RELATING TREE SERIES TRANSDUCERS AND WEIGHTED TREE AUTOMATA
Bottom-up tree series transducers (tst) over the semiring [Formula: see text] are implemented with the help of bottom-up weighted tree automata (wta) over an extension of [Formula: see text]. Therefore bottom-up [Formula: see text]-weighted tree automata ([Formula: see text]-wta) with [Formula: see text] a distributive Ω-algebra are introduced. A [Formula: see text]-wta is essentially a wta but uses as transition weight an operation symbol of the Ω-algebra [Formula: see text] instead of a semiring element. The given tst is implemented with the help of a [Formula: see text]-wta, essentially showing that [Formula: see text]-wta are a joint generalization of tst (using IO-substitution) and wta. Then a semiring and a wta are constructed such that the wta computes a formal representation of the semantics of the [Formula: see text]-wta. The applicability of the obtained presentation result is demonstrated by deriving a pumping lemma for deterministic finite [Formula: see text]-wta from a known pumping lemma for deterministic finite wta. Finally, it is observed that the known decidability results for emptiness cannot be applied to obtain decidability of emptiness for finite [Formula: see text]-wta. Thus with help of a weaker version of the derived pumping lemma, decidability of the emptiness problem for finite [Formula: see text]-wta is shown under mild conditions on [Formula: see text].