24.13 Satisfiability of String Constraints with Subsequence relation

By \(\le\) we denote the (scattered) subsequence relation between words. Example: \(aba \le baabbabbb\). Fix a finite alphabet \(A\). Let \(X\) be a set of string variables. A subsequence constraint is an expression of the form \(x \le \alpha \) where \(x \in X\) and \(\alpha \in X^*\). A homomorphism \(h: X^\ast \to A^*\) satisfies a subsequence constraint \(x \le \alpha \) if \(h(x) \le h(\alpha)\). A domain restriction constraint \(d: X \to RE(A)\) restricts the domain of possible values for a variable \(x\) to the regular language given by the regular expression \(d(e)\). We are interested in the decidability of the following problem:

Input: A set \(C\) of subsequence constraints and a domain restriction \(d\). Question:Is there a homomorphism \(h\) that respects the domain restriction \(d\) and satisfies every subsequence constraint in \(C\)?