English

Unification and Logarithmic Space

Logic in Computer Science 2023-06-22 v2

Abstract

We present an algebraic characterization of the complexity classes Logspace and Nlogspace, using an algebra with a composition law based on unification. This new bridge between unification and complexity classes is rooted in proof theory and more specifically linear logic and geometry of interaction. We show how to build a model of computation in the unification algebra and then, by means of a syntactic representation of finite permutations in the algebra, we prove that whether an observation (the algebraic counterpart of a program) accepts a word can be decided within logarithmic space. Finally, we show that the construction naturally corresponds to pointer machines, a convenient way of understanding logarithmic space computation.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1805.11988,
  title  = {Unification and Logarithmic Space},
  author = {Clément Aubert and Marc Bagnol},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1805.11988},
  year   = {2023}
}

Comments

arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1402.4327

R2 v1 2026-06-23T02:13:21.275Z