Logiques pour les réseaux sociaux : annonces asynchrones dans des structures orthogonales

Cette thèse a deux objets d'étude principaux. D'une part, nous proposons et étudions des modèles de transmission et de réception asynchrones de messages. Pour cela, nous nous plaçons dans le cadre des logiques épistémiques dynamiques - un sous-domaine de la logique modale qui formalise les états épistémiques d'un agent (i.e. ce que l'agent sait) et qui caractérise la façon dont ces états évoluent en différentes circonstances. La plus connue des logiques épistémiques dynamiques est la logique des annonces publiques (Plaza, 1989) - une logique dynamique qui considère comme action de base l'action d'effectuer une annonce publique. Dans un système multi-agent, il est dans la connaissance commune des agents que les messages sont reçus par tous les agents au même instant. Dans le chapitre principal de la thèse, nous proposons un modèle d'annonces asynchrones dans lequel les agents peuvent recevoir les annonces à différents instants tout en ignorant si les autres agents ont également reçu ces annonces. D'autre part, nous étudions une classe de structures relationnelles qui apparaissent assez souvent en logique modale : la classe des cadres orthogonaux. Les cadres orthogonaux sont des structures birelationnelles dans lesquelles deux composantes connexes arbitraires déterminées par les deux relations ont au plus un élément en commun. Pour différentes restrictions de la classe des cadres orthogonaux, nous proposons des axiomatisations correctes et complètes des ensembles de formules valides que ces restrictions déterminent et nous proposons quelques résultats de décidabilité de ces ensembles. Pour illustrer l'ubiquité des cadres orthogonaux, nous proposons des exemples de classes de modèles pour les logiques modales qui sont basées sur eux et nous montrons comment les résultats de la thèse peuvent être utilisés pour étudier ces classes du point de vue de leur orthogonalité. Enfin, nous combinons les deux parties précédentes dans le contexte de la logique épistémique sociale (Seligman et al., 2011). Il s'agit d'une logique développée pour l'étude des états épistémiques des agents dans un réseau social. Nous proposons différentes extensions dynamiques de cette logique et, en particulier, nous modélisons la transmission d'annonces asynchrones dans un réseau social.This thesis has two main objects of study, closely related to each other. On the one hand, we provide and study models for asynchronous transmission and reception of messages. To do this, we utilize the framework of Dynamic Epistemic Logic, a branch of Modal Logic which studies the epistemic state of an agent (i.e. what they know) and how this state changes under several circumstances. One of the better known dynamic epistemic logics is Public Announcement Logic (Plaza, 1989), a logic which allows for a notion of recieving a message. In a multi-agent system, this message is received by all agents at the same time, and they all know that the others have received it. In the main chapter of this thesis, we provide a framework for asynchronous announcements, in which the agents might receive the message at different times and be uncertain whether others know the information contained within it. On the other hand, we study a class of relational structures for modal logics which show up quite often in different areas of the literature: this is the class of orthogonal frames. Orthogonal frames are bi-relational structures wherein two distinct points cannot be connected by both relations at the same time. We give a sound and complete logic of orthogonal frames under different restrictions, and we provide decidability results. To illustrate the ubiquity of these structures, we provide multiple examples of frameworks for modal logics which are based on orthogonal frames, and we use some of the results obtained earlier to show how one can further the study of these structures by focusing on their orthogonality. To finish up, we combine the two areas of study, by taking as a case study the orthogonal framework of Social Epistemic Logic (Seligman et al., 2011). This is a framework for studying the epistemic state of agents in a social network. We provide different dynamic extensions, and in particular we give a way to model the transmission of announcements asynchronously in a social networ

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

Information sharing among ideal agents

Multi-agent systems operating in complex domains crucially require agents to interact with each other. An important result of this interaction is that some of the private knowledge of the agents is being shared in the group of agents. This thesis investigates the theme of knowledge sharing from a theoretical point of view by means of the formal tools provided by modal logic. More specifically this thesis addresses the following three points. First, the case of hypercube systems, a special class of interpreted systems as defined by Halpern and colleagues, is analysed in full detail. It is here proven that the logic S5WDn constitutes a sound and complete axiomatisation for hypercube systems. This logic, an extension of the modal system S5n commonly used to represent knowledge of a multi-agent system, regulates how knowledge is being shared among agents modelled by hypercube systems. The logic S5WDn is proven to be decidable. Hypercube systems are proven to be synchronous agents with perfect recall that communicate only by broadcasting, in separate work jointly with Ron van der Meyden not fully reported in this thesis. Second, it is argued that a full spectrum of degrees of knowledge sharing can be present in any multi-agent system, with no sharing and full sharing at the extremes. This theme is investigated axiomatically and a range of logics representing a particular class of knowledge sharing between two agents is presented. All the logics but two in this spectrum are proven complete by standard canonicity proofs. We conjecture that these two remaining logics are not canonical and it is an open problem whether or not they are complete. Third, following a influential position paper by Halpern and Moses, the idea of refining and checking of knowledge structures in multi-agent systems is investigated. It is shown that, Kripke models, the standard semantic tools for this analysis are not adequate and an alternative notion, Kripke trees, is put forward. An algorithm for refining and checking Kripke trees is presented and its major properties investigated. The algorithm succeeds in solving the famous muddy-children puzzle, in which agents communicate and reason about each other's knowledge. The thesis concludes by discussing the extent to which combining logics, a promising new area in pure logic, can provide a significant boost in research for epistemic and other theories for multi-agent systems

Logic of Negation-Complete Interactive Proofs (Formal Theory of Epistemic Deciders)

We produce a decidable classical normal modal logic of internalised negation-complete and thus disjunctive non-monotonic interactive proofs (LDiiP) from an existing logical counterpart of non-monotonic or instant interactive proofs (LiiP). LDiiP internalises agent-centric proof theories that are negation-complete (maximal) and consistent (and hence strictly weaker than, for example, Peano Arithmetic) and enjoy the disjunction property (like Intuitionistic Logic). In other words, internalised proof theories are ultrafilters and all internalised proof goals are definite in the sense of being either provable or disprovable to an agent by means of disjunctive internalised proofs (thus also called epistemic deciders). Still, LDiiP itself is classical (monotonic, non-constructive), negation-incomplete, and does not have the disjunction property. The price to pay for the negation completeness of our interactive proofs is their non-monotonicity and non-communality (for singleton agent communities only). As a normal modal logic, LDiiP enjoys a standard Kripke-semantics, which we justify by invoking the Axiom of Choice on LiiP's and then construct in terms of a concrete oracle-computable function. LDiiP's agent-centric internalised notion of proof can also be viewed as a negation-complete disjunctive explicit refinement of standard KD45-belief, and yields a disjunctive but negation-incomplete explicit refinement of S4-provability.Comment: Expanded Introduction. Added Footnote 4. Corrected Corollary 3 and 4. Continuation of arXiv:1208.184

Yet More Modal Logics of Preference Change and Belief Revision

We contrast Bonanno's `Belief Revision in a Temporal Framework' \cite{Bonanno07:briatfTV} with preference change and belief revision from the perspective of dynamic epistemic logic (DEL). For that, we extend the logic of communic

The logic of secrets and the interpolation rule

Under embargo until: 2023-10-10In this article we formalise the notion of knowing a secret as a modality, by combining standard notions of knowledge and ignorance from modal epistemic logic. Roughly speaking, Ann knows a secreet if and only if she knows it and she knows that everyone else does not know it. The main aim is to study the properties of these secretly knowing modalities. It turns out that the modalities are non-normal, and are characterised by a derivation rule we call Interpolation that is stronger than Equivalence but weaker than Monotonicity. We study the Interpolation rule and position it in the landscape of non-normal modal logics. We show that it, in combination with basic axioms, gives us a complete characterisation of the properties of the secretly knowing modalities under weak assumptions about the properties of individual knowledge, in the form of a sound and complete axiomatisation. This characterisation gives us the most basic and fundamental principles of secretly knowing.acceptedVersio

Control room agents : an information-theoretic approach

In this thesis, a particular class of agent is singled out for examination. In order to provide a guiding metaphor, we speak of control room agents. Our focus is on rational decision- making by such agents, where the circumstances obtaining are such that rationality is bounded. Control room agents, whether human or non-human, need to reason and act in a changing environment with only limited information available to them. Determining the current state of the environment is a central concern for control room agents if they are to reason and act sensibly. A control room agent cannot plan its actions without having an internal representation (epistemic state) of its environment, and cannot make rational decisions unless this representation, to some level of accuracy, reflects the state of its environment. The focus of this thesis is on three aspects regarding the epistemic functioning of a control room agent: 1. How should the epistemic state of a control room agent be represented in order to facilitate logical analysis? 2. How should a control room agent change its epistemic state upon receiving new information? 3. How should a control room agent combine available information from different sources? In describing the class of control room agents as first-order intentional systems hav- ing both informational and motivational attitudes, an agent-oriented view is adopted. The central construct used in the information-theoretic approach, which is qualitative in nature, is the concept of a templated ordering. Representing the epistemic state of a control room agent by a (special form of) tem- plated ordering signals a departure from the many approaches in which only the beliefs of an agent are represented. Templated orderings allow for the representation of both knowledge and belief. A control room agent changes its epistemic state according to a proposed epistemic change algorithm, which allows the agent to select between two well-established forms of belief change operations, namely, belief revision and belief update. The combination of (possibly conflicting) information from different sources has re- ceived a lot of attention in recent years. Using templated orderings for the semantic representation of information, a new family of purely qualitative merging operations is developed.School of ComputingPh. D. (Computer Science