6 research outputs found
The Alternation Hierarchy for the Theory of mu-lattices
The alternation hierarchy problem asks whether every mu-term,that is a term built up using also a least fixed point constructoras well as a greatest fixed point constructor, is equivalent to amu-term where the number of nested fixed point of a different typeis bounded by a fixed number.In this paper we give a proof that the alternation hierarchyfor the theory of mu-lattices is strict, meaning that such numberdoes not exist if mu-terms are built up from the basic lattice operations and are interpreted as expected. The proof relies on theexplicit characterization of free mu-lattices by means of games andstrategies
Proof nets for additive linear logic with units
Abstract—Additive linear logic, the fragment of linear logic concerning linear implication between strictly additive formu-lae, coincides with sum-product logic, the internal language of categories with free finite products and coproducts. Deciding equality of its proof terms, as imposed by the categorical laws, is complicated by the presence of the units (the initial and terminal objects of the category) and the fact that in a free setting products and coproducts do not distribute. The best known desicion algorithm, due to Cockett and Santocanale (CSL 2009), is highly involved, requiring an intricate case analysis on the syntax of terms. This paper provides canonical, graphical representations of the categorical morphisms, yielding a novel solution to this decision problem. Starting with (a modification of) existing proof nets, due to Hughes and Van Glabbeek, for additive linear logic without units, canonical forms are obtained by graph rewriting. The rewriting algorithm is remarkably simple. As a decision procedure for term equality it matches the known complexity of the problem. A main technical contribution of the paper is the substantial correctness proof of the algorithm. I
Implicit automata in typed -calculi II: streaming transducers vs categorical semantics
We characterize regular string transductions as programs in a linear
-calculus with additives. One direction of this equivalence is proved
by encoding copyless streaming string transducers (SSTs), which compute regular
functions, into our -calculus. For the converse, we consider a
categorical framework for defining automata and transducers over words, which
allows us to relate register updates in SSTs to the semantics of the linear
-calculus in a suitable monoidal closed category. To illustrate the
relevance of monoidal closure to automata theory, we also leverage this notion
to give abstract generalizations of the arguments showing that copyless SSTs
may be determinized and that the composition of two regular functions may be
implemented by a copyless SST. Our main result is then generalized from strings
to trees using a similar approach. In doing so, we exhibit a connection between
a feature of streaming tree transducers and the multiplicative/additive
distinction of linear logic.
Keywords: MSO transductions, implicit complexity, Dialectica categories,
Church encodingsComment: 105 pages, 24 figure
Graphical representation of canonical proof: two case studies
An interesting problem in proof theory is to find representations of proof that do
not distinguish between proofs that are ‘morally’ the same. For many logics, the presentation
of proofs in a traditional formalism, such as Gentzen’s sequent calculus, introduces
artificial syntactic structure called ‘bureaucracy’; e.g., an arbitrary ordering
of freely permutable inferences. A proof system that is free of bureaucracy is called
canonical for a logic. In this dissertation two canonical proof systems are presented,
for two logics: a notion of proof nets for additive linear logic with units, and ‘classical
proof forests’, a graphical formalism for first-order classical logic.
Additive linear logic (or sum–product logic) is the fragment of linear logic consisting
of linear implication between formulae constructed only from atomic formulae and
the additive connectives and units. Up to an equational theory over proofs, the logic
describes categories in which finite products and coproducts occur freely. A notion of
proof nets for additive linear logic is presented, providing canonical graphical representations
of the categorical morphisms and constituting a tractable decision procedure
for this equational theory. From existing proof nets for additive linear logic without
units by Hughes and Van Glabbeek (modified to include the units naively), canonical
proof nets are obtained by a simple graph rewriting algorithm called saturation. Main
technical contributions are the substantial correctness proof of the saturation algorithm,
and a correctness criterion for saturated nets.
Classical proof forests are a canonical, graphical proof formalism for first-order
classical logic. Related to Herbrand’s Theorem and backtracking games in the style
of Coquand, the forests assign witnessing information to quantifiers in a structurally
minimal way, reducing a first-order sentence to a decidable propositional one. A similar
formalism ‘expansion tree proofs’ was presented by Miller, but not given a method
of composition. The present treatment adds a notion of cut, and investigates the possibility
of composing forests via cut-elimination. Cut-reduction steps take the form
of a rewrite relation that arises from the structure of the forests in a natural way.
Yet reductions are intricate, and initially not well-behaved: from perfectly ordinary
cuts, reduction may reach unnaturally configured cuts that may not be reduced. Cutelimination
is shown using a modified version of the rewrite relation, inspired by the
game-theoretic interpretation of the forests, for which weak normalisation is shown,
and strong normalisation is conjectured. In addition, by a more intricate argument,
weak normalisation is also shown for the original reduction relation