Coalgebraic Trace Semantics for Continuous Probabilistic Transition Systems

Coalgebras in a Kleisli category yield a generic definition of trace semantics for various types of labelled transition systems. In this paper we apply this generic theory to generative probabilistic transition systems, short PTS, with arbitrary (possibly uncountable) state spaces. We consider the sub-probability monad and the probability monad (Giry monad) on the category of measurable spaces and measurable functions. Our main contribution is that the existence of a final coalgebra in the Kleisli category of these monads is closely connected to the measure-theoretic extension theorem for sigma-finite pre-measures. In fact, we obtain a practical definition of the trace measure for both finite and infinite traces of PTS that subsumes a well-known result for discrete probabilistic transition systems. Finally we consider two example systems with uncountable state spaces and apply our theory to calculate their trace measures

Coalgebraic Infinite Traces and Kleisli Simulations

Kleisli simulation is a categorical notion introduced by Hasuo to verify finite trace inclusion. They allow us to give definitions of forward and backward simulation for various types of systems. A generic categorical theory behind Kleisli simulation has been developed and it guarantees the soundness of those simulations with respect to finite trace semantics. Moreover, those simulations can be aided by forward partial execution (FPE)---a categorical transformation of systems previously introduced by the authors. In this paper, we give Kleisli simulation a theoretical foundation that assures its soundness also with respect to infinitary traces. There, following Jacobs' work, infinitary trace semantics is characterized as the "largest homomorphism." It turns out that soundness of forward simulations is rather straightforward; that of backward simulation holds too, although it requires certain additional conditions and its proof is more involved. We also show that FPE can be successfully employed in the infinitary trace setting to enhance the applicability of Kleisli simulations as witnesses of trace inclusion. Our framework is parameterized in the monad for branching as well as in the functor for linear-time behaviors; for the former we mainly use the powerset monad (for nondeterminism), the sub-Giry monad (for probability), and the lift monad (for exception).Comment: 39 pages, 1 figur

Fair Simulation for Nondeterministic and Probabilistic Buechi Automata: a Coalgebraic Perspective

Notions of simulation, among other uses, provide a computationally tractable and sound (but not necessarily complete) proof method for language inclusion. They have been comprehensively studied by Lynch and Vaandrager for nondeterministic and timed systems; for B\"{u}chi automata the notion of fair simulation has been introduced by Henzinger, Kupferman and Rajamani. We contribute to a generalization of fair simulation in two different directions: one for nondeterministic tree automata previously studied by Bomhard; and the other for probabilistic word automata with finite state spaces, both under the B\"{u}chi acceptance condition. The former nondeterministic definition is formulated in terms of systems of fixed-point equations, hence is readily translated to parity games and is then amenable to Jurdzi\'{n}ski's algorithm; the latter probabilistic definition bears a strong ranking-function flavor. These two different-looking definitions are derived from one source, namely our coalgebraic modeling of B\"{u}chi automata. Based on these coalgebraic observations, we also prove their soundness: a simulation indeed witnesses language inclusion

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

Coalgebraic Weak Bisimulation from Recursive Equations over Monads

Strong bisimulation for labelled transition systems is one of the most fundamental equivalences in process algebra, and has been generalised to numerous classes of systems that exhibit richer transition behaviour. Nearly all of the ensuing notions are instances of the more general notion of coalgebraic bisimulation. Weak bisimulation, however, has so far been much less amenable to a coalgebraic treatment. Here we attempt to close this gap by giving a coalgebraic treatment of (parametrized) weak equivalences, including weak bisimulation. Our analysis requires that the functor defining the transition type of the system is based on a suitable order-enriched monad, which allows us to capture weak equivalences by least fixpoints of recursive equations. Our notion is in agreement with existing notions of weak bisimulations for labelled transition systems, probabilistic and weighted systems, and simple Segala systems.Comment: final versio

Probabilistic Bisimulation: Naturally on Distributions

In contrast to the usual understanding of probabilistic systems as stochastic processes, recently these systems have also been regarded as transformers of probabilities. In this paper, we give a natural definition of strong bisimulation for probabilistic systems corresponding to this view that treats probability distributions as first-class citizens. Our definition applies in the same way to discrete systems as well as to systems with uncountable state and action spaces. Several examples demonstrate that our definition refines the understanding of behavioural equivalences of probabilistic systems. In particular, it solves a long-standing open problem concerning the representation of memoryless continuous time by memory-full continuous time. Finally, we give algorithms for computing this bisimulation not only for finite but also for classes of uncountably infinite systems

Coalgebraic Trace Semantics for Buechi and Parity Automata

Despite its success in producing numerous general results on state-based dynamics, the theory of coalgebra has struggled to accommodate the Buechi acceptance condition---a basic notion in the theory of automata for infinite words or trees. In this paper we present a clean answer to the question that builds on the "maximality" characterization of infinite traces (by Jacobs and Cirstea): the accepted language of a Buechi automaton is characterized by two commuting diagrams, one for a least homomorphism and the other for a greatest, much like in a system of (least and greatest) fixed-point equations. This characterization works uniformly for the nondeterministic branching and the probabilistic one; and for words and trees alike. We present our results in terms of the parity acceptance condition that generalizes Buechi\u27s