Perspectives for proof unwinding by programming languages techniques

In this chapter, we propose some future directions of work, potentially beneficial to Mathematics and its foundations, based on the recent import of methodology from the theory of programming languages into proof theory. This scientific essay, written for the audience of proof theorists as well as the working mathematician, is not a survey of the field, but rather a personal view of the author who hopes that it may inspire future and fellow researchers

Axioms and Decidability for Type Isomorphism in the Presence of Sums

We consider the problem of characterizing isomorphisms of types, or, equivalently, constructive cardinality of sets, in the simultaneous presence of disjoint unions, Cartesian products, and exponentials. Mostly relying on results about polynomials with exponentiation that have not been used in our context, we derive: that the usual finite axiomatization known as High-School Identities (HSI) is complete for a significant subclass of types; that it is decidable for that subclass when two types are isomorphic; that, for the whole of the set of types, a recursive extension of the axioms of HSI exists that is complete; and that, for the whole of the set of types, the question as to whether two types are isomorphic is decidable when base types are to be interpreted as finite sets. We also point out certain related open problems

An interpretation of the Sigma-2 fragment of classical Analysis in System T

We show that it is possible to define a realizability interpretation for the $\Sigma_2$-fragment of classical Analysis using G\"odel's System T only. This supplements a previous result of Schwichtenberg regarding bar recursion at types 0 and 1 by showing how to avoid using bar recursion altogether. Our result is proved via a conservative extension of System T with an operator for composable continuations from the theory of programming languages due to Danvy and Filinski. The fragment of Analysis is therefore essentially constructive, even in presence of the full Axiom of Choice schema: Weak Church's Rule holds of it in spite of the fact that it is strong enough to refute the formal arithmetical version of Church's Thesis

A Direct Version of Veldman's Proof of Open Induction on Cantor Space via Delimited Control Operators

First, we reconstruct Wim Veldman's result that Open Induction on Cantor space can be derived from Double-negation Shift and Markov's Principle. In doing this, we notice that one has to use a countable choice axiom in the proof and that Markov's Principle is replaceable by slightly strengthening the Double-negation Shift schema. We show that this strengthened version of Double-negation Shift can nonetheless be derived in a constructive intermediate logic based on delimited control operators, extended with axioms for higher-type Heyting Arithmetic. We formalize the argument and thus obtain a proof term that directly derives Open Induction on Cantor space by the shift and reset delimited control operators of Danvy and Filinski

An analysis of the constructive content of Henkin's proof of G\"odel's completeness theorem

G{\"o}del's completeness theorem for classical first-order logic is one of the most basic theorems of logic. Central to any foundational course in logic, it connects the notion of valid formula to the notion of provable formula.We survey a few standard formulations and proofs of the completeness theorem before focusing on the formal description of a slight modification of Henkin's proof within intuitionistic second-order arithmetic.It is standard in the context of the completeness of intuitionistic logic with respect to various semantics such as Kripke or Beth semantics to follow the Curry-Howard correspondence and to interpret the proofs of completeness as programs which turn proofs of validity for these semantics into proofs of derivability.We apply this approach to Henkin's proof to phrase it as a program which transforms any proof of validity with respect to Tarski semantics into a proof of derivability.By doing so, we hope to shed an effective light on the relation between Tarski semantics and syntax: proofs of validity are syntactic objects with which we can compute.Comment: R{\'e}dig{\'e} en 4 {\'e}tapes: 2013, 2016, 2022, 202

Classical polarizations yield double-negation translations

Double-negation translations map formulas to formulas in such a way that if a formula is a classical theorem then its translation is an intuitionistic theorem. We shall go beyond just examining provability by looking at correspondences between inference rules in classical proofs and in intuitionistic proofs of translated formulas. In order to make this comparison interesting and precise, we will examine focused versions of proofs in classical and intuitionistic logics using the LKF and LJF proof systems. We shall show that for a number of known double-negation translations, one can get essentially identical (focused) intuitionistic proofs as (focused) classical proofs. Thus the choice of a common double-negation translation is really the same choice as a polarization of classical logic (of which there are many)

Continuation-passing Style Models Complete for Intuitionistic Logic

A class of models is presented, in the form of continuation monads polymorphic for first-order individuals, that is sound and complete for minimal intuitionistic predicate logic. The proofs of soundness and completeness are constructive and the computational content of their composition is, in particular, a $\beta$-normalisation-by-evaluation program for simply typed lambda calculus with sum types. Although the inspiration comes from Danvy's type-directed partial evaluator for the same lambda calculus, the there essential use of delimited control operators (i.e. computational effects) is avoided. The role of polymorphism is crucial -- dropping it allows one to obtain a notion of model complete for classical predicate logic. The connection between ours and Kripke models is made through a strengthening of the Double-negation Shift schema

Kripke Models for Classical Logic

We introduce a notion of Kripke model for classical logic for which we constructively prove soundness and cut-free completeness. We discuss the novelty of the notion and its potential applications

Delimited control operators prove Double-negation Shift

We propose an extension of minimal intuitionistic predicate logic, based on delimited control operators, that can derive the predicate-logic version of the Double-negation Shift schema, while preserving the disjunction and existence properties