1,841 research outputs found
Physics, Topology, Logic and Computation: A Rosetta Stone
In physics, Feynman diagrams are used to reason about quantum processes. In
the 1980s, it became clear that underlying these diagrams is a powerful analogy
between quantum physics and topology: namely, a linear operator behaves very
much like a "cobordism". Similar diagrams can be used to reason about logic,
where they represent proofs, and computation, where they represent programs.
With the rise of interest in quantum cryptography and quantum computation, it
became clear that there is extensive network of analogies between physics,
topology, logic and computation. In this expository paper, we make some of
these analogies precise using the concept of "closed symmetric monoidal
category". We assume no prior knowledge of category theory, proof theory or
computer science.Comment: 73 pages, 8 encapsulated postscript figure
The dagger lambda calculus
We present a novel lambda calculus that casts the categorical approach to the
study of quantum protocols into the rich and well established tradition of type
theory. Our construction extends the linear typed lambda calculus with a linear
negation of "trivialised" De Morgan duality. Reduction is realised through
explicit substitution, based on a symmetric notion of binding of global scope,
with rules acting on the entire typing judgement instead of on a specific
subterm. Proofs of subject reduction, confluence, strong normalisation and
consistency are provided, and the language is shown to be an internal language
for dagger compact categories.Comment: In Proceedings QPL 2014, arXiv:1412.810
Applying quantitative semantics to higher-order quantum computing
Finding a denotational semantics for higher order quantum computation is a
long-standing problem in the semantics of quantum programming languages. Most
past approaches to this problem fell short in one way or another, either
limiting the language to an unusably small finitary fragment, or giving up
important features of quantum physics such as entanglement. In this paper, we
propose a denotational semantics for a quantum lambda calculus with recursion
and an infinite data type, using constructions from quantitative semantics of
linear logic
A correspondence between rooted planar maps and normal planar lambda terms
A rooted planar map is a connected graph embedded in the 2-sphere, with one
edge marked and assigned an orientation. A term of the pure lambda calculus is
said to be linear if every variable is used exactly once, normal if it contains
no beta-redexes, and planar if it is linear and the use of variables moreover
follows a deterministic stack discipline. We begin by showing that the sequence
counting normal planar lambda terms by a natural notion of size coincides with
the sequence (originally computed by Tutte) counting rooted planar maps by
number of edges. Next, we explain how to apply the machinery of string diagrams
to derive a graphical language for normal planar lambda terms, extracted from
the semantics of linear lambda calculus in symmetric monoidal closed categories
equipped with a linear reflexive object or a linear reflexive pair. Finally,
our main result is a size-preserving bijection between rooted planar maps and
normal planar lambda terms, which we establish by explaining how Tutte
decomposition of rooted planar maps (into vertex maps, maps with an isthmic
root, and maps with a non-isthmic root) may be naturally replayed in linear
lambda calculus, as certain surgeries on the string diagrams of normal planar
lambda terms.Comment: Corrected title field in metadat
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