An Extension of Data Automata that Captures XPath

We define a new kind of automata recognizing properties of data words or data trees and prove that the automata capture all queries definable in Regular XPath. We show that the automata-theoretic approach may be applied to answer decidability and expressibility questions for XPath. Finally, we use the newly introduced automata as a common framework to classify existing automata on data words and trees, including data automata, register automata and alternating register automata.