NSPACE

NSPACE

In computational complexity theory, the complexity class NSPACE(f(n)) is the set of decision problems that can be solved by a non-deterministic Turing machine using space O(f(n)), and unlimited time. It is the non-deterministic counterpart of DSPACE.

Several important complexity classes can be defined in terms of NSPACE. These include:

The last two results above follow from Savitch's theorem, which states that for any function f(n) log(n),

NSPACE(f(n)) DSPACE(f2(n)).

The ImmermanSzelepcsényi theorem states that NSPACE(s(n)) is closed under complement for every function s(n) log n.

NSPACE can be related to DTIME as follows. For any space constructible function s(n),

\mbox{NSPACE}(s(n)) \subseteq \bigcup_{k \geq 1} \mbox{DTIME}(2^{k \cdot s(n)})

A futher generalization is ASPACE, defined with alternating Turing machines.

References

Complexity Zoo: NSPACE(f(n)).