Willem Heijltjes

Classical Proof Forestry

Abstract Classical proof forests are a proof formalism for first-order classical logic based on Herbrand’s Theorem and backtracking games in the style of Coquand. First described by Miller in a cut-free setting as an economical representation of first-order and higher-order classical proof, defining features of the forests are a strict focus on witnessing terms for quantifiers and the absence of inessential structure, or ‘bureaucracy’. This paper presents classical proof forests as a graphical proof formalism and investigates the possibility of composing forests by cut-elimination. Cut-reduction steps take the form of a local rewrite relation that arises from the structure of the forests in a natural way. Yet reductions, which are significantly different from those of the sequent calculus, are combinatorially intricate and do not exclude the possibility of infinite reduction traces, of which an example is given. Cut-elimination, in the form of a weak normalisation theorem, is obtained using a modified version of the rewrite relation inspired by the game-theoretic interpretation of the forests. It is conjectured that the modified reduction relation is, in fact, strongly normalising.

No proof nets for MLL with units: proof equivalence in MLL is PSPACE-complete

MLL proof equivalence is the problem of deciding whether two proofs in multiplicative linear logic are related by a series of inference permutations. It is also known as the word problem for *-autonomous categories. Previous work has shown the problem to be equivalent to a rewiring problem on proof nets, which are not canonical for full MLL due to the presence of the two units. Drawing from recent work on reconfiguration problems, in this paper it is shown that MLL proof equivalence is PSPACE-complete, using a reduction from Nondeterministic Constraint Logic. An important consequence of the result is that the existence of a satisfactory notion of proof nets for MLL with units is ruled out (under current complexity assumptions).

Proof Nets for Additive Linear Logic with Units

Additive linear logic, the fragment of linear logic concerning linear implication between strictly additive formulae, coincides with sum-product logic, the internal language of categories with free finite products and co products. Deciding equality of its proof terms, as imposed by the categorical laws, is complicated by the presence of the units (the initial and terminal objects of the category) and the fact that in a free setting products and co products do not distribute. The best known desicion algorithm, due to Cockett and Santocanale (CSL 2009), is highly involved, requiring an intricate case analysis on the syntax of terms. This paper provides canonical, graphical representations of the categorical morphisms, yielding a novel solution to this decision problem. Starting with (a modification of) existing proof nets, due to Hughes and Van Glabbeek, for additive linear logic without units, canonical forms are obtained by graph rewriting. The rewriting algorithm is remarkably simple. As a decision procedure for term equality it matches the known complexity of the problem. A main technical contribution of the paper is the substantial correctness proof of the algorithm.

Proof nets and semi-star-autonomous categories

In this paper, it is proved that Girards proof nets for multiplicative linear logic characterize free semi-star-autonomous categories.

Complexity Bounds for Sum-Product Logic via Additive Proof Nets and Petri Nets

We investigate efficient algorithms for the additive fragment of linear logic. This logic is an internal language for categories with finite sums and products, and describes concurrent two-player games of finite choice. In the context of session types, typing disciplines for communication along channels, the logic describes the communication of finite choice along a single channel. We give a simple linear time correctness criterion for unit-free propositional additive proof nets via a natural construction on Petri nets. This is an essential ingredient to linear time complexity of the second authors combinatorial proofs for classical logic. For full propositional additive linear logic, including the units, we give a proof search algorithm that is linear-time in the product of the source and target formula, and an algorithm for proof net correctness that is of the same time complexity. We prove that proof search in first-order additive linear logic is NP-complete.

A Proof of Strong Normalisation of the Typed Atomic Lambda-Calculus

The atomic lambda-calculus is a typed lambda-calculus with explicit sharing, which originates in a Curry-Howard interpretation of a deep-inference system for intuitionistic logic. It has been shown that it allows fully lazy sharing to be reproduced in a typed setting. In this paper we prove strong normalization of the typed atomic lambda-calculus using Tait’s reducibility method.

Conflict nets: Efficient locally canonical MALL proof nets

Proof nets for MLL (unit-free multiplicative linear logic) and ALL (unit-free additive linear logic) are graphical abstractions of proofs which are efficient (proofs translate in linear time) and textitcanonical (invariant under rule commutation). This paper solves a three- decade open problem: are there efficient canonical proof nets for MALL (unit-free multiplicative-additive linear logic)?Honouring MLL and ALL canonicity, in which all commutations are strictly local proof-tree rewrites, we define local canonicity for MLL: invariance under local rule commutation. We present new proof nets for MLL, called conflict nets, which are both efficient and locally canonical.

Proof Nets for Bi-Intuitionistic Linear Logic

Bi-Intuitionistic Linear Logic (BILL) is an extension of Intuitionistic Linear Logic with a par, dual to the tensor, and subtraction, dual to linear implication. It is the logic of categories with a monoidal closed and a monoidal co-closed structure that are related by linear distributivity, a strength of the tensor over the par. It conservatively extends Full Intuitionistic Linear Logic (FILL), which includes only the par. We give proof nets for the multiplicative, unit-free fragment MBILL-. Correctness is by local rewriting in the style of Danos contractibility, which yields sequentialization into a relational sequent calculus extending the existing one for FILL. We give a second, geometric correctness condition combining Danos-Regnier switching and Lamarches Essential Net criterion, and demonstrate composition both inductively and as a one-off global operation.

Proof equivalence in MLL is PSPACE-complete

MLL proof equivalence is the problem of deciding whether two proofs in multiplicative linear logic are related by a series of inference permutations. It is also known as the word problem for star-autonomous categories. Previous work has shown the problem to be equivalent to a rewiring problem on proof nets, which are not canonical for full MLL due to the presence of the two units. Drawing from recent work on reconfiguration problems, in this paper it is shown that MLL proof equivalence is PSPACE-complete, using a reduction from Nondeterministic Constraint Logic. An important consequence of the result is that the existence of a satisfactory notion of proof nets for MLL with units is ruled out (under current complexity assumptions). The PSPACE-hardness result extends to equivalence of normal forms in MELL without units, where the weakening rule for the exponentials induces a similar rewiring problem.