1,357 research outputs found
A categorical foundation for structured reversible flowchart languages: Soundness and adequacy
Structured reversible flowchart languages is a class of imperative reversible
programming languages allowing for a simple diagrammatic representation of
control flow built from a limited set of control flow structures. This class
includes the reversible programming language Janus (without recursion), as well
as more recently developed reversible programming languages such as R-CORE and
R-WHILE.
In the present paper, we develop a categorical foundation for this class of
languages based on inverse categories with joins. We generalize the notion of
extensivity of restriction categories to one that may be accommodated by
inverse categories, and use the resulting decisions to give a reversible
representation of predicates and assertions. This leads to a categorical
semantics for structured reversible flowcharts, which we show to be
computationally sound and adequate, as well as equationally fully abstract with
respect to the operational semantics under certain conditions
Quantum Non-Objectivity from Performativity of Quantum Phenomena
We analyze the logical foundations of quantum mechanics (QM) by stressing
non-objectivity of quantum observables which is a consequence of the absence of
logical atoms in QM. We argue that the matter of quantum non-objectivity is
that, on the one hand, the formalism of QM constructed as a mathematical theory
is self-consistent, but, on the other hand, quantum phenomena as results of
experimenter's performances are not self-consistent. This self-inconsistency is
an effect of that the language of QM differs much from the language of human
performances. The first is the language of a mathematical theory which uses
some Aristotelian and Russellian assumptions (e.g., the assumption that there
are logical atoms). The second language consists of performative propositions
which are self-inconsistent only from the viewpoint of conventional
mathematical theory, but they satisfy another logic which is non-Aristotelian.
Hence, the representation of quantum reality in linguistic terms may be
different: from a mathematical theory to a logic of performative propositions.
To solve quantum self-inconsistency, we apply the formalism of non-classical
self-referent logics
Healthiness from Duality
Healthiness is a good old question in program logics that dates back to
Dijkstra. It asks for an intrinsic characterization of those predicate
transformers which arise as the (backward) interpretation of a certain class of
programs. There are several results known for healthiness conditions: for
deterministic programs, nondeterministic ones, probabilistic ones, etc.
Building upon our previous works on so-called state-and-effect triangles, we
contribute a unified categorical framework for investigating healthiness
conditions. We find the framework to be centered around a dual adjunction
induced by a dualizing object, together with our notion of relative
Eilenberg-Moore algebra playing fundamental roles too. The latter notion seems
interesting in its own right in the context of monads, Lawvere theories and
enriched categories.Comment: 13 pages, Extended version with appendices of a paper accepted to
LICS 201
On the Notion of Proposition in Classical and Quantum Mechanics
The term proposition usually denotes in quantum mechanics (QM) an element of
(standard) quantum logic (QL). Within the orthodox interpretation of QM the
propositions of QL cannot be associated with sentences of a language stating
properties of individual samples of a physical system, since properties are
nonobjective in QM. This makes the interpretation of propositions
problematical. The difficulty can be removed by adopting the objective
interpretation of QM proposed by one of the authors (semantic realism, or SR,
interpretation). In this case, a unified perspective can be adopted for QM and
classical mechanics (CM), and a simple first order predicate calculus L(x) with
Tarskian semantics can be constructed such that one can associate a physical
proposition (i.e., a set of physical states) with every sentence of L(x). The
set of all physical propositions is partially ordered and contains a
subset of testable physical propositions whose order structure
depends on the criteria of testability established by the physical theory. In
particular, turns out to be a Boolean lattice in CM, while it can
be identified with QL in QM. Hence the propositions of QL can be associated
with sentences of L(x), or also with the sentences of a suitable quantum
language , and the structure of QL characterizes the notion of
testability in QM. One can then show that the notion of quantum truth does not
conflict with the classical notion of truth within this perspective.
Furthermore, the interpretation of QL propounded here proves to be equivalent
to a previous pragmatic interpretation worked out by one of the authors, and
can be embodied within a more general perspective which considers states as
first order predicates of a broader language with a Kripkean semantics.Comment: 22 pages. To appear in "The Foundations of Quantum Mechanics:
Historical Analysis and Open Questions-Cesena 2004", C. Garola, A. Rossi and
S. Sozzo Eds., World Scientific, Singapore, 200
Quantitative Robustness Analysis of Quantum Programs (Extended Version)
Quantum computation is a topic of significant recent interest, with practical
advances coming from both research and industry. A major challenge in quantum
programming is dealing with errors (quantum noise) during execution. Because
quantum resources (e.g., qubits) are scarce, classical error correction
techniques applied at the level of the architecture are currently
cost-prohibitive. But while this reality means that quantum programs are almost
certain to have errors, there as yet exists no principled means to reason about
erroneous behavior. This paper attempts to fill this gap by developing a
semantics for erroneous quantum while-programs, as well as a logic for
reasoning about them. This logic permits proving a property we have identified,
called -robustness, which characterizes possible "distance" between
an ideal program and an erroneous one. We have proved the logic sound, and
showed its utility on several case studies, notably: (1) analyzing the
robustness of noisy versions of the quantum Bernoulli factory (QBF) and quantum
walk (QW); (2) demonstrating the (in)effectiveness of different error
correction schemes on single-qubit errors; and (3) analyzing the robustness of
a fault-tolerant version of QBF.Comment: 34 pages, LaTeX; v2: fixed typo
New Directions in Categorical Logic, for Classical, Probabilistic and Quantum Logic
Intuitionistic logic, in which the double negation law not-not-P = P fails,
is dominant in categorical logic, notably in topos theory. This paper follows a
different direction in which double negation does hold. The algebraic notions
of effect algebra/module that emerged in theoretical physics form the
cornerstone. It is shown that under mild conditions on a category, its maps of
the form X -> 1+1 carry such effect module structure, and can be used as
predicates. Predicates are identified in many different situations, and capture
for instance ordinary subsets, fuzzy predicates in a probabilistic setting,
idempotents in a ring, and effects (positive elements below the unit) in a
C*-algebra or Hilbert space. In quantum foundations the duality between states
and effects plays an important role. It appears here in the form of an
adjunction, where we use maps 1 -> X as states. For such a state s and a
predicate p, the validity probability s |= p is defined, as an abstract Born
rule. It captures many forms of (Boolean or probabilistic) validity known from
the literature. Measurement from quantum mechanics is formalised categorically
in terms of `instruments', using L\"uders rule in the quantum case. These
instruments are special maps associated with predicates (more generally, with
tests), which perform the act of measurement and may have a side-effect that
disturbs the system under observation. This abstract description of
side-effects is one of the main achievements of the current approach. It is
shown that in the special case of C*-algebras, side-effect appear exclusively
in the non-commutative case. Also, these instruments are used for test
operators in a dynamic logic that can be used for reasoning about quantum
programs/protocols. The paper describes four successive assumptions, towards a
categorical axiomatisation of quantitative logic for probabilistic and quantum
systems
- …