On Shuffling and Splitting Automata

Abstract

We consider a class of finite state three-tape transducers which models the operation of shuffling and splitting words. We present them as automata over the so-called Shuffling Monoid. These automata can be seen as either shufflers or splitters interchangeably. We prove that functionality is decidable for splitters, and we also show that the equivalence between functional splitters is decidable. Moreover, in the deterministic case, the algorithm for equivalence is polynomial on the number of states of the splitter.