Covering Rules in P Systems: Some Preliminary Ideas

Abstract

In this paper we propose a new kind of rules inside the regions of a P system. We have called them covering rules due to the fact that, if selected, they can manage all the objects of the region in an exhaustive manner (i.e., they cover all the objects of the region). First, we propose the formal definition of the rules and different ways of using them. This will introduce a second degree of nondeterminism in the complete behavior of a given P system. We will introduce an effective way to reduce the nondeterminism by defining indexed covering rules. Finally, we will initiate a study of several language families characterized in terms of the covering rules language families.