Related papers: Proving Program Properties as First-Order Satisfia…
In considering the reliability of numerical programs, it is normal to "limit our study to the semantics dealing with numerical precision" (Martel, 2005). On the other hand, there is a great deal of work on the reliability of programs that…
A formula $\phi$ is called \emph{$n$-provable} in a formal arithmetical theory $S$ if $\phi$ is provable in $S$ together with all true arithmetical $\Pi_{n}$-sentences taken as additional axioms. While in general the set of all $n$-provable…
In a previous paper we have presented a CEGAR approach for the verification of parameterized systems with an arbitrary number of processes organized in an array or a ring. The technique is based on the iterative computation of parameterized…
A finite number of rational functions are compatible if they satisfy the compatibility conditions of a first-order linear functional system involving differential, shift and q-shift operators. We present a theorem that describes the…
In this paper, we identify a fragment of second-order logic with restricted quantification that is expressive enough to capture numerous static analysis problems (e.g. safety proving, bug finding, termination and non-termination proving,…
This paper considers the problem of building saturated models for first-order graded logics. We define types as pairs of sets of formulas in one free variable which express properties that an element is expected, respectively, to satisfy…
It is well known that ZFC, despite its usefulness as a foundational theory for mathematics, has two unwanted features: it cannot be written down explicitly due to its infinitely many axioms, and it has a countable model due to the…
We investigate a generalization of the {\L}o\'s-Tarski preservation theorem via the semantic notion of \emph{preservation under substructures modulo $k$-sized cores}. It was shown earlier that over arbitrary structures, this semantic notion…
Orbit-finite models of computation generalise the standard models of computation, to allow computation over infinite objects that are finite up to symmetries on atoms, denoted by $\mathbb{A}$. Set theory with atoms is used to reason about…
In this paper, a Gaifman-Shapiro-style module architecture is tailored to the case of Smodels programs under the stable model semantics. The composition of Smodels program modules is suitably limited by module conditions which ensure the…
A first-order theory $T$ is a model-complete core theory if every first-order formula is equivalent modulo $T$ to an existential positive formula; the core companion of a theory $T$ is a model-complete core theory $S$ such that every model…
In prior work, we showed that logic programming compilation can be given a proof-theoretic justification for generic abstract logic programming languages, and demonstrated this technique in the case of hereditary Harrop formulas and their…
We study the complexity of the model checking problem, for fixed model A, over certain fragments L of first-order logic. These are sometimes known as the expression complexities of L. We obtain various complexity classification theorems for…
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…
Given a first-order sentence, a model-checking computation tests whether the sentence holds true in a given finite structure. Data provenance extracts from this computation an abstraction of the manner in which its result depends on the…
Blocked clauses provide the basis for powerful reasoning techniques used in SAT, QBF, and DQBF solving. Their definition, which relies on a simple syntactic criterion, guarantees that they are both redundant and easy to find. In this paper,…
A re-construction of the fundamentals of programming as a small mathematical theory (PRISM) based on elementary set theory. Highlights: $\bullet$ Zero axioms. No properties are assumed, all are proved (from standard set theory). $\bullet$ A…
We investigate the decidability of the definability problem for fragments of first order logic over finite words enriched with modular predicates. Our approach aims toward the most generic statements that we could achieve, which…
Throughout, $T$ denotes a complete first-order theory in a countable language $L$ that has infinite models and $I(\aleph_0,T)$ denotes the number of countable models of $T$, up to an isomorphism. To determine $I(\aleph_0,T)$, it suffices to…
Modelling software product line (SPL) features plays a crucial role to a successful development of SPL. Feature diagram is one of the widely used notations to model SPL variants. However, there is a lack of precisely defined formal…