Finite Petri nets as models for recursive causal behaviour

AbstractGoltz (1988) discussed whether or not there exist finite Petri nets (with unbounded capacities) modelling the causal behaviour of certain recursive CCS terms. As a representative example, the following term is considered: B=(a.nil∣b.B)+c.nil. We will show that the answer depends on the chosen notion of behaviour. It was already known that the interleaving behaviour and the branching structure of terms as B can be modelled as long as causality is not taken into account. We now show that also the causal behaviour of B can be modelled as long as the branching structure is not taken into account. However, it is not possible to represent both causal dependencies and the behaviour with respect to choices between alternatives in a finite net. We prove that there exists no finite Petri net modelling B with respect to both pomset trace equivalence and failure equivalence