0000000001037033
AUTHOR
Lidia Tendera
On the decision problem for the guarded fragment with transitivity
The guarded fragment with transitive guards, [GF+TG], is an extension of GF in which certain relations are required to be transitive, transitive predicate letters appear only in guards of the quantifiers and the equality symbol may appear everywhere. We prove that the decision problem for [GF+TG] is decidable. This answers the question posed in (Ganzinger et al., 1999). Moreover, we show that the problem is 2EXPTIME-complete. This result is optimal since the satisfiability problem for GF is 2EXPTIME-complete (Gradel, 1999). We also show that the satisfiability problem for two-variable [GF+TG] is NEXPTIME-hard in contrast to GF with bounded number of variables for which the satisfiability pr…
Finite Satisfiability of the Two-Variable Guarded Fragment with Transitive Guards and Related Variants
We consider extensions of the two-variable guarded fragment, GF2, where distinguished binary predicates that occur only in guards are required to be interpreted in a special way (as transitive relations, equivalence relations, pre-orders or partial orders). We prove that the only fragment that retains the finite (exponential) model property is GF2 with equivalence guards without equality. For remaining fragments we show that the size of a minimal finite model is at most doubly exponential. To obtain the result we invent a strategy of building finite models that are formed from a number of multidimensional grids placed over a cylindrical surface. The construction yields a 2NExpTime-upper bou…
The Fluted Fragment with Transitivity
We study the satisfiability problem for the fluted fragment extended with transitive relations. We show that the logic enjoys the finite model property when only one transitive relation is available. On the other hand we show that the satisfiability problem is undecidable already for the two-variable fragment of the logic in the presence of three transitive relations.
Equivalence closure in the two-variable guarded fragment
We consider the satisfiability and finite satisfiability problems for the extension of the two-variable guarded fragment in which an equivalence closure operator can be applied to two distinguished binary predicates. We show that the satisfiability and finite satisfiability problems for this logic are 2-ExpTime-complete. This contrasts with an earlier result that the corresponding problems for the full two-variable logic with equivalence closures of two binary predicates are 2-NExpTime-complete.
Quine’s Fluted Fragment is Non-elementary
We study the fluted fragment, a decidable fragment of first-order logic with an unbounded number of variables, originally identified by W.V. Quine. We show that the satisfiability problem for this fragment has non-elementary complexity, thus refuting an earlier published claim by W.C. Purdy that it is in NExpTime. More precisely, we consider, for all m greater than 1, the intersectionof the fluted fragment and the m-variable fragment of first-order logic. We show that this subfragment forces (m/2)-tuply exponentially large models, and that its satisfiability problem is (m/2)-NExpTime-hard. We round off by using a corrected version of Purdy’s construction to show that the m-variable fluted f…
The fluted fragment revisited
AbstractWe study the fluted fragment, a decidable fragment of first-order logic with an unbounded number of variables, motivated by the work of W. V. Quine. We show that the satisfiability problem for this fragment has nonelementary complexity, thus refuting an earlier published claim by W. C. Purdy that it is in NExpTime. More precisely, we consider ${\cal F}{{\cal L}^m}$, the intersection of the fluted fragment and the m-variable fragment of first-order logic, for all $m \ge 1$. We show that, for $m \ge 2$, this subfragment forces $\left\lfloor {m/2} \right\rfloor$-tuply exponentially large models, and that its satisfiability problem is $\left\lfloor {m/2} \right\rfloor$-NExpTime-hard. We…
Two-Variable First-Order Logic with Equivalence Closure
We consider the satisfiability and finite satisfiability problems for extensions of the two-variable fragment of first-order logic in which an equivalence closure operator can be applied to a fixed number of binary predicates. We show that the satisfiability problem for two-variable, first-order logic with equivalence closure applied to two binary predicates is in 2-NExpTime, and we obtain a matching lower bound by showing that the satisfiability problem for two-variable first-order logic in the presence of two equivalence relations is 2-NExpTime-hard. The logics in question lack the finite model property; however, we show that the same complexity bounds hold for the corresponding finite sa…
On Finite Satisfiability of the Guarded Fragment with Equivalence or Transitive Guards
The guarded fragment of first-order logic, GF, enjoys the finite model property, so the satisfiability and the finite satisfiability problems coincide. We are concerned with two extensions of the two-variable guarded fragment that do not possess the finite model property, namely, GF2 with equivalence and GF2 with transitive guards. We prove that in both cases every finitely satisfiable formula has a model of at most double exponential size w.r.t. its length. To obtain the result we invent a strategy of building finite models that are formed from a number of multidimensional grids placed over a cylindrical surface. The construction yields a 2NEXPTIME-upper bound on the complexity of the fini…
On the Finite Satisfiability Problem for the Guarded Fragment with Transitivity
We study the finite satisfiability problem for the guarded fragment with transitivity. We prove that in case of one transitive predicate the problem is decidable and its complexity is the same as the general satisfiability problem, i.e. 2Exptime-complete. We also show that finite models for sentences of GF with more transitive predicate letters used only in guards have essentially different properties than infinite ones.
The fluted fragment with transitive relations
Abstract The fluted fragment is a fragment of first-order logic (without equality) in which, roughly speaking, the order of quantification of variables coincides with the order in which those variables appear as arguments of predicates. It is known that this fragment has the finite model property. We consider extensions of the fluted fragment with various numbers of transitive relations, as well as the equality predicate. In the presence of one transitive relation (together with equality), the finite model property is lost; nevertheless, we show that the satisfiability and finite satisfiability problems for this extension remain decidable. We also show that the corresponding problems in the…
Querying the Guarded Fragment with Transitivity
We study the problem of answering a union of Boolean conjunctive queries q against a database Δ, and a logical theory φ which falls in the guarded fragment with transitive guards (GF + TG). We trace the frontier between decidability and undecidability of the problem under consideration. Surprisingly, we show that query answering under GF2 + TG, i.e., the two-variable fragment of GF + TG, is already undecidable (even without equality), whereas its monadic fragment is decidable; in fact, it is 2exptime-complete in combined complexity and coNP-complete in data complexity. We also show that for a restricted class of queries, query answering under GF+TG is decidable. © 2013 Springer-Verlag.
On the satisfiability problem for fragments of two-variable logic with one transitive relation
Abstract We study the satisfiability problem for two-variable first-order logic over structures with one transitive relation. We show that the problem is decidable in 2-NExpTime for the fragment consisting of formulas where existential quantifiers are guarded by transitive atoms. As this fragment enjoys neither the finite model property nor the tree model property, to show decidability we introduce a novel model construction technique based on the infinite Ramsey theorem. We also point out why the technique is not sufficient to obtain decidability for the full two-variable logic with one transitive relation; hence, contrary to our previous claim, [FO$^2$ with one transitive relation is deci…
The complexity of finite model reasoning in description logics
AbstractWe analyse the complexity of finite model reasoning in the description logic ALCQI, i.e., ALC augmented with qualifying number restrictions, inverse roles, and general TBoxes. It turns out that all relevant reasoning tasks such as concept satisfiability and ABox consistency are ExpTime-complete, regardless of whether the numbers in number restrictions are coded unarily or binarily. Thus, finite model reasoning with ALCQI is not harder than standard reasoning with ALCQI.
Counting in the Two Variable Guarded Logic with Transitivity
We show that the extension of the two-variable guarded fragment with transitive guards (GF+TG) by functionality statements is undecidable. This gives immediately undecidability of the extension of GF+TG by counting quantifiers. The result is optimal, since both the three-variable fragment of the guarded fragment with counting quantifiers and the two-variable guarded fragment with transitivity are undecidable. We also show that the extension of GF+TG with functionality, where functional predicate letters appear in guards only, is decidable and of the same complexity as GF+TG. This fragment captures many expressive modal and description logics.
Two-variable logics with counting and semantic constraints
In this article we discuss fragments and extensions of two-variable logics motivated by practical applications. We outline the decidability frontier, describing some of the techniques developed for deciding satisfiability and finite satisfiability, as well as characterizing their complexity.
FO^2 with one transitive relation is decidable
We show that the satisfiability problem for the two-variable first-order logic, FO^2, over transitive structures when only one relation is required to be transitive, is decidable. The result is optimal, as FO^2 over structures with two transitive relations, or with one transitive and one equivalence relation, are known to be undecidable, so in fact, our result completes the classification of FO^2-logics over transitive structures with respect to decidability. We show that the satisfiability problem is in 2-NExpTime. Decidability of the finite satisfiability problem remains open.
Adding Transitivity and Counting to the Fluted Fragment
We study the impact of adding both counting quantifiers and a single transitive relation to the fluted fragment - a fragment of first-order logic originating in the work of W.V.O. Quine. The resulting formalism can be viewed as a multi-variable, non-guarded extension of certain systems of description logic featuring number restrictions and transitive roles, but lacking role-inverses. We establish the finite model property for our logic, and show that the satisfiability problem for its k-variable sub-fragment is in (k+1)-NExpTime. We also derive ExpSpace-hardness of the satisfiability problem for the two-variable, fluted fragment with one transitive relation (but without counting quantifiers…
The guarded fragment with transitive guards
The guarded fragment with transitive guards, (GF+TG), is an extension of the guarded frag- ment of 9rst-order logic, GF, in which certain predicates are required to be transitive, transitive predicate letters appear only in guards of the quanti9ers and the equality symbol may appear everywhere. We prove that the decision problem for (GF+TG) is decidable. Moreover, we show that the problem is in 2EXPTIME. This result is optimal since the satis9ability problem for GF is 2EXPTIME-complete (J. Symbolic Logic 64 (1999) 1719-1742). We also show that the satis- 9ability problem for two-variable (GF+TG) is NEXPTIME-hard in contrast to GF with bounded number of variables for which the satis9ability …
On Finite Satisfiability of Two-Variable First-Order Logic with Equivalence Relations
We show that every finitely satisfiable two-variable first-order formula with two equivalence relations has a model of size at most triply exponential with respect to its length. Thus the finite satisfiability problem for two-variable logic over the class of structures with two equivalence relations is decidable in nondeterministic triply exponential time. We also show that replacing one of the equivalence relations in the considered class of structures by a relation which is only required to be transitive leads to undecidability. This sharpens the earlier result that two-variable logic is undecidable over the class of structures with two transitive relations.
Finite Model Reasoning in Expressive Fragments of First-Order Logic
Over the past two decades several fragments of first-order logic have been identified and shown to have good computational and algorithmic properties, to a great extent as a result of appropriately describing the image of the standard translation of modal logic to first-order logic. This applies most notably to the guarded fragment, where quantifiers are appropriately relativized by atoms, and the fragment defined by restricting the number of variables to two. The aim of this talk is to review recent work concerning these fragments and their popular extensions. When presenting the material special attention is given to decision procedures for the finite satisfiability problems, as many of t…