragments with more than one quantifier alternation.
Sarah Winter, Martin Zimmermann 0002
MFCS2
2026 Efficient Runtime Verification of Real-Time Systems under Parametric Communication Delays
abstract
Timed Büchi automata provide a very expressive formalism for expressing requirements of real-time systems. Online monitoring and active testing of embedded real-time systems can then be achieved by symbolic execution of such automata on the trace observed from the system. However, this direct construction is only faithful if the observation of the trace is immediate in the sense that the monitor (or test harness, respectively) can assign exact timestamps to the actions it observes. This is rarely true in practice due to the substantial and fluctuating parametric delays introduced by the circuitry connecting the observed system to its monitoring or testing device. We present purely zone-based online monitoring and testing algorithms, which handle such parametric delays exactly without recurrence to costly verification procedures for parametric timed automata. We have implemented our algorithms on top of the real-time model checking tool Uppaal , and report on encouraging initial results.
Martin Fränzle, Thomas Møller Grosen, Kim G. Larsen, Martin Zimmermann 0002
Formal Aspects Comput.4
2026 Efficient monitoring of timed properties
abstract
Abstract In this paper we study monitoring of real-time systems with respect to properties given by a pair of Timed Büchi Automata, one for the property and one for its complement. This includes properties expressible in temporal logics that are closed under complementation and can be translated into Timed Büchi Automata, e.g., Metric Interval Temporal Logic. We introduce efficient symbolic online monitoring algorithms in a number of settings, using difference bound matrices representing zones. Our contributions include a principled treatment of time divergence and monitoring under timing uncertainty. Our online monitoring procedure is implemented in the tool MoniTAal , and shown to effectively monitor properties over long traces.
Thomas Møller Grosen, Sean Kauffman, Kim G. Larsen, Martin Zimmermann 0002
Formal Methods Syst. Des.4
2026 The complexity of HyperQPTL
abstract
HyperQPTL and HyperQPTL + are expressive specification languages for hyperproperties, properties that relate multiple executions of a system. Tight complexity bounds are known for HyperQPTL finite-state satisfiability and model-checking. Here, we settle the complexity of satisfiability for HyperQPTL as well as satisfiability, finite-state satisfiability, and model-checking for HyperQPTL + : the former is Σ 1 2 -complete, the latter are all equivalent to truth in third-order arithmetic, i.e., all four are very undecidable.
Gaëtan Regaud, Martin Zimmermann 0002
Inf. Process. Lett.2
2026 The Complexity of Second-order HyperLTL
abstract
We determine the complexity of second-order HyperLTL satisfiability, finite-state satisfiability, and model-checking: All three are equivalent to truth in third-order arithmetic. We also consider two fragments of second-order HyperLTL that have been introduced with the aim to facilitate effective model-checking by restricting the sets one can quantify over. The first one restricts second-order quantification to smallest/largest sets that satisfy a guard while the second one restricts second-order quantification further to least fixed points of (first-order) HyperLTL definable functions. All three problems for the first fragment are still equivalent to truth in third-order arithmetic while satisfiability for the second fragment is $Σ_1^2$-complete, and finite-state satisfiability and model-checking are equivalent to truth in second-order arithmetic. Finally, we also introduce closed-world semantics for second-order HyperLTL, where set quantification ranges only over subsets of the model, while set quantification in standard semantics ranges over arbitrary sets of traces. Here, satisfiability for the least fixed point fragment becomes $Σ_1^1$-complete, but all other results are unaffected.
Hadar Frenkel, Gaëtan Regaud, Martin Zimmermann 0002
Log. Methods Comput. Sci.3
2025 TAPAAL HyperLTL: A Tool for Checking Hyperproperties of Petri Nets
Bruno Maria René Gonzalez, Peter Gjøl Jensen, Stefan Schmid 0001, Jirí Srba, Martin Zimmermann 0002
ATVA5
2025 Time for Timed Monitorability
abstract
Monitoring is an important part of the verification toolbox, in particular in situations where exhaustive verification using, e.g., model-checking is infeasible. The goal of online monitoring is to determine the satisfaction or violation of a specification during runtime, i.e., based on finite execution prefixes. However, not every specification is amenable to monitoring, e.g., properties for which no finite execution can witness satisfaction or violation. Monitorability is the question of whether a given specification is amenable to monitoring, and has been extensively studied in discrete time. Here, we study the monitorability problem for real-time properties expressed as Timed Automata. For specifications given by deterministic Timed Muller Automata, we prove decidability while we show that the problem is undecidable for specifications given by nondeterministic Timed Büchi automata. Furthermore, we refine monitorability to also determine bounds on the number of events as well as the time that must pass before monitoring the property may yield an informative verdict. We prove that for deterministic Timed Muller automata, such bounds can be effectively computed. In contrast we show that for nondeterministic Timed Büchi automata such bounds are not computable.
Thomas Møller Grosen, Sean Kauffman, Kim G. Larsen, Martin Zimmermann 0002
CONCUR4
2025 Prophecies All the Way: Game-Based Model-Checking for HyperQPTL Beyond ∀*∃*
abstract
Model-checking HyperLTL, a temporal logic expressing properties of sets of traces with applications to information-flow based security and privacy, has a decidable, but TOWER-complete, model-checking problem. While the classical model-checking algorithm for full HyperLTL is automata-theoretic, more recently, a game-based alternative for the ∀*∃*-fragment has been presented. Here, we employ imperfect information-games to extend the game-based approach to full HyperQPTL, which features arbitrary quantifier prefixes and quantification over propositions and can express every ω-regular hyperproperty. As a byproduct of our game-based algorithm, we obtain finite-state implementations of Skolem functions via transducers with lookahead that explain satisfaction or violation of HyperQPTL properties.
Sarah Winter, Martin Zimmermann 0002
CONCUR2
2025 The Complexity of Second-Order HyperLTL
abstract
We determine the complexity of second-order HyperLTL satisfiability, finite-state satisfiability, and model-checking: All three are equivalent to truth in third-order arithmetic. We also consider two fragments of second-order HyperLTL that have been introduced with the aim to facilitate effective model-checking by restricting the sets one can quantify over. The first one restricts second-order quantification to smallest/largest sets that satisfy a guard while the second one restricts second-order quantification further to least fixed points of (first-order) HyperLTL definable functions. All three problems for the first fragment are still equivalent to truth in third-order arithmetic while satisfiability for the second fragment is Σ11-complete, i.e., only as hard as for (first-order) HyperLTL and therefore much less complex. Finally, finite-state satisfiability and model-checking are in Σ22 and are Σ11-hard, and thus also less complex than for full second-order HyperLTL.
Hadar Frenkel, Martin Zimmermann 0002
CSL2
2025 Tracy, traces, and transducers: computable counterexamples and explanations for HyperLTL model-checking
abstract
Abstract HyperLTL model-checking enables the automated verification of information-flow properties for security-critical systems. However, it only provides a binary answer. Here, we consider the problem of computing counterexamples and explanations for HyperLTL model-checking, thereby considerably increasing its usefulness. Based on the maxim “counterexamples/explanations are Skolem functions for the existentially quantified trace variables”, we consider (Turing machine) computable Skolem functions. As not every finite transition system and formula have computable Skolem functions witnessing that the system satisfies the formula, we consider the problem of deciding whether such functions exist. Our main result shows that this problem is decidable by reducing it to solving multiplayer games with hierarchical imperfect information. Furthermore, our algorithm also computes transducers implementing such functions, if they exist.
Sarah Winter, Martin Zimmermann 0002
Acta Informatica2
2025 Robust probabilistic temporal logics
abstract
We robustify PCTL and PCTL⁎, the most important specification languages for probabilistic systems, and show that robustness does not increase the complexity of their model-checking problems.
Martin Zimmermann 0002
Inf. Process. Lett.1
2025 HyperLTL Satisfiability Is Highly Undecidable, HyperCTL$^* is Even Harder
abstract
Temporal logics for the specification of information-flow properties are able to express relations between multiple executions of a system. The two most important such logics are HyperLTL and HyperCTL*, which generalise LTL and CTL* by trace quantification. It is known that this expressiveness comes at a price, i.e. satisfiability is undecidable for both logics. In this paper we settle the exact complexity of these problems, showing that both are in fact highly undecidable: we prove that HyperLTL satisfiability is $\Sigma_1^1$-complete and HyperCTL* satisfiability is $\Sigma_1^2$-complete. These are significant increases over the previously known lower bounds and the first upper bounds. To prove $\Sigma_1^2$-membership for HyperCTL*, we prove that every satisfiable HyperCTL* sentence has a model that is equinumerous to the continuum, the first upper bound of this kind. We also prove this bound to be tight. Furthermore, we prove that both countable and finitely-branching satisfiability for HyperCTL* are as hard as truth in second-order arithmetic, i.e. still highly undecidable. Finally, we show that the membership problem for every level of the HyperLTL quantifier alternation hierarchy is $\Pi_1^1$-complete. Comment: arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:2105.04176
Marie Fortin, Louwe B. Kuijer, Patrick Totzke, Martin Zimmermann 0002
Log. Methods Comput. Sci.4
2025 On the Existence of Reactive Strategies Resilient to Delay
abstract
We compare games under delayed control and delay games, two types of infinite games modelling asynchronicity in reactive synthesis. In games under delayed control both players suffer from partial informedness due to symmetrically delayed communication, while in delay games, the protagonist has to grant lookahead to the alter player. Our first main result, the interreducibility of the existence of sure winning strategies for the protagonist, allows to transfer known complexity results and bounds on the delay from delay games to games under delayed control, for which no such results had been known. We furthermore analyse existence of randomized strategies that win almost surely, where this correspondence between the two types of games breaks down. In this setting, some games surely won by the alter player in delay games can now be won almost surely by the protagonist in the corresponding game under delayed control, showing that it indeed makes a difference whether the protagonist has to grant lookahead or both players suffer from partial informedness. These results get even more pronounced when we finally address the quantitative goal of winning with a probability in $[0,1]$. We show that for any rational threshold $\theta \in [0,1]$ there is a game that can be won by the protagonist with exactly probability $\theta$ under delayed control, while being surely won by alter in the delay game setting. All these findings refine our original result that games under delayed control are not determined.
Martin Fränzle, Paul Kröger, Sarah Winter, Martin Zimmermann 0002
Log. Methods Comput. Sci.4
2025 History-Deterministic Parikh Automata
abstract
Parikh automata extend finite automata by counters that can be tested for membership in a semilinear set, but only at the end of a run. Thereby, they preserve many of the desirable properties of finite automata. Deterministic Parikh automata are strictly weaker than nondeterministic ones, but enjoy better closure and algorithmic properties. This state of affairs motivates the study of intermediate forms of nondeterminism. Here, we investigate history-deterministic Parikh automata, i.e., automata whose nondeterminism can be resolved on the fly. This restricted form of nondeterminism is well-suited for applications which classically call for determinism, e.g., solving games and composition. We show that history-deterministic Parikh automata are strictly more expressive than deterministic ones, incomparable to unambiguous ones, and enjoy almost all of the closure properties of deterministic automata. Finally, we investigate the complexity of resolving nondeterminism in history-deterministic Parikh automata.
Enzo Erlich, Mario Grobler, Shibashis Guha, Ismaël Jecker, Karoliina Lehtinen, Martin Zimmermann 0002
ACM Trans. Comput. Log.6
2024 Monitoring Real-Time Systems Under Parametric Delay
Martin Fränzle, Thomas Møller Grosen, Kim G. Larsen, Martin Zimmermann 0002
IFM4
2024 The Complexity of Data-Free Nfer
Sean Kauffman, Kim G. Larsen, Martin Zimmermann 0002
RV3
2024 Exploiting Assumptions for Effective Monitoring of Real-Time Properties Under Partial Observability
Alessandro Cimatti, Thomas Møller Grosen, Kim G. Larsen, Stefano Tonetta, Martin Zimmermann 0002
SEFM5
2024 A Bit of Nondeterminism Makes Pushdown Automata Expressive and Succinct
abstract
We study the expressiveness and succinctness of history-deterministic pushdown automata (HD-PDA) over finite words, that is, pushdown automata whose nondeterminism can be resolved based on the run constructed so far, but independently of the remainder of the input word. These are also known as good-for-games pushdown automata. We prove that HD-PDA recognise more languages than deterministic PDA (DPDA) but not all context-free languages (CFL). This class is orthogonal to unambiguous CFL. We further show that HD-PDA can be exponentially more succinct than DPDA, while PDA can be double-exponentially more succinct than HD-PDA. We also study HDness in visibly pushdown automata (VPA), which enjoy better closure properties than PDA, and for which we show that deciding HDness is ExpTime-complete. HD-VPA can be exponentially more succinct than deterministic VPA, while VPA can be exponentially more succinct than HD-VPA. Both of these lower bounds are tight. We then compare HD-PDA with PDA for which composition with games is well-behaved, i.e. good-for-games automata. We show that these two notions coincide, but only if we consider potentially infinitely branching games. Finally, we study the complexity of resolving nondeterminism in HD-PDA. Every HDPDA has a positional resolver, a function that resolves nondeterminism and that is only dependant on the current configuration. Pushdown transducers are sufficient to implement the resolvers of HD-VPA, but not those of HD-PDA. HD-PDA with finite-state resolvers are determinisable.
Shibashis Guha, Ismaël Jecker, Karoliina Lehtinen, Martin Zimmermann 0002
Log. Methods Comput. Sci.4
2024 The complexity of evaluating nfer
abstract
Nfer is a rule-based language for abstracting event streams into a hierarchy of intervals with data. Nfer has multiple implementations and has been applied in the analysis of spacecraft telemetry and autonomous vehicle logs. This work provides the first complexity analysis of nfer evaluation, i.e., the problem of deciding whether a given interval is generated by applying rules. We show that the full nfer language is undecidable and that this depends on both recursion in the rules and an infinite data domain. By restricting either or both of those capabilities, we obtain tight decidability results. We also examine the impact on complexity of exclusive rules and minimality. For the most practical case, which is minimality with finite data, we provide a polynomial-time algorithm.
Sean Kauffman, Martin Zimmermann 0002
Sci. Comput. Program.2
2023 History-Deterministic Parikh Automata
abstract
Parikh automata extend finite automata by counters that can be tested for membership in a semilinear set, but only at the end of a run. Thereby, they preserve many of the desirable properties of finite automata. Deterministic Parikh automata are strictly weaker than nondeterministic ones, but enjoy better closure and algorithmic properties. This state of affairs motivates the study of intermediate forms of nondeterminism. Here, we investigate history-deterministic Parikh automata, i.e., automata whose nondeterminism can be resolved on the fly. This restricted form of nondeterminism is well-suited for applications which classically call for determinism, e.g., solving games and composition. We show that history-deterministic Parikh automata are strictly more expressive than deterministic ones, incomparable to unambiguous ones, and enjoy almost all of the closure properties of deterministic automata. Finally, we investigate the complexity of resolving nondeterminism in history-deterministic Parikh automata.
Enzo Erlich, Shibashis Guha, Ismaël Jecker, Karoliina Lehtinen, Martin Zimmermann 0002
CONCUR5
2023 Robust Alternating-Time Temporal Logic
Aniello Murano, Daniel Neider, Martin Zimmermann 0002
JELIA3
2022 Parikh Automata over Infinite Words
abstract
Parikh automata extend finite automata by counters that can be tested for membership in a semilinear set, but only at the end of a run, thereby preserving many of the desirable algorithmic properties of finite automata. Here, we study the extension of the classical framework onto infinite inputs: We introduce reachability, safety, Büchi, and co-Büchi Parikh automata on infinite words and study expressiveness, closure properties, and the complexity of verification problems. We show that almost all classes of automata have pairwise incomparable expressiveness, both in the deterministic and the nondeterministic case; a result that sharply contrasts with the well-known hierarchy in the $ω$-regular setting. Furthermore, emptiness is shown decidable for Parikh automata with reachability or Büchi acceptance, but undecidable for safety and co-Büchi acceptance. Most importantly, we show decidability of model checking with specifications given by deterministic Parikh automata with safety or co-Büchi acceptance, but also undecidability for all other types of automata. Finally, solving games is undecidable for all types.
Shibashis Guha, Ismaël Jecker, Karoliina Lehtinen, Martin Zimmermann 0002
FSTTCS4
2022 Robustness-by-Construction Synthesis: Adapting to the Environment at Runtime
Satya Prakash Nayak, Daniel Neider, Martin Zimmermann 0002
ISoLA (1)3
2022 The Complexity of Evaluating Nfer
Sean Kauffman, Martin Zimmermann 0002
TASE2
2022 Robust, expressive, and quantitative linear temporal logics: Pick any two for free
Daniel Neider, Alexander Weinert, Martin Zimmermann 0002
Inf. Comput.3
2022 Approximating the minimal lookahead needed to win infinite games
Martin Zimmermann 0002
Inf. Process. Lett.1
2022 Good-for-games ω-Pushdown Automata
abstract
We introduce good-for-games $\omega$-pushdown automata ($\omega$-GFG-PDA). These are automata whose nondeterminism can be resolved based on the input processed so far. Good-for-gameness enables automata to be composed with games, trees, and other automata, applications which otherwise require deterministic automata. Our main results are that $\omega$-GFG-PDA are more expressive than deterministic $\omega$- pushdown automata and that solving infinite games with winning conditions specified by $\omega$-GFG-PDA is EXPTIME-complete. Thus, we have identified a new class of $\omega$-contextfree winning conditions for which solving games is decidable. It follows that the universality problem for $\omega$-GFG-PDA is in EXPTIME as well. Moreover, we study closure properties of the class of languages recognized by $\omega$-GFG- PDA and decidability of good-for-gameness of $\omega$-pushdown automata and languages. Finally, we compare $\omega$-GFG-PDA to $\omega$-visibly PDA, study the resources necessary to resolve the nondeterminism in $\omega$-GFG-PDA, and prove that the parity index hierarchy for $\omega$-GFG-PDA is infinite. This is a corrected version of the paper arXiv:2001.04392v6 published originally on January 7, 2022.
Karoliina Lehtinen, Martin Zimmermann 0002
Log. Methods Comput. Sci.2
2021 Adaptive strategies for rLTL games
abstract
We consider the problem of synthesizing the most robust controllers using the Abstraction-Based Controller Design (ABCD). First, we perform a finite-state abstraction of the continuous dynamic system. We then synthesize a most robust control strategy in the finite space by formulating it as a two-player game. Finally, we refine the strategy to a controller for the original problem. To preserve robustness, we consider the specifications for the controllers to be expressed in Robust Linear Temporal Logic (rLTL), which allows the reasoning about how robust the specification is. However, the current algorithms for rLTL synthesis do not compute optimally robust controllers. It only considers the worst-case analysis for reactive synthesis. Hence, we develop two new notions of adaptive strategies. One is Weakly Adaptive strategy, which, in response to the opponent's bad choices, adaptively changes the degree of satisfaction we want to achieve to ensure the optimality w.r.t. the current stage. The second one is Strongly adaptive strategy, which is weakly adaptive that also maximizes the chances of the opponent making a bad choice. We show that the computability problem for both the strategies is not harder than the classical one and can be solved in doubly-exponential time.
Satya Prakash Nayak, Daniel Neider, Martin Zimmermann 0002
HSCC3
2021 HyperLTL Satisfiability Is Σ₁¹-Complete, HyperCTL* Satisfiability Is Σ₁²-Complete
abstract
Temporal logics for the specification of information-flow properties are able to express relations between multiple executions of a system. The two most important such logics are HyperLTL and HyperCTL*, which generalise LTL and CTL* by trace quantification. It is known that this expressiveness comes at a price, i.e. satisfiability is undecidable for both logics. In this paper we settle the exact complexity of these problems, showing that both are in fact highly undecidable: we prove that HyperLTL satisfiability is Σ₁¹-complete and HyperCTL* satisfiability is Σ₁²-complete. These are significant increases over the previously known lower bounds and the first upper bounds. To prove Σ₁²-membership for HyperCTL*, we prove that every satisfiable HyperCTL* sentence has a model that is equinumerous to the continuum, the first upper bound of this kind. We prove this bound to be tight. Finally, we show that the membership problem for every level of the HyperLTL quantifier alternation hierarchy is Π₁¹-complete.
Marie Fortin, Louwe B. Kuijer, Patrick Totzke, Martin Zimmermann 0002
MFCS4
2021 A Bit of Nondeterminism Makes Pushdown Automata Expressive and Succinct
Shibashis Guha, Ismaël Jecker, Karoliina Lehtinen, Martin Zimmermann 0002
MFCS4
2021 From LTL to rLTL monitoring: improved monitorability through robust semantics
abstract
Runtime monitoring is commonly used to detect the violation of desired properties in safety critical cyber-physical systems by observing its executions. Bauer et al. introduced an influential framework for monitoring Linear Temporal Logic (LTL) properties based on a three-valued semantics for a finite execution: the formula is already satisfied by the given execution, it is already violated, or it is still undetermined, i.e., it can still be satisfied and violated by appropriate extensions of the given execution. However, a wide range of formulas are not monitorable under this approach, meaning that there are executions for which satisfaction and violation will always remain undetermined no matter how it is extended. In particular, Bauer et al. report that 44% of the formulas they consider in their experiments fall into this category. Recently, a robust semantics for LTL was introduced to capture different degrees by which a property can be violated. In this paper we introduce a robust semantics for finite strings and show its potential in monitoring: every formula considered by Bauer et al. is monitorable under our approach. Furthermore, we discuss which properties that come naturally in LTL monitoring-such as the realizability of all truth values-can be transferred to the robust setting. We show that LTL formulas with robust semantics can be monitored by deterministic automata, and provide tight bounds on the size of the constructed automaton. Lastly, we report on a prototype implementation and compare it to the LTL monitor of Bauer et al. on a sample of examples.
Corto Mascle, Daniel Neider, Maximilian Schwenger, Paulo Tabuada, Alexander Weinert, Martin Zimmermann 0002
Formal Methods Syst. Des.6
2021 Preface
Andrea Orlandini, Martin Zimmermann 0002
Inf. Comput.2
2020 The Keys to Decidable HyperLTL Satisfiability: Small Models or Very Simple Formulas
abstract
HyperLTL, the extension of Linear Temporal Logic by trace quantifiers, is a uniform framework for expressing information flow policies by relating multiple traces of a security-critical system. HyperLTL has been successfully applied to express fundamental security policies like noninterference and observational determinism, but has also found applications beyond security, e.g., distributed protocols and coding theory. However, HyperLTL satisfiability is undecidable as soon as there are existential quantifiers in the scope of a universal one. To overcome this severe limitation to applicability, we investigate here restricted variants of the satisfiability problem to pinpoint the decidability border. First, we restrict the space of admissible models and show decidability when restricting the search space to models of bounded size or to finitely representable ones. Second, we consider formulas with restricted nesting of temporal operators and show that nesting depth one yields decidability for a slightly larger class of quantifier prefixes. We provide tight complexity bounds in almost all cases.
Corto Mascle, Martin Zimmermann 0002
CSL2
2020 From LTL to rLTL monitoring: improved monitorability through robust semantics
abstract
Runtime monitoring is commonly used to detect the violation of desired properties in safety critical cyber-physical systems by observing its executions. Bauer et al. introduced an influential framework for monitoring Linear Temporal Logic (LTL) properties based on a three-valued semantics: the formula is already satisfied by the given prefix, it is already violated, or it is still undetermined, i.e., it can still be satisfied and violated by appropriate extensions. However, a wide range of formulas are not monitorable under this approach, meaning that they have a prefix for which satisfaction and violation will always remain undetermined no matter how it is extended. In particular, Bauer et al. report that 44% of the formulas they consider in their experiments fall into this category.
Corto Mascle, Daniel Neider, Maximilian Schwenger, Paulo Tabuada, Alexander Weinert, Martin Zimmermann 0002
HSCC6
2020 Good-for-games ω-Pushdown Automata
abstract
We introduce good-for-games ω-pushdown automata (ω-GFG-PDA). These are automata whose nondeterminism can be resolved based on the run constructed thus far. Good-for-gameness enables automata to be composed with games, trees, and other automata, applications which otherwise require deterministic automata.
Karoliina Lehtinen, Martin Zimmermann 0002
LICS2
2020 Optimally Resilient Strategies in Pushdown Safety Games
abstract
Infinite-duration games with disturbances extend the classical framework of infinite-duration games, which captures the reactive synthesis problem, with a discrete measure of resilience against non-antagonistic external influence. This concerns events where the observed system behavior differs from the intended one prescribed by the controller. For games played on finite arenas it is known that computing optimally resilient strategies only incurs a polynomial overhead over solving classical games. This paper studies safety games with disturbances played on infinite arenas induced by pushdown systems. We show how to compute optimally resilient strategies in triply-exponential time. For the subclass of safety games played on one-counter configuration graphs, we show that determining the degree of resilience of the initial configuration is PSPACE-complete and that optimally resilient strategies can be computed in doubly-exponential time.
Daniel Neider, Patrick Totzke, Martin Zimmermann 0002
MFCS3
2020 Promptness and Bounded Fairness in Concurrent and Parameterized Systems
Swen Jacobs, Mouhammad Sakr, Martin Zimmermann 0002
VMCAI3
2020 Synthesizing optimally resilient controllers
abstract
Abstract Recently, Dallal, Neider, and Tabuada studied a generalization of the classical game-theoretic model used in program synthesis, which additionally accounts for unmodeled intermittent disturbances. In this extended framework, one is interested in computing optimally resilient strategies, i.e., strategies that are resilient against as many disturbances as possible. Dallal, Neider, and Tabuada showed how to compute such strategies for safety specifications. In this work, we compute optimally resilient strategies for a much wider range of winning conditions and show that they do not require more memory than winning strategies in the classical model. Our algorithms only have a polynomial overhead in comparison to the ones computing winning strategies. In particular, for parity conditions, optimally resilient strategies are positional and can be computed in quasipolynomial time.
Daniel Neider, Alexander Weinert, Martin Zimmermann 0002
Acta Informatica3
2020 Finite-state strategies in delay games
Sarah Winter, Martin Zimmermann 0002
Inf. Comput.2
2019 Parity Games with Weights
abstract
Quantitative extensions of parity games have recently attracted significant interest. These extensions include parity games with energy and payoff conditions as well as finitary parity games and their generalization to parity games with costs. Finitary parity games enjoy a special status among these extensions, as they offer a native combination of the qualitative and quantitative aspects in infinite games: The quantitative aspect of finitary parity games is a quality measure for the qualitative aspect, as it measures the limit superior of the time it takes to answer an odd color by a larger even one. Finitary parity games have been extended to parity games with costs, where each transition is labeled with a nonnegative weight that reflects the costs incurred by taking it. We lift this restriction and consider parity games with costs with arbitrary integer weights. We show that solving such games is in NP $\cap$ coNP, the signature complexity for games of this type. We also show that the protagonist has finite-state winning strategies, and provide tight pseudo-polynomial bounds for the memory he needs to win the game. Naturally, the antagonist may need infinite memory to win. Moreover, we present tight bounds on the quality of winning strategies for the protagonist. Furthermore, we investigate the problem of determining, for a given threshold $b$, whether the protagonist has a strategy of quality at most $b$ and show this problem to be EXPTIME-complete. The protagonist inherits the necessity of exponential memory for implementing such strategies from the special case of finitary parity games.
Sven Schewe, Alexander Weinert, Martin Zimmermann 0002
Log. Methods Comput. Sci.3
2018 Synthesizing Optimally Resilient Controllers
Daniel Neider, Alexander Weinert, Martin Zimmermann 0002
CSL3
2018 Parity Games with Weights
Sven Schewe, Alexander Weinert, Martin Zimmermann 0002
CSL3
2018 Parity to Safety in Polynomial Time for Pushdown and Collapsible Pushdown Systems
abstract
We give a direct polynomial-time reduction from parity games played over the configuration graphs of collapsible pushdown systems to safety games played over the same class of graphs. That a polynomial-time reduction would exist was known since both problems are complete for the same complexity class. Coming up with a direct reduction, however, has been an open problem. Our solution to the puzzle brings together a number of techniques for pushdown games and adds three new ones. This work contributes to a recent trend of liveness to safety reductions which allow the advanced state-of-the-art in safety checking to be used for more expressive specifications.
Matthew Hague, Roland Meyer 0001, Sebastian Muskalla, Martin Zimmermann 0002
MFCS4
2018 Team Semantics for the Specification and Verification of Hyperproperties
Andreas Krebs, Arne Meier, Jonni Virtema, Martin Zimmermann 0002
MFCS4
2018 The complexity of counting models of linear-time temporal logic
abstract
We determine the complexity of counting models of bounded size of specifications expressed in linear-time temporal logic. Counting word-models is #P-complete, if the bound is given in unary, and as hard as counting accepting runs of nondeterministic polynomial space Turing machines, if the bound is given in binary. Counting tree-models is as hard as counting accepting runs of nondeterministic exponential time Turing machines, if the bound is given in unary. For a binary encoding of the bound, the problem is at least as hard as counting accepting runs of nondeterministic exponential space Turing machines, and not harder than counting accepting runs of nondeterministic doubly-exponential time Turing machines. Finally, counting arbitrary transition systems satisfying a formula is #P-hard and not harder than counting accepting runs of nondeterministic polynomial time Turing machines with a PSPACE oracle, if the bound is given in unary. If the bound is given in binary, then counting arbitrary models is as hard as counting accepting runs of nondeterministic exponential time Turing machines.
Hazem Torfah, Martin Zimmermann 0002
Acta Informatica2
2018 Parameterized linear temporal logics meet costs: still not costlier than LTL
Martin Zimmermann 0002
Acta Informatica1
2018 Distributed synthesis for parameterized temporal logics
Swen Jacobs, Leander Tentrup, Martin Zimmermann 0002
Inf. Comput.3
2018 Visibly linear dynamic logic
abstract
We introduce Visibly Linear Dynamic Logic (VLDL), which extends Linear Temporal Logic (LTL) by temporal operators that are guarded by visibly pushdown languages over finite words. In VLDL one can, e.g., express that a function resets a variable to its original value after its execution, even in the presence of an unbounded number of intermediate recursive calls. We prove that VLDL describes exactly the $ω$-visibly pushdown languages. Thus it is strictly more expressive than LTL and able to express recursive properties of programs with unbounded call stacks. The main technical contribution of this work is a translation of VLDL into $ω$-visibly pushdown automata of exponential size via one-way alternating jumping automata. This translation yields exponential-time algorithms for satisfiability, validity, and model checking. We also show that visibly pushdown games with VLDL winning conditions are solvable in triply-exponential time. We prove all these problems to be complete for their respective complexity classes.
Alexander Weinert, Martin Zimmermann 0002
Theor. Comput. Sci.2
2017 Bounding Average-Energy Games
Patricia Bouyer, Piotr Hofman, Nicolas Markey, Mickael Randour, Martin Zimmermann 0002
FoSSaCS5
2017 Games with costs and delays
abstract
We demonstrate the usefulness of adding delay to infinite games with quantitative winning conditions. In a delay game, one of the players may delay her moves to obtain a lookahead on her opponent's moves. We show that determining the winner of delay games with winning conditions given by parity automata with costs is EXPTIME-complete and that exponential bounded lookahead is both sufficient and in general necessary. Thus, although the parity condition with costs is a quantitative extension of the parity condition, our results show that adding costs does not increase the complexity of delay games with parity conditions. Furthermore, we study a new phenomenon that appears in quantitative delay games: lookahead can be traded for the quality of winning strategies and vice versa. We determine the extent of this tradeoff. In particular, even the smallest lookahead allows to improve the quality of an optimal strategy from the worst possible value to almost the smallest possible one. Thus, the benefit of introducing lookahead is twofold: not only does it allow the delaying player to win games she would lose without, but lookahead also allows her to improve the quality of her winning strategies in games she wins even without lookahead.
Martin Zimmermann 0002
LICS1
2017 The First-Order Logic of Hyperproperties
abstract
We investigate the logical foundations of hyperproperties. Hyperproperties generalize trace properties, which are sets of traces, to sets of sets of traces. The most prominent application of hyperproperties is information flow security: information flow policies characterize the secrecy and integrity of a system by comparing two or more execution traces, for example by comparing the observations made by an external observer on execution traces that result from different values of a secret variable. In this paper, we establish the first connection between temporal logics for hyperproperties and first-order logic. Kamp's seminal theorem (in the formulation due to Gabbay et al.) states that linear-time temporal logic (LTL) is expressively equivalent to first-order logic over the natural numbers with order. We introduce first-order logic over sets of traces and prove that HyperLTL, the extension of LTL to hyperproperties, is strictly subsumed by this logic. We furthermore exhibit a fragment that is expressively equivalent to HyperLTL, thereby establishing Kamp's theorem for hyperproperties.
Bernd Finkbeiner, Martin Zimmermann 0002
STACS2
2017 Parametric Linear Dynamic Logic
Peter Faymonville, Martin Zimmermann 0002
Inf. Comput.2
2017 Easy to Win, Hard to Master: Optimal Strategies in Parity Games with Costs
abstract
The winning condition of a parity game with costs requires an arbitrary, but fixed bound on the cost incurred between occurrences of odd colors and the next occurrence of a larger even one. Such games quantitatively extend parity games while retaining most of their attractive properties, i.e, determining the winner is in NP and co-NP and one player has positional winning strategies. We show that the characteristics of parity games with costs are vastly different when asking for strategies realizing the minimal such bound: The solution problem becomes PSPACE-complete and exponential memory is both necessary in general and always sufficient. Thus, solving and playing parity games with costs optimally is harder than just winning them. Moreover, we show that the tradeoff between the memory size and the realized bound is gradual in general. All these results hold true for both a unary and binary encoding of costs. Moreover, we investigate Streett games with costs. Here, playing optimally is as hard as winning, both in terms of complexity and memory.
Alexander Weinert, Martin Zimmermann 0002
Log. Methods Comput. Sci.2
2016 Easy to Win, Hard to Master: Optimal Strategies in Parity Games with Costs
abstract
The winning condition of a parity game with costs requires an arbitrary, but fixed bound on the distance between occurrences of odd colors and the next occurrence of a larger even one. Such games quantitatively extend parity games while retaining most of their attractive properties, i.e, determining the winner is in NP and co-NP and one player has positional winning strategies. We show that the characteristics of parity games with costs are vastly different when asking for strategies realizing the minimal such bound: the solution problem becomes PSPACE-complete and exponential memory is both necessary in general and always sufficient. Thus, playing parity games with costs optimally is harder than just winning them. Moreover, we show that the tradeoff between the memory size and the realized bound is gradual in general.
Alexander Weinert, Martin Zimmermann 0002
CSL2
2016 Prompt Delay
Felix Klein 0001, Martin Zimmermann 0002
FSTTCS2
2016 Visibly Linear Dynamic Logic
Alexander Weinert, Martin Zimmermann 0002
FSTTCS2
2015 What are Strategies in Delay Games? Borel Determinacy for Games with Lookahead
abstract
We investigate determinacy of delay games with Borel winning conditions, infinite-duration two-player games in which one player may delay her moves to obtain a lookahead on her opponent's moves. First, we prove determinacy of such games with respect to a fixed evolution of the lookahead. However, strategies in such games may depend on information about the evolution. Thus, we introduce different notions of universal strategies for both players, which are evolution-independent, and determine the exact amount of information a universal strategy needs about the history of a play and the evolution of the lookahead to be winning. In particular, we show that delay games with Borel winning conditions are determined with respect to universal strategies. Finally, we consider decidability problems, e.g., "Does a player have a universal winning strategy for delay games with a given winning condition?", for omega-regular and omega-context-free winning conditions.
Felix Klein 0001, Martin Zimmermann 0002
CSL2
2015 How Much Lookahead is Needed to Win Infinite Games?
Felix Klein 0001, Martin Zimmermann 0002
ICALP (2)2
2014 The Complexity of Counting Models of Linear-time Temporal Logic
Hazem Torfah, Martin Zimmermann 0002
FSTTCS2
2014 Down the Borel hierarchy: Solving Muller games via safety games
Daniel Neider, Roman Rabinovich 0001, Martin Zimmermann 0002
Theor. Comput. Sci.3
2013 Optimal bounds in parametric LTL games
Martin Zimmermann 0002
Theor. Comput. Sci.1
2012 Cost-Parity and Cost-Streett Games
abstract
We consider two-player games played on finite graphs equipped with costs on edges and introduce two winning conditions, cost-parity and cost-Streett, which require bounds on the cost between requests and their responses. Both conditions generalize the corresponding classical omega-regular conditions as well as the corresponding finitary conditions. For cost-parity games we show that the first player has positional winning strategies and that determining the winner lies in NP intersection Co-NP. For cost-Streett games we show that the first player has finite-state winning strategies and that determining the winner is EXPTIME-complete. This unifies the complexity results for the classical and finitary variants of these games. Both types of cost games can be solved by solving linearly many instances of their classical variants.
Nathanaël Fijalkow, Martin Zimmermann 0002
FSTTCS2
2009 Time-Optimal Winning Strategies for Poset Games
Martin Zimmermann 0002
CIAA1