Search

$\Omega$-automata and Wilke algebras are formalisms for characterising $\omega$-regular languages via their ultimately periodic words. $\Omega$-automata read finite representations of ultimately periodic words, called lassos, and they are a subclass of lasso automata. We introduce lasso semigroups as a generalisation of Wilke algebras that mirrors how lasso automata generalise $\Omega$-automata, and we show that finite lasso semigroups characterise regular lasso languages. We then show a dual adjunction between lasso automata and quotients of the free lasso semigroup with a recognising set, and as our main result we show that this dual adjunction restricts to one between $\Omega$-automata and quotients of the free Wilke algebra with a recognising set.

We define a framework for incorporating alternation-free fixpoint logics into the dual-adjunction setup for coalgebraic modal logics. We achieve this by using order-enriched categories. We give a least-solution semantics as well as an initial algebra semantics, and prove they are equivalent. We also show how to place the alternation-free coalgebraic $\mu$-calculus in this framework, as well as PDL and a logic with a probabilistic dynamic modality.

Bisimilarity is a central notion for coalgebras. In recent work, Geuvers and Jacobs suggest to focus on apartness, which they define by dualising coalgebraic bisimulations. This yields the possibility of finite proofs of distinguishability for a wide variety of state-based systems. We propose behavioural apartness, defined by dualising behavioural equivalence rather than bisimulations. A motivating example is the subdistribution functor, where the proof system based on bisimilarity requires an infinite quantification over couplings, whereas behavioural apartness instantiates to a finite rule. In addition, we provide optimised proof rules for behavioural apartness and show their use in several examples.

We show how the relatively initial or relatively terminal fixed points for a well-behaved functor $F$ form a pair of adjoint functors between $F$-coalgebras and $F$-algebras. We use the language of locally presentable categories to find sufficient conditions for existence of this adjunction. We show that relative fixed points may be characterized as (co)equalizers of the free (co)monad on $F$. In particular, when $F$ is a polynomial functor on $\mathsf{Set}$ the relative fixed points are a quotient or subset of the free term algebra or the cofree term coalgebra. We give examples of the relative fixed points for polynomial functors and an example which is the Sierpinski carpet. Lastly, we prove a general preservation result for relative fixed points., Comment: 26 pages

We provide a construction of the fixed points of functors which may not be inital algebras or final coalgebras. For an endofunctor F, this fixed point construction may be expressed as a pair of adjoint functors between F-coalgebras and F-algebras. We prove a version of the limit colimit coincidence theorem for these generalized fixed points., Comment: Extended Abstract

A key result in the theory of the modal mu-calculus is the disjunctive normal form theorem by Janin & Walukiewicz, stating that every mu-calculus formula is semantically equivalent to a so-called disjunctive formula. These disjunctive formulas have good computational properties and play a pivotal role in the theory of the modal mu-calculus. It is therefore an interesting question what the best normalisation procedure is for rewriting a formula into an equivalent disjunctive formula of minimal size. The best constructions that are known from the literature are automata-theoretic in nature and consist of a guarded transformation, i.e., the constructing of an equivalent guarded alternating automaton from a mu-calculus formula, followed by a Simulation Theorem stating that any such alternating automaton can be transformed into an equivalent non-deterministic one. Both of these transformations are exponential constructions, making the best normalisation procedure doubly exponential. Our key contribution presented here shows that the two parts of the normalisation procedure can be integrated, leading to a procedure that is single-exponential in the closure size of the formula., Comment: In Proceedings GandALF 2021, arXiv:2109.07798

A modal logic that is strong enough to fully characterize the behavior of a system is called expressive. Recently, with the growing diversity of systems to be reasoned about (probabilistic, cyber-physical, etc.), the focus shifted to quantitative settings which resulted in a number of expressivity results for quantitative logics and behavioral metrics. Each of these quantitative expressivity results uses a tailor-made argument; distilling the essence of these arguments is non-trivial, yet important to support the design of expressive modal logics for new quantitative settings. In this paper, we present the first categorical framework for deriving quantitative expressivity results, based on the new notion of approximating family. A key ingredient is the codensity lifting -- a uniform observation-centric construction of various bisimilarity-like notions such as bisimulation metrics. We show that several recent quantitative expressivity results (e.g. by K\"onig et al. and by Fijalkow et al.) are accommodated in our framework; a new expressivity result is derived, too, for what we call bisimulation uniformity., Comment: 14 pages + 9 page appendix, to appear in Proceedings of the 36th Annual ACM/IEEE Symposium on Logic in Computer Science (LICS 2021)

We present a new compositional approach to compositional game theory (CGT) based upon Arrows, a concept originally from functional programming, closely related to Tambara modules, and operators to build new Arrows from old. We model equilibria as a bimodule over an Arrow and define an operator to build a new Arrow from such a bimodule over an existing Arrow. We also model strategies as graded Arrows and define an operator which builds a new Arrow by taking the colimit of a graded Arrow. A final operator builds a graded Arrow from a graded bimodule. We use this compositional approach to CGT to show how known and previously unknown variants of open games can be proven to form symmetric monoidal categories., Comment: In Proceedings ACT 2020, arXiv:2101.07888

We discuss and compare complexity measures for the modal $\mu$-calculus, focusing on size and alternation depth. As a yardstick we take Wilke's alternating tree automata, which we shall call parity formulas in the text. Building on work by Bruse, Friedmann & Lange, we compare two size measures for $\mu$-calculus formulas: subformula-size,i.e. , the number of subformulas of the given formula, and closure-size. These notions correspond to the representation of a formula as a parity formula based on, respectively, its subformula dag, and its closure graph. What distinguishes our approach is that we are explicit about the role of alpha-equivalence, as naively renaming bound variables can lead to an exponential blow-up. In addition, we match the formula's alternation depth with the index of the parity formula. We start in a setting without alpha-equivalence. We define subformula-size and closure-size and recall that a $\mu$-calculus formula can be transformed into a parity formula of size linear wrt subformula size, and give a construction that transforms a $\mu$-calculus formula into an equivalent parity formula linear wrt closure-size. Conversely, there is a standard transformation producing a $\mu$-calculus formula of exponential subformula -- but linear closure-size in terms of the size of the original parity formula. We identify so-called untwisted parity formulas for which a transformation linear in subformula-size exists. We then introduce size notions that are completely invariant under alpha equivalence. We transfer the result of Bruse et alii, showing that also in our setting closure-size can be exponentially smaller than subformula-size. We also show how to rename bound variables so that alpha-equivalence becomes syntactic identity on the closure set. Finally, we review the complexity of guarded transformations.

We extend the open games framework for compositional game theory to encompass also mixed strategies, making essential use of the discrete probability distribution monad. We show that the resulting games form a symmetric monoidal category, which can be used to compose probabilistic games in parallel and sequentially. We also consider morphisms between games, and show that intuitive constructions give rise to functors and adjunctions between pure and probabilistic open games., Comment: In Proceedings ACT 2019, arXiv:2009.06334

We establish a generic upper bound ExpTime for reasoning with global assumptions (also known as TBoxes) in coalgebraic modal logics. Unlike earlier results of this kind, our bound does not require a tractable set of tableau rules for the instance logics, so that the result applies to wider classes of logics. Examples are Presburger modal logic, which extends graded modal logic with linear inequalities over numbers of successors, and probabilistic modal logic with polynomial inequalities over probabilities. We establish the theoretical upper bound using a type elimination algorithm. We also provide a global caching algorithm that potentially avoids building the entire exponential-sized space of candidate states, and thus offers a basis for practical reasoning. This algorithm still involves frequent fixpoint computations; we show how these can be handled efficiently in a concrete algorithm modelled on Liu and Smolka's linear-time fixpoint algorithm. Finally, we show that the upper complexity bound is preserved under adding nominals to the logic, i.e. in coalgebraic hybrid logic., Comment: Extended version of conference paper in FCT 2015

The classical Hennessy-Milner theorem says that two states of an image-finite transition system are bisimilar if and only if they satisfy the same formulas in a certain modal logic. In this paper we study this type of result in a general context, moving from transition systems to coalgebras and from bisimilarity to coinductive predicates. We formulate when a logic fully characterises a coinductive predicate on coalgebras, by providing suitable notions of adequacy and expressivity, and give sufficient conditions on the semantics. The approach is illustrated with logics characterising similarity, divergence and a behavioural metric on automata.

Stone-type dualities provide a powerful mathematical framework for studying properties of logical systems. They have recently been fruitfully explored in understanding minimisation of various types of automata. In Bezhanishvili et al. (2012), a dual equivalence between a category of coalgebras and a category of algebras was used to explain minimisation. The algebraic semantics is dual to a coalgebraic semantics in which logical equivalence coincides with trace equivalence. It follows that maximal quotients of coalgebras correspond to minimal subobjects of algebras. Examples include partially observable deterministic finite automata, linear weighted automata viewed as coalgebras over finite-dimensional vector spaces, and belief automata, which are coalgebras on compact Hausdorff spaces. In Bonchi et al. (2014), Brzozowski's double-reversal minimisation algorithm for deterministic finite automata was described categorically and its correctness explained via the duality between reachability and observability. This work includes generalisations of Brzozowski's algorithm to Moore and weighted automata over commutative semirings. In this paper we propose a general categorical framework within which such minimisation algorithms can be understood. The goal is to provide a unifying perspective based on duality. Our framework consists of a stack of three interconnected adjunctions: a base dual adjunction that can be lifted to a dual adjunction between coalgebras and algebras and also to a dual adjunction between automata. The approach provides an abstract understanding of reachability and observability. We illustrate the general framework on range of concrete examples, including deterministic Kripke frames, weighted automata, topological automata (belief automata), and alternating automata.

In this paper, we study active learning algorithms for weighted automata over a semiring. We show that a variant of Angluin's seminal \LStar\ algorithm works when the semiring is a principal ideal domain, but not for general semirings such as the natural numbers.

Game logic was introduced by Rohit Parikh in the 1980s as a generalisation of propositional dynamic logic (PDL) for reasoning about outcomes that players can force in determined 2-player games. Semantically, the generalisation from programs to games is mirrored by moving from Kripke models to monotone neighbourhood models. Parikh proposed a natural PDL-style Hilbert system which was easily proved to be sound, but its completeness has thus far remained an open problem. In this paper, we introduce a cut-free sequent calculus for game logic, and two cut-free sequent calculi that manipulate annotated formulas, one for game logic and one for the monotone mu-calculus, the variant of the polymodal mu-calculus where the semantics is given by monotone neighbourhood models instead of Kripke structures. We show these systems are sound and complete, and that completeness of Parikh's axiomatization follows. Our approach builds on recent ideas and results by Afshari & Leigh (LICS 2017) in that we obtain completeness via a sequence of proof transformations between the systems. A crucial ingredient is a validity-preserving translation from game logic to the monotone mu-calculus.

Automata learning is a popular technique for inferring minimal automata through membership and equivalence queries. In this paper, we generalise learning to the theory of coalgebras. The approach relies on the use of logical formulas as tests, based on a dual adjunction between states and logical theories. This allows us to learn, e.g., labelled transition systems, using Hennessy-Milner logic. Our main contribution is an abstract learning algorithm, together with a proof of correctness and termination.

Compositional Game Theory is a new, recently introduced model of economic games based upon the computer science idea of compositionality. In it, complex and irregular games can be built up from smaller and simpler games, and the equilibria of these complex games can be defined recursively from the equilibria of their simpler subgames. This paper extends the model by providing a final coalgebra semantics for infinite games. In the course of this, we introduce a new operator on games to model the economic concept of subgame perfection.

Parikh's game logic is a PDL-like fixpoint logic interpreted on monotone neighbourhood frames that represent the strategic power of players in determined two-player games. Game logic translates into a fragment of the monotone $\mu$-calculus, which in turn is expressively equivalent to monotone modal automata. Parity games and automata are important tools for dealing with the combinatorial complexity of nested fixpoints in modal fixpoint logics, such as the modal $\mu$-calculus. In this paper, we (1) discuss the semantics a of game logic over neighbourhood structures in terms of parity games, and (2) use these games to obtain an automata-theoretic characterisation of the fragment of the monotone $\mu$-calculus that corresponds to game logic. Our proof makes extensive use of structures that we call syntax graphs that combine the ease-of-use of syntax trees of formulas with the flexibility and succinctness of automata. They are essentially a graph-based view of the alternating tree automata that were introduced by Wilke in the study of modal $\mu$-calculus., Comment: Technical Report version of the paper published at the workshop DaLi 2017 on Dynamic Logic: new trends and applications

Streams, or infinite sequences, are infinite objects of a very simple type, yet they have a rich theory partly due to their ubiquity in mathematics and computer science. Stream differential equations are a coinductive method for specifying streams and stream operations, and their theory has been developed in many papers over the past two decades. In this paper we present a survey of the many results in this area. Our focus is on the classification of different formats of stream differential equations, their solution methods, and the classes of streams they can define. Moreover, we describe in detail the connection between the so-called syntactic solution method and abstract GSOS.

Topological fixpoint logics are a family of logics that admits topological models and where the fixpoint operators are defined with respect to the topological interpretations. Here we consider a topological fixpoint logic for relational structures based on Stone spaces, where the fixpoint operators are interpreted via clopen sets. We develop a game-theoretic semantics for this logic. First we introduce games characterising clopen fixpoints of monotone operators on Stone spaces. These fixpoint games allow us to characterise the semantics for our topological fixpoint logic using a two-player graph game. Adequacy of this game is the main result of our paper. Finally, we define bisimulations for the topological structures under consideration and use our game semantics to prove that the truth of a formula of our topological fixpoint logic is bisimulation-invariant., Comment: In Proceedings GandALF 2016, arXiv:1609.03648

We present a coalgebraic generalisation of Fischer and Ladner's Propositional Dynamic Logic (PDL) and Parikh's Game Logic (GL). In earlier work, we proved a generic strong completeness result for coalgebraic dynamic logics without iteration. The coalgebraic semantics of such programs is given by a monad T, and modalities are interpreted via a predicate lifting \^I whose transpose is a monad morphism from T to the neighbourhood monad. In this paper, we show that if the monad T carries a complete semilattice structure, then we can define an iteration construct, and suitable notions of diamond-likeness and box-likeness of predicate-liftings which allows for the definition of an axiomatisation parametric in T, \^I and a chosen set of pointwise program operations. As our main result, we show that if the pointwise operations are "negation-free" and Kleisli composition left-distributes over the induced join on Kleisli arrows, then this axiomatisation is weakly complete with respect to the class of standard models. As special instances, we recover the weak completeness of PDL and of dual-free Game Logic. As a modest new result we obtain completeness for dual-free GL extended with intersection (demonic choice) of games., Comment: In Proceedings FICS 2015, arXiv:1509.02826

Answering conjunctive queries (CQs) over a set of facts extended with existential rules is a prominent problem in knowledge representation and databases. This problem can be solved using the chase algorithm, which extends the given set of facts with fresh facts in order to satisfy the rules. If the chase terminates, then CQs can be evaluated directly in the resulting set of facts. The chase, however, does not terminate necessarily, and checking whether the chase terminates on a given set of rules and facts is undecidable. Numerous acyclicity notions were proposed as sufficient conditions for chase termination. In this paper, we present two new acyclicity notions called model-faithful acyclicity (MFA) and model-summarising acyclicity (MSA). Furthermore, we investigate the landscape of the known acyclicity notions and establish a complete taxonomy of all notions known to us. Finally, we show that MFA and MSA generalise most of these notions. Existential rules are closely related to the Horn fragments of the OWL 2 ontology language; furthermore, several prominent OWL 2 reasoners implement CQ answering by using the chase to materialise all relevant facts. In order to avoid termination problems, many of these systems handle only the OWL 2 RL profile of OWL 2; furthermore, some systems go beyond OWL 2 RL, but without any termination guarantees. In this paper we also investigate whether various acyclicity notions can provide a principled and practical solution to these problems. On the theoretical side, we show that query answering for acyclic ontologies is of lower complexity than for general ontologies. On the practical side, we show that many of the commonly used OWL 2 ontologies are MSA, and that the number of facts obtained by materialisation is not too large. Our results thus suggest that principled development of materialisation-based OWL 2 reasoners is practically feasible.

We study the finitary version of the coalgebraic logic introduced by L. Moss. The syntax of this logic, which is introduced uniformly with respect to a coalgebraic type functor, required to preserve weak pullbacks, extends that of classical propositional logic with a so-called coalgebraic cover modality depending on the type functor. Its semantics is defined in terms of a categorically defined relation lifting operation. As the main contributions of our paper we introduce a derivation system, and prove that it provides a sound and complete axiomatization for the collection of coalgebraically valid inequalities. Our soundness and completeness proof is algebraic, and we employ Pattinson's stratification method, showing that our derivation system can be stratified in countably many layers, corresponding to the modal depth of the formulas involved. In the proof of our main result we identify some new concepts and obtain some auxiliary results of independent interest. We survey properties of the notion of relation lifting, induced by an arbitrary but fixed set functor. We introduce a category of Boolean algebra presentations, and establish an adjunction between it and the category of Boolean algebras. Given the fact that our derivation system involves only formulas of depth one, it can be encoded as a endo-functor on Boolean algebras. We show that this functor is finitary and preserves embeddings, and we prove that the Lindenbaum-Tarski algebra of our logic can be identified with the initial algebra for this functor.

The coalgebraic approach to modal logic provides a uniform framework that captures the semantics of a large class of structurally different modal logics, including e.g. graded and probabilistic modal logics and coalition logic. In this paper, we introduce the coalgebraic mu-calculus, an extension of the general (coalgebraic) framework with fixpoint operators. Our main results are completeness of the associated tableau calculus and EXPTIME decidability for guarded formulas. Technically, this is achieved by reducing satisfiability to the existence of non-wellfounded tableaux, which is in turn equivalent to the existence of winning strategies in parity games. Our results are parametric in the underlying class of models and yield, as concrete applications, previously unknown complexity bounds for the probabilistic mu-calculus and for an extension of coalition logic with fixpoints.

Neighbourhood structures are the standard semantic tool used to reason about non-normal modal logics. The logic of all neighbourhood models is called classical modal logic. In coalgebraic terms, a neighbourhood frame is a coalgebra for the contravariant powerset functor composed with itself, denoted by 2^2. We use this coalgebraic modelling to derive notions of equivalence between neighbourhood structures. 2^2-bisimilarity and behavioural equivalence are well known coalgebraic concepts, and they are distinct, since 2^2 does not preserve weak pullbacks. We introduce a third, intermediate notion whose witnessing relations we call precocongruences (based on pushouts). We give back-and-forth style characterisations for 2^2-bisimulations and precocongruences, we show that on a single coalgebra, precocongruences capture behavioural equivalence, and that between neighbourhood structures, precocongruences are a better approximation of behavioural equivalence than 2^2-bisimulations. We also introduce a notion of modal saturation for neighbourhood models, and investigate its relationship with definability and image-finiteness. We prove a Hennessy-Milner theorem for modally saturated and for image-finite neighbourhood models. Our main results are an analogue of Van Benthem's characterisation theorem and a model-theoretic proof of Craig interpolation for classical modal logic., Comment: uses LMCS.cls (included), 2 figures (both ps and pdf)