Previous Lesson
In this lesson we will prove the Immerman-Szelepcsényi Theorem.
Theorem (Immerman-Szelepcsényi):
For reasonable s(n)≥ log n, NSPACE(s(n))=co-NSPACE(s(n)).
Let M be a nondeterministic machine using s(n) space. We will create a
nondeterministic machine N such that for all inputs x, N(x) accepts if
and only if M(x) rejects.
Fix an input x and let s=s(|x|). The total number of configurations of
M(x) can be at most cs for some constant c. Let
t=cs. We can also bound the running time of M(x) by t
because any computation path of length more than t must repeat a
configuration and thus could be shortened.
Let I be the
initial configuration of M(x).
Let m be the number of possible configurations reachable from I on some
nondeterministic path. Suppose we knew the value of m. We now show how
N(x) can correctly determine that M(x) does not accept.
Let r=0
For all nonaccepting configurations C of M(x)
Try to guess a computation path from I to C
If found let r=r+1
If r=m then accept o.w. reject
If M(x) accepts then there is some accepting configuration reachable
from I so there must be less than m non-accepting configurations
reachable from I so N(x) cannot accept.
If M(x) rejects then there is no accepting configurations reachable
from I so N(x) on some nondeterministic path will find all m
nonaccepting paths and accept.
The total space is at most O(s) since we are looking only at
one configuration at a time.
Of course we cannot assume that we know m. To get m we use an idea
called inductive counting. Let mi be the number of
configurations reachable from I in at most i steps. We have
m0=1 and mt=m. We show how to compute
mi+1 from mi. Then starting at m0 we
compute m1 then m2 all the way up to
mt=m and then run the algorithm above.
Here is the algorithm to nondeterministically compute mi+1
from mi.
Let mi+1=0
For all configurations C
Let b=0, r=0
For all configurations D
Guess a path from I to D in at most i steps
If found
Let r=r+1
If D=C or D goes to C in 1 step
Let b=1
If r<mi halt and reject
Let mi+1=mi+1+b
The test that r<m
i guarantees that we have looked at all
of the configurations D reachable from I in i steps. If we pass the
test each time then we will have correctly computed b to be equal to 1
if C is reachable from I in at most i+1 steps and b equals 0
otherwise.
We are only remembering a constant number of configurations and
variables so again the space is bounded by O(s). Since we only need to
remember mi to get mi+1 we can run the whole
algorithm in space O(s).
Sometimes
I learn interesting aspects of the history of theory from this
weblog. On an
old post on conference covers, Pekka
Orponen left a comment saying that Alvy Ray Smith originally designed
the FOCS cover back in 1973, when the conference was SWAT: Switching
and Automata Theory. Here is Smith's story about the
cover where he states the hands are his.
