Multiple-person alternation

Abstract

We generalize the alternation machines of Chandra, Kozen and Stockmeyer [1] and the private alternation machines of Reif [14] to model multiple person (team) games of incomplete information. The resulting classes of machines are "multiple person alternation machines". The characterization of certain time and space bounded versions of these machines demonstrate interesting relationships between ordinary time and space hierarchies (Table 1). Our results are applied to relative succintness and power questions of finite state machines and to complexity questions of parallel finite state machines. Other machine variants, including private alternating pushdown store automata and Markovian alternation machines, are discussed.