The weighted HOM-problem over fields

Abstract

The HOM-problem, which asks whether the image of a regular tree language under a tree homomorphism is again regular, is known to be decidable. In this paper, we prove the weighted HOM-problem for all fields decidable, provided that the tree homomorphism is tetris-free (a condition that generalizes injectivity). To this end, we reduce the problem to a property of the device representing the homomorphic image in question; to prove this property decidable, we then derive a pumping lemma for such devices from the well-known pumping lemma for regular tree series over fields, proved by Berstel and Reutenauer in 1982.