Weak convergence and uniform normalization in infinitary rewriting

We study infinitary term rewriting systems containing finitely many rules. For these, we show that if a weakly convergent reduction is not strongly convergent, it contains a term that reduces to itself in one step (but the step itself need not be part of the reduction). Using this result, we prove the starkly surprising result that for any orthogonal system with finitely many rules, the system is weakly normalizing under weak convergence if{f} it is strongly normalizing under weak convergence if{f} it is weakly normalizing under strong convergence if{f} it is strongly normalizing under strong convergence. As further corollaries, we derive a number of new results for weakly convergent rewriting: Systems with finitely many rules enjoy unique normal forms, and acyclic orthogonal systems are confluent. Our results suggest that it may be possible to recover some of the positive results for strongly convergent rewriting in the setting of weak convergence, if systems with finitely many rules are considered. Finally, we give a number of counterexamples showing failure of most of the results when infinite sets of rules are allowed

Infinitary Rewriting Coinductively

We provide a coinductive definition of strongly convergent reductions between infinite lambda terms. This approach avoids the notions of ordinals and metric convergence which have appeared in the earlier definitions of the concept. As an illustration, we prove the existence part of the infinitary standardization theorem. The proof is fully formalized in Coq using coinductive types. The paper concludes with a characterization of infinite lambda terms which reduce to themselves in a single beta step

Probabilistic Rewriting: On Normalization, Termination, and Unique Normal Forms

While a mature body of work supports the study of rewriting systems, even infinitary ones, abstract tools for Probabilistic Rewriting are still limited. Here, we investigate questions such as uniqueness of the result (unique limit distribution) and we develop a set of proof techniques to analyze and compare reduction strategies. The goal is to have tools to support the operational analysis of probabilistic calculi (such as probabilistic lambda-calculi) whose evaluation is also non-deterministic, in the sense that different reductions are possible. In particular, we investigate how the behavior of different rewrite sequences starting from the same term compare w.r.t. normal forms, and propose a robust analogue of the notion of "unique normal form". Our approach is that of Abstract Rewrite Systems, i.e. we search for general properties of probabilistic rewriting, which hold independently of the specific structure of the objects.Comment: Extended version of the paper in FSCD 2019, International Conference on Formal Structures for Computation and Deductio

Discriminating Lambda-Terms Using Clocked Boehm Trees

As observed by Intrigila, there are hardly techniques available in the lambda-calculus to prove that two lambda-terms are not beta-convertible. Techniques employing the usual Boehm Trees are inadequate when we deal with terms having the same Boehm Tree (BT). This is the case in particular for fixed point combinators, as they all have the same BT. Another interesting equation, whose consideration was suggested by Scott, is BY = BYS, an equation valid in the classical model P-omega of lambda-calculus, and hence valid with respect to BT-equality but nevertheless the terms are beta-inconvertible. To prove such beta-inconvertibilities, we employ `clocked' BT's, with annotations that convey information of the tempo in which the data in the BT are produced. Boehm Trees are thus enriched with an intrinsic clock behaviour, leading to a refined discrimination method for lambda-terms. The corresponding equality is strictly intermediate between beta-convertibility and Boehm Tree equality, the equality in the model P-omega. An analogous approach pertains to Levy-Longo and Berarducci Trees. Our refined Boehm Trees find in particular an application in beta-discriminating fixed point combinators (fpc's). It turns out that Scott's equation BY = BYS is the key to unlocking a plethora of fpc's, generated by a variety of production schemes of which the simplest was found by Boehm, stating that new fpc's are obtained by postfixing the term SI, also known as Smullyan's Owl. We prove that all these newly generated fpc's are indeed new, by considering their clocked BT's. Even so, not all pairs of new fpc's can be discriminated this way. For that purpose we increase the discrimination power by a precision of the clock notion that we call `atomic clock'.Comment: arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:1002.257

Probabilistic Rewriting: Normalization, Termination, and Unique Normal Forms

While a mature body of work supports the study of rewriting systems, abstract tools for Probabilistic Rewriting are still limited. We study in this setting questions such as uniqueness of the result (unique limit distribution) and normalizing strategies (is there a strategy to find a result with greatest probability?). The goal is to have tools to analyse the operational properties of probabilistic calculi (such as probabilistic lambda-calculi) whose evaluation is also non-deterministic, in the sense that different reductions are possible

Termination and Productivity

Klop, J.W. [Promotor]Vrijer, R.C. de [Copromotor

Coinductive foundations of infinitary rewriting and infinitary equational logic

We present a coinductive framework for defining and reasoning about the infinitary analogues of equational logic and term rewriting in a uniform way. We define Equation found, the infinitary extension of a given equational theory =R, and →∞, the standard notion of infinitary rewriting associated to a reduction relation →R, as follows: (Formula Presented) Equation found Here μ and ν are the least and greatest fixed-point operators, respectively, and (Formula Presented) Equation found The setup captures rewrite sequences of arbitrary ordinal length, but it has neither the need for ordinals nor for metric convergence. This makes the framework especially suitable for formalizations in theorem provers