Free Applicative Functors

Applicative functors are a generalisation of monads. Both allow the expression of effectful computations into an otherwise pure language, like Haskell. Applicative functors are to be preferred to monads when the structure of a computation is fixed a priori. That makes it possible to perform certain kinds of static analysis on applicative values. We define a notion of free applicative functor, prove that it satisfies the appropriate laws, and that the construction is left adjoint to a suitable forgetful functor. We show how free applicative functors can be used to implement embedded DSLs which can be statically analysed.Comment: In Proceedings MSFP 2014, arXiv:1406.153

Non-wellfounded trees in Homotopy Type Theory

We prove a conjecture about the constructibility of coinductive types - in the principled form of indexed M-types - in Homotopy Type Theory. The conjecture says that in the presence of inductive types, coinductive types are derivable. Indeed, in this work, we construct coinductive types in a subsystem of Homotopy Type Theory; this subsystem is given by Intensional Martin-L\"of type theory with natural numbers and Voevodsky's Univalence Axiom. Our results are mechanized in the computer proof assistant Agda.Comment: 14 pages, to be published in proceedings of TLCA 2015; ancillary files contain Agda files with formalized proof

Functions out of Higher Truncations

In homotopy type theory, the truncation operator ||-||n (for a number n > -2) is often useful if one does not care about the higher structure of a type and wants to avoid coherence problems. However, its elimination principle only allows to eliminate into n-types, which makes it hard to construct functions ||A||n -> B if B is not an n-type. This makes it desirable to derive more powerful elimination theorems. We show a first general result: If B is an (n+1)-type, then functions ||A||n -> B correspond exactly to functions A -> B which are constant on all (n+1)-st loop spaces. We give one "elementary" proof and one proof that uses a higher inductive type, both of which require some effort. As a sample application of our result, we show that we can construct "set-based" representations of 1-types, as long as they have "braided" loop spaces. The main result with one of its proofs and the application have been formalised in Agda.Comment: 15 pages; to appear at CSL'1

Two-Level Type Theory and Applications

We define and develop two-level type theory (2LTT), a version of Martin-L\"of type theory which combines two different type theories. We refer to them as the inner and the outer type theory. In our case of interest, the inner theory is homotopy type theory (HoTT) which may include univalent universes and higher inductive types. The outer theory is a traditional form of type theory validating uniqueness of identity proofs (UIP). One point of view on it is as internalised meta-theory of the inner type theory. There are two motivations for 2LTT. Firstly, there are certain results about HoTT which are of meta-theoretic nature, such as the statement that semisimplicial types up to level $n$ can be constructed in HoTT for any externally fixed natural number $n$. Such results cannot be expressed in HoTT itself, but they can be formalised and proved in 2LTT, where $n$ will be a variable in the outer theory. This point of view is inspired by observations about conservativity of presheaf models. Secondly, 2LTT is a framework which is suitable for formulating additional axioms that one might want to add to HoTT. This idea is heavily inspired by Voevodsky's Homotopy Type System (HTS), which constitutes one specific instance of a 2LTT. HTS has an axiom ensuring that the type of natural numbers behaves like the external natural numbers, which allows the construction of a universe of semisimplicial types. In 2LTT, this axiom can be stated simply be asking the inner and outer natural numbers to be isomorphic. After defining 2LTT, we set up a collection of tools with the goal of making 2LTT a convenient language for future developments. As a first such application, we develop the theory of Reedy fibrant diagrams in the style of Shulman. Continuing this line of thought, we suggest a definition of (infinity,1)-category and give some examples.Comment: 53 page

Non-Wellfounded Trees in Homotopy Type Theory

Coinductive data types are used in functional programming to represent infinite data struc-tures. Examples include the ubiquitous data type of streams over a given base type, but also more sophisticated types. From a categorical perspective, coinductive types are characterized by a universal property, which specifies the object with that property uniquely in a suitable sense. More precisely, a coinductive type is specified as the terminal coalgebra of a suitable endofunctor. In this category-theoretic viewpoint, coinductive types are dual to inductive types, which are defined as initial algebras. Inductive, resp. coinductive, types are usually considered in the principled form of the family of W-types, resp. M-types, parametrized by a type A and a dependent type family B over A, that is, a family of types (B(a))a:A. Intuitively, the elements of the coinductive type M(A,B) are trees with nodes labeled by elements of A such that a node labeled by a: A has B(a)-many subtrees, given by a map B(a) → M(A,B); see Figure 1 for an example. The inductive type W(A,B) contains only trees where any path within that tree eventually leads to a leaf, that is, to a node a: A such that B(a) is empty. a, b, c: A B(a) =

Extending homotopy type theory with strict equality

In homotopy type theory (HoTT), all constructions are necessarily stable under homotopy equivalence. This has shortcomings: for example, it is believed that it is impossible to define a type of semi-simplicial types. More generally, it is difficult and often impossible to handle towers of coherences. To address this, we propose a 2-level theory which features both strict and weak equality. This can essentially be represented as two type theories: an ``outer'' one, containing a strict equality type former, and an ``inner'' one, which is some version of HoTT. Our type theory is inspired by Voevodsky's suggestion of a homotopy type system (HTS) which currently refers to a range of ideas. A core insight of our proposal is that we do not need any form of equality reflection in order to achieve what HTS was suggested for. Instead, having unique identity proofs in the outer type theory is sufficient, and it also has the meta-theoretical advantage of not breaking decidability of type checking. The inner theory can be an easily justifiable extensions of HoTT, allowing the construction of ``infinite structures'' which are considered impossible in plain HoTT. Alternatively, we can set the inner theory to be exactly the current standard formulation of HoTT, in which case our system can be thought of as a type-theoretic framework for working with ``schematic'' definitions in HoTT. As demonstrations, we define semi-simplicial types and formalise constructions of Reedy fibrant diagrams

Models of type theory with strict equality

This thesis introduces the idea of two-level type theory, an extension of Martin-Löf type theory that adds a notion of strict equality as an internal primitive. A type theory with a strict equality alongside the more conventional form of equality, the latter being of fundamental importance for the recent innovation of homotopy type theory (HoTT), was first proposed by Voevodsky, and is usually referred to as HTS. Here, we generalise and expand this idea, by developing a semantic framework that gives a systematic account of type formers for two-level systems, and proving a conservativity result relating back to a conventional type theory like HoTT. Finally, we show how a two-level theory can be used to provide partial solutions to open problems in HoTT. In particular, we use it to construct semi-simplicial types, and lay out the foundations of an internal theory of (∞, 1)-categories

Models of type theory with strict equality

This thesis introduces the idea of two-level type theory, an extension of Martin-Löf type theory that adds a notion of strict equality as an internal primitive. A type theory with a strict equality alongside the more conventional form of equality, the latter being of fundamental importance for the recent innovation of homotopy type theory (HoTT), was first proposed by Voevodsky, and is usually referred to as HTS. Here, we generalise and expand this idea, by developing a semantic framework that gives a systematic account of type formers for two-level systems, and proving a conservativity result relating back to a conventional type theory like HoTT. Finally, we show how a two-level theory can be used to provide partial solutions to open problems in HoTT. In particular, we use it to construct semi-simplicial types, and lay out the foundations of an internal theory of (∞, 1)-categories

Free higher groups in homotopy type theory

Given a type A in homotopy type theory (HoTT), we can define the free ∞-group on A as the higher inductive type F (A)with constructors unit: F(A),cons : A → F(A) → F(A), and conditions saying that every cons(a)is an auto-equivalence on F(A). Equivalently, we can take the loop space of the suspension of A + 1. Assuming that A is a set (i.e. satisfies the principle of unique identity proofs), we are interested in the question whether F(A) is a set as well, which is very much related to an open problem in the HoTT book [20, Ex. 8.2]. We show an approximation to the question, namely that the fundamental groups of F(A) are trivial, i.e. that ∥F(A)∥1 is a set

Univalent higher categories via complete semi-segal types

Category theory in homotopy type theory is intricate as categorical laws can only be stated “up to homotopy”, and thus require coherences. The established notion of a univalent category (as introduced by Ahrens et al.)solves this by considering only truncated types, roughly corresponding to an ordinary category. This fails to capture many naturally occurring structures, stemming from the fact that the naturally occurring structures in homotopy type theory are not ordinary, but rather higher categories. Out of the large variety of approaches to higher category theory that mathematicians have proposed, we believe that, for type theory, the simplicial strategy is best suited. Work by Lurie and Harpaz motivates the following definition. Given the first (n + 3) levels of a semisimplicial type S, we can equip S with three properties: first, contractibility of the types of certain horn fillers; second, a completeness property; and third, a truncation condition. We call this a complete semi-Segal n-type. This is very similar to an earlier suggestion by Schreiber. The definition of a univalent (1-) category by Ahrens et al. can easily be extended or restricted to the definition of a univalent n-category (more precisely, (n, 1)-category) for n ∈ {0, 1, 2}, and we show that the type of complete semi-Segal n-types is equivalent to the type of univalent n-categories in these cases. Thus, we believe that the notion of a complete semi-Segal n-type can be taken as the definition of a univalent n-category. We provide a formalisation in the proof assistant Agda using a completely explicit representation of semi-simplicial types for levels up to 4