Generalizing Parametricity Using Information Flow (Extended Version)

Run-time type analysis allows programmers to easily and concisely define operations based upon type structure, such as serialization, iterators, and structural equality. However, when types can be inspected at run time, nothing is secret. A module writer cannot use type abstraction to hide implementation details from clients: clients can determine the structure of these supposedly abstract data types. Furthermore, access control mechanisms do not help isolate the implementation of abstract datatypes from their clients. Buggy or malicious authorized modules may leak type information to unauthorized clients, so module implementors cannot reliably tell which parts of a program rely on their type definitions. Currently, module implementors rely on parametric polymorphism to provide integrity and confidentiality guarantees about their abstract datatypes. However, standard parametricity does not hold for languages with run-time type analysis; this paper shows how to generalize parametricity so that it does. The key is to augment the type system with annotations about information-flow. Implementors can then easily see which parts of a program depend on the chosen implementation by tracking the flow of dynamic type information

A Calculus for Dynamic Loading

We present the load-calculus, used to model dynamic loading, and prove it sound. The calculus extends the polymorphic λ-calculus with a load primitive that dynamically loads terms that are closed, with respect to values. The calculus is meant to approximate the process of dynamic loading in TAL/Load [4], a version of Typed Assembly Language [7] extending with dynamic linking. To model the key aspects of TAL, the calculus contains references and facilities for named types. Loadable programs may refer to named types defined by the running program, and may export new types to code loaded later. Our approach follows the framework initially outlined by Glew et. al [3]. This calculus has been implemented in the TALx86 [6] version of Typed Assembly Language, and is used to implement a full-featured dynamic linking library, DLpop [4]

Boxy Types: Inference for Higher-Rank Types and Impredicativity

Languages with rich type systems are beginning to employ a blend of type inference and type checking, so that the type inference engine is guided by programmer-supplied type annotations. In this paper we show, for the first time, how to combine the virtues of two well-established ideas: unification-based inference, and bidirectional propagation of type annotations. The result is a type system that conservatively extends Hindley-Milner, and yet supports both higher-rank types and impredicativity

Mechanized Metatheory for the Masses: The \u3cb\u3ePOPLMARK\u3c/b\u3e Challenge

How close are we to a world where every paper on programming languages is accompanied by an electronic appendix with machinechecked proofs? We propose an initial set of benchmarks for measuring progress in this area. Based on the metatheory of System F, a typed lambda-calculus with second-order polymorphism, subtyping, and records, these benchmarks embody many aspects of programming languages that are challenging to formalize: variable binding at both the term and type levels, syntactic forms with variable numbers of components (including binders), and proofs demanding complex induction principles. We hope that these benchmarks will help clarify the current state of the art, provide a basis for comparing competing technologies, and motivate further research

Termination Casts: A Flexible Approach to Termination with General Recursion

This paper proposes a type-and-effect system called Teqt, which distinguishes terminating terms and total functions from possibly diverging terms and partial functions, for a lambda calculus with general recursion and equality types. The central idea is to include a primitive type-form "Terminates t", expressing that term t is terminating; and then allow terms t to be coerced from possibly diverging to total, using a proof of Terminates t. We call such coercions termination casts, and show how to implement terminating recursion using them. For the meta-theory of the system, we describe a translation from Teqt to a logical theory of termination for general recursive, simply typed functions. Every typing judgment of Teqt is translated to a theorem expressing the appropriate termination property of the computational part of the Teqt term.Comment: In Proceedings PAR 2010, arXiv:1012.455

Step-Indexed Normalization for a Language with General Recursion

The Trellys project has produced several designs for practical dependently typed languages. These languages are broken into two fragments-a_logical_fragment where every term normalizes and which is consistent when interpreted as a logic, and a_programmatic_fragment with general recursion and other convenient but unsound features. In this paper, we present a small example language in this style. Our design allows the programmer to explicitly mention and pass information between the two fragments. We show that this feature substantially complicates the metatheory and present a new technique, combining the traditional Girard-Tait method with step-indexed logical relations, which we use to show normalization for the logical fragment.Comment: In Proceedings MSFP 2012, arXiv:1202.240

Search for dark matter produced in association with bottom or top quarks in √s = 13 TeV pp collisions with the ATLAS detector

A search for weakly interacting massive particle dark matter produced in association with bottom or top quarks is presented. Final states containing third-generation quarks and miss- ing transverse momentum are considered. The analysis uses 36.1 fb−1 of proton–proton collision data recorded by the ATLAS experiment at √s = 13 TeV in 2015 and 2016. No significant excess of events above the estimated backgrounds is observed. The results are in- terpreted in the framework of simplified models of spin-0 dark-matter mediators. For colour- neutral spin-0 mediators produced in association with top quarks and decaying into a pair of dark-matter particles, mediator masses below 50 GeV are excluded assuming a dark-matter candidate mass of 1 GeV and unitary couplings. For scalar and pseudoscalar mediators produced in association with bottom quarks, the search sets limits on the production cross- section of 300 times the predicted rate for mediators with masses between 10 and 50 GeV and assuming a dark-matter mass of 1 GeV and unitary coupling. Constraints on colour- charged scalar simplified models are also presented. Assuming a dark-matter particle mass of 35 GeV, mediator particles with mass below 1.1 TeV are excluded for couplings yielding a dark-matter relic density consistent with measurements