While much of the current study on quantum computation employs low-level formalisms such as quantum circuits, several high-level languages/calculi have been recently proposed aiming at structured quantum programming. The current work contributes to the semantical study of such languages by providing interaction-based semantics of a functional quantum programming language; the latter is, much like Selinger and Valiron's, based on linear lambda calculus and equipped with features like the ! modality and recursion. The proposed denotational model is the first one that supports the full features of a quantum functional programming language; we prove adequacy of our semantics. The construction of our model is by a series of existing techniques taken from the semantics of classical computation as well as from process theory. The most notable among them is Girard's Geometry of Interaction (GoI), categorically formulated by Abramsky, Haghverdi and Scott. The mathematical genericity of these techniques---largely due to their categorical formulation---is exploited for our move from classical to quantum.

Semantics of Higher-Order Quantum Computation via Geometry of Interaction

https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01888655/document

The proof-theoretic strength of Ramsey's theorem for pairs and two colors

Starting from well-quasi-orders (wqos), we motivate step by step the introduction of the complicated notion of better-quasi-order (bqo). We then discuss the equivalence between the two main approaches to defining bqo and state several essential results of bqo theory. After recalling the rôle played by the ideals of a wqo in its bqoness, we give a new presentation of known examples of wqos which fail to be bqo. We also provide new forbidden pattern conditions ensuring that a quasi-order is a better quasi-order. It is the variety of these applications, rather than any depth in the results obtained, that suggests that the theorems may be interesting.

Well-Quasi Orders in Computation, Logic, Language and Reasoning. A Unifying Concept of Proof Theory, Automata Theory, Formal Languages and Descriptive Set Theory

The calculus of constructions can be extended with an infinite hierarchy of universes and cumulative subtyping. In this hierarchy, each universe is contained in a higher universe. Subtyping is usually left implicit in the typing rules. We present an alternative version of the calculus of constructions where subtyping is explicit. This new system avoids problems related to coercions and dependent types by using the Tarski style of universes and by introducing additional equations to reflect equality.

A Calculus of Constructions with Explicit Subtyping.

‘What more than its truth do we know if we have a proof of a theorem in a given formal system?’ We examine Kreisel’s question in the particular context of program termination proofs, with an eye to deriving complexity bounds on program running times.

Complexity Bounds for Ordinal-Based Termination

Reverse mathematical bounds for the Termination Theorem

These notes present a compact and self-contained approach to iterated forcing with a particular emphasis on semiproper forcing. We tried to make our presentation accessible to any scholar who has some familiarity with forcing and boolean valued models and full details of all proofs are given. 
We focus our presentation using the boolean algebra language and defining an iteration system as a directed and commutative system of complete and injective homomorphisms between complete and atomless boolean algebras. 
It is well known that the boolean algebra approach to forcing and iterations is fully equivalent to the standard one. While there are several monographs where forcing is introduced by means of boolean valued models, to our knowledge no detailed account of iterated forcing following a boolean algebraic approach has yet appeared. We believe that this different approach is fruitful since the richness of the algebraic language simplifies many calculations and definitions, among which that of RCS-limits. Some of the advantages of this approach have been already outlined by Donder and Fuchs in http://arxiv.org/abs/math/9207204. 
The first part of these notes present the general framework needed to develop the notion of limit of an iterated system of forcings in the boolean algebraic language. The second part contains a proof of the main result of Shelah on semiproper iterations, i.e. that RCS-limit of semiproper iterations are semiproper.

A Boolean Algebraic Approach to Semiproper Iterations

In 1979 Schwichtenberg showed that the System $\text{T}$ definable functionals are closed under a rule-like version Spector's bar recursion of lowest type levels $0$ and $1$. More precisely, if the functional $Y$ which controls the stopping condition of Spector's bar recursor is $\text{T}$-definable, then the corresponding bar recursion of type levels $0$ and $1$ is already $\text{T}$-definable. Schwichtenberg's original proof, however, relies on a detour through Tait's infinitary terms and the correspondence between ordinal recursion for $\alpha < \varepsilon_0$ and primitive recursion over finite types. This detour makes it hard to calculate on given concrete system $\text{T}$ input, what the corresponding system $\text{T}$ output would look like. In this paper we present an alternative (more direct) proof based on an explicit construction which we prove correct via a suitably defined logical relation. We show through an example how this gives a straightforward mechanism for converting bar recursive definitions into $\text{T}$-definitions under the conditions of Schwichtenberg's theorem. Finally, with the explicit construction we can also easily state a sharper result: if $Y$ is in the fragment $\text{T}_i$ then terms built from $\text{BR}^{\mathbb{N}, \sigma}$ for this particular $Y$ are definable in the fragment $\text{T}_{i + \max \{ 1, \text{level}{\sigma} \} + 2}$.

A Direct Proof of Schwichtenberg's Bar Recursion Closure Theorem

In [12], Schwichtenberg showed that the System T definable functionals are closed under a rule-like version Spector’s bar recursion of lowest type levels 0 and 1. More precisely, if the functional Y which controls the stopping condition of Spector’s bar recursor is T-definable, then the corresponding bar recursion of type levels 0 and 1 is already T-definable. Schwichtenberg’s original proof, however, relies on a detour through Tait’s infinitary terms and the correspondence between ordinal recursion for α<ɛa and primitive recursion over finite types. This detour makes it hard to calculate on given concrete system T input, what the corresponding system T output would look like. In this paper we present an alternative (more direct) proof based on an explicit construction which we prove correct via a suitably defined logical relation. We show through an example how this gives a straightforward mechanism for converting bar recursive definitions into T-definitions under the conditions of Schwichtenberg’s theorem. Finally, with the explicit construction we can also easily state a sharper result: if Y is in the fragment T i then terms built from BRNa for this particular Y are definable in the fragment Ti+max {1,level(ơ)}+2'.

/pdf/a-direct-proof-of-schwichtenberg-s-bar-recursion-closure-2a75xy2pid.pdf

A direct proof of schwichtenberg’s bar recursion closure theorem

The Termination Theorem by Podelski and Rybalchenko states that the reduction relations which are terminating from any initial state are exactly the reduction relations whose transitive closure, restricted to the accessible states, is included in some finite union of well-founded relations. An alternative statement of the theorem is that terminating reduction relations are precisely those having a "disjunctively well-founded transition invariant". From this result the same authors and Byron Cook designed an algorithm checking a sufficient condition for termination for a while-if program. The algorithm looks for a disjunctively well-founded transition invariant, made of well-founded relations of height omega, and if it finds it, it deduces the termination for the while-if program using the Termination Theorem. 
This raises an interesting question: What is the status of reduction relations having a disjunctively well-founded transition invariant where each relation has height omega? An answer to this question can lead to a characterization of the set of while-if programs which the termination algorithm can prove to be terminating. The goal of this work is to prove that they are exactly the set of reduction relations having height omega^n for some n < omega. Besides, if all the relations in the transition invariant are primitive recursive and the reduction relation is the graph of the restriction to some primitive recursive set of a primitive recursive map, then a final state is computable by some primitive recursive map in the initial state. 
As a corollary we derive that the set of functions, having at least one implementation in Podelski Rybalchenko while-if language with a well-founded disjunctively transition invariant where each relation has height omega, is exactly the set of primitive recursive functions.

Silvia Steila

Papers

Reverse mathematical bounds for the Termination Theorem

A Boolean Algebraic Approach to Semiproper Iterations

A Direct Proof of Schwichtenberg's Bar Recursion Closure Theorem

A direct proof of schwichtenberg’s bar recursion closure theorem

Proving termination with transition invariants of height omega.