Unique decomposition of processes (Q1208422)

A process is irreducible (with respect to \(\|)\) if whenever \(P=Q\| R\), we have that either \(Q=0\) or \(R=0\). An irreducible process is prime if it is not equal to 0. A multiset \(\{A_ 1,\dots,A_ n\}\) of primes is a decomposition of \(P\) if \(P=A_ 1\| A_ 2\|\cdots\| A_ n\). It is shown that any finite process (with CCS like parallel operator without communications) can be uniquely decomposed into prime processes with respect to bisimulation equivalence. A presented proof is non- constructive. Counterexamples to such result for both failure (testing) equivalence and trace equivalence are presented. Moreover it is shown that prime decomposition cannot exist for arbitrary infinite processes.