Related papers: Deciding First-Order Satisfiability when Universal…
Separation logic and its variants can describe various properties on pointer programs. However, when it comes to properties on sequences, one may find it hard to formalize. To deal with properties on variable-length sequences and multilevel…
Existential rules, long known as tuple-generating dependencies in database theory, have been intensively studied in the last decade as a powerful formalism to represent ontological knowledge in the context of ontology-based query answering.…
We study an extension of FO^2[<], first-order logic interpreted in finite words, in which formulas are restricted to use only two variables. We adjoin to this language two-variable atomic formulas that say, `the letter a appears between…
The Satisfiability Modulo Theories (SMT) issue concerns the satisfiability of formulae from multiple background theories, usually expressed in the language of first-order predicate logic with equality. SMT solvers are often based on…
We study the question of whether, for a given class of finite graphs, one can define, for each graph of the class, a linear ordering in monadic second-order logic, possibly with the help of monadic parameters. We consider two variants of…
This paper proves that a plactic monoid of any finite rank will have decidable first order theory. This resolves other open decidability problems about the finite rank plactic monoids, such as the Diophantine problem and identity checking.…
The first-order theory of a string automatic structure is known to be decidable, but there are examples of string automatic structures with nonelementary first-order theories. We prove that the first-order theory of a string automatic…
We consider first-order logic with monoidal quantifiers over words. We show that all languages with a neutral letter, definable using the addition numerical predicate are also definable with the order predicate as the only numerical…
This paper proposes an alternative to standard first-order logic that seeks greater naturalness, generality, and semantic self-containment. The system removes the first-order restriction, avoids type hierarchies, and dispenses with external…
Concatenation hierarchies are classifications of regular languages. All such hierarchies are built through the same construction process: start from an initial class of languages and build new levels using two generic operations.…
In Apt and Bezem [AB99] (see cs.LO/9811017) we provided a computational interpretation of first-order formulas over arbitrary interpretations. Here we complement this work by introducing a denotational semantics for first-order logic.…
For a fixed countably infinite structure \Gamma\ with finite relational signature \tau, we study the following computational problem: input are quantifier-free \tau-formulas \phi_0,\phi_1,...,\phi_n that define relations R_0,R_1,...,R_n…
Among the various forms of reasoning studied in the context of artificial intelligence, qualitative reasoning makes it possible to infer new knowledge in the context of imprecise, incomplete information without numerical values. In this…
We prove decidability of the boundedness problem for monadic least fixed-point recursion based on positive monadic second-order (MSO) formulae over trees. Given an MSO-formula phi(X,x) that is positive in X, it is decidable whether the…
We extend the two-variable logic on data words with guarded regular binary predicates of the form $\widetilde{L}(x,y)$ that is true if positions $x$ and $y$ are in the same class and the factor strictly between $x$ and $y$ is in the regular…
We consider the quantifier alternation hierarchy within two-variable first-order logic FO^2[<,suc] over finite words with linear order and binary successor predicate. We give a single identity of omega-terms for each level of this…
The class of problems complete for NP via first-order reductions is known to be characterized by existential second-order sentences of a fixed form. All such sentences are built around the so-called generalized IS-form of the sentence that…
Architectural imperatives due to the slowing of Moore's Law, the broad acceptance of relaxed semantics and the O(n!) worst case verification complexity of generating sequential histories motivate a new approach to concurrent correctness.…
We explore new interactions between finite model theory and classical streams of universal algebra and semigroup theory. A key result is an example of finite algebras whose variety is not finitely axiomatisable in first order logic, but…
We study the question of whether a given regular language of finite trees can be defined in first-order logic. We develop an algebraic approach to address this question and we use it to derive several necessary and sufficient conditions for…