Reachability in Interactive Chemical Reaction Networks

Authors

Aberto Avila-Jimenez, The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley
Bin Fu, The University of Texas Rio Grande ValleyFollow
Elise Grizzell, The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley
Robert Schweller, The University of Texas Rio Grande ValleyFollow
Tim Wylie, The University of Texas Rio Grande ValleyFollow

Document Type

Conference Proceeding

Publication Date

1-31-2026

Abstract

This paper studies the effects of interactivity on molecular computation, specifically in the Step Chemical Reaction Networks model (Step CRNs), by adding the ability for a user to interact with the system by selecting which species to add at each step, or by having some control over which reactions execute. The two proposed variants are Interactive CRNs and Randomized Interactive CRNs. We show that in Interactive CRNs, even when restricted to void (deletion-only) rules of relatively small size, if a user can decide which species to add at each step based on the configuration, reachability is PSPACE-complete when bounded and EXPTIME-hard when unbounded. In Randomized Interactive CRNs, we prove that reachability with void rules is PSPACE-complete.

Comments

© 2026 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

https://rdcu.be/e7Ufo

Recommended Citation

Avila-Jimenez, Aberto, Bin Fu, Elise Grizzell, Robert Schweller, and Tim Wylie. "Reachability in Interactive Chemical Reaction Networks." In International Conference on Unconventional Computation and Natural Computation, pp. 323-343. Cham: Springer Nature Switzerland, 2025. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-032-15641-9_22

First Page

323

Last Page

343

Publication Title

International Conference on Unconventional Computation and Natural Computation

DOI

10.1007/978-3-032-15641-9_22