A Reformulation of Matrix Graph Grammars with Boolean Complexes

Abstract

Graph transformation is concerned with the manipulation of graphs by means of rules. Graph grammars have been traditionally studied using techniques from category theory. In previous works, we introduced Matrix Graph Grammars (MGG) as a purely algebraic approach for the study of graph dynamics, based on the representation of simple graphs by means of their adjacency matrices.

The observation that, in addition to positive information, a rule implicitly defines negative conditions for its application (edges cannot become dangling, and cannot be added twice as we work with simple digraphs) has led to a representation of graphs as two matrices encoding positive and negative information. Using this representation, we have reformulated the main concepts in MGGs, while we have introduced other new ideas. In particular, we present (i) a new formulation of productions together with an abstraction of them (so called swaps), (ii) the notion of coherence, which checks whether a production sequence can be potentially applied, (iii) the minimal graph enabling the applicability of a sequence, and (iv) the conditions for compatibility of sequences (lack of dangling edges) and G-congruence (whether two sequences have the same minimal initial graph).