Related papers: From Quantifier Depth to Quantifier Number: Separa…
We indicate a way of distinguishing between structures, for which, we call two structures distinguishable. Roughly, being distinguishable means that they differ in the number of realizations each gives for some formula. Being…
We investigate quantifier alternation hierarchies in first-order logic on finite words. Levels in these hierarchies are defined by counting the number of quantifier alternations in formulas. We prove that one can decide membership of a…
It is well-known that every first-order property on words is expressible using at most three variables. The subclass of properties expressible with only two variables is also quite interesting and well-studied. We prove precise structure…
The Feferman-Vaught theorem provides a way of evaluating a first order sentence $\varphi$ on a disjoint union of structures by producing a decomposition of $\varphi$ into sentences which can be evaluated on the individual structures and the…
Given a relational structure M on n elements, let D(M) be the minimum quantifier rank of a first order formula identifying M up to isomorphism in the class of n-element structures. The obvious upper bound is D(M)\le n. We show that if the…
Automatic structures are first-order structures whose universe and relations can be represented as regular languages. It follows from the standard closure properties of regular languages that the first-order theory of an automatic structure…
Counting logics with a bounded number of variables form one of the central concepts in descriptive complexity theory. Although they restrict the number of variables that a formula can contain, the variables can be nested within scopes of…
One-dimensional fragment of first-order logic is obtained by restricting quantification to blocks of existential (universal) quantifiers that leave at most one variable free. We investigate this fragment over words and trees, presenting a…
The relationship between Lexical-Functional Grammar (LFG) {\em functional structures} (f-structures) for sentences and their semantic interpretations can be expressed directly in a fragment of linear logic in a way that correctly explains…
Let $n_0(N,k)$ be the number of initial Fourier coefficients necessary to distinguish newforms of level $N$ and even weight $k$. We produce extensive data to support our conjecture that if $N$ is a fixed squarefree positive integer and $k$…
We introduce the finite-horizon first-order rank profile of a language $L \subseteq \Sigma^*$: the least quantifier rank needed by an $\mathrm{FO}[<]$ sentence to classify membership in $L$ correctly on all words of length at most $n$. The…
We say that a first order formula A distinguishes a graph G from another graph G' if A is true on G and false on G'. Provided G and G' are non-isomorphic, let D(G,G') denote the minimal quantifier rank of a such formula. We prove that, if G…
Previous work of the author [39] showed that the Homomorphism Preservation Theorem of classical model theory remains valid when its statement is restricted to finite structures. In this paper, we give a new proof of this result via a…
An essential ingredient in many examples of the conflict between quantum theory and noncontextual hidden variables (e.g., the proof of the Kochen-Specker theorem and Hardy's proof of Bell's theorem) is a set of atomic propositions about the…
In several articles, this author has advocated an alternative approach towards quantum foundation based upon a set of postulates, and based upon the notions of theoretical variables and of accessible theoretical variables. It is shown in…
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.…
Given a compact basic semi-algebraic set $K\subset R^n\times R^m$, a simple set $B$ (box or ellipsoid), and some semi-algebraic function $f$, we consider sets defined with quantifiers, of the form $R_f:=\{x\in B: \mbox{$f(x,y)\leq 0$ for…
Given any collection F of computable functions over the reals, we show that there exists an algorithm that, given any L_F-sentence \varphi containing only bounded quantifiers, and any positive rational number \delta, decides either "\varphi…
We study a model where two opposing provers debate over the membership status of a given string in a language, trying to convince a weak verifier whose coins are visible to all. We show that the incorporation of just two qubits to an…
We consider the Quantifier Elimination (QE) problem for propositional CNF formulas with existential quantifiers. QE plays a key role in formal verification. Earlier, we presented an approach based on the following observation. To perform…