arXiv subjects

Lutz Straßburger

Publications and source records attributed to Lutz Straßburger.

12 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

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.

cs.LO↗

arXiv2026

Interpolation via Generalized Splitting

We propose a new proof theoretical method for proving Lyndon interpolation. Our proof does not use the sequent calculus but is based on a generalization of the splitting lemma in deep inference. We then formulate the interpolation theorem as a decomposition of a derivation into an up-fragment and a down-fragment. This can be seen as (i) a strengthening of the standard formulation of the interpolation theorem, and (ii) a generalization of the cut elimination theorem. We demonstrate the flexibility of our approach by applying it to linear logic, classical logic, and modal logics. For this, we also introduce novel cut-free proof systems for several modal logics in deep inference.

cs.LO↗

arXiv2026

Proof Identity and Categorical Models of BV

BV-categories are a recent development that aims to give categorical semantics to proofs in the logic BV. However, due to the absence of a coherence theorem on one side and a well-defined notion of proof identity for BV on the other side, the precise relation between BV-categories and the logic BV is still not clear. To improve on this situation, we define in this paper a notion of proof identity for BV, based on the notion of atomic flows, which can be seen as a special form of string diagrams. Based on this notion of proof identity, we then strengthen the existing notion of BV-category and prove that it is sound with respect to the logic.

cs.LO↗

arXiv2025

Proof Compression via Subatomic Logic and Guarded Substitutions

Subatomic logic is a recent innovation in structural proof theory where atoms are no longer the smallest entity in a logical formula, but are instead treated as binary connectives. As a consequence, we can give a subatomic proof system for propositional classical logic such that all derivations are strictly linear: no inference step deletes or adds information, even units. In this paper, we introduce a powerful new proof compression mechanism that we call guarded substitutions, a variant of explicit substitutions, which substitute only guarded occurrences of a free variable, instead of all free occurrences. This allows us to construct ''superpositions'' of derivations, which simultaneously represent multiple subderivations. We show that a subatomic proof system with guarded substitution can p-simulate a Frege system with substitution, and moreover, the cut-rule is not required to do so.

cs.LO↗

arXiv2024

Where are the Teeth of the Fourth Power?

The news we consume influence our political opinions, and therefore whoever controls which news we read also controls our political opinions. Does this mean that the algorithms that select our news determine the outcomes of our elections?

physics.soc-ph↗

arXiv2023

A System of Interaction and Structure III: The Complexity of BV and Pomset Logic

Pomset logic and BV are both logics that extend multiplicative linear logic (with Mix) with a third connective that is self-dual and non-commutative. Whereas pomset logic originates from the study of coherence spaces and proof nets, BV originates from the study of series-parallel orders, cographs, and proof systems. Both logics enjoy a cut-admissibility result, but for neither logic can this be done in the sequent calculus. Provability in pomset logic can be checked via a proof net correctness criterion and in BV via a deep inference proof system. It has long been conjectured that these two logics are the same. In this paper we show that this conjecture is false. We also investigate the complexity of the two logics, exhibiting a huge gap between the two. Whereas provability in BV is NP-complete, provability in pomset logic is $Σ_2^p$-complete. We also make some observations with respect to possible sequent systems for the two logics.

cs.LO↗

arXiv2023

Intuitionistic S4 is decidable

In this paper we demonstrate decidability for the intuitionistic modal logic S4 first formulated by Fischer Servi. This solves a problem that has been open for almost thirty years since it had been posed in Simpson's PhD thesis in 1994. We obtain this result by performing proof search in a labelled deductive system that, instead of using only one binary relation on the labels, employs two: one corresponding to the accessibility relation of modal logic and the other corresponding to the order relation of intuitionistic Kripke frames. Our search algorithm outputs either a proof or a finite counter-model, thus, additionally establishing the finite model property for intuitionistic S4, which has been another long-standing open problem in the area.

cs.LO↗

arXiv2022

An Analytic Propositional Proof System on Graphs

In this paper we present a proof system that operates on graphs instead of formulas. Starting from the well-known relationship between formulas and cographs, we drop the cograph-conditions and look at arbitrary undirected) graphs. This means that we lose the tree structure of the formulas corresponding to the cographs, and we can no longer use standard proof theoretical methods that depend on that tree structure. In order to overcome this difficulty, we use a modular decomposition of graphs and some techniques from deep inference where inference rules do not rely on the main connective of a formula. For our proof system we show the admissibility of cut and a generalisation of the splitting property. Finally, we show that our system is a conservative extension of multiplicative linear logic with mix, and we argue that our graphs form a notion of generalised connective.

cs.LO↗

arXiv2021

Combinatorial Proofs and Decomposition Theorems for First-order Logic

We uncover a close relationship between combinatorial and syntactic proofs for first-order logic (without equality). Whereas syntactic proofs are formalized in a deductive proof system based on inference rules, a combinatorial proof is a syntax-free presentation of a proof that is independent from any set of inference rules. We show that the two proof representations are related via a deep inference decomposition theorem that establishes a new kind of normal form for syntactic proofs. This yields (a) a simple proof of soundness and completeness for first-order combinatorial proofs, and (b) a full completeness theorem: every combinatorial proof is the image of a syntactic proof.

cs.LO↗

arXiv2021

Towards a Denotational Semantics for Proofs in Constructive Modal Logic

In this paper we provide two new semantics for proofs in the constructive modal logics CK and CD. The first semantics is given by extending the syntax of combinatorial proofs for propositional intuitionistic logic, in which proofs are factorised in a linear fragment (arena net) and a parallel weakening-contraction fragment (skew fibration). In particular we provide an encoding of modal formulas by means of directed graphs (modal arenas), and an encoding of linear proofs as modal arenas equipped with vertex partitions satisfying topological criteria. The second semantics is given by means of winning innocent strategies of a two-player game over modal arenas. This is given by extending the Heijltjes-Hughes-Straßburger correspondence between intuitionistic combinatorial proofs and winning innocent strategies in a Hyland-Ong arena. Using our first result, we provide a characterisation of winning strategies for games on a modal arena corresponding to proofs with modalities.

cs.LO↗

arXiv2016

On linear rewriting systems for Boolean logic and some applications to proof theory

Linear rules have played an increasing role in structural proof theory in recent years. It has been observed that the set of all sound linear inference rules in Boolean logic is already coNP-complete, i.e. that every Boolean tautology can be written as a (left- and right-)linear rewrite rule. In this paper we study properties of systems consisting only of linear inferences. Our main result is that the length of any 'nontrivial' derivation in such a system is bound by a polynomial. As a consequence there is no polynomial-time decidable sound and complete system of linear inferences, unless coNP=NP. We draw tools and concepts from term rewriting, Boolean function theory and graph theory in order to access some required intermediate results. At the same time we make several connections between these areas that, to our knowledge, have not yet been presented and constitute a rich theoretical framework for reasoning about linear TRSs for Boolean logic.

cs.LO↗

arXiv2013

Herbrand-Confluence

We consider cut-elimination in the sequent calculus for classical first-order logic. It is well known that this system, in its most general form, is neither confluent nor strongly normalizing. In this work we take a coarser (and mathematically more realistic) look at cut-free proofs. We analyze which witnesses they choose for which quantifiers, or in other words: we only consider the Herbrand-disjunction of a cut-free proof. Our main theorem is a confluence result for a natural class of proofs: all (possibly infinitely many) normal forms of the non-erasing reduction lead to the same Herbrand-disjunction.

cs.LO↗