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Volume 19, Issue 2
2023
1. LNL polycategories and doctrines of linear logic
We define and study LNL polycategories, which abstract the judgmental structure of classical linear logic with exponentials. Many existing structures can be represented as LNL polycategories, including LNL adjunctions, linear exponential comonads, LNL multicategories, IL-indexed categories, linearly distributive categories with storage, commutative and strong monads, CBPV-structures, models of polarized calculi, Freyd-categories, and skew multicategories, as well as ordinary cartesian, symmetric, and planar multicategories and monoidal categories, symmetric polycategories, and linearly distributive and *-autonomous categories. To study such classes of structures uniformly, we define a notion of LNL doctrine, such that each of these classes of structures can be identified with the algebras for some such doctrine. We show that free algebras for LNL doctrines can be presented by a sequent calculus, and that every morphism of doctrines induces an adjunction between their 2-categories of algebras.
2. Understanding the Relative Strength of QBF CDCL Solvers and QBF Resolution
QBF solvers implementing the QCDCL paradigm are powerful algorithms that successfully tackle many computationally complex applications. However, our theoretical understanding of the strength and limitations of these QCDCL solvers is very limited. In this paper we suggest to formally model QCDCL solvers as proof systems. We define different policies that can be used for decision heuristics and unit propagation and give rise to a number of sound and complete QBF proof systems (and hence new QCDCL algorithms). With respect to the standard policies used in practical QCDCL solving, we show that the corresponding QCDCL proof system is incomparable (via exponential separations) to Q-resolution, the classical QBF resolution system used in the literature. This is in stark contrast to the propositional setting where CDCL and resolution are known to be p-equivalent. This raises the question what formulas are hard for standard QCDCL, since Q-resolution lower bounds do not necessarily apply to QCDCL as we show here. In answer to this question we prove several lower bounds for QCDCL, including exponential lower bounds for a large class of random QBFs. We also introduce a strengthening of the decision heuristic used in classical QCDCL, which does not necessarily decide variables in order of the prefix, but still allows to learn asserting clauses. We show that with this decision policy, QCDCL can be exponentially faster on some formulas. We further exhibit a QCDCL proof system that […]
3. Smart Choices and the Selection Monad
Describing systems in terms of choices and their resulting costs and rewards offers the promise of freeing algorithm designers and programmers from specifying how those choices should be made; in implementations, the choices can be realized by optimization techniques and, increasingly, by machine-learning methods. We study this approach from a programming-language perspective. We define two small languages that support decision-making abstractions: one with choices and rewards, and the other additionally with probabilities. We give both operational and denotational semantics. In the case of the second language we consider three denotational semantics, with varying degrees of correlation between possible program values and expected rewards. The operational semantics combine the usual semantics of standard constructs with optimization over spaces of possible execution strategies. The denotational semantics, which are compositional, rely on the selection monad, to handle choice, augmented with an auxiliary monad to handle other effects, such as rewards or probability. We establish adequacy theorems that the two semantics coincide in all cases. We also prove full abstraction at base types, with varying notions of observation in the probabilistic case corresponding to the various degrees of correlation. We present axioms for choice combined with rewards and probability, establishing completeness at base types for the case of rewards without probability.
4. Causal Unfoldings and Disjunctive Causes
In the simplest form of event structure, a prime event structure, an event is associated with a unique causal history, its prime cause. However, it is quite common for an event to have disjunctive causes in that it can be enabled by any one of multiple sets of causes. Sometimes the sets of causes may be mutually exclusive, inconsistent one with another, and sometimes not, in which case they coexist consistently and constitute parallel causes of the event. The established model of general event structures can model parallel causes. On occasion however such a model abstracts too far away from the precise causal histories of events to be directly useful. For example, sometimes one needs to associate probabilities with different, possibly coexisting, causal histories of a common event. Ideally, the causal histories of a general event structure would correspond to the configurations of its causal unfolding to a prime event structure; and the causal unfolding would arise as a right adjoint to the embedding of prime in general event structures. But there is no such adjunction. However, a slight extension of prime event structures remedies this defect and provides a causal unfolding as a universal construction. Prime event structures are extended with an equivalence relation in order to dissociate the two roles, that of an event and its enabling; in effect, prime causes are labelled by a disjunctive event, an equivalence class of its prime causes. With this enrichment a suitable […]
5. Inferring Symbolic Automata
We study the learnability of symbolic finite state automata (SFA), a model shown useful in many applications in software verification. The state-of-the-art literature on this topic follows the query learning paradigm, and so far all obtained results are positive. We provide a necessary condition for efficient learnability of SFAs in this paradigm, from which we obtain the first negative result. The main focus of our work lies in the learnability of SFAs under the paradigm of identification in the limit using polynomial time and data, and its strengthening efficient identifiability, which are concerned with the existence of a systematic set of characteristic samples from which a learner can correctly infer the target language. We provide a necessary condition for identification of SFAs in the limit using polynomial time and data, and a sufficient condition for efficient learnability of SFAs. From these conditions we derive a positive and a negative result. The performance of a learning algorithm is typically bounded as a function of the size of the representation of the target language. Since SFAs, in general, do not have a canonical form, and there are trade-offs between the complexity of the predicates on the transitions and the number of transitions, we start by defining size measures for SFAs. We revisit the complexity of procedures on SFAs and analyze them according to these measures, paying attention to the special forms of SFAs: normalized SFAs and neat SFAs, as well as […]
6. Bridging Causal Reversibility and Time Reversibility: A Stochastic Process Algebraic Approach
Causal reversibility blends reversibility and causality for concurrent systems. It indicates that an action can be undone provided that all of its consequences have been undone already, thus making it possible to bring the system back to a past consistent state. Time reversibility is instead considered in the field of stochastic processes, mostly for efficient analysis purposes. A performance model based on a continuous-time Markov chain is time reversible if its stochastic behavior remains the same when the direction of time is reversed. We bridge these two theories of reversibility by showing the conditions under which causal reversibility and time reversibility are both ensured by construction. This is done in the setting of a stochastic process calculus, which is then equipped with a variant of stochastic bisimilarity accounting for both forward and backward directions.
7. Stateful Realizers for Nonstandard Analysis
In this paper we propose a new approach to realizability interpretations for nonstandard arithmetic. We deal with nonstandard analysis in the context of (semi)intuitionistic realizability, focusing on the Lightstone-Robinson construction of a model for nonstandard analysis through an ultrapower. In particular, we consider an extension of the $\lambda$-calculus with a memory cell, that contains an integer (the state), in order to indicate in which slice of the ultrapower $\cal{M}^{\mathbb{N}}$ the computation is being done. We pay attention to the nonstandard principles (and their computational content) obtainable in this setting. In particular, we give non-trivial realizers to Idealization and a non-standard version of the LLPO principle. We then discuss how to quotient this product to mimic the Lightstone-Robinson construction.
8. On Small Types in Univalent Foundations
We investigate predicative aspects of constructive univalent foundations. By predicative and constructive, we respectively mean that we do not assume Voevodsky's propositional resizing axioms or excluded middle. Our work complements existing work on predicative mathematics by exploring what cannot be done predicatively in univalent foundations. Our first main result is that nontrivial (directed or bounded) complete posets are necessarily large. That is, if such a nontrivial poset is small, then weak propositional resizing holds. It is possible to derive full propositional resizing if we strengthen nontriviality to positivity. The distinction between nontriviality and positivity is analogous to the distinction between nonemptiness and inhabitedness. Moreover, we prove that locally small, nontrivial (directed or bounded) complete posets necessarily lack decidable equality. We prove our results for a general class of posets, which includes e.g. directed complete posets, bounded complete posets, sup-lattices and frames. Secondly, the fact that these nontrivial posets are necessarily large has the important consequence that Tarski's theorem (and similar results) cannot be applied in nontrivial instances. Furthermore, we explain that generalizations of Tarski's theorem that allow for large structures are provably false by showing that the ordinal of ordinals in a univalent universe has small suprema in the presence of set quotients. The latter also leads us to […]
9. SAT-Inspired Higher-Order Eliminations
We generalize several propositional preprocessing techniques to higher-order logic, building on existing first-order generalizations. These techniques eliminate literals, clauses, or predicate symbols from the problem, with the aim of making it more amenable to automatic proof search. We also introduce a new technique, which we call quasipure literal elimination, that strictly subsumes pure literal elimination. The new techniques are implemented in the Zipperposition theorem prover. Our evaluation shows that they sometimes help prove problems originating from Isabelle formalizations and the TPTP library.
10. Lowerbounds for Bisimulation by Partition Refinement
We provide time lower bounds for sequential and parallel algorithms deciding bisimulation on labeled transition systems that use partition refinement. For sequential algorithms this is $\Omega((m \mkern1mu {+} \mkern1mu n ) \mkern-1mu \log \mkern-1mu n)$ and for parallel algorithms this is $\Omega(n)$, where $n$ is the number of states and $m$ is the number of transitions. The lowerbounds are obtained by analysing families of deterministic transition systems, ultimately with two actions in the sequential case, and one action for parallel algorithms. For deterministic transition systems with one action, bisimilarity can be decided sequentially with fundamentally different techniques than partition refinement. In particular, Paige, Tarjan, and Bonic give a linear algorithm for this specific situation. We show, exploiting the concept of an oracle, that this approach is not of help to develop a faster generic algorithm for deciding bisimilarity. For parallel algorithms there is a similar situation where these techniques may be applied, too.
11. Enumerating Independent Linear Inferences
A linear inference is a valid inequality of Boolean algebra in which each variable occurs at most once on each side. In this work we leverage recently developed graphical representations of linear formulae to build an implementation that is capable of more efficiently searching for switch-medial-independent inferences. We use it to find four `minimal' 8-variable independent inferences and also prove that no smaller ones exist; in contrast, a previous approach based directly on formulae reached computational limits already at 7 variables. Two of these new inferences derive some previously found independent linear inferences. The other two (which are dual) exhibit structure seemingly beyond the scope of previous approaches we are aware of; in particular, their existence contradicts a conjecture of Das and Strassburger. We were also able to identify 10 minimal 9-variable linear inferences independent of all the aforementioned inferences, comprising 5 dual pairs, and present applications of our implementation to recent `graph logics'.
12. Adding Negation to Lambda Mu
We present $\cal L$, an extension of Parigot's $\lambda\mu$-calculus by adding negation as a type constructor, together with syntactic constructs that represent negation introduction and elimination. We will define a notion of reduction that extends $\lambda\mu$'s reduction system with two new reduction rules, and show that the system satisfies subject reduction. Using Aczel's generalisation of Tait and Martin-Löf's notion of parallel reduction, we show that this extended reduction is confluent. Although the notion of type assignment has its limitations with respect to representation of proofs in natural deduction with implication and negation, we will show that all propositions that can be shown in there have a witness in $\cal L$. Using Girard's approach of reducibility candidates, we show that all typeable terms are strongly normalisable, and conclude the paper by showing that type assignment for $\cal L$ enjoys the principal typing property.
13. HyperATL*: A Logic for Hyperproperties in Multi-Agent Systems
Hyperproperties are system properties that relate multiple computation paths in a system and are commonly used to, e.g., define information-flow policies. In this paper, we study a novel class of hyperproperties that allow reasoning about strategic abilities in multi-agent systems. We introduce HyperATL*, an extension of computation tree logic with path variables and strategy quantifiers. Our logic supports quantification over paths in a system - as is possible in hyperlogics such as HyperCTL* - but resolves the paths based on the strategic choices of a coalition of agents. This allows us to capture many previously studied (strategic) security notions in a unifying hyperlogic. Moreover, we show that HyperATL* is particularly useful for specifying asynchronous hyperproperties, i.e., hyperproperties where the execution speed on the different computation paths depends on the choices of a scheduler. We show that finite-state model checking of HyperATL* is decidable and present a model checking algorithm based on alternating automata. We establish that our algorithm is asymptotically optimal by proving matching lower bounds. We have implemented a prototype model checker for a fragment of HyperATL* that can check various security properties in small finite-state systems.
14. Lacon-, Shrub- and Parity-Decompositions: Characterizing Transductions of Bounded Expansion Classes
The concept of bounded expansion provides a robust way to capture sparse graph classes with interesting algorithmic properties. Most notably, every problem definable in first-order logic can be solved in linear time on bounded expansion graph classes. First-order interpretations and transductions of sparse graph classes lead to more general, dense graph classes that seem to inherit many of the nice algorithmic properties of their sparse counterparts. In this paper, we show that one can encode graphs from a class with structurally bounded expansion via lacon-, shrub- and parity-decompositions from a class with bounded expansion. These decompositions are useful for lifting properties from sparse to structurally sparse graph classes.
15. Fixpoint Theory -- Upside Down
Knaster-Tarski's theorem, characterising the greatest fixpoint of a monotone function over a complete lattice as the largest post-fixpoint, naturally leads to the so-called coinduction proof principle for showing that some element is below the greatest fixpoint (e.g., for providing bisimilarity witnesses). The dual principle, used for showing that an element is above the least fixpoint, is related to inductive invariants. In this paper we provide proof rules which are similar in spirit but for showing that an element is above the greatest fixpoint or, dually, below the least fixpoint. The theory is developed for non-expansive monotone functions on suitable lattices of the form $\mathbb{M}^Y$, where $Y$ is a finite set and $\mathbb{M}$ an MV-algebra, and it is based on the construction of (finitary) approximations of the original functions. We show that our theory applies to a wide range of examples, including termination probabilities, metric transition systems, behavioural distances for probabilistic automata and bisimilarity. Moreover it allows us to determine original algorithms for solving simple stochastic games.
16. Flexible Correct-by-Construction Programming
Correctness-by-Construction (CbC) is an incremental program construction process to construct functionally correct programs. The programs are constructed stepwise along with a specification that is inherently guaranteed to be satisfied. CbC is complex to use without specialized tool support, since it needs a set of predefined refinement rules of fixed granularity which are additional rules on top of the programming language. Each refinement rule introduces a specific programming statement and developers cannot depart from these rules to construct programs. CbC allows to develop software in a structured and incremental way to ensure correctness, but the limited flexibility is a disadvantage of CbC. In this work, we compare classic CbC with CbC-Block and TraitCbC. Both approaches CbC-Block and TraitCbC, are related to CbC, but they have new language constructs that enable a more flexible software construction approach. We provide for both approaches a programming guideline, which similar to CbC, leads to well-structured programs. CbC-Block extends CbC by adding a refinement rule to insert any block of statements. Therefore, we introduce CbC-Block as an extension of CbC. TraitCbC implements correctness-by-construction on the basis of traits with specified methods. We formally introduce TraitCbC and prove soundness of the construction strategy. All three development approaches are qualitatively compared regarding their programming constructs, tool support, and usability to assess […]
17. A Coinductive Reformulation of Milner's Proof System for Regular Expressions Modulo Bisimilarity
Milner (1984) defined an operational semantics for regular expressions as finite-state processes. In order to axiomatize bisimilarity of regular expressions under this process semantics, he adapted Salomaa's proof system that is complete for equality of regular expressions under the language semantics. Apart from most equational axioms, Milner's system Mil inherits from Salomaa's system a non-algebraic rule for solving single fixed-point equations. Recognizing distinctive properties of the process semantics that render Salomaa's proof strategy inapplicable, Milner posed completeness of the system Mil as an open question. As a proof-theoretic approach to this problem we characterize the derivational power that the fixed-point rule adds to the purely equational part Mil$^-$ of Mil. We do so by means of a coinductive rule that permits cyclic derivations that consist of a finite process graph with empty steps that satisfies the layered loop existence and elimination property LLEE, and two of its Mil$^{-}$-provable solutions. With this rule as replacement for the fixed-point rule in Mil, we define the coinductive reformulation cMil as an extension of Mil$^{-}$. In order to show that cMil and Mil are theorem equivalent we develop effective proof transformations from Mil to cMil, and vice versa. Since it is located half-way in between bisimulations and proofs in Milner's system Mil, cMil may become a beachhead for a completeness proof of Mil. This […]