Showing papers presented at "Computer Science Logic in 2018"

Cartesian cubical computational type theory: Constructive reasoning with paths and equalities

Abstract: We present a dependent type theory organized around a Cartesian notion of cubes (with faces, degeneracies, and diagonals), supporting both fibrant and non-fibrant types. The fibrant fragment validates Voevodsky's univalence axiom and includes a circle type, while the non-fibrant fragment includes exact (strict) equality types satisfying equality reflection. Our type theory is defined by a semantics in cubical partial equivalence relations, and is the first two-level type theory to satisfy the canonicity property: all closed terms of boolean type evaluate to either true or false.

Non-wellfounded proof theory for (Kleene+action)(algebras+lattices)

Abstract: We prove cut-elimination for a sequent-style proof system which is sound and complete for the equational theory of Kleene algebra, and where proofs are (potentially) non-wellfounded infinite trees. We extend these results to systems with meets and residuals, capturing `star-continuous' action lattices in a similar way. We recover the equational theory of all action lattices by restricting to regular proofs (with cut) - those proofs that are unfoldings of finite graphs.

Relating Structure and Power: Comonadic Semantics for Computational Resources

Abstract: Combinatorial games are widely used in finite model theory, constraint satisfaction, modal logic and concurrency theory to characterize logical equivalences between structures. In particular, Ehrenfeucht-Fraisse games, pebble games, and bisimulation games play a central role. We show how each of these types of games can be described in terms of an indexed family of comonads on the category of relational structures and homomorphisms. The index k is a resource parameter which bounds the degree of access to the underlying structure. The coKleisli categories for these comonads can be used to give syntax-free characterizations of a wide range of important logical equivalences. Moreover, the coalgebras for these indexed comonads can be used to characterize key combinatorial parameters: tree-depth for the Ehrenfeucht-Fraisse comonad, tree-width for the pebbling comonad, and synchronization-tree depth for the modal unfolding comonad. These results pave the way for systematic connections between two major branches of the field of logic in computer science which hitherto have been almost disjoint: categorical semantics, and finite and algorithmic model theory.

Rule Algebras for Adhesive Categories

Abstract: We show that every adhesive category gives rise to an associative algebra of rewriting rules induced by the notion of double-pushout (DPO) rewriting and the associated notion of concurrent production. In contrast to the original formulation of rule algebras in terms of relations between (a concrete notion of) graphs, here we work in an abstract categorical setting. Doing this, we extend the classical concurrency theorem of DPO rewriting and show that the composition of DPO rules along abstract dependency relations is, in a natural sense, an associative operation. If in addition the adhesive category possesses a strict initial object, the resulting rule algebra is also unital. We demonstrate that in this setting the canonical representation of the rule algebras is obtainable, which opens the possibility of applying the concept to define and compute the evolution of statistical moments of observables in stochastic DPO rewriting systems.

Uniform Inductive Reasoning in Transitive Closure Logic via Infinite Descent

Abstract: Transitive closure logic is a known extension of first-order logic obtained by introducing a transitive closure operator. While other extensions of first-order logic with inductive definitions are a priori parametrized by a set of inductive definitions, the addition of the transitive closure operator uniformly captures all finitary inductive definitions. In this paper we present an infinitary proof system for transitive closure logic which is an infinite descent-style counterpart to the existing (explicit induction) proof system for the logic. We show that, as for similar systems for first-order logic with inductive definitions, our infinitary system is complete for the standard semantics and subsumes the explicit system. Moreover, the uniformity of the transitive closure operator allows semantically meaningful complete restrictions to be defined using simple syntactic criteria. Consequently, the restriction to regular infinitary (i.e. cyclic) proofs provides the basis for an effective system for automating inductive reasoning.

Basic Operational Preorders for Algebraic Effects in General, and for Combined Probability and Nondeterminism in Particular.

Abstract: The “generic operational metatheory” of Johann, Simpson and Voigtländer (LiCS 2010) defines contextual equivalence, in the presence of algebraic effects, in terms of a basic operational preorder on ground-type effect trees. We propose three general approaches to specifying such preorders: (i) operational (ii) denotational, and (iii) axiomatic; coinciding with the three major styles of program semantics. We illustrate these via a nontrivial case study: the combination of probabilistic choice with nondeterminism, for which we show that natural instantiations of the three specification methods (operational in terms of Markov decision processes, denotational using a powerdomain, and axiomatic) all determine the same canonical preorder. We do this in the case of both angelic and demonic nondeterminism. 2012 ACM Subject Classification Theory of computation → Operational semantics, Theory of computation → Denotational semantics, Theory of computation → Axiomatic semantics

Graphical Conjunctive Queries.

Abstract: The Calculus of Conjunctive Queries (CCQ) has foundational status in database theory. A celebrated theorem of Chandra and Merlin states that CCQ query inclusion is decidable. Its proof transforms logical formulas to graphs: each query has a natural model - a kind of graph - and query inclusion reduces to the existence of a graph homomorphism between natural models. We introduce the diagrammatic language Graphical Conjunctive Queries (GCQ) and show that it has the same expressivity as CCQ. GCQ terms are string diagrams, and their algebraic structure allows us to derive a sound and complete axiomatisation of query inclusion, which turns out to be exactly Carboni and Walters' notion of cartesian bicategory of relations. Our completeness proof exploits the combinatorial nature of string diagrams as (certain cospans of) hypergraphs: Chandra and Merlin's insights inspire a theorem that relates such cospans with spans. Completeness and decidability of the (in)equational theory of GCQ follow as a corollary. Categorically speaking, our contribution is a model-theoretic completeness theorem of free cartesian bicategories (on a relational signature) for the category of sets and relations.

Synthesizing Optimally Resilient Controllers

Abstract: Recently, Dallal, Neider, and Tabuada studied a generalization of the classical game-theoretic model used in program synthesis, which additionally accounts for unmodeled intermittent disturbances. In this extended framework, one is interested in computing optimally resilient strategies, i.e., strategies that are resilient against as many disturbances as possible. Dallal, Neider, and Tabuada showed how to compute such strategies for safety specifications. In this work, we compute optimally resilient strategies for a much wider range of winning conditions and show that they do not require more memory than winning strategies in the classical model. Our algorithms only have a polynomial overhead in comparison to the ones computing winning strategies. In particular, for parity conditions optimally resilient strategies are positional and can be computed in quasipolynomial time.

Quantifying Bounds in Strategy Logic

Abstract: Program synthesis constructs programs from specifications in an automated way. Strategy Logic (SL) is a powerful and versatile specification language whose goal is to give theoretical foundations for program synthesis in a multi-agent setting. One limitation of Strategy Logic is that it is purely qualitative. For instance it cannot specify quantitative properties of executions such as "every request is quickly granted", or quantitative properties of trees such as "most executions of the system terminate". In this work, we extend Strategy Logic to include quantitative aspects in a way that can express bounds on "how quickly" and "how many". We define Prompt Strategy Logic, which encompasses Prompt LTL (itself an extension of LTL with a prompt eventuality temporal operator), and we define Bounded-Outcome Strategy Logic which has a bounded quantifier on paths. We supply a general technique, based on the study of automata with counters, that solves the model-checking problems for both these logics.

Fully Abstract Models of the Probabilistic lambda-calculus

Abstract: We compare three models of the probabilistic λ-calculus: the probabilistic Bohm trees of Leventis, the probabilistic concurrent games of Winskel et al., and the weighted relational model of Ehrhard et al. Probabilistic Bohm trees and probabilistic strategies are shown to be related by a precise correspondence theorem, in the spirit of existing work for the pure λ-calculus. Using Leventis' theorem (probabilistic Bohm trees characterise observational equivalence), we derive a full abstraction result for the games model. Then, we relate probabilistic strategies to the weighted relational model, using an interpretation-preserving functor from the former to the latter. We obtain that the relational model is also fully abstract.

An Algebraic Decision Procedure for Two-Variable Logic with a Between Relation.

Abstract: In earlier work (LICS 2016), the authors introduced two-variable first-order logic supplemented by a binary relation that allows one to say that a letter appears between two positions. We found an effective algebraic criterion that is a necessary condition for definability in this logic, and conjectured that the criterion is also sufficient, although we proved this only in the case of two-letter alphabets. Here we prove the general conjecture. The proof is quite different from the arguments in the earlier work, and required the development of novel techniques concerning factorizations of words. We extend the results to binary relations specifying that a factor appears between two positions. 2012 ACM Subject Classification Theory of computation→ Algebraic language theory, Theory of computation → Finite Model Theory

Beyond Polarity: Towards a Multi-Discipline Intermediate Language with Sharing.

Abstract: The study of polarity in computation has revealed that an “ideal” programming language combines both call-by-value and call-by-name evaluation; the two calling conventions are each ideal for half the types in a programming language. But this binary choice leaves out call-by-need which is used in practice to implement lazy-by-default languages like Haskell. We show how the notion of polarity can be extended beyond the value/name dichotomy to include call-by-need by only adding a mechanism for sharing and the extra polarity shifts to connect them, which is enough to compile a Haskell-like functional language with user-defined types. 2012 ACM Subject Classification Theory of computation → Type structures

High-level signatures and initial semantics

Abstract: We present a device for specifying and reasoning about syntax for datatypes, programming languages, and logic calculi. More precisely, we consider a general notion of "signature" for specifying syntactic constructions. Our signatures subsume classical algebraic signatures (i.e., signatures for languages with variable binding, such as the pure lambda calculus) and extend to much more general examples. In the spirit of Initial Semantics, we define the "syntax generated by a signature" to be the initial object - if it exists - in a suitable category of models. Our notions of signature and syntax are suited for compositionality and provide, beyond the desired algebra of terms, a well-behaved substitution and the associated inductive/recursive principles. Our signatures are "general" in the sense that the existence of an associated syntax is not automatically guaranteed. In this work, we identify a large and simple class of signatures which do generate a syntax. This paper builds upon ideas from a previous attempt by Hirschowitz-Maggesi, which, in turn, was directly inspired by some earlier work of Ghani-Uustalu-Hamana and Matthes-Uustalu. The main results presented in the paper are computer-checked within the UniMath system.

Combining Linear Logic and Size Types for Implicit Complexity.

Abstract: Several type systems have been proposed to statically control the time complexity of lambda-calculus programs and characterize complexity classes such as FPTIME or FEXPTIME. A first line of research stems from linear logic and restricted versions of its !-modality controlling duplication. An instance of this is light linear logic for polynomial time computation [5] . A second approach relies on the idea of tracking the size increase between input and output, and together with a restricted recursion scheme, to deduce time complexity bounds. This second approach is illustrated for instance by non-size-increasing types [8] . However, both approaches suffer from limitations. The first one, that of linear logic, has a limited intensional expressivity, that is to say some natural polynomial time programs are not typable. As to the second approach it is essentially linear, more precisely it does not allow for a non-linear use of functional arguments. In the present work we incorporate both approaches into a common type system, in order to overcome their respective constraints. The source language we consider is a lambda-calculus with data-types and iteration, that is to say a variant of Godel's system T. Our goal is to design a system for this language allowing both to handle non-linear functional arguments and to keep a good intensional expressivity. We illustrate our methodology by choosing the system of elementary linear logic (ELL) and combining it with a system of linear size types. We discuss the expressivity of this new type system, called sEAL, and prove that it gives a characterization of the complexity classes FPTIME and 2k-FEXPTIME, for k ≥ 0 .

The true concurrency of Herbrand's theorem

Abstract: Herbrand's theorem, widely regarded as a cornerstone of proof theory, exposes some of the constructive content of classical logic In its simplest form, it reduces the validity of a first-order purely existential formula to that of a finite disjunction In the general case, it reduces first-order validity to propositional validity, by understanding the structure of the assignment of first-order terms to existential quantifiers, and the causal dependency between quantifiers In this paper, we show that Herbrand's theorem in its general form can be elegantly stated and proved as a theorem in the framework of concurrent games, a denotational semantics designed to faithfully represent causality and independence in concurrent systems, thereby exposing the concurrency underlying the computational content of classical proofs The causal structure of concurrent strategies, paired with annotations by first-order terms, is used to specify the dependency between quantifiers implicit in proofs Furthermore concurrent strategies can be composed, yielding a compositional proof of Herbrand's theorem, simply by interpreting classical sequent proofs in a well-chosen denotational model

Definable Inapproximability: New Challenges for Duplicator

Abstract: We consider the hardness of approximation of optimization problems from the point of view of definability. For many NP-hard optimization problems it is known that, unless P = NP, no polynomial-time algorithm can give an approximate solution guaranteed to be within a fixed constant factor of the optimum. We show, in several such instances and without any complexity theoretic assumption, that no algorithm that is expressible in fixed-point logic with counting (FPC) can compute an approximate solution. Since important algorithmic techniques for approximation algorithms (such as linear or semidefinite programming) are expressible in FPC, this yields lower bounds on what can be achieved by such methods. The results are established by showing lower bounds on the number of variables required in first-order logic with counting to separate instances with a high optimum from those with a low optimum for fixed-size instances.

A Decidable Fragment of Second Order Logic With Applications to Synthesis

Abstract: We propose a fragment of many-sorted second order logic called EQSMT and show that checking satisfiability of sentences in this fragment is decidable. EQSMT formulae have an exists^*forall^* quantifier prefix (over variables, functions and relations) making EQSMT conducive for modeling synthesis problems. Moreover, EQSMT allows reasoning using a combination of background theories provided that they have a decidable satisfiability problem for the exists^*forall^* FO-fragment (e.g., linear arithmetic). Our decision procedure reduces the satisfiability of EQSMT formulae to satisfiability queries of exists^*forall^* formulae of each individual background theory, allowing us to use existing efficient SMT solvers supporting exists^*forall^* reasoning for these theories; hence our procedure can be seen as effectively quantified SMT (EQSMT) reasoning.

Local validity for circular proofs in linear logic with fixed points: extended version

Abstract: Circular (ie. non-wellfounded but regular) proofs have received increasing interest in recent years with the simultaneous development of their applications and meta-theory: infinitary proof theory is now well-established in several proof-theoretical frameworks such as Martin Löf’s inductive predicates, linear logic with fixed points, etc. In the setting of non-wellfounded proofs, a validity criterion is necessary to distinguish, among all infinite derivation trees (aka. pre-proofs), those which are logically valid proofs. A standard approach is to consider a pre-proof to be valid if every infinite branch is supported by an infinitely progressing thread. The paper focuses on circular proofs for MALL with fixed points. Among all representations of valid circular proofs, a new fragment is described, based on a stronger validity criterion. This new criterion is based on a labelling of formulas and proofs, whose validity is purely local. This allows this fragment to be easily handled, while being expressive enough to still contain all circular embeddings of Baelde’s μMALL finite proofs with (co)inductive invariants: in particular deciding validity and computing a certifying labelling can be done efficiently. Moreover the BrotherstonSimpson conjecture holds for this fragment: every labelled representation of a circular proof in the fragment is translated into a standard finitary proof. Finally we explore how to extend these results to a bigger fragment, by relaxing the labelling discipline while retaining (i) the ability to locally certify the validity and (ii) to some extent, the ability to finitize circular proofs. 2012 ACM Subject Classification Theory of computation → Logic, Theory of computation → Proof theory, Theory of computation → Linear logic, Theory of computation → Logic and verification

Safety, Absoluteness, and Computability.

Abstract: The semantic notion of dependent safety is a common generalization of the notion of absoluteness used in set theory and the notion of domain independence used in database theory for characterizing safe queries. This notion has been used in previous works to provide a unified theory of constructions and operations as they are used in different branches of mathematics and computer science, including set theory, computability theory, and database theory. In this paper we provide a complete syntactic characterization of general first-order dependent safety. We also show that this syntactic safety relation can be used for characterizing the set of strictly decidable relations on the natural numbers, as well as for characterizing rudimentary set theory and absoluteness of formulas within it. 2012 ACM Subject Classification Theory of computation → Models of computation

Canonical Models and the Complexity of Modal Team Logic

Abstract: We study modal team logic MTL, the team-semantical extension of classical modal logic closed under Boolean negation. Its fragments, such as modal dependence, independence, and inclusion logic, are well-understood. However, due to the unrestricted Boolean negation, the satisfiability problem of full MTL has been notoriously resistant to a complexity theoretical classification. In our approach, we adapt the notion of canonical models for team semantics. By construction of such a model, we reduce the satisfiability problem of MTL to simple model checking. Afterwards, we show that this method is optimal in the sense that MTL-formulas can efficiently enforce canonicity. Furthermore, to capture these results in terms of computational complexity, we introduce a non-elementary complexity class, TOWER(poly), and prove that the satisfiability and validity problem of MTL are complete for it. We also show that the fragments of MTL with bounded modal depth are complete for the levels of the elementary hierarchy (with polynomially many alternations).

Quantitative Foundations for Resource Theories

Abstract: Considering resource usage is a powerful insight in the analysis of many phenomena in the sciences. Much of the current research on these resource theories focuses on the analysis of specific resources such quantum entanglement, purity, randomness or asymmetry. However, the mathematical foundations of resource theories are at a much earlier stage, and there has been no satisfactory account of quantitative aspects such as costs, rates or probabilities. We present a categorical foundation for quantitative resource theories, derived from enriched category theory. Our approach is compositional, with rich algebraic structure facilitating calculations. The resulting theory is parameterized, both in the quantities under consideration, for example costs or probabilities, and in the structural features of the resources such as whether they can be freely copied or deleted. We also achieve a clear separation of concerns between the resource conversions that are freely available, and the costly resources that are typically the object of study. By using an abstract categorical approach, our framework is naturally open to extension. We provide many examples throughout, emphasising the resource theoretic intuitions for each of the mathematical objects under consideration.

Dependency Concepts up to Equivalence.

Abstract: Modern logics of dependence and independence are based on different variants of atomic dependency statements (such as dependence, exclusion, inclusion, or independence) and on team semantics: A formula is evaluated not with a single assignment of values to the free variables, but with a set of such assignments, called a team. In this paper we explore logics of dependence and independence where the atomic dependency statements cannot distinguish elements up to equality, but only up to a given equivalence relation (which may model observational indistinguishabilities, for instance between states of a computational process or between values obtained in an experiment). Our main goal is to analyse the power of such logics, by identifying equally expressive fragments of existential second-order logic or greatest fixed-point logic, with relations that are closed under the given equivalence. Using an adaptation of the Ehrenfeucht-Fraisse method we further study conditions on the given equivalences under which these logics collapse to first-order logic, are equivalent to full existential second-order logic, or are strictly between first-order and existential second-order logic.

Parity Games with Weights

Abstract: Quantitative extensions of parity games have recently attracted significant interest. These extensions include parity games with energy and payoff conditions as well as finitary parity games and their generalization to parity games with costs. Finitary parity games enjoy a special status among these extensions, as they offer a native combination of the qualitative and quantitative aspects in infinite games: The quantitative aspect of finitary parity games is a quality measure for the qualitative aspect, as it measures the limit superior of the time it takes to answer an odd color by a larger even one. Finitary parity games have been extended to parity games with costs, where each transition is labeled with a nonnegative weight that reflects the costs incurred by taking it. We lift this restriction and consider parity games with costs with arbitrary integer weights. We show that solving such games is in NP $\cap$ coNP, the signature complexity for games of this type. We also show that the protagonist has finite-state winning strategies, and provide tight pseudo-polynomial bounds for the memory he needs to win the game. Naturally, the antagonist may need infinite memory to win. Moreover, we present tight bounds on the quality of winning strategies for the protagonist. Furthermore, we investigate the problem of determining, for a given threshold $b$, whether the protagonist has a strategy of quality at most $b$ and show this problem to be EXPTIME-complete. The protagonist inherits the necessity of exponential memory for implementing such strategies from the special case of finitary parity games.

Symmetric Circuits for Rank Logic

Abstract: Fixed-point logic with rank (FPR) is an extension of fixed-point logic with counting (FPC) with operators for computing the rank of a matrix over a finite field. The expressive power of FPR properly extends that of FPC and is contained in P, but it is not known if that containment is proper. We give a circuit characterization for FPR in terms of families of symmetric circuits with rank gates, along the lines of that for FPC given by [Anderson and Dawar 2017]. This requires the development of a broad framework of circuits in which the individual gates compute functions that are not symmetric (i.e., invariant under all permutations of their inputs). This framework also necessitates the development of novel techniques to prove the equivalence of circuits and logic. Both the framework and the techniques are of greater generality than the main result.

A recursion-theoretic characterisation of the positive polynomial-time functions

Abstract: We extend work of Lautemann, Schwentick and Stewart [14] on characterisations of the ‘positive’ polynomial-time predicates (posP, also called mP by Grigni and Sipser [11]) to function classes. Our main result is the obtention of a function algebra for the positive polynomial-time functions (posFP) by imposing a simple uniformity constraint on the bounded recursion operator in Cobham’s characterisation of FP. We show that a similar constraint on a function algebra based on safe recursion, in the style of Bellantoni and Cook [3], yields an ‘implicit’ characterisation of posFP, mentioning neither explicit bounds nor explicit monotonicity constraints. 2012 ACM Subject Classification Theory of computation → Recursive functions

Submodular Functions and Valued Constraint Satisfaction Problems over Infinite Domains

Abstract: Valued constraint satisfaction problems (VCSPs) are a large class of combinatorial optimisation problems. It is desirable to classify the computational complexity of VCSPs depending on a fixed set of allowed cost functions in the input. Recently, the computational complexity of all VCSPs for finite sets of cost functions over finite domains has been classified in this sense. Many natural optimisation problems, however, cannot be formulated as VCSPs over a finite domain. We initiate the systematic investigation of infinite-domain VCSPs by studying the complexity of VCSPs for piecewise linear homogeneous cost functions. We remark that in this paper the infinite domain will always be the set of rational numbers. We show that such VCSPs can be solved in polynomial time when the cost functions are additionally submodular, and that this is indeed a maximally tractable class: adding any cost function that is not submodular leads to an NP-hard VCSP.

On Compositionality of Dinatural Transformations

Abstract: Natural transformations are ubiquitous in mathematics, logic and computer science. For operations of mixed variance, such as currying and evaluation in the lambda-calculus, Eilenberg and Kelly’s notion of extranatural transformation, and often the even more general dinatural transformation, is required. Unfortunately dinaturals are not closed under composition except in special circumstances. This paper presents a new sufficient condition for composability. We propose a generalised notion of dinatural transformation in many variables, and extend the Eilenberg-Kelly account of composition for extranaturals to these transformations. Our main result is that a composition of dinatural transformations which creates no cyclic connections between arguments yields a dinatural transformation. We also extend the classical notion of horizontal composition to our generalized dinaturals and demonstrate that it is associative and has identities. 2012 ACM Subject Classification Theory of computation → Categorical semantics, Theory of computation → Proof theory

MacNeille Completion and Buchholz' Omega Rule for Parameter-Free Second Order Logics

Abstract: Buchholz' Omega-rule is a way to give a syntactic, possibly ordinal-free proof of cut elimination for various subsystems of second order arithmetic. Our goal is to understand it from an algebraic point of view. Among many proofs of cut elimination for higher order logics, Maehara and Okada's algebraic proofs are of particular interest, since the essence of their arguments can be algebraically described as the (Dedekind-)MacNeille completion together with Girard's reducibility candidates. Interestingly, it turns out that the Omega-rule, formulated as a rule of logical inference, finds its algebraic foundation in the MacNeille completion. In this paper, we consider a family of sequent calculi LIP = cup_{n >= -1} LIP_n for the parameter-free fragments of second order intuitionistic logic, that corresponds to the family ID_{

A Fully Abstract Game Semantics for Countable Nondeterminism.

Abstract: The concept of fairness for a concurrent program means that the program must be able to exhibit an unbounded amount of nondeterminism without diverging. Game semantics models of nondeterminism show that this is hard to implement; for example, Harmer and McCusker’s model only admits infinite nondeterminism if there is also the possibility of divergence. We solve a long standing problem by giving a fully abstract game semantics for a simple stateful language with a countably infinite nondeterminism primitive. We see that doing so requires us to keep track of infinitary information about strategies, as well as their finite behaviours. The unbounded nondeterminism gives rise to further problems, which can be formalized as a lack of continuity in the language. In order to prove adequacy for our model (which usually requires continuity), we develop a new technique in which we simulate the nondeterminism using a deterministic stateful construction, and then use combinatorial techniques to transfer the result to the nondeterministic language. Lastly, we prove full abstraction for the model; because of the lack of continuity, we cannot deduce this from definability of compact elements in the usual way, and we have to use a stronger universality result instead. We discuss how our techniques yield proofs of adequacy for models of nondeterministic PCF, such as those given by Tsukada and Ong. 2012 ACM Subject Classification Theory of computation → Denotational semantics