Constrained Simulations, Nested Simulation Semantics and Counting Bisimulations

Nested simulations define an interesting hierarchy of semantic preorders and equivalences in which every semantics refines the previous one and it is refined by the following. This nested nature provides a fruitful framework for the study of the formal meaning and the properties of concurrent processes. In this paper we present the notion of constrained simulation that, although rather simple, allows us to find general results for a wide family of semantics. In particular, we provide an axiomatization for both the preorder and the equivalence induced by any constrained simulation. Nested simulations are constrained simulations and therefore our results can be instantiated directly to them. Besides, constrained simulations suggest the definition of a new family of semantics, generalised nested simulation semantics, constructed over the base of any order relation, instead of plain simulation. Finally, we conclude the study of the (generalised) nested semantics defining a generalisation of bisimulation relations, counting bisimulation, that allows us to define a characterisation of nested semantics in terms of a bisimulation-like game.