Positional $ω$-regular languages
Abstract
In the context of two-player games over graphs, a language $L$ is called positional if, in all games using $L$ as winning objective, the protagonist can play optimally using positional strategies, that is, strategies that do not depend on the history of the play. In this work, we describe the class of parity automata recognising positional languages, providing a complete characterisation of positionality for $ω$-regular languages. As corollaries, we establish decidability of positionality in polynomial time, finite-to-infinite and 1-to-2-players lifts, and show the closure under union of prefix-independent positional objectives, answering a conjecture by Kopczyński in the $ω$-regular case. 109 pages. This is the TheoretiCS journal version
Fields of Study & Subjects
semigroups and automata theory
Coding theory and cryptography
Formal Methods in Verification
Publication details
- Journal / source
- TheoretiCS
- Publisher
- Centre pour la Communication Scientifique Directe (CCSD)
- Volume
- Volume 5
- Publication date
- 24 February 2026
- Language
- EN