Kexu Wang | Searcharxiv

arXiv2026

Uniform Interpolation in Distributed Knowledge Modal Logics

Uniform interpolation is the property that, for any formula and set of atoms, there exists the strongest consequence omitting those atoms. It plays a central role in knowledge representation and reasoning tasks such as knowledge update and information hiding. This paper studies the uniform interpolation property in epistemic modal logics with distributed knowledge, which captures agents' collective reasoning abilities. Building on the bisimulation-quantifier perspective, we extend the canonical-formula and literal-elimination framework of Fang, Liu, and van Ditmarsch to distributed knowledge settings and introduce the concept of collective $p$-bisimulation. We show that, for distributed knowledge modal logics $\mathsf{K}_n\mathbf{D}$, $\mathsf{D}_n\mathbf{D}$, and $\mathsf{T}_n\mathbf{D}$, every satisfiable canonical formula's uniform interpolant omitting an atom $p$ is exactly its remainder of eliminating $p$. Then, we provide a finer analysis for the transitive and Euclidean systems $\mathsf{K45}_n\mathbf{D}$, $\mathsf{KD45}_n\mathbf{D}$, and $\mathsf{S5}_n\mathbf{D}$, and prove that every formula of modal depth $k + 1$ has a uniform interpolant of modal depth $2 k + 1$. Thus, we prove the uniform interpolation property in all the six distributed knowledge modal logics. Finally, we generalize the results to some variants with propositional common knowledge and discuss the method's limitations.

cs.LO↗

arXiv2023

Capturing the polynomial hierarchy by second-order revised Krom logic

We study the expressive power and complexity of second-order revised Krom logic (SO-KROM$^{r}$). On ordered finite structures, we show that its existential fragment $Σ^1_1$-KROM$^r$ equals $Σ^1_1$-KROM, and captures NL. On all finite structures, for $k\geq 1$, we show that $Σ^1_{k}$ equals $Σ^1_{k+1}$-KROM$^r$ if $k$ is even, and $Π^1_{k}$ equals $Π^1_{k+1}$-KROM$^r$ if $k$ is odd. The result gives an alternative logic to capture the polynomial hierarchy. We also introduce an extended version of second-order Krom logic (SO-EKROM). On ordered finite structures, we prove that SO-EKROM collapses to $Π^{1}_{2}$-EKROM and equals $Π^1_1$. Both SO-EKROM and $Π^{1}_{2}$-EKROM capture co-NP on ordered finite structures.

cs.LO↗

arXiv2022

A Logic that Captures $β$P on Ordered Structures

We extend the inflationary fixed-point logic, IFP, with a new kind of second-order quantifiers which have (poly-)logarithmic bounds. We prove that on ordered structures the new logic $\exists^{\log^ω}\text{IFP}$ captures the limited nondeterminism class $β\text{P}$. In order to study its expressive power, we also design a new version of Ehrenfeucht-Fraïssé game for this logic and show that our capturing result will not hold on the general case, i.e. on all the finite structures.

cs.LO↗