Linear Time Logics - A Coalgebraic Perspective

We describe a general approach to deriving linear time logics for a wide variety of state-based, quantitative systems, by modelling the latter as coalgebras whose type incorporates both branching behaviour and linear behaviour. Concretely, we define logics whose syntax is determined by the choice of linear behaviour and whose domain of truth values is determined by the choice of branching, and we provide two equivalent semantics for them: a step-wise semantics amenable to automata-based verification, and a path-based semantics akin to those of standard linear time logics. We also provide a semantic characterisation of the associated notion of logical equivalence, and relate it to previously-defined maximal trace semantics for such systems. Instances of our logics support reasoning about the possibility, likelihood or minimal cost of exhibiting a given linear time property. We conclude with a generalisation of the logics, dual in spirit to logics with discounting, which increases their practical appeal in the context of resource-aware computation by incorporating a notion of offsetting.Comment: Major revision of previous version: Sections 4 and 5 generalise the results in the previous version, with new proofs; Section 6 contains new result

A modular approach to defining and characterising notions of simulation

We propose a modular approach to defining notions of simulation, and modal logics which characterise them. We use coalgebras to model state-based systems, relators to define notions of simulation for such systems, and inductive techniques to define the syntax and semantics of modal logics for coalgebras. We show that the expressiveness of an inductively defined logic for coalgebras w.r.t. a notion of simulation follows from an expressivity condition involving one step in the definition of the logic, and the relator inducing that notion of simulation. Moreover, we show that notions of simulation and associated characterising logics for increasingly complex system types can be derived by lifting the operations used to combine system types, to a relational level as well as to a logical level. We use these results to obtain Baltag’s logic for coalgebraic simulation, as well as notions of simulation and associated logics for a large class of non-deterministic and probabilistic systems

Canonical coalgebraic linear time logics

We extend earlier work on linear time fixpoint logics for coalgebras with branching, by showing how propositional operators arising from the choice of branching monad can be canonically added to these logics. We then consider two semantics for the uniform modal fragments of such logics: the previously-proposed, step-wise semantics and a new semantics akin to those of path-based logics. We prove that the two semantics are equivalent, and show that the canonical choice made for resolving branching in these logics is crucial for this property. We also state conditions under which similar, non-canonical logics enjoy the same property – this applies both to the choice of a branching modality and to the choice of linear time modalities. Our logics allow reasoning about linear time behaviour in systems with non-deterministic, probabilistic or weighted branching. In all these cases, the logics enhanced with propositional operators gain in expressiveness. Another contribution of our work is a reformulation of fixpoint semantics, which applies to any coalgebraic modal logic whose semantics arises from a one-step semantics

Representation of multivariate functions via the potential theory

In this paper, by the use of Potential Theory, some representation results for multivariate functions from the Sobolev spaces in terms of the double layer potential and the fundamental solution of Laplace's equation are pointed out. Applications for multivariate inequalities of Ostrowski type are also provided

Anisotropic elliptic equations with gradient-dependent lower order terms and L^1 data

We prove the existence of a weak solution for a general class of Dirichlet anisotropic elliptic problems such as $\mathcal Au+\Phi(x,u,\nabla u)=\mathfrak{B}u+f$ in $\Omega$, where $\Omega$ is a bounded open subset of $\mathbb R^N$ and $f\in L^1(\Omega)$ is arbitrary. The principal part is a divergence-form nonlinear anisotropic operator $\mathcal A$, the prototype of which is $\mathcal A u=-\sum_{j=1}^N \partial_j(|\partial_j u|^{p_j-2}\partial_j u)$ with p_j>1 for all $1\leq j\leq N$ and \sum_{j=1}^N (1/p_j)>1. As a novelty in this paper, our lower order terms involve a new class of operators $\mathfrak B$ such that $\mathcal{A}-\mathfrak{B}$ is bounded, coercive and pseudo-monotone from $W_0^{1,\overrightarrow{p}}(\Omega)$ into its dual, as well as a gradient-dependent nonlinearity $\Phi$ with an ``anisotropic natural growth" in the gradient and a good sign condition

Modal logics are coalgebraic

Applications of modal logics are abundant in computer science, and a large number of structurally different modal logics have been successfully employed in a diverse spectrum of application contexts. Coalgebraic semantics, on the other hand, provides a uniform and encompassing view on the large variety of specific logics used in particular domains. The coalgebraic approach is generic and compositional: tools and techniques simultaneously apply to a large class of application areas and can moreover be combined in a modular way. In particular, this facilitates a pick-and-choose approach to domain specific formalisms, applicable across the entire scope of application areas, leading to generic software tools that are easier to design, to implement, and to maintain. This paper substantiates the authors' firm belief that the systematic exploitation of the coalgebraic nature of modal logic will not only have impact on the field of modal logic itself but also lead to significant progress in a number of areas within computer science, such as knowledge representation and concurrency/mobility

On expressivity and compositionality in logics for coalgebras

This paper attempts to unify some of the existing approaches to defining modal logics for coalgebras, from the point of view of constructing the languages employed by these logics. An abstract framework for defining languages for coalgebras from so-called language constructors, corresponding to one-step unfoldings of the coalgebraic structure, is introduced, and a method for deriving expressive languages for coalgebras from suitable choices for the language constructors is described. Moreover, it is shown that the derivation of such languages by means of language constructors is well-behaved w.r.t. various forms of composition between coalgebraic types

Parity Automata for Quantitative Linear Time Logics

We initiate a study of automata-based model checking for previously proposed quantitative linear time logics interpreted over coalgebras. Our results include: (i) an automata-theoretic characterisation of the semantics of these logics, based on a notion of extent of a quantitative parity automaton, (ii) a study of the expressive power of Buchi variants of such automata, with implications on the expressiveness of fragments of the logics considered, and (iii) a naive algorithm for computing extents, under additional assumptions on the domain of truth values