Failure detectors as type boosters

The power of an object type T can be measured as the maximum number n of processes that can solve consensus using only objects of T and registers. This number, denoted cons(T), is called the consensus power of T. This paper addresses the question of the weakest failure detector to solve consensus among a number k > n of processes that communicate using shared objects of a type T with consensus power n. In other words, we seek for a failure detector that is sufficient and necessary to "boost" the consensus power of a type T from n to k. It was shown in [24] that a certain failure detector, denoted n, is sufficient to boost the power of a type T from n to k, and it was conjectured that n was also necessary. In this paper, we prove this conjecture for one-shot deterministic types. We first show that, for any one-shot deterministic type T with cons(T) n, n is necessary to boost the power

• Type: Journal
• Year: 2008
• Where: DC
• Authors: Rachid Guerraoui, Petr Kouznetsov
• Keywords: Consensus Power, DC 2001, DC 2008, Failure Detector, Weakest Failure Detector