79,067 research outputs found
Toward an Algebraic Theory of Systems
We propose the concept of a system algebra with a parallel composition
operation and an interface connection operation, and formalize
composition-order invariance, which postulates that the order of composing and
connecting systems is irrelevant, a generalized form of associativity.
Composition-order invariance explicitly captures a common property that is
implicit in any context where one can draw a figure (hiding the drawing order)
of several connected systems, which appears in many scientific contexts. This
abstract algebra captures settings where one is interested in the behavior of a
composed system in an environment and wants to abstract away anything internal
not relevant for the behavior. This may include physical systems, electronic
circuits, or interacting distributed systems.
One specific such setting, of special interest in computer science, are
functional system algebras, which capture, in the most general sense, any type
of system that takes inputs and produces outputs depending on the inputs, and
where the output of a system can be the input to another system. The behavior
of such a system is uniquely determined by the function mapping inputs to
outputs. We consider several instantiations of this very general concept. In
particular, we show that Kahn networks form a functional system algebra and
prove their composition-order invariance.
Moreover, we define a functional system algebra of causal systems,
characterized by the property that inputs can only influence future outputs,
where an abstract partial order relation captures the notion of "later". This
system algebra is also shown to be composition-order invariant and appropriate
instantiations thereof allow to model and analyze systems that depend on time
The Rooster and the Syntactic Bracket
We propose an extension of pure type systems with an algebraic presentation
of inductive and co-inductive type families with proper indices. This type
theory supports coercions toward from smaller sorts to bigger sorts via
explicit type construction, as well as impredicative sorts. Type families in
impredicative sorts are constructed with a bracketing operation. The necessary
restrictions of pattern-matching from impredicative sorts to types are confined
to the bracketing construct. This type theory gives an alternative presentation
to the calculus of inductive constructions on which the Coq proof assistant is
an implementation.Comment: To appear in the proceedings of the 19th International Conference on
Types for Proofs and Program
Generating Functions For Kernels of Digraphs (Enumeration & Asymptotics for Nim Games)
In this article, we study directed graphs (digraphs) with a coloring
constraint due to Von Neumann and related to Nim-type games. This is equivalent
to the notion of kernels of digraphs, which appears in numerous fields of
research such as game theory, complexity theory, artificial intelligence
(default logic, argumentation in multi-agent systems), 0-1 laws in monadic
second order logic, combinatorics (perfect graphs)... Kernels of digraphs lead
to numerous difficult questions (in the sense of NP-completeness,
#P-completeness). However, we show here that it is possible to use a generating
function approach to get new informations: we use technique of symbolic and
analytic combinatorics (generating functions and their singularities) in order
to get exact and asymptotic results, e.g. for the existence of a kernel in a
circuit or in a unicircuit digraph. This is a first step toward a
generatingfunctionology treatment of kernels, while using, e.g., an approach "a
la Wright". Our method could be applied to more general "local coloring
constraints" in decomposable combinatorial structures.Comment: Presented (as a poster) to the conference Formal Power Series and
Algebraic Combinatorics (Vancouver, 2004), electronic proceeding
Toward a fundamental groupoid for the stable homotopy category
This very speculative sketch suggests that a theory of fundamental groupoids
for tensor triangulated categories could be used to describe the ring of
integers as the singular fiber in a family of ring-spectra parametrized by a
structure space for the stable homotopy category, and that Bousfield
localization might be part of a theory of `nearby' cycles for stacks or
orbifolds.Comment: This is the version published by Geometry & Topology Monographs on 18
April 200
Topical Bias in Generalist Mathematics Journals
Generalist mathematics journals exhibit bias toward the branches of
mathematics by publishing articles about some subjects in quantities far
disproportionate to the production of papers in those areas within all of
mathematics.Comment: 8 pages, 3 figure
On the Connectivity of Unions of Random Graphs
Graph-theoretic tools and techniques have seen wide use in the multi-agent
systems literature, and the unpredictable nature of some multi-agent
communications has been successfully modeled using random communication graphs.
Across both network control and network optimization, a common assumption is
that the union of agents' communication graphs is connected across any finite
interval of some prescribed length, and some convergence results explicitly
depend upon this length. Despite the prevalence of this assumption and the
prevalence of random graphs in studying multi-agent systems, to the best of our
knowledge, there has not been a study dedicated to determining how many random
graphs must be in a union before it is connected. To address this point, this
paper solves two related problems. The first bounds the number of random graphs
required in a union before its expected algebraic connectivity exceeds the
minimum needed for connectedness. The second bounds the probability that a
union of random graphs is connected. The random graph model used is the
Erd\H{o}s-R\'enyi model, and, in solving these problems, we also bound the
expectation and variance of the algebraic connectivity of unions of such
graphs. Numerical results for several use cases are given to supplement the
theoretical developments made.Comment: 16 pages, 3 tables; accepted to 2017 IEEE Conference on Decision and
Control (CDC
Formalized proof, computation, and the construction problem in algebraic geometry
An informal discussion of how the construction problem in algebraic geometry
motivates the search for formal proof methods. Also includes a brief discussion
of my own progress up to now, which concerns the formalization of category
theory within a ZFC-like environment
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