English

Approximation theory for distant Bang calculus

Logic in Computer Science 2026-05-01 v3

Abstract

Approximation semantics capture the observable behaviour of {\lambda}-terms, with B\"ohm Trees and Taylor Expansion standing as two central paradigms. Although conceptually different, these notions are related via the Commutation Theorem, which links the Taylor expansion of a term to that of its B\"ohm tree. These notions are well understood in Call-by-Name {\lambda}-calculus and have been more recently introduced in Call-by-Value settings. Since these two evaluation strategies traditionally require separate theories, a natural next step is to seek a unified setting for approximation semantics. The Bang-calculus offers exactly such a framework, subsuming both CbN and CbV through linear-logic translations while providing robust rewriting properties. However, its approximation semantics is yet to be fully developed. In this work, we develop the approximation semantics for dBang, the Bang-calculus with explicit substitutions and distant reductions. We define B\"ohm trees and Taylor expansion within dBang and establish their fundamental properties. Our results subsume and generalize Call-By-Name and Call-By-Value through their translations into Bang, offering a single framework that uniformly captures infinitary and resource-sensitive semantics across evaluation strategies.

Cite

@article{arxiv.2601.05199,
  title  = {Approximation theory for distant Bang calculus},
  author = {Kostia Chardonnet and Jules Chouquet and Axel Kerinec},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2601.05199},
  year   = {2026}
}

Comments

29 pages

R2 v1 2026-07-01T08:56:42.191Z