Ground Reducibility is EXPTIME-complete

International audienceWe prove that ground reducibility is EXPTIME-complete in the general case. EXPTIME-hardness is proved by encoding the emptiness problem for the intersection of recognizable tree languages. It is more difficult to show that ground reducibility belongs to DEXPTIME. We associate first an automaton with disequality constraints A(R,t) to a rewrite system R and a term t. This automaton is deterministic and accepts at least one term iff t is not ground reducible by R. The number of states of A(R,t) is O(2^|R|x|t|) and the size of its constraints is polynomial in the size of R, t. Then we prove some new pumping lemmas, using a total ordering on the computations of the automaton. Thanks to these lemmas, we can show that emptiness for an automaton with disequality constraints can be decided in a time which is polynomial in the number of states and exponential in the size of the constraints. Altogether, we get a simply exponential time deterministic algorithm for ground reducibility decision

Ground Reducibility is EXPTIME-complete

We prove that ground reducibility is EXPTIME-complete in the general case. EXPTIME-hardness is proved by encoding the emptiness problem for the intersection of recognizable tree languages. It is more difficult to show that ground reducibility belongs to DEXPTIME. We associate first a tree automaton with disequality constraints to a rewrite system and a term. This automaton is deterministic and accepts a non-empty tree language iff the given term is not ground reducible by the system. The number of states of the automaton is exponential in the size of the term and the system, and the size of its constraints is polynomial in the size of the term and the system. Then we prove some new pumping lemmas, using a total ordering on the computations of the automaton. Thanks to these lemmas, we can show that emptiness for a tree automaton with disequality constraints can be decided in a time which is polynomial in the number of states and exponential in the size of the constraints. Altogether, we get a simply exponential time deterministic algorithm for ground reducibility decision

Simple Derivation Systems for Proving Sufficient Completeness of Non-Terminating Term Rewriting Systems

A term rewriting system (TRS) is said to be sufficiently complete when each function yields some value for any input. Proof methods for sufficient completeness of terminating TRSs have been well studied. In this paper, we introduce a simple derivation system for proving sufficient completeness of possibly non-terminating TRSs. The derivation system consists of rules to manipulate a set of guarded terms, and sufficient completeness of a TRS holds if there exists a successful derivation for each function symbol. We also show that variations of the derivation system are useful for proving special cases of local sufficient completeness of TRSs, which is a generalised notion of sufficient completeness

Security Protocol Verification with Implicit Induction and Explicit Destructors

International audienceWe present a new method for automatic implicit induction theorem proving, and its application for the verification of a key distribution cryptographic protocol. The method can handle axioms between constructor terms, a feature generally not supported by other induction procedure. We use such axioms in order to specify explicit destructors representing cryptographic operators

The HOM problem is EXPTIME-complete

We define a new class of tree automata with constraints and prove decidability of the emptiness problem for this class in exponential time. As a consequence, we obtain several EXPTIME-completeness results for problems on images of regular tree languages under tree homomorphisms, like set inclusion, regularity (HOM problem), and finiteness of set difference. Our result also has implications in term rewriting, since the set of reducible terms of a term rewrite system can be described as the image of a tree homomorphism. In particular, we prove that inclusion of sets of normal forms of term rewrite systems can be decided in exponential time. Analogous consequences arise in the context of XML typechecking, since types are defined by tree automata and some type transformations are homomorphic.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Strategic Issues, Problems and Challenges in Inductive Theorem Proving

Abstract(Automated) Inductive Theorem Proving (ITP) is a challenging field in automated reasoning and theorem proving. Typically, (Automated) Theorem Proving (TP) refers to methods, techniques and tools for automatically proving general (most often first-order) theorems. Nowadays, the field of TP has reached a certain degree of maturity and powerful TP systems are widely available and used. The situation with ITP is strikingly different, in the sense that proving inductive theorems in an essentially automatic way still is a very challenging task, even for the most advanced existing ITP systems. Both in general TP and in ITP, strategies for guiding the proof search process are of fundamental importance, in automated as well as in interactive or mixed settings. In the paper we will analyze and discuss the most important strategic and proof search issues in ITP, compare ITP with TP, and argue why ITP is in a sense much more challenging. More generally, we will systematically isolate, investigate and classify the main problems and challenges in ITP w.r.t. automation, on different levels and from different points of views. Finally, based on this analysis we will present some theses about the state of the art in the field, possible criteria for what could be considered as substantial progress, and promising lines of research for the future, towards (more) automated ITP

Computing Constructor Forms with Non Terminating Rewrite Programs

In the context of the study of rule-based programming, we focus in this paper on the property of C-reducibility, expressing that every term reduces to a constructor term on at least one of its rewriting derivations. This property implies completeness of function definitions, and enables to stop evaluations of a program on a constructor form, even if the program is not terminating. We propose an inductive procedure proving C-reducibility of rewriting. The rewriting relation on ground terms is simulated through an abstraction mechanism and narrowing. The induction hypothesis allows assuming that terms smaller than the starting terms rewrite into a constructor term. The existence of the induction ordering is checked during the proof process, by ensuring satisfiability of ordering constraints. The proof is constructive, in the sense that the branch leading to a constructor term can be computed from the proof trees establishing C-reducibility for every term

Equational logic and rewriting

International audienceIn this survey, we do not address higher order logics nor type theory, but rather restrict to first-order concepts. We focus on equational logic and its relation to rewriting logic and we consider their impact on automated deduction and programming languages

Computing Constructor Forms with Non Terminating Rewrite Programs - Extended version -

In the context of the study of rule-based programming, we focus in this paper on the property of C-reducibility, expressing that every term reduces to a constructor term on at least one of its rewriting derivations. This property implies completeness of function definitions, and enables to stop evaluations of a program on a constructor form, even if the program is not terminating. We propose an inductive procedure proving C-reducibility of rewriting. The rewriting relation on ground terms is simulated through an abstraction mechanism and narrowing. The induction hypothesis allows assuming that terms smaller than the starting terms rewrite into a constructor term. The existence of the induction ordering is checked during the proof process, by ensuring satisfiability of ordering constraints. The proof is constructive, in the sense that the branch leading to a constructor term can be computed from the proof trees establishing C-reducibility for every term

Reducibility of operation symbols in term rewriting systems and its application to behavioral specifications

金沢大学理工研究域電子情報学系In this paper, we propose the notion of reducibility of symbols in term rewriting systems (TRSs). For a given algebraic specification, operation symbols can be classified on the basis of their denotations: the operation symbols for functions and those for constructors. In a model, each term constructed by using only constructors should denote an element, and functions are defined on sets formed by these elements. A term rewriting system provides operational semantics to an algebraic specification. Given a TRS, a term is called reducible if some rewrite rule can be applied to it. An irreducible term can be regarded as an answer in a sense. In this paper, we define the reducibility of operation symbols as follows: an operation symbol is reducible if any term containing the operation symbol is reducible. Non-trivial properties of context-sensitive rewriting, which is a simple restriction of rewriting, can be obtained by restricting the terms on the basis of variable occurrences, its sort, etc. We confirm the usefulness of the reducibility of operation symbols by applying them to behavioral specifications for proving the behavioral coherence property. © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved