arXiv subjects

Nihil Shah

Publications and source records attributed to Nihil Shah.

9 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Complexity of Satisfiability in Kochen-Specker Partial Boolean Algebras

The Kochen-Specker no-go theorem established that hidden-variable theories in quantum mechanics necessarily admit contextuality. This theorem is formally stated in terms of the partial Boolean algebra structure of projectors on a Hilbert space. Each partial Boolean algebra provides a semantics for interpreting propositional logic. In this paper, we examine the complexity of propositional satisfiablity for various classes of partial Boolean algebras. We first show that the satisfiability problem for the class of non-trivial partial Boolean algebras is NP-complete. Next, we consider the satisfiability problem for the class of partial Boolean algebras arising from projectors on finite dimensional Hilbert spaces. For real Hilbert spaces of dimension greater 2 and any complex Hilbert spaces of dimension greater than 3, we demonstrate that the satisfiablity problem is complete for the existential theory of the reals. Interestingly, the proofs of these results make use of Kochen-Specker sets as gadgets. As a corollary, we conclude that deciding quantum homomorphism in these fixed dimensions are also complete for the existential theory of the reals. Finally, we show that the satisfiability problems for the class of all Hilbert spaces and all finite-dimensional Hilbert spaces is undecidable.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2024

A categorical account of composition methods in logic (extended version)

We present a categorical theory of the composition methods in finite model theory -- a key technique enabling modular reasoning about complex structures by building them out of simpler components. The crucial results required by the composition methods are Feferman--Vaught--Mostowski (FVM) type theorems, which characterize how logical equivalence behaves under composition and transformation of models. Our results are developed by extending the recently introduced game comonad semantics for model comparison games. This level of abstraction allow us to give conditions yielding FVM type results in a uniform way. Our theorems are parametric in the classes of models, logics and operations involved. Furthermore, they naturally account for the existential and positive existential fragments, and extensions with counting quantifiers of these logics. We also reveal surprising connections between FVM type theorems, and classical concepts in the theory of monads. We illustrate our methods by recovering many classical theorems of practical interest, including a refinement of a previous result by Dawar, Severini, and Zapata concerning the 3-variable counting logic and cospectrality. To highlight the importance of our techniques being parametric in the logic of interest, we prove a family of FVM theorems for products of structures, uniformly in the logic in question, which cannot be done using specific game arguments. This is an extended version of the LiCS 2023 conference paper of the same name.

cs.LO↗

arXiv2023

A categorical account of composition methods in logic

We present a categorical theory of the composition methods in finite model theory -- a key technique enabling modular reasoning about complex structures by building them out of simpler components. The crucial results required by the composition methods are Feferman-Vaught-Mostowski (FVM) type theorems, which characterize how logical equivalence behaves under composition and transformation of models. Our results are developed by extending the recently introduced game comonad semantics for model comparison games. This level of abstraction allow us to give conditions yielding FVM type results in a uniform way. Our theorems are parametric in the classes of models, logics and operations involved. Furthermore, they naturally account for the positive existential fragment, and extensions with counting quantifiers of these logics. We also reveal surprising connections between FVM type theorems, and classical concepts in the theory of monads. We illustrate our methods by recovering many classical theorems of practical interest, including a refinement of a previous result by Dawar, Severini, and Zapata concerning the 3-variable counting logic and cospectrality. To highlight the importance of our techniques being parametric in the logic of interest, we prove a family of FVM theorems for products of structures, uniformly in the logic in question, which cannot be done using specific game arguments.

cs.LO↗

arXiv2023

Linear Arboreal Categories

Arboreal categories, introduced by Abramsky and Reggio, axiomatise categories with tree-shaped objects. These categories provide a categorical language for formalising behavioural notions such as simulation, bisimulation, and resource-indexing. In this paper, we strengthen the axioms of an arboreal category to exclude `branching' behaviour, obtaining a notion of `linear arboreal category'. We then demonstrate that every arboreal category satisfying a linearisability condition has an associated linear arboreal subcategory related via an adjunction. This identifies the relationship between the pebble-relation comonad, of Montacute and Shah, and the pebbling comonad, of Abramsky, Dawar, and Wang, and generalises it further. As another outcome of this new framework, we obtain a linear variant of the arboreal category for modal logic. By doing so we recover different linear-time equivalences between transition systems as instances of their categorical definitions. We conclude with new preservation and characterisation theorems relating trace inclusion and trace equivalence with different linear fragments of modal logic.

cs.LO↗

arXiv2022

Generalizations of Bilinear Maps -- Technical Report

Bilinear maps and their classifying tensor products are well-known in the theory of linear algebra, and their generalization to algebras of commutative monads is a classical result of monad theory. Motivated by constructions needed in categorical approaches to finite model theory, we generalize the notion of bimorphism much further. To illustrate these maps are mathematically natural notions, we show that many common axioms in category theory can be phrased as certain morphisms being bimorphisms. We also show that much of the established theory of bimorphisms goes through in much greater generality. Our results carefully identify which assumptions are needed for the different components of the theory, including when good properties hold globally, or can at least be established locally. We include a brief string diagrammatic account of the bimorphism axiom, and conclude by recovering a simple proof of a classical theorem, emphasizing the efficacy of the bimorphism perspective.

math.CT↗

arXiv2022

A game comonadic account of Courcelle and Feferman-Vaught-Mostowski theorems

Game comonads, introduced by Abramsky, Dawar and Wang, and developed by Abramsky and Shah, give a categorical semantics for model comparison games. We present an axiomatic account of Feferman-Vaught-Mostowski (FVM) composition theorems within the game comonad framework, parameterized by the model comparison game. In a uniform way, we produce compositionality results for the logic in question, and its positive existential and counting quantifier variants. Secondly, we extend game comonads to the second order setting, specifically in the case of Monadic Second Order (MSO) logic. We then generalize our FVM theorems to the second order case. We conclude with an abstract formulation of Courcelle's algorithmic meta-theorem, exploiting our earlier developments. This is instantiated to recover well-known bounded tree-width and bounded clique-width Courcelle theorems for MSO on graphs.

cs.LO↗

arXiv2021

The Pebble-Relation Comonad in Finite Model Theory

The pebbling comonad, introduced by Abramsky, Dawar and Wang, provides a categorical interpretation for the k-pebble games from finite model theory. The coKleisli category of the pebbling comonad specifies equivalences under different fragments and extensions of infinitary k-variable logic. Moreover, the coalgebras over this pebbling comonad characterise treewidth and correspond to tree decompositions. In this paper we introduce the pebble-relation comonad, which characterises pathwidth and whose coalgebras correspond to path decompositions. We further show that the existence of a coKleisli morphism in this comonad is equivalent to truth preservation in the restricted conjunction fragment of k-variable infinitary logic. We do this using Dalmau's pebble-relation game and an equivalent all-in-one pebble game. We then provide a similar treatment to the corresponding coKleisli isomorphisms via a bijective version of the all-in-one pebble game. Finally, we show as a consequence a new Lov\'asz-type theorem relating pathwidth to the restricted conjunction fragment of k-variable infinitary logic with counting quantifiers.

cs.LO↗

arXiv2020

Relating Structure and Power: Extended Version

Combinatorial games are widely used in finite model theory, constraint satisfaction, modal logic and concurrency theory to characterize logical equivalences between structures. In particular, Ehrenfeucht-Fraisse games, pebble games, and bisimulation games play a central role. We show how each of these types of games can be described in terms of an indexed family of comonads on the category of relational structures and homomorphisms. The index $k$ is a resource parameter which bounds the degree of access to the underlying structure. The coKleisli categories for these comonads can be used to give syntax-free characterizations of a wide range of important logical equivalences. Moreover, the coalgebras for these indexed comonads can be used to characterize key combinatorial parameters: tree-depth for the Ehrenfeucht-Fraisse comonad, tree-width for the pebbling comonad, and synchronization-tree depth for the modal unfolding comonad. These results pave the way for systematic connections between two major branches of the field of logic in computer science which hitherto have been almost disjoint: categorical semantics, and finite and algorithmic model theory.

cs.LO↗

arXiv2018

Relating Structure and Power: Comonadic Semantics for Computational Resources

Combinatorial games are widely used in finite model theory, constraint satisfaction, modal logic and concurrency theory to characterize logical equivalences between structures. In particular, Ehrenfeucht-Fraisse games, pebble games, and bisimulation games play a central role. We show how each of these types of games can be described in terms of an indexed family of comonads on the category of relational structures and homomorphisms. The index k is a resource parameter which bounds the degree of access to the underlying structure. The coKleisli categories for these comonads can be used to give syntax-free characterizations of a wide range of important logical equivalences. Moreover, the coalgebras for these indexed comonads can be used to characterize key combinatorial parameters: tree-depth for the Ehrenfeucht-Fraisse comonad, tree-width for the pebbling comonad, and synchronization-tree depth for the modal unfolding comonad. These results pave the way for systematic connections between two major branches of the field of logic in computer science which hitherto have been almost disjoint: categorical semantics, and finite and algorithmic model theory.

cs.LO↗