D 2025

Scalable Counting of Minimal Trap Spaces and Fixed Points in Boolean Networks

KABIR, Mohimenul; Van-Giang TRINH; Samuel PASTVA and Kuldeep S. MEEL

Basic information

Original name

Scalable Counting of Minimal Trap Spaces and Fixed Points in Boolean Networks

Authors

KABIR, Mohimenul; Van-Giang TRINH; Samuel PASTVA and Kuldeep S. MEEL

Edition

Dagstuhl, Germany, 31ST INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF CONSTRAINT PROGRAMMING, CP 2025, p. 1-26, 26 pp. 2025

Publisher

SCHLOSS DAGSTUHL, LEIBNIZ CENTER INFORMATICS

Other information

Language

English

Type of outcome

Proceedings paper

Country of publisher

Germany

Confidentiality degree

is not subject to a state or trade secret

Publication form

electronic version available online

Marked to be transferred to RIV

No

Organization

Fakulta informatiky – Repository – Repository

ISSN

DOI

https://doi.org/10.4230/LIPIcs.CP.2025.17

Keywords in English

Computational systems biology; Boolean network; Fixed point; Trap space; Answer set counting; Projected counting; Abstract argumentation; Logic programming
Changed: 7/2/2026 00:50, RNDr. Daniel Jakubík

Abstract

In the original language

Boolean Networks (BNs) serve as a fundamental modeling framework for capturing complex dynamical systems across various domains, including systems biology, computational logic, and artificial intelligence. A crucial property of BNs is the presence of trap spaces - subspaces of the state space that, once entered, cannot be exited. Minimal trap spaces, in particular, play a significant role in analyzing the long-term behavior of BNs, making their efficient enumeration and counting essential. The fixed points in BNs are a special case of minimal trap spaces. In this work, we formulate several meaningful counting problems related to minimal trap spaces and fixed points in BNs. These problems provide valuable insights both within BN theory (e.g., in probabilistic reasoning and dynamical analysis) and in broader application areas, including systems biology, abstract argumentation, and logic programming. To address these computational challenges, we propose novel methods based on approximate answer set counting, leveraging techniques from answer set programming. Our approach efficiently approximates the number of minimal trap spaces and the number of fixed points without requiring exhaustive enumeration, making it particularly well-suited for large-scale BNs. Our experimental evaluation on an extensive and diverse set of benchmark instances shows that our methods significantly improve the feasibility of counting minimal trap spaces and fixed points, paving the way for new applications in BN analysis and beyond.
Displayed: 6/5/2026 16:28