An efficient best-trees algorithm for weighted tree automata over the tropical semiring

Abstract

We generalise a search algorithm by Mohri and Riley from strings to trees. The original algorithm takes as input a weighted automaton M over the tropical semiring, together with an integer N, and outputs N strings of minimal weight with respect to M. In our setting, M defines a weighted tree language, again over the tropical semiring, and the output is a set of N trees with minimal weight. We prove that the algorithm is correct, and that its time complexity is a low polynomial in N and the relevant size parameters of M.