Highly Undecidable Problems For Infinite Computations

We show that many classical decision problems about 1-counter omega-languages, context free omega-languages, or infinitary rational relations, are $\Pi_2^1$-complete, hence located at the second level of the analytical hierarchy, and "highly undecidable". In particular, the universality problem, the inclusion problem, the equivalence problem, the determinizability problem, the complementability problem, and the unambiguity problem are all $\Pi_2^1$-complete for context-free omega-languages or for infinitary rational relations. Topological and arithmetical properties of 1-counter omega-languages, context free omega-languages, or infinitary rational relations, are also highly undecidable. These very surprising results provide the first examples of highly undecidable problems about the behaviour of very simple finite machines like 1-counter automata or 2-tape automata.