Topological Semantics and Decidability

It is well-known that the basic modal logic of all topological spaces is $S4$. However, the structure of basic modal and hybrid logics of classes of spaces satisfying various separation axioms was until present unclear. We prove that modal logics of $T_0$, $T_1$ and $T_2$ topological spaces coincide and are S4$. We also examine basic hybrid logics of these classes and prove their decidability; as part of this, we find out that the hybrid logics of$T_1$and T_2$ spaces coincide.Comment: presentation changes, results about concrete structure adde

Nominal Models of Linear Logic

PhD thesisMore than 30 years after the discovery of linear logic, a simple fully-complete model has still not been established. As of today, models of logics with type variables rely on di-natural transformations, with the intuition that a proof should behave uniformly at variable types. Consequently, the interpretations of the proofs are not concrete. The main goal of this thesis was to shift from a 2-categorical setting to a first-order category. We model each literal by a pool of resources of a certain type, that we encode thanks to sorted names. Based on this, we revisit a range of categorical constructions, leading to nominal relational models of linear logic. As these fail to prove fully-complete, we revisit the fully-complete game-model of linear logic established by Melliès. We give a nominal account of concurrent game semantics, with an emphasis on names as resources. Based on them, we present fully complete models of multiplicative additive tensorial, and then linear logics. This model extends the previous result by adding atomic variables, although names do not play a crucial role in this result. On the other hand, it provides a nominal structure that allows for a nominal relationship between the Böhm trees of the linear lambda-terms and the plays of the strategies. However, this full-completeness result for linear logic rests on a quotient. Therefore, in the final chapter, we revisit the concurrent operators model which was first developed by Abramsky and Melliès. In our new model, the axiomatic structure is encoded through nominal techniques and strengthened in such a way that full completeness still holds for MLL. Our model does not depend on any 2-categorical argument or quotient. Furthermore, we show that once enriched with a hypercoherent structure, we get a static fully complete model of MALL

Named Models in Coalgebraic Hybrid Logic

Hybrid logic extends modal logic with support for reasoning about individual states, designated by so-called nominals. We study hybrid logic in the broad context of coalgebraic semantics, where Kripke frames are replaced with coalgebras for a given functor, thus covering a wide range of reasoning principles including, e.g., probabilistic, graded, default, or coalitional operators. Specifically, we establish generic criteria for a given coalgebraic hybrid logic to admit named canonical models, with ensuing completeness proofs for pure extensions on the one hand, and for an extended hybrid language with local binding on the other. We instantiate our framework with a number of examples. Notably, we prove completeness of graded hybrid logic with local binding

Low-Effort Specification Debugging and Analysis

Reactive synthesis deals with the automated construction of implementations of reactive systems from their specifications. To make the approach feasible in practice, systems engineers need effective and efficient means of debugging these specifications. In this paper, we provide techniques for report-based specification debugging, wherein salient properties of a specification are analyzed, and the result presented to the user in the form of a report. This provides a low-effort way to debug specifications, complementing high-effort techniques including the simulation of synthesized implementations. We demonstrate the usefulness of our report-based specification debugging toolkit by providing examples in the context of generalized reactivity(1) synthesis.Comment: In Proceedings SYNT 2014, arXiv:1407.493

Language, logic and ontology: uncovering the structure of commonsense knowledge

The purpose of this paper is twofold: (i) we argue that the structure of commonsense knowledge must be discovered, rather than invented; and (ii) we argue that natural language, which is the best known theory of our (shared) commonsense knowledge, should itself be used as a guide to discovering the structure of commonsense knowledge. In addition to suggesting a systematic method to the discovery of the structure of commonsense knowledge, the method we propose seems to also provide an explanation for a number of phenomena in natural language, such as metaphor, intensionality, and the semantics of nominal compounds. Admittedly, our ultimate goal is quite ambitious, and it is no less than the systematic ‘discovery’ of a well-typed ontology of commonsense knowledge, and the subsequent formulation of the longawaited goal of a meaning algebra

Combining and Relating Control Effects and their Semantics

Combining local exceptions and first class continuations leads to programs with complex control flow, as well as the possibility of expressing powerful constructs such as resumable exceptions. We describe and compare games models for a programming language which includes these features, as well as higher-order references. They are obtained by contrasting methodologies: by annotating sequences of moves with "control pointers" indicating where exceptions are thrown and caught, and by composing the exceptions and continuations monads. The former approach allows an explicit representation of control flow in games for exceptions, and hence a straightforward proof of definability (full abstraction) by factorization, as well as offering the possibility of a semantic approach to control flow analysis of exception-handling. However, establishing soundness of such a concrete and complex model is a non-trivial problem. It may be resolved by establishing a correspondence with the monad semantics, based on erasing explicit exception moves and replacing them with control pointers.Comment: In Proceedings COS 2013, arXiv:1309.092

Modal logics are coalgebraic

Applications of modal logics are abundant in computer science, and a large number of structurally different modal logics have been successfully employed in a diverse spectrum of application contexts. Coalgebraic semantics, on the other hand, provides a uniform and encompassing view on the large variety of specific logics used in particular domains. The coalgebraic approach is generic and compositional: tools and techniques simultaneously apply to a large class of application areas and can moreover be combined in a modular way. In particular, this facilitates a pick-and-choose approach to domain specific formalisms, applicable across the entire scope of application areas, leading to generic software tools that are easier to design, to implement, and to maintain. This paper substantiates the authors' firm belief that the systematic exploitation of the coalgebraic nature of modal logic will not only have impact on the field of modal logic itself but also lead to significant progress in a number of areas within computer science, such as knowledge representation and concurrency/mobility