Matching patterns with variables under Simon’s congruence

Pamela Fleischmann, Sungmin Kim, Tore Koß, Florin Manea, Dirk Nowotka, Stefan Siemer and Max Wiedenhöft.
Accepted for publication.

Definitions

Simon’s congruence: For an integer $k$, two strings $w_1$ and $w_2$ are $k$-congruent ($w_1\sim_k w_2$) if they have the same set of subsequences of at most $k$.
Matching patterns with variables problem under Simon’s congruence: given a pattern $\alpha$ over the set of variables and terminals and a string $w$ over the set of terminals, find a substitution $h$ that satisfies $h(\alpha)\sim_k w$.

Summary of results

  • NP-completeness proofs for the following problems:
    • matching patterns with variables under Simon's congruence when the pattern is $k$-universal (i.e., contains all subsequences of length at most $k$)
    • matching patterns with variables under Simon's congruence against general patterns
    • word equation problems under Simon's congruence (i.e., when $w$ also contains variables and the substitution should satisfy $h(\alpha)\sim_k h(w)$) when $k\le |\alpha|+|w|$
  • Membership in P against regular patterns (i.e., each variable occurs at most once)
  • Membership in P for $k$-universal patterns when $k=1$


Keywords Simon’s congruence, matching patterns with variables, word equation, string solving

link to conference version