955 research outputs found
Kleene algebra with domain
We propose Kleene algebra with domain (KAD), an extension of Kleene algebra
with two equational axioms for a domain and a codomain operation, respectively.
KAD considerably augments the expressiveness of Kleene algebra, in particular
for the specification and analysis of state transition systems. We develop the
basic calculus, discuss some related theories and present the most important
models of KAD. We demonstrate applicability by two examples: First, an
algebraic reconstruction of Noethericity and well-foundedness; second, an
algebraic reconstruction of propositional Hoare logic.Comment: 40 page
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Automated verification of refinement laws
Demonic refinement algebras are variants of Kleene algebras. Introduced by von Wright as a light-weight variant of the refinement calculus, their intended semantics are positively disjunctive predicate transformers, and their calculus is entirely within first-order equational logic. So, for the first time, off-the-shelf automated theorem proving (ATP) becomes available for refinement proofs. We used ATP to verify a toolkit of basic refinement laws. Based on this toolkit, we then verified two classical complex refinement laws for action systems by ATP: a data refinement law and Back's atomicity refinement law. We also present a refinement law for infinite loops that has been discovered through automated analysis. Our proof experiments not only demonstrate that refinement can effectively be automated, they also compare eleven different ATP systems and suggest that program verification with variants of Kleene algebras yields interesting theorem proving benchmarks. Finally, we apply hypothesis learning techniques that seem indispensable for automating more complex proofs
Symbolic Algorithms for Language Equivalence and Kleene Algebra with Tests
We first propose algorithms for checking language equivalence of finite
automata over a large alphabet. We use symbolic automata, where the transition
function is compactly represented using a (multi-terminal) binary decision
diagrams (BDD). The key idea consists in computing a bisimulation by exploring
reachable pairs symbolically, so as to avoid redundancies. This idea can be
combined with already existing optimisations, and we show in particular a nice
integration with the disjoint sets forest data-structure from Hopcroft and
Karp's standard algorithm. Then we consider Kleene algebra with tests (KAT), an
algebraic theory that can be used for verification in various domains ranging
from compiler optimisation to network programming analysis. This theory is
decidable by reduction to language equivalence of automata on guarded strings,
a particular kind of automata that have exponentially large alphabets. We
propose several methods allowing to construct symbolic automata out of KAT
expressions, based either on Brzozowski's derivatives or standard automata
constructions. All in all, this results in efficient algorithms for deciding
equivalence of KAT expressions
Modal Kleene algebra and applications - a survey
Modal Kleene algebras are Kleene algebras with forward and backward modal operators defined via domain and codomain operations. They provide a concise and convenient algebraic framework that subsumes various other calculi and allows treating quite a variety of areas. We survey the basic theory and some prominent applications. These include, on the system semantics side, Hoare logic and PDL (Propositional Dynamic Logic), wp calculus and predicate transformer semantics, temporal logics and termination analysis of rewrite and state transition systems. On the derivation side we apply the framework to game analysis and greedy-like algorithms
Kleene Algebra with Converse
International audienceThe equational theory generated by all algebras of binary relations with operations of union, composition, converse and reflexive transitive closure was studied by Bernátsky, Bloom, Ésik, and Stefanescu in 1995. We reformulate some of their proofs in syntactic and elementary terms, and we provide a new algorithm to decide the corresponding theory. This algorithm is both simpler and more efficient; it relies on an alternative automata construction, that allows us to prove that the considered equational theory lies in the complexity class PSPACE. Specific regular languages appear at various places in the proofs. Those proofs were made tractable by considering appropriate automata recognising those languages, and exploiting symmetries in those automata
Exhaustible sets in higher-type computation
We say that a set is exhaustible if it admits algorithmic universal
quantification for continuous predicates in finite time, and searchable if
there is an algorithm that, given any continuous predicate, either selects an
element for which the predicate holds or else tells there is no example. The
Cantor space of infinite sequences of binary digits is known to be searchable.
Searchable sets are exhaustible, and we show that the converse also holds for
sets of hereditarily total elements in the hierarchy of continuous functionals;
moreover, a selection functional can be constructed uniformly from a
quantification functional. We prove that searchable sets are closed under
intersections with decidable sets, and under the formation of computable images
and of finite and countably infinite products. This is related to the fact,
established here, that exhaustible sets are topologically compact. We obtain a
complete description of exhaustible total sets by developing a computational
version of a topological Arzela--Ascoli type characterization of compact
subsets of function spaces. We also show that, in the non-empty case, they are
precisely the computable images of the Cantor space. The emphasis of this paper
is on the theory of exhaustible and searchable sets, but we also briefly sketch
applications
Admissibility via Natural Dualities
It is shown that admissible clauses and quasi-identities of quasivarieties
generated by a single finite algebra, or equivalently, the quasiequational and
universal theories of their free algebras on countably infinitely many
generators, may be characterized using natural dualities. In particular,
axiomatizations are obtained for the admissible clauses and quasi-identities of
bounded distributive lattices, Stone algebras, Kleene algebras and lattices,
and De Morgan algebras and lattices.Comment: 22 pages; 3 figure
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