Proof Outlines as Proof Certificates: A System Description

We apply the foundational proof certificate (FPC) framework to the problem of designing high-level outlines of proofs. The FPC framework provides a means to formally define and check a wide range of proof evidence. A focused proof system is central to this framework and such a proof system provides an interesting approach to proof reconstruction during the process of proof checking (relying on an underlying logic programming implementation). Here, we illustrate how the FPC framework can be used to design proof outlines and then to exploit proof checkers as a means for expanding outlines into fully detailed proofs. In order to validate this approach to proof outlines, we have built the ACheck system that allows us to take a sequence of theorems and apply the proof outline "do the obvious induction and close the proof using previously proved lemmas".Comment: In Proceedings WoF'15, arXiv:1511.0252

A System of Interaction and Structure

This paper introduces a logical system, called BV, which extends multiplicative linear logic by a non-commutative self-dual logical operator. This extension is particularly challenging for the sequent calculus, and so far it is not achieved therein. It becomes very natural in a new formalism, called the calculus of structures, which is the main contribution of this work. Structures are formulae submitted to certain equational laws typical of sequents. The calculus of structures is obtained by generalising the sequent calculus in such a way that a new top-down symmetry of derivations is observed, and it employs inference rules that rewrite inside structures at any depth. These properties, in addition to allow the design of BV, yield a modular proof of cut elimination.Comment: This is the authoritative version of the article, with readable pictures, in colour, also available at . (The published version contains errors introduced by the editorial processing.) Web site for Deep Inference and the Calculus of Structures at <http://alessio.guglielmi.name/res/cos

A Cut-Free Sequent Calculus for Defeasible Erotetic Inferences

In recent years, the effort to formalize erotetic inferences (i.e., inferences to and from questions) has become a central concern for those working in erotetic logic. However, few have sought to formulate a proof theory for these inferences. To fill this lacuna, we construct a calculus for (classes of) sequents that are sound and complete for two species of erotetic inferences studied by Inferential Erotetic Logic (IEL): erotetic evocation and regular erotetic implication. While an attempt has been made to axiomatize the former in a sequent system, there is currently no proof theory for the latter. Moreover, the extant axiomatization of erotetic evocation fails to capture its defeasible character and provides no rules for introducing or eliminating question-forming operators. In contrast, our calculus encodes defeasibility conditions on sequents and provides rules governing the introduction and elimination of erotetic formulas. We demonstrate that an elimination theorem holds for a version of the cut rule that applies to both declarative and erotetic formulas and that the rules for the axiomatic account of question evocation in IEL are admissible in our system

Normalisation Control in Deep Inference via Atomic Flows

We introduce `atomic flows': they are graphs obtained from derivations by tracing atom occurrences and forgetting the logical structure. We study simple manipulations of atomic flows that correspond to complex reductions on derivations. This allows us to prove, for propositional logic, a new and very general normalisation theorem, which contains cut elimination as a special case. We operate in deep inference, which is more general than other syntactic paradigms, and where normalisation is more difficult to control. We argue that atomic flows are a significant technical advance for normalisation theory, because 1) the technique they support is largely independent of syntax; 2) indeed, it is largely independent of logical inference rules; 3) they constitute a powerful geometric formalism, which is more intuitive than syntax