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Volume 6, Issue 4
2010
1. Tree Languages Defined in First-Order Logic with One Quantifier Alternation
We study tree languages that can be defined in \Delta_2 . These are tree languages definable by a first-order formula whose quantifier prefix is forall exists, and simultaneously by a first-order formula whose quantifier prefix is . For the quantifier free part we consider two signatures, either the descendant relation alone or together with the lexicographical order relation on nodes. We provide an effective characterization of tree and forest languages definable in \Delta_2 . This characterization is in terms of algebraic equations. Over words, the class of word languages definable in \Delta_2 forms a robust class, which was given an effective algebraic characterization by Pin and Weil.
2. A Model of Cooperative Threads
We develop a model of concurrent imperative programming with threads. We focus on a small imperative language with cooperative threads which execute without interruption until they terminate or explicitly yield control. We define and study a trace-based denotational semantics for this language; this semantics is fully abstract but mathematically elementary. We also give an equational theory for the computational effects that underlie the language, including thread spawning. We then analyze threads in terms of the free algebra monad for this theory.
3. Game semantics for first-order logic
We refine HO/N game semantics with an additional notion of pointer (mu-pointers) and extend it to first-order classical logic with completeness results. We use a Church style extension of Parigot's lambda-mu-calculus to represent proofs of first-order classical logic. We present some relations with Krivine's classical realizability and applications to type isomorphisms.
4. The complexity of global cardinality constraints
In a constraint satisfaction problem (CSP) the goal is to find an assignment of a given set of variables subject to specified constraints. A global cardinality constraint is an additional requirement that prescribes how many variables must be assigned a certain value. We study the complexity of the problem CCSP(G), the constraint satisfaction problem with global cardinality constraints that allows only relations from the set G. The main result of this paper characterizes sets G that give rise to problems solvable in polynomial time, and states that the remaining such problems are NP-complete.
5. Refinement Types for Logical Frameworks and Their Interpretation as Proof Irrelevance
Refinement types sharpen systems of simple and dependent types by offering expressive means to more precisely classify well-typed terms. We present a system of refinement types for LF in the style of recent formulations where only canonical forms are well-typed. Both the usual LF rules and the rules for type refinements are bidirectional, leading to a straightforward proof of decidability of typechecking even in the presence of intersection types. Because we insist on canonical forms, structural rules for subtyping can now be derived rather than being assumed as primitive. We illustrate the expressive power of our system with examples and validate its design by demonstrating a precise correspondence with traditional presentations of subtyping. Proof irrelevance provides a mechanism for selectively hiding the identities of terms in type theories. We show that LF refinement types can be interpreted as predicates using proof irrelevance, establishing a uniform relationship between two previously studied concepts in type theory. The interpretation and its correctness proof are surprisingly complex, lending support to the claim that refinement types are a fundamental construct rather than just a convenient surface syntax for certain uses of proof irrelevance.
6. An Explicit Framework for Interaction Nets
Interaction nets are a graphical formalism inspired by Linear Logic proof-nets often used for studying higher order rewriting e.g. \Beta-reduction. Traditional presentations of interaction nets are based on graph theory and rely on elementary properties of graph theory. We give here a more explicit presentation based on notions borrowed from Girard's Geometry of Interaction: interaction nets are presented as partial permutations and a composition of nets, the gluing, is derived from the execution formula. We then define contexts and reduction as the context closure of rules. We prove strong confluence of the reduction within our framework and show how interaction nets can be viewed as the quotient of some generalized proof-nets.
7. Bounded Linear Logic, Revisited
We present QBAL, an extension of Girard, Scedrov and Scott's bounded linear logic. The main novelty of the system is the possibility of quantifying over resource variables. This generalization makes bounded linear logic considerably more flexible, while preserving soundness and completeness for polynomial time. In particular, we provide compositional embeddings of Leivant's RRW and Hofmann's LFPL into QBAL.
8. A Logical Foundation for Environment Classifiers
Taha and Nielsen have developed a multi-stage calculus {\lambda}{\alpha} with a sound type system using the notion of environment classifiers. They are special identifiers, with which code fragments and variable declarations are annotated, and their scoping mechanism is used to ensure statically that certain code fragments are closed and safely runnable. In this paper, we investigate the Curry-Howard isomorphism for environment classifiers by developing a typed {\lambda}-calculus {\lambda}|>. It corresponds to multi-modal logic that allows quantification by transition variables---a counterpart of classifiers---which range over (possibly empty) sequences of labeled transitions between possible worlds. This interpretation will reduce the "run" construct---which has a special typing rule in {\lambda}{\alpha}---and embedding of closed code into other code fragments of different stages---which would be only realized by the cross-stage persistence operator in {\lambda}{\alpha}---to merely a special case of classifier application. {\lambda}|> enjoys not only basic properties including subject reduction, confluence, and strong normalization but also an important property as a multi-stage calculus: time-ordered normalization of full reduction. Then, we develop a big-step evaluation semantics for an ML-like language based on {\lambda}|> with its type system and prove that the evaluation of a well-typed {\lambda}|> program is properly staged. We also identify a […]
9. The complexity of linear-time temporal logic over the class of ordinals
We consider the temporal logic with since and until modalities. This temporal logic is expressively equivalent over the class of ordinals to first-order logic by Kamp's theorem. We show that it has a PSPACE-complete satisfiability problem over the class of ordinals. Among the consequences of our proof, we show that given the code of some countable ordinal alpha and a formula, we can decide in PSPACE whether the formula has a model over alpha. In order to show these results, we introduce a class of simple ordinal automata, as expressive as Büchi ordinal automata. The PSPACE upper bound for the satisfiability problem of the temporal logic is obtained through a reduction to the nonemptiness problem for the simple ordinal automata.
10. Backward Reachability of Array-based Systems by SMT solving: Termination and Invariant Synthesis
The safety of infinite state systems can be checked by a backward reachability procedure. For certain classes of systems, it is possible to prove the termination of the procedure and hence conclude the decidability of the safety problem. Although backward reachability is property-directed, it can unnecessarily explore (large) portions of the state space of a system which are not required to verify the safety property under consideration. To avoid this, invariants can be used to dramatically prune the search space. Indeed, the problem is to guess such appropriate invariants. In this paper, we present a fully declarative and symbolic approach to the mechanization of backward reachability of infinite state systems manipulating arrays by Satisfiability Modulo Theories solving. Theories are used to specify the topology and the data manipulated by the system. We identify sufficient conditions on the theories to ensure the termination of backward reachability and we show the completeness of a method for invariant synthesis (obtained as the dual of backward reachability), again, under suitable hypotheses on the theories. We also present a pragmatic approach to interleave invariant synthesis and backward reachability so that a fix-point for the set of backward reachable states is more easily obtained. Finally, we discuss heuristics that allow us to derive an implementation of the techniques in the model checker MCMT, showing remarkable speed-ups on a significant set of safety problems […]
11. On the meaning of logical completeness
Goedel's completeness theorem is concerned with provability, while Girard's theorem in ludics (as well as full completeness theorems in game semantics) are concerned with proofs. Our purpose is to look for a connection between these two disciplines. Following a previous work [3], we consider an extension of the original ludics with contraction and universal nondeterminism, which play dual roles, in order to capture a polarized fragment of linear logic and thus a constructive variant of classical propositional logic. We then prove a completeness theorem for proofs in this extended setting: for any behaviour (formula) A and any design (proof attempt) P, either P is a proof of A or there is a model M of the orthogonal of A which defeats P. Compared with proofs of full completeness in game semantics, ours exhibits a striking similarity with proofs of Goedel's completeness, in that it explicitly constructs a countermodel essentially using Koenig's lemma, proceeds by induction on formulas, and implies an analogue of Loewenheim-Skolem theorem.
12. On Constructive Connectives and Systems
Canonical inference rules and canonical systems are defined in the framework of non-strict single-conclusion sequent systems, in which the succeedents of sequents can be empty. Important properties of this framework are investigated, and a general non-deterministic Kripke-style semantics is provided. This general semantics is then used to provide a constructive (and very natural), sufficient and necessary coherence criterion for the validity of the strong cut-elimination theorem in such a system. These results suggest new syntactic and semantic characterizations of basic constructive connectives.