Abstract. In this paper, we show that closed-form analytic maps and flows can simulate Turing machines in an error-robust manner. The maps and ODEs defining the flows are explicitly obtained and the simulation is performed in real time. 1

This paper revisits one of the first models of analog computation, the General Purpose Analog Computer (GPAC). In particular, we restrict our attention to the improved model presented in [11] and we show that it can be further refined. With this we prove the following: (i) the previous model can be simplified; (ii) it admits extensions having close connections with the class of smooth continuous time dynamical systems. As a consequence, we conclude that some of these extensions achieve Turing universality. Finally, it is shown that if we introduce a new notion of computability for the GPAC, based on ideas from computable analysis, then one can compute transcendentally transcendental functions such as the Gamma function or Riemann’s Zeta function. 1

In this paper, we show that there are Initial Value Problems defined with polynomial ordinary differential equations that can simulate universal Turing machines in the presence of bounded noise. The polynomial ODE defining the IVP is explicitly obtained and the simulation is performed in real time.

Abstract. We provide an overview of theories of continuous time computation. These theories allow us to understand both the hardness of questions related to continuous time dynamical systems and the computational power of continuous time analog models. We survey the existing models, summarizing results, and point to relevant references in the literature. 1

In this paper we study from a computational perspective some properties of the solutions of polynomial ordinary differential equations. We consider elementary (in the sense of Analysis) discrete-time dynamical systems satisfying certain criteria of robustness. We show that those systems can be simulated with elementary and robust continuous-time dynamical systems which can be expanded into fully polynomial ordinary differential equations in Q[π]. This sets a computational lower bound on polynomial ODEs since the former class is large enough to include the dynamics of arbitrary Turing machines. We also apply the previous methods to show that the problem of determining whether the maximal interval of definition of an initial-value problem defined with polynomial ODEs is bounded or not is in general undecidable, even if the parameters of the system are computable and comparable and if the degree of the corresponding polynomial is at most 56. Combined with earlier results on the computability of solutions of polynomial ODEs, one can conclude that there is from a computational point of view a close connection between these systems and Turing machines.

considered, first as a model of analog computation, and second to obtain analog characterizations of classical computational complexity classes (Unconventional Models of Computation, UMC 2002, Lecture Notes in Computer Science, Vol. 2509, Springer, Berlin, pp. 1–14). However, one of the operators introduced in the seminal paper by Moore (1996), the minimalization operator, has not been considered: (a) although differential recursion (the analog counterpart of classical recurrence) is, in some extent, directly implementable in the General Purpose Analog Computer of Claude Shannon, analog minimalization is far from physical realizability, and (b) analog minimalization was borrowed from classical recursion theory and does not fit well the analytic realm of analog computation. In this paper, we show that a most natural operator captured from analysis—the operator of taking a limit—can be used properly to enhance the theory of recursion over the reals, providing good solutions to puzzling problems raised by the original model. © 2004 Published by Elsevier Inc.