Related papers: Universal First-Order Logic is Superfluous for NL,…
We show that for any $i > 0$, it is decidable, given a regular language, whether it is expressible in the $\Sigma_i[<]$ fragment of first-order logic FO[<]. This settles a question open since 1971. Our main technical result relies on the…
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…
Monadic second order logic and linear temporal logic are two logical formalisms that can be used to describe classes of infinite words, i.e., first-order models based on the natural numbers with order, successor, and finitely many unary…
We prove that deciding whether a given input word contains as subsequence every possible permutation of integers $\{1,2,\ldots,n\}$ is coNP-complete. The coNP-completeness holds even when given the guarantee that the input word contains as…
Descriptive complexity theory aims at inferring a problem's computational complexity from the syntactic complexity of its description. A cornerstone of this theory is Fagin's Theorem, by which a graph property is expressible in existential…
Large complexity classes, like the exponential time hierarchy, received little attention in terms of finding complete problems. In this work a generalization of propositional logic is investigated which fills this gap with the introduction…
We study elementary modal logics, i.e. modal logic considered over first-order definable classes of frames. The classical semantics of modal logic allows infinite structures, but often practical applications require to restrict our…
In this paper, first-order logic is interpreted in the framework of universal algebra, using the clone theory developed in three previous papers. We first define the free clone T(L, C) of terms of a first order language L over a set C of…
We extend Lawvere-Pitts prop-categories (aka. hyperdoctrines) to develop a general framework for providing "algebraic" semantics for nonclassical first-order logics. This framework includes a natural notion of substitution, which allows…
We consider an extension of first-order logic with a recursion operator that corresponds to allowing formulas to refer to themselves. We investigate the obtained language under two different systems of semantics, thereby obtaining two…
Many natural combinatorial problems can be expressed as constraint satisfaction problems. This class of problems is known to be NP-complete in general, but certain restrictions on the form of the constraints can ensure tractability. The…
We provide a simple translation of the satisfiability problem for regular grammar logics with converse into GF2, which is the intersection of the guarded fragment and the 2-variable fragment of first-order logic. This translation is…
We prove that a random group, in Gromov's density model with $d < 1/16$ satisfies with overwhelming probability a universal-existential first-order sentence $\sigma$ (in the language of groups) if and only if $\sigma$ is true in a…
The celebrated Trakhtenbrot's theorem states that the set of finitely valid sentences of first-order logic is not computably enumerable. In this note we will extend this theorem by proving that the finite satisfiability problem of any…
Stalnaker and Thomason famously proved that the conditional logic \textsf{C2} with first-order quantifiers is complete with respect to a selection function semantics. However, the selection functions used in this completeness result take…
An automaton is partially ordered if the only cycles in its transition diagram are self-loops. The expressivity of partially ordered NFAs (poNFAs) can be characterized by the Straubing-Th\'erien hierarchy. Level 3/2 is recognized by poNFAs,…
We start the study of the enumeration complexity of different satisfiability problems in first-order team logics. Since many of our problems go beyond DelP, we use a framework for hard enumeration analogous to the polynomial hierarchy,…
To answer database queries over incomplete data the gold standard is finding certain answers: those that are true regardless of how incomplete data is interpreted. Such answers can be found efficiently for conjunctive queries and their…
In this article we formally define and investigate the computational complexity of the Definability Problem for open first-order formulas (i.e., quantifier free first-order formulas) with equality. Given a logic $\mathbf{\mathcal{L}}$, the…
Exactly solving first-order constraints (i.e., first-order formulas over a certain predefined structure) can be a very hard, or even undecidable problem. In continuous structures like the real numbers it is promising to compute approximate…