Bisimilarity in term graph rewriting

Abstract

We present a survey of confluence properties of (acyclic) term graph rewriting. Results and counterexamples are given for different kinds of term graph rewriting; besides plain applications of rewrite rules, extensions with the operations of collapsing and copying, and both operations together are considered. Collapsing and copying together constitute bisimilarity of term graphs. We establish sufficient conditions for - and counterexamples to - confluence, confluence modulo bisimilarity, and the Church-Rosser property modulo bisimilarity. Moreover, we address rewriting modulo bisimilarity, that is, rewriting of bisimilarity classes of term graphs. © 2000 Academic Press.