Two-way representations and weighted automata

Abstract

We study the series realized by weighted two-way automata, that are strictly more powerful than weighted one-way automata. To this end, we consider the Hadamard product and the Hadamard iteration of formal power series. We introduce two-way representations and show that the series they realize are the solutions of fixed-point equations. In rationally additive semirings, we prove that two-way automata are equivalent to two-way representations, and, for some specific classes of two-way automata, rotating and sweeping automata, we give a characterization of the series that can be realized.