Peer Revenue Publish or profit

Papers

Fresh from arXiv, typeset properly. Highlighted words trade on the market.

Computer Science Logic in Computer Science

cs.LO Watch Logic in Computer Science (sign in to use)

Friday 25 September

Logic in Computer Science

Finite-Context Semantics in Finitely Supported Structures

Semantics for systems with names and data often depends on finitely many distinguished values. The theory of finitely supported structures treats this dependence through invariance under permutations fixing a finite context. We develop this approach to semantics over arbitrary permutation groups and arbitrary infinite sets of atoms. The central difficulty is that finitely supported predicate spaces need not be complete lattices. We prove that, for predicates valued in a complete lattice with trivial atom action, every monotone finitely supported transformer nevertheless has least and greatest fixed points. These lie in the complete lattice determined by the transformer's context and coincide with the fixed points of every compatible monotone ambient extension equivariant under its stabilizer. Support-transfer bounds track dependencies through semantic constructions, while uniform finiteness yields finite convergence. For Boolean predicates, $m$ context-stabilizer orbits on the carrier suffice for convergence after at most $m$ iterations, even when the supported predicate lattice is orbit-infinite. We apply these results to automata, operational and modal semantics, abstract interpretation, and resource rewriting. Ultrahomogeneous atom structures in finite relational signatures yield finite cell representations, illustrated by an authorization monitor. The resulting account separates semantic existence, finite convergence, and effective computation.
Read the full abstract

Logic in Computer Science · Cross-listed from cs.AI

Choir: An Open Protocol for Distributed Multi-Agent Autoformalization

AI agents can now formalize entire textbooks and major theorems in proof assistants such as Lean, but current efforts are typically centralized: a single team runs all agents and bears the full computational cost. We introduce Choir, an open protocol for distributed formalization. Choir decomposes a project into tasks that can be completed by independent contributors, each running their own agent with their own LLM subscription, while coordinating entirely through the project's GitHub repository. To support open participation, every contribution is checked by a deterministic gate before merge. Choir supports Lean 4, Isabelle, and Rocq, and is open source and modular, allowing projects to replace individual components or extend the protocol.
Read the full abstract

Logic in Computer Science · Cross-listed from math.CA

Formalizing Carleson's Theorem in Lean

We present the formalization of Carleson's theorem in the proof assistant Lean. This paper describes the mathematical content, organization of the project, the blueprint, and the main design decisions behind the formalization. It is the result of a large collaborative effort, written and developed in public.
Read the full abstract

All authors Lars Becker, María Inés de Frutos-Fernández, Leo Diedering, Floris van Doorn, Sébastien Gouëzel, Evgenia Karunus, Edward van de Meent, Pietro Monticone, Jasper Mulder-Sohn, Jim Portegies, Joris Roos, Michael Rothgang, James Sundstrom, Jeremy Tan

Logic in Computer Science

The existence of polyhedral invariants is undecidable for linear systems

The existence of polyhedral inductive invariants suitable for proving that a given control location is unreachable is undecidable for programs using only linear arithmetic over Z or Q, by reduction from 2-counter machines.

Thursday 24 September

Logic in Computer Science · Cross-listed from cs.RO

Realizability Is Not Enough: Encoding, Liveness, and Auditing of Synthesized Robot Supervisors

High-level robotic supervisors coordinate capabilities whose reported outcomes determine the robot's next action. Reactive synthesis can generate such supervisors with formal guarantees, but deployment requires more than proving a Generalized Reactivity (1) (GR(1)) specification realizable. Designers must encode failure-prone capabilities, choose liveness assumptions that match retry intent, audit strategies, and translate them into robot software. We present an open-source pipeline for Robot Operating System (ROS) 2 Flexible Behavior Engine (FlexBE) supervisors that generates capability-based GR(1) specifications, analyzes assumptions before synthesis, audits strategies, reduces states with a behavior-preservation proof, and emits executable state machines. Across four case studies (six comparisons), including hardware on two quadcopter platforms, we compare enumerated and one-hot encodings and two liveness formulations. Under the tested backend, enumerated encoding usually synthesizes faster, although fewer propositions do not reliably predict smaller controllers or lower symbolic cost. System-Goal without pending memory is the only liveness treatment confirmed to yield executable controllers under both encodings across the reported grid; Fair-Outcome can permit realizable cycles without designer-intended completion. For this backend and model, we recommend enumerated encoding with System-Goal and auditing every realized strategy, since proposition count and realizability do not measure deployability. The auditor is sound and complete for four structural defect classes (protocol violations, deadlocks, bounded-failure violations, goal-unreachable traps) but is not a general liveness verifier, and the reduction preserves capability-level behavior. Together, these stages narrow the gap between formal realizability and controllers that pass protocol and structural-progress checks.
Read the full abstract

All authors David C. Conner, Joshua Luzier, William J. Doyle, Emma R. Faith, Aubrie B. Kooiker, Andrew J. Farney, Sebastian Fox, Evangelina Grimes, Ian G. Conner, Kyle Bloom

Logic in Computer Science · Cross-listed from math.LO

Two applications of the point-free coderivative

We present two new applications of Simmons' point-free Cantor-Bendixson coderivative operator in intuitionistic logic. First, we use it to give a simplified proof of the recent result of Xu and Ye that the free Heyting algebra on two generators does not occur as the Heyting algebra of subterminal objects in any elementary topos. Then we use it to prove that complete Heyting algebra semantics is not strongly complete for intuitionistic second-order propositional logic: semantic consequence from an arbitrary set of assumptions does not coincide with ordinary syntactic consequence.
Read the full abstract

Logic in Computer Science

Scenes: A Meta-Logical Algebra for Mutable State

Modelling of mutable state spaces and precisely describing how variables are manipulated in a program is a fundamental problem in compositional verification. Though we can make use of the embedded abstract syntax of a program for such analysis, this runs contrary to the shallow-embedding approach, and hampers efficient proof automation. On the other hand, lenses and prisms provide an elegant algebraic foundation for modelling state, which provide sufficient structure to provide meta-logical program analysis, but without requiring a deep embedding. Nevertheless lenses, as complex algebraic objects, cannot easily be combined, complemented, or collected in sets. In this paper we contribute an accompanying algebraic structure called the scene, which allows us to characterise the set of variables, or coordinates, in a state space. Scenes intuitively correspond to sets of lenses, but like lenses they are purely semantic algebraic objects. We demonstrate that scenes provide us with sufficient structure to characterise the lens-based meta-logical properties, like independence and equivalence. Moreover, we introduce the notion of a scene space, analogous to a vector space, which allows us to recover a set-like algebraic structure. Finally, we show how scenes allow us to characterise the free and bound variables of expressions and programs, without any need for syntax, and demonstrate their use for reasoning about programs by deriving reasoning principles for the parallel composition operator.
Read the full abstract

Wednesday 23 September

Logic in Computer Science · Cross-listed from cs.SE

Proceedings Tenth Symposium on Working Formal Methods

The 10th Working Formal Methods Symposium (FROM 2026) was held in Timişoara, Romania on September 15-17, 2026. It was organized jointly by the Faculty of Informatics of West University of Timişoara, the e-Austria institute, and the Institute for Logic and Data Science (ILDS). This event was co-located with the 28th International Symposium on Symbolic and Numeric Algorithms for Scientific Computing (SYNASC 2026). This volume contains the texts of the 14 papers accepted by the Program Committee for presentation.
Read the full abstract

Logic in Computer Science · Cross-listed from math.CO

Biplanar graphs with independence number two are 9-colorable

A graph is biplanar if it is the union of two planar graphs on the same vertex set. The largest chromatic number of a biplanar graph is known to lie between 9 and 12. The lower bound comes from Sulanke's graph, which has independence number 2, and a biplanar graph on 19 vertices with independence number 2 would have chromatic number at least 10. Gethner and Sulanke asked in 2009 whether such a graph exists. We show that it does not, and more generally that every biplanar graph with independence number at most 2 is 9-colorable. The proof embeds a hypothetical counterexample in the union of two sphere triangulations, enumerates with SAT modulo symmetries the 3271 graphs that pass a necessary filter for the complement of such a union, and shows with a SAT solver that none of them is such a complement; a matching argument reduces the general statement to this computation and one further case on 18 vertices. The computational part of the proof, including the completeness of the enumeration and every refutation, is checked in Lean 4, assuming three classical facts about planar graphs. The Lean development, the SAT instances, and the enumeration certificates are available on Zenodo.
Read the full abstract

Logic in Computer Science

Substantive Agency and Computational Non-Anticipability: An Axiomatic Route to a Conditional Separation of P and N P

This paper characterises substantive agency and identifies the additional bridges under which it has a standard complexity-theoretic consequence: conditionally, P __ = N P . The constitutive core separates coherent plurality, causal openness, anticipatory non-pointing, act-level singularisation, and endogenous sourcehood. Its temporal claim yields a two-sided modal result: exact passive pre-act selection is incompatible with jointly retaining singularising priority and invariance under causally inert informational extension. If every standard polynomial procedure is deployable in that passive form, the actualisation map $\alpha$ has no polynomial-time selector. On an effective presentation, $\alpha$ is therefore either computable outside FP or noncomputable. A separate certifiedactualisation protocol supplies polynomially bounded, polynomially verifiable traces with extensional unique projection. This is the constructive interface that turns historical actualisation into a total standard search relation; combined with the modal result, it places that relation in TFNP search \ FP search , from which a self-contained search argument yields P __ = N P . The result is a domain-relative conditional transfer theorem: it neither assumes polynomial non-anticipability in the definition of agency nor proves that human decision-making satisfies the bridge and certification premises.
Read the full abstract

Logic in Computer Science

Parameterized Enumeration of Minimal Defensive Alliances

In this paper, we consider the complexity of enumerating inclusion minimal defensive alliances. We present a polynomial-delay algorithm on graphs with maximum degree 5. We complement this result by proving that there is no output-polynomial algorithm on bipartite graphs with maximum degree 6 and degeneracy 2, unless P = NP. Furthermore, there is an FPT-delay algorithm when parameterized by neighborhood diversity. This result is the first exploit of a recently published enumeration algorithm for ILPs. By way of contrast, we prove that, for the parameter pathwidth, there is no FPT-delay algorithm for enumerating all inclusion minimal defensive alliances (unless FPT = W[1]). To the best of our knowledge, this is the first non-enumerability result using parameterized complexity for variations of Another/Next-problems.
Read the full abstract

All authors Henning Fernau, Kevin Mann, Arne Meier, Heribert Vollmer

Logic in Computer Science

Coloring Queens with Thousands of Encodings

In The Art of Computer Programming, Knuth benchmarked 10 encoding techniques for computing the chromatic number of the queen's graph: the minimum number of colors needed to color the squares of an $n \times n$ chessboard so that no two squares sharing a row, column, or diagonal receive the same color. In this paper, we extend his analysis much further by comparing thousands of encodings for the same problem, which allows us to identify additional factors that are important for solver performance. We obtain 1584 encodings for this problem by varying (a) the constraints that encode which color is assigned to each cell, (b) the constraints that forbid the same color appearing in a row, column, or diagonal line, and (c) the symmetry-breaking constraints. We find that the three most impactful encoding factors are (i) the choice of symmetry-breaking constraints, (ii) enabling so-called clique hints, and (iii) enforcing that each cell is assigned exactly one color through blocked clauses. Furthermore, while Knuth proposed clique hints as an advantage of the order encoding, we show in fact that they can be effectively employed for the one-hot encoding as well.
Read the full abstract

Logic in Computer Science

The Complexity of Interference: When Rely/Guarantee Does Not Work

Rely/Guarantee is a well-known verification technique for reasoning about concurrent programs. However, for some algorithms, devising suitable rely and guarantee conditions is challenging, due to the strong interference exhibited in these algorithms. The Ben-Ari concurrent garbage collector is an algorithm where the complex interactions between the components prevent the construction of compositional rely and guarantee conditions. This paper investigates an approach for verifying the Ben-Ari algorithm, which enables reasoning to be performed in a more compositional manner in cases where compositional reasoning would not otherwise be possible. This is accomplished by reasoning that a given property holds for all instances of a particular variable and then instantiating the variable to the local variable required. As well as providing a reasoning approach which is more compositional, the result is the identification of the core property required of a component, thus enabling a deeper understanding about the reasons why the algorithm works correctly. This helps to reveal the reasons why the rely/guarantee approach does not work directly for some problems.
Read the full abstract

Tuesday 22 September

Logic in Computer Science

Agentic-IC3: Enabling Semantic Proof Search in IC3 Model Checking

IC3 is a state-of-the-art algorithm for hardware model checking that proves safety properties by incrementally constructing an inductive invariant consisting of a set of lemmas. Its effectiveness depends on generalization heuristics that identify useful lemmas and guide proof search. However, many leading IC3 hardware model checkers operate on lowered, bit-level representations, where high-level design relationships are difficult to exploit for generalization. Those operating at a higher level remain limited in exploiting high-level design structure and semantics. We present Agentic-IC3, built on Pono's word-level model-checking infrastructure, which integrates a language-model agent into IC3 to guide semantic proof search using register-transfer-level (RTL) design information. The framework exposes an agent-oriented interface to a persistent IC3 backend, allowing the agent to interact with an explicit, evolving proof state throughout verification. Across successive proof obligations, the agent relates intermediate proof states and solver feedback to the RTL and proposes high-level lemmas through both SAT and UNSAT generalization. Beyond generalization, the agent can introduce derived observation signals to express design relationships succinctly and obtain more informative feedback, and backtrack to revise proposals that lead to unproductive proof branches. The backend checks proposals before updating the proof state, preserving soundness and providing feedback for further reasoning. On a suite of 14 benchmarks spanning security information-flow verification and functional verification of communication protocols, processors, and functional units, Agentic-IC3 solves 10 cases within a one-hour timeout, including 4 unsolved by all three evaluated baselines: rIC3, Pono-IC3Bits, and A-IC3.
Read the full abstract

All authors Yu-Wei Fan, SooHyuk Cho, Aarti Gupta, Sharad Malik

Logic in Computer Science · Cross-listed from math.LO

Fine Selection for Intuitionistic Modal Logic

We extend Fine's selection method to the setting of intuitionistic modal logic and use it to provide a model-theoretic proof that Fischer Servi-style intuitionistic $\sf K4$ has the finite model property.

2609.27078 · 22 Sep · This version corrects various typos and inaccuracies which, while minor, affected legibility. Notably, the definition of $\Sigma$-trees was missing, the definition of admissibility had an order relation reversed, and the ordinal assignment required adding one to ensure monotonicity

Logic in Computer Science

An Exponential Succinctness Gap between Three-Variable Logic and the Calculus of Relations

Three-variable first-order logic (FO3) and the calculus of relations (CoR) define the same binary queries, an equivalence going back to Tarski in the 1940s. While the classical translation $\text{FO3} \Rightarrow \text{CoR}$ is exponential, we prove that this blow-up is unavoidable, resolving a long-standing open question. We construct positive formulas $\varphi$ with a single quantifier whose equivalent terms require size $2^{\Omega(|\varphi|)}$, even over finite structures and circuit representations with subterm sharing. Our proof uses a preservation argument over a single finite structure. This approach applies beyond our primary question, establishing the lower bound even for size-specific circuits and bounded-error randomized circuits, and yielding an analogous exponential gap for the matrix query language MATLANG.
Read the full abstract

Logic in Computer Science

Acceptance & Rejection

In this paper, we argue that acceptance and rejection are classical speech acts that express two opposite polar positions toward propositional content and can be systematically represented within a classically outlined bilateral formal model. Acceptance occupies the positive pole, represented by positive A, whereas rejection occupies the negative pole, represented by minus A. Their classical relationship is mediated by negation because acceptance of A corresponds to rejection of negation A, while rejection of A corresponds to acceptance of negation A, represented by positive A iff minus negation A and minus A iff positive negation A. Coherency and incoherency are introduced as supplementary notions to clarify this relationship and its connection with reflexivity. A further result of the manuscript is the methodical distinction between rejection and negation namely, rejection expresses negative polarity toward A, whereas negation operates upon propositional content.
Read the full abstract

Logic in Computer Science

A Deeper Look at Depth: Stable Generation Accounting for Quantifier Reasoning

SMT solvers make automated verification convenient. At the same time, solvers suffer from instability, whereby seemingly inconsequential changes to the input may cause a previously quickly produced proof to fail or time out. This paper addresses a common cause of outcome instability (i.e., unsat/unknown fluctuations) in the context of program verification. We demonstrate that the generation (i.e., depth) accounting used to make quantifier instantiation practical and implemented in multiple state-of-the-art SMT solvers is non-confluent (i.e., prone to divergence), and that this leads to instability. We then address this deficiency and develop a new accounting method that is stable. The new method is justified using a sequence of refinements from an abstract, confluent solver model all the way to our implementation in Z3. Our empirical evaluation demonstrates that our implementation reduces outcome instability by 94% in the unstable core of the Mariposa benchmark without leading to performance regressions.
Read the full abstract

All authors Can Cebeci, Nikolaj Bjørner, George Candea, Clément Pit-Claudel

Logic in Computer Science

An Infinitary and a Cyclic Sequent Calculus for Non-Monotone Inductive Definitions

Inductive definitions are an important form of knowledge in mathematics and computer science. Two common techniques to prove theorems about inductive definitions are the principle of mathematical induction and the principle of infinite descent. To formalize these principles, Brotherston and Simpson introduced the sequent calculus proof systems LKID, for mathematical induction, and LKID{\omega} and CLKID{\omega} , for infinite descent. LKID{\omega} is an infinitary system, in which proofs are infinite trees, and CLKID{\omega} a cyclic system, in which proofs are finite graphs. However, these calculi restrict to monotone definitions, while inductive definitions are generally non-monotone. The logic FO(ID) extends classical first-order logic with non-monotone inductive definitions. In earlier work, we provided a formalization of the principle of mathematical induction for non-monotone definitions by extending LKID to a sequent calculus SCFO(ID) for FO(ID). In this paper, we provide a formalization of the principle of infinite descent for non-monotone definitions by extending LKID{\omega} and CLKID{\omega} to sequent calculi SCFO(ID)-inf resp. SCFO(ID)-cyc for FO(ID). Furthermore, we extend several proof-theoretic results for LKID{\omega} and CLKID{\omega} to SCFO(ID)-inf and SCFO(ID)-cyc regarding soundness, completeness, cut-elimination and the relation with SCFO(ID).
Read the full abstract

Logic in Computer Science

Quantitative coverability for probabilistic well-structured transition systems

Well-structured transition systems (WSTS) provide a classical framework for the verification of infinite-state systems, but their probabilistic extensions lack a unified treatment of quantitative coverability: path-enumeration algorithms assume a finite branching degree, while alternative approximation schemes defer some computations, such as probabilities over a bounded horizon, to the model at hand. We introduce probabilistic well-structured transition systems (pWSTS), Markov chains over countable state sets whose underlying transition systems are WSTS, with no a priori assumption on the branching degree. This class encompasses any WSTS equipped with a Markov kernel, such as probabilistic vector addition systems (pVAS) and probabilistic lossy channel systems (pLCS). For an effective subclass, we solve the approximate quantitative coverability problem over bounded horizons, and over infinite horizons under decisiveness, requiring no probabilistic information beyond individual transition probabilities. We then identify a general source of decisiveness: every stochastically monotone pWSTS is decisive with respect to every upward-closed set. We finally instantiate the framework on multi-type Galton–Watson processes, a classical model of population dynamics whose offspring distributions may have infinite support. Under mild assumptions on the reproduction laws, these processes are effective pWSTS, and they are stochastically monotone, hence decisive. Approximate quantitative coverability is therefore computable for them over both horizons, with a proof that uses none of the traditional tools: neither generating functions nor any case distinction between regimes.
Read the full abstract

All authors Raphaël Faure, Alain Finkel, Gaspard Fougea, Lina Ye

Logic in Computer Science · Cross-listed from cs.SE

Compiling Sufficient Governance Context from Declared Losses and Reachable States: Exact Observation-Contract Synthesis with Cardinality and Cost Objectives

We call the object this paper derives and certifies a minimal sufficient governance context: given a finite reachable-state model, a deterministic declared verdict, and candidate observable attributes, we compute sufficient observation sets, distinguish attributes that are individually indispensable from contracts that are jointly sufficient, and select among sufficient contracts under a cardinality or declared-cost objective. An observation contract is a set of candidate attributes whose values determine the declared verdict on every reachable state; an authority contract is one selected under an objective and bound to a gate schema. We synthesize every inclusion-minimal sufficient contract where exhaustive enumeration is affordable, and a minimum-cardinality or minimum-cost contract by SAT/MaxSAT encoding otherwise, checking sufficiency directly. On a constructed code/cloud domain, the individually-indispensable core is not sufficient as an observation contract and two distinct reducts exist; a preregistered cost model separates them exactly. On a second, larger, constructed domain, the same pattern recurs, but that domain's cost model does not separate the alternatives: a fully explained cost tie, reported as found. We measure discernibility-family scaling where exhaustive enumeration is confirmed infeasible within a registered timeout, while SAT/MaxSAT synthesis solves in well under a second; MaxSAT showed no measured cardinality advantage over plain SAT. AuthorityBench compares four baselines across three domains; the declared-only baseline is not exactly sufficient on any. Every selected contract is checked for sufficiency, with a counterexample on failure and a check summary, not a portable certificate, on success – the compiler-focused scope of a two-scope table; an independently specified end-to-end case study is registered follow-up work, not claimed here.
Read the full abstract

Logic in Computer Science · Cross-listed from cs.CR

SLED-IFV: Solver-Validated LLM-Guided Decomposition for Scalable Hardware Information-Flow Verification

Formal hardware information-flow verification (IFV) provides strong guarantees against secret-dependent timing and control behavior, but often scales poorly on realistic RTL. We identify two recurring proof barriers in self-composed IFV: implementation complexity, where proof-hard datapath logic dominates even though the property needs only a compact boundary relation, and relational inductive complexity, where the proof depends on cross-copy public-control facts that the backend prover does not infer efficiently. To address them, we introduce two semantic proof decomposition forms: functional simplification, which replaces a proof-hard RTL region with a validated over-approximate summary, and relational strengthening, which exposes and proves the cross-copy relations needed for induction. We further present SLED-IFV, a solver-validated LLM-guided flow that automates the selection of these forms and their concrete targets. Given a self-composed miter and an oracle-free decision sheet, the LLM proposes a decomposition, then materializes it into proof artifacts under controller checks. The controller compiles the checked artifacts into proof obligations, and the formal verification backend remains the sole authority for acceptance. Across nine nontrivial benchmarks constructed from real RTL, SLED-IFV achieves up to 603x solver-only speedup and converts two 12-hour timeouts into completed proofs. The closed-loop flow produces verifier-accepted decompositions for all cases.
Read the full abstract

All authors Liangtao Dai, Yimin Gao, Melika Morsali, Mircea Stan

Logic in Computer Science

Formal verification of tilt estimation using the Rocq prover

The safe operation of a humanoid robot critically relies on accurate estimation of its vertical orientation, or “tilt”. This requires a variety of mathematical tools, including three-dimensional geometry and differential equations. To formally verify tilt estimation, we develop a library for stability analysis in the Rocq prover. We start by formalizing a theory of ordinary differential equations. We provide a formalization of the (local) Cauchy-Lipschitz (a.k.a. Picard-Lindelof) theorem for existence and uniqueness, taking advantage of the library support for quotients provided by the Mathematical Components library. We extend this formalization with a variant for global existence and continuous dependence on initial conditions. Building on these foundations, we develop a theory of Lyapunov stability that is compatible with an existing formalization of LaSalle's invariance principle. We also extend an existing library for the statics of robot manipulators to support dynamical systems. Finally, we apply these libraries to the verification of a state-of-the-art tilt estimation developed for a humanoid robot.
Read the full abstract

All authors Reynald Affeldt, Lynda Bentoucha, Yoshihiro Ishiguro, Holger Thies

Logic in Computer Science · Cross-listed from math.LO

Pointwise provable equality and the failure of composition

In their studies of pathologies in recursion categories, Montagna (1989) and Di Paola–Montagna (1991) introduce the algebraic systems $S'$ and $S'_T$, respectively, and claim that they are categories. We show that the proposed composition is not independent of the choice of representatives. For every consistent recursively enumerable extension $T$ of Peano arithmetic ($\mathrm{PA}$), we exhibit two unary programs whose partial functions are provably equal in $T$, separately at each standard input. Composing each after a program that searches for a $T$-proof of contradiction and returns its code yields programs that are not equivalent in this sense. An alternative proof uses the productivity of the complement of the diagonal halting set. Montagna's $S'$ is the case $T=\mathrm{PA}$. More generally, for consistent $T\supseteq\mathrm{PA}$, pointwise provable equality is a composition congruence exactly when $T$ proves every true $\Pi^0_1$ sentence, in which case it is extensional equality. This completeness condition fails for every consistent recursively enumerable $T\supseteq\mathrm{PA}$ by Gödel's second incompleteness theorem. For every extension $T\supseteq\mathrm{PA}$, the least composition congruence containing pointwise provable equality is extensional equality if $T$ is $\Sigma^0_1$-sound and the universal relation otherwise.
Read the full abstract

2609.25556 · 22 Sep · 11 pages. Exposition condensed and discussion of related work revised; mathematical statements and proofs unchanged. Clarified the roles of consistency and $\Sigma^0_1$-soundness and the distinction between pointwise provable equality and its generated composition congruence. Results and proofs unchanged. Lean formalization and verification records: https://github.com/flengyel/FailureOfComposition

Monday 21 September

Logic in Computer Science · Cross-listed from cs.PL

Modular Composition of Inductive Types Using Lean Meta-programming

Inductive types are ubiquitous building blocks in many programming and theorem proving languages. An inductive type is a closed set of constructors from which values of the type can be created. That set cannot be extended though once a type is defined. This limits extensibility, reuse, and modular separation of concerns when defining types and functions operating over their values. This limitation is manifested in the expression problem, where extending an expression language with new syntactic constructors without having to modify or re-compile existing ones is a challenge in almost all programming languages. This paper presents inductive type and function implementation composition algorithms based on meta-programming. In addition, a set of syntactic extensions to the Lean proof assistant implementing those algorithms are presented. This framework allows for modular reuse, composition, and extension of a subset of Lean type and function definitions. In addition, semantic subtyping relations between component and composite types are discussed both at the type theoretic and implementation levels. The framework is demonstrated on a case study, involving the composition of syntactic and semantic artifacts of three sublanguages into one language. The case study highlights both the features and limitations of the composition framework.
Read the full abstract

Logic in Computer Science · Cross-listed from cs.LG

Exactness at Inference: A Representational Criterion for Out-of-Distribution Generalization

A model generalizes outside its training distribution only when it computes a representation structurally equivalent to the generating mechanism, not an approximation fitted to it. Such equivalence is necessary for exactness in and out of distribution, and extrapolation is governed by this exactness at inference, whatever its realization. Tensor Logic shows this: a zero-temperature contraction is equivalent to discrete logic, deducing in place with no artefact extracted, its tensors Boolean, its embeddings orthonormal, only its arithmetic continuous. Lacking infinite recursion it reaches Datalog, not Prolog, and though exact over closed domains it needs external memory to bind a novel entity. The criterion needs neither a discrete representation nor an extracted expression, and constrains inference, not training: an exact marginal in $[0,1]$ passes, a Neural Network thresholded to a hard label does not. Logic Tensor Networks fail it, while differentiable ILP and Tensor Logic at $T=0$ pass. Piecewise-affine extrapolation divergence and an inability to bind novel entities are two faces of a shortfall in exact representability. For hybrid architectures, a propagation rule follows: the output inherits the bounds of every fitted estimator on its path, explaining which axes fail in equivariant models and the ARC-AGI induction/transduction split. Only an exact hypothesis class certifies what the training data leave underdetermined: on a law-derived partition it finds the $56.3\%$ of distant queries that are answerable, which ensembles meet with false confidence and distance metrics rank backwards. Common inductive biases, from symmetries to memory, reach exactness only because humans inject them, an argument for inducing exact representations rather than fitting surrogates whose residuals, even at the arithmetic floor in training, diverge outside the data and compound under composition.
Read the full abstract

All authors Filipe Marinho Rocha, Inês Dutra, Vítor Santos Costa, Luís Paulo Reis

Logic in Computer Science

A decision procedure for intuitionistic modal logic IS4 (and IK4)

In this paper, we show that the two intuitionistic modal logics IS4 and IK4 are decidable. We provide a constructive decision procedure, that, given a formula, produces either a proof showing the formula to be valid or a finite countermodel falsifying the formula, thus also proving the finite model property for both logics. The main ingredient of our strategy is the introduction of (possibly unsound) loop rules, which encode repeating behaviour in proof search. This paper fixes a previous mistake in our LICS'23 contribution.
Read the full abstract

All authors Marianna Girlando, Roman Kuznets, Sonia Marin, Lutz Straßburger

Logic in Computer Science · Cross-listed from math.LO

A translation of Maehara's "Eine Darstellung der Intuitionistischen Logik in der Klassischen"

A key motivation for Heyting's intuitionistic logic was to gain a formal notion of Brouwer's idea of mathematics as a "construction of the mind". One might thus argue that Heyting's Calculus should also correspond to a notion of provability. Inspired by this idea, Gödel formalised this connection via an embedding into a modal calculus, which is now known as the modal logic S4. While in his original publication, he only proved soundness for the embedding from intuitionistic propositional logic into S4, the converse was proved fifteen years later by McKinsey and Tarski. Although, it was later discovered that Gödel also had obtained a proof of the faithfulness of his embedding in unpublished notes in 1941. Rasioa and Sikorski later extended Gödel's embedding to first-order intuitionistic logic. In 1954, Maehara independently obtained the same results using proof-theoretic methods, even extending the embedding to one from intuitionistic first-order logic into intuitionistic first-order modal logic. This document presents a faithful English translation of Maehara's 1954 paper.
Read the full abstract

Logic in Computer Science

Encoding Lean's Type Theory in Dedukti

The Lean proof assistant has a rich library of mathematical formalizations that are interesting to users of other proof assistants. To help with the translation of this library to other systems, we present a theory in the Dedukti logical framework in which one can encode Lean terms and types, and define a typability-preserving translation from some large subset of Lean to that Dedukti theory.
Read the full abstract

Logic in Computer Science

Aligning HOL-Light and Rocq libraries formally

We report on our efforts to translate HOL-Light theorems on HOL-Light types/functions into Rocq theorems on Rocq types/functions. To this end, we developed in Rocq tactics to automate the proofs required for replacing a HOL-Light inductive type or recursive function definition by an equivalent but more idiomatic one in Rocq. We also explain how we replaced the definition of real numbers, as well as a number of mathematical notions like Rn spaces and the definition of limit, hence providing to Rocq users many definitions and theorems in logic and analysis that had not been formalized in Rocq before.
Read the full abstract