46 research outputs found
Encoding !-tensors as !-graphs with neighbourhood orders
Diagrammatic reasoning using string diagrams provides an intuitive language
for reasoning about morphisms in a symmetric monoidal category. To allow
working with infinite families of string diagrams, !-graphs were introduced as
a method to mark repeated structure inside a diagram. This led to !-graphs
being implemented in the diagrammatic proof assistant Quantomatic. Having a
partially automated program for rewriting diagrams has proven very useful, but
being based on !-graphs, only commutative theories are allowed. An enriched
abstract tensor notation, called !-tensors, has been used to formalise the
notion of !-boxes in non-commutative structures. This work-in-progress paper
presents a method to encode !-tensors as !-graphs with some additional
structure. This will allow us to leverage the existing code from Quantomatic
and quickly provide various tools for non-commutative diagrammatic reasoning.Comment: In Proceedings QPL 2015, arXiv:1511.0118
Pictorial Socratic dialogue and conceptual change
Counter-examples used in a Socratic dialogue aim to provoke reflection to effect conceptual changes. However, natural language forms of Socratic dialogues have their limitations. To address this problem, we propose an alternative form of Socratic dialogue called the pictorial Socratic dialogue. A Spring Balance System has been designed to provide a platform for the investigation of the effects of this pedagogy on conceptual changes. This system allows learners to run and observe an experiment. Qualitative Cartesian graphs are employed for learners to represent their solutions. Indirect and intelligent feedback is prescribed through two approaches in the pictorial Socratic dialogue which aim to provoke learners probe through the perceptual structural features of the problem and solution, into the deeper level of the simulation where Archimedes’ Principle governs
Tensors, !-graphs, and non-commutative quantum structures
Categorical quantum mechanics (CQM) and the theory of quantum groups rely
heavily on the use of structures that have both an algebraic and co-algebraic
component, making them well-suited for manipulation using diagrammatic
techniques. Diagrams allow us to easily form complex compositions of
(co)algebraic structures, and prove their equality via graph rewriting. One of
the biggest challenges in going beyond simple rewriting-based proofs is
designing a graphical language that is expressive enough to prove interesting
properties (e.g. normal form results) about not just single diagrams, but
entire families of diagrams. One candidate is the language of !-graphs, which
consist of graphs with certain subgraphs marked with boxes (called !-boxes)
that can be repeated any number of times. New !-graph equations can then be
proved using a powerful technique called !-box induction. However, previously
this technique only applied to commutative (or cocommutative) algebraic
structures, severely limiting its applications in some parts of CQM and
(especially) quantum groups. In this paper, we fix this shortcoming by offering
a new semantics for non-commutative !-graphs using an enriched version of
Penrose's abstract tensor notation.Comment: In Proceedings QPL 2014, arXiv:1412.810
!-Graphs with Trivial Overlap are Context-Free
String diagrams are a powerful tool for reasoning about composite structures
in symmetric monoidal categories. By representing string diagrams as graphs,
equational reasoning can be done automatically by double-pushout rewriting.
!-graphs give us the means of expressing and proving properties about whole
families of these graphs simultaneously. While !-graphs provide elegant proofs
of surprisingly powerful theorems, little is known about the formal properties
of the graph languages they define. This paper takes the first step in
characterising these languages by showing that an important subclass of
!-graphs--those whose repeated structures only overlap trivially--can be
encoded using a (context-free) vertex replacement grammar.Comment: In Proceedings GaM 2015, arXiv:1504.0244
On Graph Refutation for Relational Inclusions
We introduce a graphical refutation calculus for relational inclusions: it
reduces establishing a relational inclusion to establishing that a graph
constructed from it has empty extension. This sound and complete calculus is
conceptually simpler and easier to use than the usual ones.Comment: In Proceedings LSFA 2011, arXiv:1203.542
A first-order logic for string diagrams
Equational reasoning with string diagrams provides an intuitive means of
proving equations between morphisms in a symmetric monoidal category. This can
be extended to proofs of infinite families of equations using a simple
graphical syntax called !-box notation. While this does greatly increase the
proving power of string diagrams, previous attempts to go beyond equational
reasoning have been largely ad hoc, owing to the lack of a suitable logical
framework for diagrammatic proofs involving !-boxes. In this paper, we extend
equational reasoning with !-boxes to a fully-fledged first order logic called
with conjunction, implication, and universal quantification over !-boxes. This
logic, called !L, is then rich enough to properly formalise an induction
principle for !-boxes. We then build a standard model for !L and give an
example proof of a theorem for non-commutative bialgebras using !L, which is
unobtainable by equational reasoning alone.Comment: 15 pages + appendi
A Diagrammatic Axiomatisation for Qubit Entanglement
Diagrammatic techniques for reasoning about monoidal categories provide an
intuitive understanding of the symmetries and connections of interacting
computational processes. In the context of categorical quantum mechanics,
Coecke and Kissinger suggested that two 3-qubit states, GHZ and W, may be used
as the building blocks of a new graphical calculus, aimed at a diagrammatic
classification of multipartite qubit entanglement that would highlight the
communicational properties of quantum states, and their potential uses in
cryptographic schemes.
In this paper, we present a full graphical axiomatisation of the relations
between GHZ and W: the ZW calculus. This refines a version of the preexisting
ZX calculus, while keeping its most desirable characteristics: undirectedness,
a large degree of symmetry, and an algebraic underpinning. We prove that the ZW
calculus is complete for the category of free abelian groups on a power of two
generators - "qubits with integer coefficients" - and provide an explicit
normalisation procedure.Comment: 12 page