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Peter LeFanu Lumsdaine

Publications and source records attributed to Peter LeFanu Lumsdaine.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
arXiv2026

Comparing semantic frameworks for dependently-sorted algebraic theories

Algebraic theories with dependency between sorts form the structural core of Martin-Löf type theory and similar systems. Their denotational semantics are typically studied using categorical techniques; many different categorical structures have been introduced to model them (contextual categories, categories with families, display map categories, etc.) Comparisons of these models are scattered throughout the literature, and a detailed, big-picture analysis of their relationships has been lacking. We aim to provide a clear and comprehensive overview of the relationships between as many such models as possible. Specifically, we take *comprehension categories* as a unifying language and show how almost all established notions of model embed as sub-2-categories (usually full) of the 2-category of comprehension categories.

math.CT↗
arXiv2026

Makkai's lost proof of projectivity of N in the free topos

We give a categorical proof of the projectivity of $N$ in the free topos -- in proof-theoretic terms, the rule of countable choice for intuitionistic higher-order logic -- based on the unpublished proof of Michael Makkai (c.1980). The presentation aims to be self-contained and accessible to any reader acquainted with elementary toposes and their logic.

math.LO↗
arXiv2026

Constructive reflectivity principles for regular theories

Classically, any structure for a signature $Σ$ may be completed to a model of a desired regular theory $T$ by means of the chase construction or small object argument. Moreover, this exhibits $\mathrm{Mod}(T)$ as weakly reflective in $\mathrm{Str}(Σ)$. We investigate this in the constructive setting. The basic construction is unproblematic; however, it is no longer a weak reflection. Indeed, we show that various reflectivity principles for models of regular theories are equivalent to choice principles in the ambient set theory. However, the embedding of a structure into its chase-completion still satisfies a conservativity property, which suffices for applications such as the completeness of regular logic with respect to Tarski (i.e. set) models. Unlike most constructive developments of predicate logic, we do not assume that equality between symbols in the signature is decidable. While in this setting, we also give a version of one classical lemma which is trivial over discrete signatures but more interesting here: the abstraction of constants in a proof to variables

math.LO↗
arXiv2020

A general definition of dependent type theories

We define a general class of dependent type theories, encompassing Martin-Löf's intuitionistic type theories and variants and extensions. The primary aim is pragmatic: to unify and organise their study, allowing results and constructions to be given in reasonable generality, rather than just for specific theories. Compared to other approaches, our definition stays closer to the direct or naive reading of syntax, yielding the traditional presentations of specific theories as closely as possible. Specifically, we give three main definitions: raw type theories, a minimal setup for discussing dependently typed derivability; acceptable type theories, including extra conditions ensuring well-behavedness; and well-presented type theories, generalising how in traditional presentations, the well-behavedness of a type theory is established step by step as the type theory is built up. Following these, we show that various fundamental fitness-for-purpose metatheorems hold in this generality. Much of the present work has been formalised in the proof assistant Coq.

math.LO↗
arXiv2020

Homotopical inverse diagrams in categories with attributes

We define and develop the infrastructure of homotopical inverse diagrams in categories with attributes. Specifically, given a category with attributes $C$ and an ordered homotopical inverse category $I$, we construct the category with attributes $C^I$ of homotopical diagrams of shape $I$ in $C$ and Reedy types over these; and we show how various logical structure ($Π$-types, identity types, and so on) lifts from $C$ to $C^I$. This may be seen as providing a general class of diagram models of type theory. In a companion paper "The homotopy theory of type theories" (arXiv:1610.00037), we apply the present results to construct semi-model structures on categories of contextual categories.

math.LO↗
arXiv2019

Semantics of higher inductive types

Higher inductive types are a class of type-forming rules, introduced to provide basic (and not-so-basic) homotopy-theoretic constructions in a type-theoretic style. They have proven very fruitful for the "synthetic" development of homotopy theory within type theory, as well as in formalizing ordinary set-level mathematics in type theory. In this article, we construct models of a wide range of higher inductive types in a fairly wide range of settings. We introduce the notion of cell monad with parameters: a semantically-defined scheme for specifying homotopically well-behaved notions of structure. We then show that any suitable model category has *weakly stable typal initial algebras* for any cell monad with parameters. When combined with the local universes construction to obtain strict stability, this specializes to give models of specific higher inductive types, including spheres, the torus, pushout types, truncations, the James construction, and general localisations. Our results apply in any sufficiently nice Quillen model category, including any right proper, simplicially locally cartesian closed, simplicial Cisinski model category (such as simplicial sets) and any locally presentable locally cartesian closed category (such as sets) with its trivial model structure. In particular, any locally presentable locally cartesian closed $(\infty,1)$-category is presented by some model category to which our results apply.

math.LO↗
arXiv2019

Displayed Categories

We introduce and develop the notion of *displayed categories*. A displayed category over a category C is equivalent to "a category D and functor F : D --> C", but instead of having a single collection of "objects of D" with a map to the objects of C, the objects are given as a family indexed by objects of C, and similarly for the morphisms. This encapsulates a common way of building categories in practice, by starting with an existing category and adding extra data/properties to the objects and morphisms. The interest of this seemingly trivial reformulation is that various properties of functors are more naturally defined as properties of the corresponding displayed categories. Grothendieck fibrations, for example, when defined as certain functors, use equality on objects in their definition. When defined instead as certain displayed categories, no reference to equality on objects is required. Moreover, almost all examples of fibrations in nature are, in fact, categories whose standard construction can be seen as going via displayed categories. We therefore propose displayed categories as a basis for the development of fibrations in the type-theoretic setting, and similarly for various other notions whose classical definitions involve equality on objects. Besides giving a conceptual clarification of such issues, displayed categories also provide a powerful tool in computer formalisation, unifying and abstracting common constructions and proof techniques of category theory, and enabling modular reasoning about categories of multi-component structures. As such, most of the material of this article has been formalised in Coq over the UniMath library, with the aim of providing a practical library for use in further developments.

math.CT↗
arXiv2018

The Simplicial Model of Univalent Foundations (after Voevodsky)

We present Voevodsky's construction of a model of univalent type theory in the category of simplicial sets. To this end, we first give a general technique for constructing categorical models of dependent type theory, using universes to obtain coherence. We then construct a (weakly) universal Kan fibration, and use it to exhibit a model in simplicial sets. Lastly, we introduce the Univalence Axiom, in several equivalent formulations, and show that it holds in our model. As a corollary, we conclude that Martin-Löf type theory with one univalent universe (formulated in terms of contextual categories) is at least as consistent as ZFC with two inaccessible cardinals.

math.LO↗
arXiv2018

Categorical structures for type theory in univalent foundations

In this paper, we analyze and compare three of the many algebraic structures that have been used for modeling dependent type theories: categories with families, split type-categories, and representable maps of presheaves. We study these in univalent type theory, where the comparisons between them can be given more elementarily than in set-theoretic foundations. Specifically, we construct maps between the various types of structures, and show that assuming the Univalence axiom, some of the comparisons are equivalences. We then analyze how these structures transfer along (weak and strong) equivalences of categories, and, in particular, show how they descend from a category (not assumed univalent/saturated) to its Rezk completion. To this end, we introduce relative universes, generalizing the preceding notions, and study the transfer of such relative universes along suitable structure. We work throughout in (intensional) dependent type theory; some results, but not all, assume the univalence axiom. All the material of this paper has been formalized in Coq, over the UniMath library.

math.LO↗
arXiv2018

The homotopy theory of type theories

We construct a left semi-model structure on the category of intensional type theories (precisely, on $\mathrm{CxlCat_{Id,1,Σ(,Π_{ext})}}$). This presents an $\infty$-category of such type theories; we show moreover that there is an $\infty$-functor $\mathrm{Cl}_\infty$ from there to the $\infty$-category of suitably structured quasi-categories. This allows a precise formulation of the conjectures that intensional type theory gives internal languages for higher categories, and provides a framework and toolbox for further progress on these conjectures.

math.CT↗
arXiv2017

Parametricity, automorphisms of the universe, and excluded middle

It is known that one can construct non-parametric functions by assuming classical axioms. Our work is a converse to that: we prove classical axioms in dependent type theory assuming specific instances of non-parametricity. We also address the interaction between classical axioms and the existence of automorphisms of a type universe. We work over intensional Martin-Löf dependent type theory, and in some results assume further principles including function extensionality, propositional extensionality, propositional truncation, and the univalence axiom.

cs.LO↗
arXiv2016

The HoTT Library: A formalization of homotopy type theory in Coq

We report on the development of the HoTT library, a formalization of homotopy type theory in the Coq proof assistant. It formalizes most of basic homotopy type theory, including univalence, higher inductive types, and significant amounts of synthetic homotopy theory, as well as category theory and modalities. The library has been used as a basis for several independent developments. We discuss the decisions that led to the design of the library, and we comment on the interaction of homotopy type theory with recently introduced features of Coq, such as universe polymorphism and private inductive types.

cs.LO↗
arXiv2016

A mechanization of the Blakers-Massey connectivity theorem in Homotopy Type Theory

This paper continues investigations in "synthetic homotopy theory": the use of homotopy type theory to give machine-checked proofs of constructions from homotopy theory We present a mechanized proof of the Blakers-Massey connectivity theorem, a result relating the higher-dimensional homotopy groups of a pushout type (roughly, a space constructed by gluing two spaces along a shared subspace) to those of the components of the pushout. This theorem gives important information about the pushout type, and has a number of useful corollaries, including the Freudenthal suspension theorem, which has been studied in previous formalizations. The new proof is more elementary than existing ones in abstract homotopy-theoretic settings, and the mechanization is concise and high-level, thanks to novel combinations of ideas from homotopy theory and type theory.

cs.LO↗
arXiv2015

Homotopy limits in type theory

Working in homotopy type theory, we provide a systematic study of homotopy limits of diagrams over graphs, formalized in the Coq proof assistant. We discuss some of the challenges posed by this approach to formalizing homotopy-theoretic material. We also compare our constructions with the more classical approach to homotopy limits via fibration categories.

math.LO↗
arXiv2015

The local universes model: an overlooked coherence construction for dependent type theories

We present a new coherence theorem for comprehension categories, providing strict models of dependent type theory with all standard constructors, including dependent products, dependent sums, identity types, and other inductive types. Precisely, we take as input a "weak model": a comprehension category, equipped with structure corresponding to the desired logical constructions. We assume throughout that the base category is close to locally Cartesian closed: specifically, that products and certain exponentials exist. Beyond this, we require only that the logical structure should be *weakly stable* --- a pure existence statement, not involving any specific choice of structure, weaker than standard categorical Beck--Chevalley conditions, and holding in the now standard homotopy-theoretic models of type theory. Given such a comprehension category, we construct an equivalent split one, whose logical structure is strictly stable under reindexing. This yields an interpretation of type theory with the chosen constructors. The model is adapted from Voevodsky's use of universes for coherence, and at the level of fibrations is a classical construction of Giraud. It may be viewed in terms of local universes or delayed substitutions.

math.LO↗
arXiv2013

An Introduction to Quantum Programming in Quipper

Quipper is a recently developed programming language for expressing quantum computations. This paper gives a brief tutorial introduction to the language, through a demonstration of how to make use of some of its key features. We illustrate many of Quipper's language features by developing a few well known examples of Quantum computation, including quantum teleportation, the quantum Fourier transform, and a quantum circuit for addition.

cs.PL↗