Linear Time Logics - A Coalgebraic Perspective

We describe a general approach to deriving linear time logics for a wide variety of state-based, quantitative systems, by modelling the latter as coalgebras whose type incorporates both branching behaviour and linear behaviour. Concretely, we define logics whose syntax is determined by the choice of linear behaviour and whose domain of truth values is determined by the choice of branching, and we provide two equivalent semantics for them: a step-wise semantics amenable to automata-based verification, and a path-based semantics akin to those of standard linear time logics. We also provide a semantic characterisation of the associated notion of logical equivalence, and relate it to previously-defined maximal trace semantics for such systems. Instances of our logics support reasoning about the possibility, likelihood or minimal cost of exhibiting a given linear time property. We conclude with a generalisation of the logics, dual in spirit to logics with discounting, which increases their practical appeal in the context of resource-aware computation by incorporating a notion of offsetting.Comment: Major revision of previous version: Sections 4 and 5 generalise the results in the previous version, with new proofs; Section 6 contains new result

PSPACE Bounds for Rank-1 Modal Logics

For lack of general algorithmic methods that apply to wide classes of logics, establishing a complexity bound for a given modal logic is often a laborious task. The present work is a step towards a general theory of the complexity of modal logics. Our main result is that all rank-1 logics enjoy a shallow model property and thus are, under mild assumptions on the format of their axiomatisation, in PSPACE. This leads to a unified derivation of tight PSPACE-bounds for a number of logics including K, KD, coalition logic, graded modal logic, majority logic, and probabilistic modal logic. Our generic algorithm moreover finds tableau proofs that witness pleasant proof-theoretic properties including a weak subformula property. This generality is made possible by a coalgebraic semantics, which conveniently abstracts from the details of a given model class and thus allows covering a broad range of logics in a uniform way

Disjunctive bases: normal forms and model theory for modal logics

We present the concept of a disjunctive basis as a generic framework for normal forms in modal logic based on coalgebra. Disjunctive bases were defined in previous work on completeness for modal fixpoint logics, where they played a central role in the proof of a generic completeness theorem for coalgebraic mu-calculi. Believing the concept has a much wider significance, here we investigate it more thoroughly in its own right. We show that the presence of a disjunctive basis at the "one-step" level entails a number of good properties for a coalgebraic mu-calculus, in particular, a simulation theorem showing that every alternating automaton can be transformed into an equivalent nondeterministic one. Based on this, we prove a Lyndon theorem for the full fixpoint logic, its fixpoint-free fragment and its one-step fragment, a Uniform Interpolation result, for both the full mu-calculus and its fixpoint-free fragment, and a Janin-Walukiewicz-style characterization theorem for the mu-calculus under slightly stronger assumptions. We also raise the questions, when a disjunctive basis exists, and how disjunctive bases are related to Moss' coalgebraic "nabla" modalities. Nabla formulas provide disjunctive bases for many coalgebraic modal logics, but there are cases where disjunctive bases give useful normal forms even when nabla formulas fail to do so, our prime example being graded modal logic. We also show that disjunctive bases are preserved by forming sums, products and compositions of coalgebraic modal logics, providing tools for modular construction of modal logics admitting disjunctive bases. Finally, we consider the problem of giving a category-theoretic formulation of disjunctive bases, and provide a partial solution

Modal logics are coalgebraic

Applications of modal logics are abundant in computer science, and a large number of structurally different modal logics have been successfully employed in a diverse spectrum of application contexts. Coalgebraic semantics, on the other hand, provides a uniform and encompassing view on the large variety of specific logics used in particular domains. The coalgebraic approach is generic and compositional: tools and techniques simultaneously apply to a large class of application areas and can moreover be combined in a modular way. In particular, this facilitates a pick-and-choose approach to domain specific formalisms, applicable across the entire scope of application areas, leading to generic software tools that are easier to design, to implement, and to maintain. This paper substantiates the authors' firm belief that the systematic exploitation of the coalgebraic nature of modal logic will not only have impact on the field of modal logic itself but also lead to significant progress in a number of areas within computer science, such as knowledge representation and concurrency/mobility

Coalgebraic completeness-via-canonicity for distributive substructural logics

We prove strong completeness of a range of substructural logics with respect to a natural poset-based relational semantics using a coalgebraic version of completeness-via-canonicity. By formalizing the problem in the language of coalgebraic logics, we develop a modular theory which covers a wide variety of different logics under a single framework, and lends itself to further extensions. Moreover, we believe that the coalgebraic framework provides a systematic and principled way to study the relationship between resource models on the semantics side, and substructural logics on the syntactic side.Comment: 36 page

Completeness of Flat Coalgebraic Fixpoint Logics

Modal fixpoint logics traditionally play a central role in computer science, in particular in artificial intelligence and concurrency. The mu-calculus and its relatives are among the most expressive logics of this type. However, popular fixpoint logics tend to trade expressivity for simplicity and readability, and in fact often live within the single variable fragment of the mu-calculus. The family of such flat fixpoint logics includes, e.g., LTL, CTL, and the logic of common knowledge. Extending this notion to the generic semantic framework of coalgebraic logic enables covering a wide range of logics beyond the standard mu-calculus including, e.g., flat fragments of the graded mu-calculus and the alternating-time mu-calculus (such as alternating-time temporal logic ATL), as well as probabilistic and monotone fixpoint logics. We give a generic proof of completeness of the Kozen-Park axiomatization for such flat coalgebraic fixpoint logics.Comment: Short version appeared in Proc. 21st International Conference on Concurrency Theory, CONCUR 2010, Vol. 6269 of Lecture Notes in Computer Science, Springer, 2010, pp. 524-53

Expressive Logics for Coinductive Predicates

The classical Hennessy-Milner theorem says that two states of an image-finite transition system are bisimilar if and only if they satisfy the same formulas in a certain modal logic. In this paper we study this type of result in a general context, moving from transition systems to coalgebras and from bisimilarity to coinductive predicates. We formulate when a logic fully characterises a coinductive predicate on coalgebras, by providing suitable notions of adequacy and expressivity, and give sufficient conditions on the semantics. The approach is illustrated with logics characterising similarity, divergence and a behavioural metric on automata