The distinction of the semantic spaces of elements and types is common practice in practically all type systems. A few type systems, including some early ones, have been proposed whose semantic space has functions only, i.e., depending on the context functions may play element roles as well as type roles. All of these systems are either lacking expressive power, in particular, polymorphism, or they violate uniqueness of types. This work presents for the first time a function-based type system in which typing is a relation between functions and which is using an ordering of functions to introduce bounded polymorphism. The ordering is based on an infinite set of top objects, itself strictly linearly ordered, each of which characterizes a certain function space. These top objects are predicative in the sense that a function using some top object cannot be smaller than this object. The interpretation of proposition as types and elements as proofs remains valid and is extended by viewing the ordering between types as logical implication. The proposed system can be shown to satisfy confluence and subject reduction. Furthermore one can show that the ordering is a partial order, every set of expressions has a maximal element, and there is a (unique) minimal, logically strongest, type among all types of an element. The latter result implies an alternative notion of uniqueness of types. Strong normalisation is the deepest property and its proof is based on a well-founded relation defined over a subsystem of expressions without eliminators. Semantic abstraction of the objects involved in typing, i.e., to use functions in element as well as type roles in a relational setting, is the major contribution of function-based type systems. This work shows that dependent products are not necessary for defining type systems with bounded polymorphism, rather it presents a consistent system with bounded polymorphism and minimal types where typing is a relation between partially ordered functions.

In this paper we study logical bilateralism understood as a theory of two primitive derivability relations, namely provability and refutability, in a language devoid of a primitive strong negation and without a falsum constant, $\bot $, and a verum constant, $\top $. There is thus no negation that toggles between provability and refutability, and there are no primitive constants that are used to define an “implies falsity” negation and a “co-implies truth” co-negation. This reduction of expressive power notwithstanding, there remains some interaction between provability and refutability due to the presence of (i) a conditional and the refutability condition of conditionals and (ii) a co-implication and the provability condition of co-implications. Moreover, assuming a hyperconnexive understanding of refuting conditionals and a dual understanding of proving co-implications, neither non-trivial negation inconsistency nor hyperconnexivity is lost for unary negation connectives definable by means of certain surrogates of falsum and verum. Whilst a critical attitude towards $\bot $ and $\top $ can be justified by problematic aspects of the Brouwer-Heyting-Kolmogorov interpretation of the logical operations for these constants, the aim to reduce the availability of a toggling negation and observations on undefinability may also give further reasons to abandon $\bot $ and $\top $.

This paper studies which truth-values are most likely to be taken on finite models by arbitrary sentences of a many-valued predicate logic. The classical zero-one law (independently proved by Fagin and Glebskiĭ et al.) states that every sentence in a purely relational language is almost surely false or almost surely true, meaning that the probability that the formula is true in a randomly chosen finite structures of cardinal n is asymptotically $0$ or $1$ as n grows to infinity. We obtain generalizations of this result for any logic with values in a finite lattice-ordered algebra, and for some infinitely valued logics, including Łukasiewicz logic. The finitely valued case is reduced to the classical one through a uniform translation and Oberschelp’s generalization of the zero-one law. Moreover, it is shown that the complexity of determining the almost sure value of a given sentence is PSPACE-complete (generalizing Grandjean’s result for the classical case), and for some logics we describe completely the set of truth-values that can be taken by sentences almost surely.

We study versions of the tree pigeonhole principle, $\mathsf {TT}^1$, in the context of Weihrauch-style computable analysis. The principle has previously been the subject of extensive research in reverse mathematics, an outstanding question of which investigation is whether $\mathsf {TT}^1$ is $\Pi ^1_1$-conservative over the ordinary pigeonhole principle, $\mathsf {RT}^1$. Using the recently introduced notion of the first-order part of an instance-solution problem, we formulate the analog of this question for Weihrauch reducibility, and give an affirmative answer. In combination with other results, we use this to show that unlike $\mathsf {RT}^1$, the problem $\mathsf {TT}^1$ is not Weihrauch requivalent to any first-order problem. Our proofs develop new combinatorial machinery for constructing and understanding solutions to instances of $\mathsf {TT}^1$.

Glivenko’s theorem says that classical provability of a propositional formula entails intuitionistic provability of the double negation of that formula. This stood right at the beginning of the success story of negative translations, indeed mainly designed for converting classically derivable formulae into intuitionistically derivable ones. We now generalise this approach: simultaneously from double negation to an arbitrary nucleus; from provability in a calculus to an inductively generated abstract consequence relation; and from propositional logic to any set of objects whatsoever. In particular, we give sharp criteria for the generalisation of classical logic to be a conservative extension of the one of intuitionistic logic with double negation.

A left-variable word over an alphabet A is a word over $A \cup \{\star \}$ whose first letter is the distinguished symbol $\star $ standing for a placeholder. The ordered variable word theorem ($\mathsf {OVW}$), also known as Carlson–Simpson’s theorem, is a tree partition theorem, stating that for every finite alphabet A and every finite coloring of the words over A, there exists a word $c_0$ and an infinite sequence of left-variable words $w_1, w_2, \dots $ such that $\{ c_0 \cdot w_1[a_1] \cdot \dots \cdot w_k[a_k] : k \in \mathbb {N}, a_1, \dots , a_k \in A \}$ is monochromatic.

In this article, we prove that $\mathsf {OVW}$ is $\Pi ^0_4$-conservative over $\mathsf {RCA}_0 + \mathsf {B}\Sigma ^0_2$. This implies in particular that $\mathsf {OVW}$ does not imply $\mathsf {ACA}_0$ over $\mathsf {RCA}_0$. This is the first principle for which the only known separation from $\mathsf {ACA}_0$ involves non-standard models.

In this article, we propose a new classification of $\Sigma ^0_2$ formulas under the realizability interpretation of many-one reducibility (i.e., Levin reducibility). For example, $\mathsf {Fin}$, the decision of being eventually zero for sequences, is many-one/Levin complete among $\Sigma ^0_2$ formulas of the form $\exists n\forall m\geq n.\varphi (m,x)$, where $\varphi $ is decidable. The decision of boundedness for sequences $\mathsf {BddSeq}$ and for width of posets $\mathsf {FinWidth}$ are many-one/Levin complete among $\Sigma ^0_2$ formulas of the form $\exists n\forall m\geq n\forall k.\varphi (m,k,x)$, where $\varphi $ is decidable. However, unlike the classical many-one reducibility, none of the above is $\Sigma ^0_2$-complete. The decision of non-density of linear orders $\mathsf {NonDense}$ is truly $\Sigma ^0_2$-complete.

On relational structures and on polymodal logics, we describe operations which preserve local tabularity. This provides new sufficient semantic and axiomatic conditions for local tabularity of a modal logic. The main results are the following.

We show that local tabularity does not depend on reflexivity. Namely, given a class $\mathcal {F}$ of frames, consider the class $\mathcal {F}^{\mathrm {r}}$ of frames, where the reflexive closure operation was applied to each relation in every frame in $\mathcal {F}$. We show that if the logic of $\mathcal {F}^{\mathrm {r}}$ is locally tabular, then the logic of $\mathcal {F}$ is locally tabular as well.

Then we consider the operation of sum on Kripke frames, where a family of frames-summands is indexed by elements of another frame. We show that if both the logic of indices and the logic of summands are locally tabular, then the logic of corresponding sums is also locally tabular.

Finally, using the previous theorem, we describe an operation on logics that preserves local tabularity: we provide a set of formulas such that the extension of the fusion of two canonical locally tabular logics with these formulas is locally tabular.

This paper continues the program connecting reverse mathematics and computable analysis via the framework of Weihrauch reducibility. In particular, we consider problems related to perfect subsets of Polish spaces, studying the perfect set theorem, the Cantor–Bendixson theorem, and various problems arising from them. In the framework of reverse mathematics, these theorems are equivalent, respectively, to $\mathsf {ATR}_0$ and $\boldsymbol {\Pi }^1_1{-}\mathsf{CA}_0$, the two strongest subsystems of second order arithmetic among the so-called big five. As far as we know, this is the first systematic study of problems at the level of $\boldsymbol {\Pi }^1_1{-}\mathsf{CA}_0$ in the Weihrauch lattice. We show that the strength of some of the problems we study depends on the topological properties of the Polish space under consideration, while others have the same strength once the space is rich enough.

The logico-algebraic study of Lewis’s hierarchy of variably strict conditional logics has been essentially unexplored, hindering our understanding of their mathematical foundations, and the connections with other logical systems. This work starts filling this gap by providing a logico-algebraic analysis of Lewis’s logics. We begin by introducing novel finite axiomatizations for Lewis’s logics on the syntactic side, distinguishing between global and local consequence relations on Lewisian sphere models on the semantical side, in parallel to the case of modal logic. As first main results, we prove the strong completeness of the calculi with respect to the corresponding semantical consequence on spheres, and a deduction theorem. We then demonstrate that the global calculi are strongly algebraizable in terms of a variety of Boolean algebras with a binary operator representing the counterfactual implication; in contrast, we show that the local ones are generally not algebraizable, although they can be characterized as the degree-preserving logic over the same algebraic models. This yields the strong completeness of all the logics with respect to the algebraic models.

Condensed mathematics, developed by Clausen and Scholze over the last few years, proposes a generalization of topology with better categorical properties. It replaces the concept of a topological space by that of a condensed set, which can be defined as a sheaf for the coherent topology on a certain category of compact Hausdorff spaces. In this case, the sheaf condition has a fairly simple explicit description, which arises from studying the relationship between the coherent, regular, and extensive topologies. In this paper, we establish this relationship under minimal assumptions on the category, going beyond the case of compact Hausdorff spaces. Along the way, we also provide a characterization of sheaves and covering sieves for these categories. All results in this paper have been fully formalized in the Lean proof assistant.

For relevant logics, the admissibility of the rule of proof $\gamma $ has played a significant historical role in the development of relevant logics. For first-order logics, however, there have been only a handful of $\gamma $-admissibility proofs for a select few logics. Here we show that, for each logic L of a wide range of propositional relevant logics for which excluded middle is valid (with fusion and the Ackermann truth constant), the first-order extensions QL and LQ admit $\gamma $. Specifically, these are particular “conventionally normal” extensions of the logic $\mathbf {G}^{g,d}$, which is the least propositional relevant logic (with the usual relational semantics) that admits $\gamma $ by the method of normal models. We also note the circumstances in which our results apply to logics without fusion and the Ackermann truth constant.

Reverse Mathematics (RM) is a program in the foundations of mathematics where the aim is to find the minimal axioms needed to prove a given theorem of ordinary mathematics. Generally, the minimal axioms are equivalent to the theorem at hand, assuming a weak logical system called the base theory. Moreover, many theorems are either provable in the base theory or equivalent to one of four logical systems, together called the Big Five. For instance, the Weierstrass approximation theorem, i.e., that a continuous function can be approximated uniformly by a sequence of polynomials, has been classified in RM as being equivalent to weak König’s lemma, the second Big Five system. In this paper, we study approximation theorems for discontinuous functions via Bernstein polynomials from the literature. We obtain many equivalences between the latter and weak König’s lemma. We also show that slight variations of these approximation theorems fall far outside of the Big Five but fit in the recently developed RM of new ‘big’ systems, namely the uncountability of ${\mathbb R}$, the enumeration principle for countable sets, the pigeon-hole principle for measure, and the Baire category theorem.

We show that there exists a recursive coloring function c such that any $\Pi ^0_3$ set is not a solution to c for Hindman’s theorem. We also show that there exists a recursive coloring function c such that any $\Delta ^0_3$ set is not a solution to c for Hindman’s theorem restricted to sums of at most three numbers.

Continuous functions on the unit interval are relatively tame from the logical and computational point of view. A similar behaviour is exhibited by continuous functions on compact metric spaces equipped with a countable dense subset. It is then a natural question what happens if we omit the latter ‘extra data’, i.e., work with ‘unrepresented’ compact metric spaces. In this paper, we study basic third-order statements about continuous functions on such unrepresented compact metric spaces in Kohlenbach’s higher-order Reverse Mathematics. We establish that some (very specific) statements are classified in the (second-order) Big Five of Reverse Mathematics, while most variations/generalisations are not provable from the latter, and much stronger systems. Thus, continuous functions on unrepresented metric spaces are ‘wild’, though ‘more tame’ than (slightly) discontinuous functions on the reals.

In this thesis, we study the complexity of some mathematical problems: in particular, those arising in computable analysis and algorithmic learning theory for algebraic structures. Our study is not limited to these two areas: indeed, in both cases, the results we obtain are tightly connected to ideas and tools coming from different areas of mathematical logic, including for example descriptive set theory and reverse mathematics.

After giving the necessary preliminaries, we first study the uniform computational strength of the Cantor–Bendixson theorem in the Weihrauch lattice. This work falls into the program connecting reverse mathematics and computable analysis via the framework of Weihrauch reducibility. We concentrate on problems related to perfect subsets of Polish spaces, studying the perfect set theorem, the Cantor–Bendixson theorem, and various problems arising from them. As far as we know, this is the first systematic study of problems at the level of $\mathbf {\Pi }^1_1\mathsf {-CA}_0$ in the Weihrauch lattice. We show that the strength of some of the problems we study depends on the topological properties of the Polish space under consideration, while others have the same strength once the space is rich enough.

We continue considering problems related to (induced) subgraphs. We provide results on the (effective) Wadge complexity of sets of graphs, that are also used to determine the Weihrauch degree of certain decision problems. The decision problems we consider are defined for a fixed graph G, and they take as input a graph H, answering whether G is an (induced) subgraph of H: we also consider the opposite problem (i.e., answering whether H is an induced subgraph of G). We conclude this part on (induced) subgraphs considering the Weihrauch degree of “search problems.”These problems are defined for a fixed graph G, and they take as input a graph H such that G is an (induced) subgraph H: the output is a copy of G in H. In both cases, we highlight differences and analogies between the subgraph and the induced subgraph relation.

We then move our attention to algorithmic learning theory, and we present the framework we use to study the learnability of families of algebraic structures: here, given a countable family of pairwise nonisomorphic structures $\mathfrak {K}$, a learner receives larger and larger pieces of an arbitrary copy of a structure in $\mathfrak {K}$ and, at each stage, is required to output a conjecture about the isomorphism type of such a structure. We say that $\mathfrak {K}$ is learnable if there exists a learner which eventually stabilizes to a correct guess. The framework was lacking a method for comparing the complexity of nonlearnable families, and so we propose a solution to this problem using tools coming from invariant descriptive set theory. To do so, we first prove that a family of structures is learnable if and only if its learning domain is continuously reducible to the relation $E_0$ of eventual agreement on infinite binary sequences and then, replacing $E_0$ with Borel equivalence relations of higher complexity, we obtain a new hierarchy of learning problems. This leads to the notion of E-learnability, where a family of structures $\mathfrak {K}$ is E-learnable, for a Borel equivalence relation E, if there is a continuous reduction from the isomorphism relation associated with $\mathfrak {K}$ to E. It is then natural to ask how the notion of E-learnability interacts with “classical” learning paradigms.

Finally, we study the number of mind changes that a learner needs to learn a given family, both from a topological and a combinatorial point of view, and we consider how the complexity of a learner (in terms of Turing reducibility) affects the number of mind changes for learning a given family.

Abstract prepared by Vittorio Cipriani.

E-mail: [email protected].

URL: https://air.uniud.it/handle/11390/1252226.

Propositional temporal logic over the real number time flow is finitely axiomatisable, but its first-order counterpart is not recursively axiomatisable. We study the logic that combines the propositional axiomatisation with the usual axioms for first-order logic with identity, and develop an alternative “admissible” semantics for it, showing that it is strongly complete for admissible models over the reals. By contrast there is no recursive axiomatisation of the first-order temporal logic of admissible models whose time flow is the integers, or any scattered linear ordering.

Recently, it has been proposed to understand a logic as containing not only a validity canon for inferences but also a validity canon for metainferences of any finite level. Then, it has been shown that it is possible to construct infinite hierarchies of ‘increasingly classical’ logics—that is, logics that are classical at the level of inferences and of increasingly higher metainferences—all of which admit a transparent truth predicate. In this paper, we extend this line of investigation by taking a somehow different route. We explore logics that are different from classical logic at the level of inferences, but recover some important aspects of classical logic at every metainferential level. We dub such systems meta-classical non-classical logics. We argue that the systems presented deserve to be regarded as logics in their own right and, moreover, are potentially useful for the non-classical logician.

Bochvar algebras consist of the quasivariety $\mathsf {BCA}$ playing the role of equivalent algebraic semantics for Bochvar (external) logic, a logical formalism introduced by Bochvar [4] in the realm of (weak) Kleene logics. In this paper, we provide an algebraic investigation of the structure of Bochvar algebras. In particular, we prove a representation theorem based on Płonka sums and investigate the lattice of subquasivarieties, showing that Bochvar (external) logic has only one proper extension (apart from classical logic), algebraized by the subquasivariety $\mathsf {NBCA}$ of $\mathsf {BCA}$. Furthermore, we address the problem of (passive) structural completeness ((P)SC) for each of them, showing that $\mathsf {NBCA}$ is SC, while $\mathsf {BCA}$ is not even PSC. Finally, we prove that both $\mathsf {BCA}$ and $\mathsf {NBCA}$ enjoy the amalgamation property (AP).

In this paper we consider the classes of all continuous $\mathcal {L}$-(pre-)structures for a continuous first-order signature $\mathcal {L}$. We characterize the moduli of continuity for which the classes of finite, countable, or all continuous $\mathcal {L}$-(pre-)structures have the amalgamation property. We also characterize when Urysohn continuous $\mathcal {L}$-(pre)-structures exist, establish that certain classes of finite continuous $\mathcal {L}$-structures are countable Fraïssé classes, prove the coherent EPPA for these classes of finite continuous $\mathcal {L}$-structures, and show that actions by automorphisms on finite $\mathcal {L}$-structures also form a Fraïssé class. As consequences, we have that the automorphism group of the Urysohn continuous $\mathcal {L}$-structure is a universal Polish group and that Hall’s universal locally finite group is contained in the automorphism group of the Urysohn continuous $\mathcal {L}$-structure as a dense subgroup.