Venue. MSCS

2026

A dependently-typed calculus of event telicity and culminativity kovalev-2026-a

We present a dependently-typed cross-linguistic framework for analyzing the telicity and culminativity of events, accompanied by examples of using our framework to model English sentences. Our framework consists of two parts. In the nominal domain, we model the boundedness of noun phrases and its relationship to subtyping, delimited quantities, and adjectival modification. In the verbal domain, we define a dependent event calculus, modeling telic events as those whose undergoer is bounded, culminating events as telic events that achieve their inherent endpoint, and consider adverbial modification. In both domains, we pay particular attention to associated entailments. Our framework is defined as an extension of intensional Martin-Löf dependent type theory, and the rules and examples in this paper have been formalized in the Agda proof assistant.
DOI

Day algebras robinson_wrigley_2026

In this paper we show that the Day monoidal product generalises in a straightforward way to other algebraic constructions and partial algebraic constructions on categories. This generalisation was motivated by its applications in logic, for example in hybrid and separation logic. We use the description of the Day monoidal product using profunctors to show that the definition generalises to an extension of an arbitrary algebraic structure on a category to a pseudo-algebraic structure on a functor category. We provide two further extensions. First we consider the case where some of the operations on the category are partial, and second we show that the resulting operations on the functor category have adjoints (they are residuated).
DOI · arXiv

Reflexive graph lenses in univalent foundations sterling-2026-reflexive

Martin-Löf’s identity types provide a generic (albeit opaque) notion of identification or “equality” between any two elements of the same type, embodied in a canonical reflexive graph structure (=𝐴,𝐫𝐞𝐟𝐥) on any type 𝐴. The miracle of Voevodsky’s univalence principle is that it ensures, for essentially any naturally occurring structure in mathematics, that the resultant notion of identification is equivalent to the type of isomorphisms in the category of such structures. Characterisations of this kind are not automatic and must be established one-by-one; to this end, several authors have employed reflexive graphs and displayed reflexive graphs to organise the characterisation of identity types. We contribute reflexive graph lenses, a new family of intermediate abstractions lying between families of reflexive graphs and displayed reflexive graphs that simplifies the characterisation of identity types for complex structures. Every reflexive graph lens gives rise to a (more complicated) displayed reflexive graph, and our experience suggests that many naturally occurring displayed reflexive graphs arise in this way. Evidence for the utility of reflexive graph lenses is given by means of several case studies, including the theory of reflexive graphs itself as well as that of polynomial type operators. Finally, we exhibit an equivalence between the type of reflexive graph fibrations and the type of univalent reflexive graph lenses.
DOI

2025

An axiomatics and a combinatorial model of creation/annihilation operators fiore-2025-an

A categorical axiomatic theory of creation/annihilation operators on symmetric Fock space is introduced, and the combinatorial model that motivated it is presented. Commutation relations and coherent states are considered in both frameworks.
DOI

Controlling unfolding in type theory gratzer-2025-controlling

We present a new way to control the unfolding of definitions in dependent type theory. Traditionally, proof assistants require users to fix whether each definition will or will not be unfolded in the remainder of a development; unfolding definitions is often necessary in order to reason about them, but an excess of unfolding can result in brittle proofs and intractably large proof goals. In our system, definitions are by default not unfolded, but users can selectively unfold them in a local manner. We justify our mechanism by means of elaboration to a core theory with extension types – a connective first introduced in the context of homotopy type theory – and by establishing a normalization theorem for our core calculus. We have implemented controlled unfolding in the proof assistant, inspiring an independent implementation in Agda.
DOI

Displayed type theory and semi-simplicial types kolomatskaia-2025-displayed

We introduce Displayed Type Theory (dTT) , a multi-modal homotopy type theory with discrete and simplicial modes. In the intended semantics, the discrete mode is interpreted by a model for an arbitrary ∞ -topos, while the simplicial mode is interpreted by Reedy fibrant augmented semi-simplicial diagrams in that model. This simplicial structure is represented inside the theory by a primitive notion of display or dependency , guarded by modalities, yielding a partially-internal form of unary parametricity. Using the display primitive, we then give a coinductive definition, at the simplicial mode, of a type of semi-simplicial types. Roughly speaking, a semi-simplicial type consists of a type together with, for each , a displayed semi-simplicial type over . This mimics how simplices can be generated geometrically through repeated cones, and is made possible by the display primitive at the simplicial mode. The discrete part of then yields the usual infinite indexed definition of semi-simplicial types, both semantically and syntactically. Thus, dTT enables working with semi-simplicial types in full semantic generality.
DOI · arXiv

2024

The category of iterative sets in homotopy type theory and univalent foundations gratzer-2024-the

When working in homotopy type theory and univalent foundations, the traditional role of the category of sets, 𝒮︀ℯ︀𝓉︀ , is replaced by the category 𝒽︀𝒮︀ℯ︀𝓉︀ of homotopy sets (h-sets); types with h-propositional identity types. Many of the properties of 𝒮︀ℯ︀𝓉︀ hold for 𝒽︀𝒮︀ℯ︀𝓉︀ ((co)completeness, exactness, local cartesian closure, etc.). Notably, however, the univalence axiom implies that 𝖮𝖻𝒽︀𝒮︀ℯ︀𝓉︀ is not itself an h-set, but an h-groupoid. This is expected in univalent foundations, but it is sometimes useful to also have a stricter universe of sets, for example, when constructing internal models of type theory. In this work, we equip the type of iterative sets 𝖵0 , due to Gylterud ((2018). The Journal of Symbolic Logic 83 (3) 1132–1146) as a refinement of the pioneering work of Aczel ((1978). Logic Colloquium’77 , Studies in Logic and the Foundations of Mathematics, vol. 96, Elsevier, 55–66.) on universes of sets in type theory, with the structure of a Tarski universe and show that it satisfies many of the good properties of h-sets. In particular, we organize 𝖵0 into a (non-univalent strict) category and prove that it is locally cartesian closed. This enables us to organize it into a category with families with the structure necessary to model extensional type theory internally in HoTT/UF. We do this in a rather minimal univalent type theory with W-types, in particular we do not rely on any HITs, or other complex extensions of type theory. Furthermore, the construction of 𝖵0 and the model is fully constructive and predicative, while still being very convenient to work with as the decoding from 𝖵0 into h-sets commutes definitionally for all type constructors. Almost all of the paper has been formalized in 𝙰𝚐𝚍𝚊 using the 𝚊𝚐𝚍𝚊 - 𝚞𝚗𝚒𝚖𝚊𝚝𝚑 library of univalent mathematics.
DOI · arXiv

2023

Bicategorical type theory: semantics and syntax ahrens-2023-bicategorical

We develop semantics and syntax for bicategorical type theory. Bicategorical type theory features contexts, types, terms, and directed reductions between terms. This type theory is naturally interpreted in a class of structured bicategories. We start by developing the semantics, in the form of comprehension bicategories . Examples of comprehension bicategories are plentiful; we study both specific examples as well as classes of examples constructed from other data. From the notion of comprehension bicategory, we extract the syntax of bicategorical type theory, that is, judgment forms and structural inference rules. We prove soundness of the rules by giving an interpretation in any comprehension bicategory. The semantic aspects of our work are fully checked in the Coq proof assistant, based on the UniMath library.
DOI

What should a generic object be? sterling-2023-what

Jacobs has proposed definitions for (weak, strong, split) generic objects for a fibered category; building on his definition of (split) generic objects, Jacobs develops a menagerie of important fibrational structures with applications to categorical logic and computer science, including higher order fibrations, polymorphic fibrations, 𝜆2-fibrations, triposes, and others. We observe that a split generic object need not in particular be a generic object under the given definitions, and that the definitions of polymorphic fibrations, triposes, etc. are strict enough to rule out some fundamental examples: for instance, the fibered preorder induced by a partial combinatory algebra in realizability is not a tripos in this sense. We propose a new alignment of terminology that emphasizes the forms of generic object appearing most commonly in nature, i.e. in the study of internal categories, triposes, and the denotational semantics of polymorphism. In addition, we propose a new class of acyclic generic objects inspired by recent developments in higher category theory and the semantics of homotopy type theory, generalizing the realignment property of universes to the setting of an arbitrary fibration.
DOI

2022

Semantic analysis of normalisation by evaluation for typed lambda calculus fiore-2022-semantic

This paper studies normalisation by evaluation for typed lambda calculus from a categorical and algebraic viewpoint. The first part of the paper analyses the lambda definability result of Jung and Tiuryn via Kripke logical relations and shows how it can be adapted to unify definability and normalisation, yielding an extensional normalisation result. In the second part of the paper, the analysis is refined further by considering intensional Kripke relations (in the form of Artin–Wraith glueing) and shown to provide a function for normalising terms, casting normalisation by evaluation in the context of categorical glueing. The technical development includes an algebraic treatment of the syntax and semantics of the typed lambda calculus that allows the definition of the normalisation function to be given within a simply typed metatheory. A normalisation-by-evaluation program in a dependently typed functional programming language is synthesised.
DOI · arXiv

2021

Bicategories in univalent foundations ahrens-2021-bicategories

We develop bicategory theory in univalent foundations. Guided by the notion of univalence for (1-)categories studied by Ahrens, Kapulkin, and Shulman, we define and study univalent bicategories. To construct examples of univalent bicategories in a modular fashion, we develop displayed bicategories , an analog of displayed 1-categories introduced by Ahrens and Lumsdaine. We demonstrate the applicability of this notion and prove that several bicategories of interest are univalent. Among these are the bicategory of univalent categories with families and the bicategory of pseudofunctors between univalent bicategories. Furthermore, we show that every bicategory with univalent hom-categories is weakly equivalent to a univalent bicategory. All of our work is formalized in Coq as part of the UniMath library of univalent mathematics.
DOI

Coherence for bicategorical cartesian closed structure fiore-2021-coherence

We prove a strictification theorem for cartesian closed bicategories. First, we adapt Power’s proof of coherence for bicategories with finite bilimits to show that every bicategory with bicategorical cartesian closed structure is biequivalent to a 2-category with 2-categorical cartesian closed structure. Then we show how to extend this result to a Mac Lane-style “all pasting diagrams commute” coherence theorem: precisely, we show that in the free cartesian closed bicategory on a graph, there is at most one 2-cell between any parallel pair of 1-cells. The argument we employ is reminiscent of that used by Čubrić, Dybjer, and Scott to show normalisation for the simply-typed lambda calculus (Čubrić et al., 1998). The main results first appeared in a conference paper (Fiore and Saville, 2020) but for reasons of space many details are omitted there; here we provide the full development.
DOI

Syntax and models of Cartesian cubical type theory angiuli-2021-syntax

We present a cubical type theory based on the Cartesian cube category (faces, degeneracies, symmetries, diagonals, but no connections or reversal) with univalent universes, each containing Π, Σ, path, identity, natural number, boolean, suspension, and glue (equivalence extension) types. The type theory includes a syntactic description of a uniform Kan operation, along with judgmental equality rules defining the Kan operation on each type. The Kan operation uses both a different set of generating trivial cofibrations and a different set of generating cofibrations than the Cohen, Coquand, Huber, and Mörtberg (CCHM) model. Next, we describe a constructive model of this type theory in Cartesian cubical sets. We give a mechanized proof, using Agda as the internal language of cubical sets in the style introduced by Orton and Pitts, that glue, Π, Σ, path, identity, boolean, natural number, suspension types, and the universe itself are Kan in this model, and that the universe is univalent. An advantage of this formal approach is that our construction can also be interpreted in a range of other models, including cubical sets on the connections cube category and the De Morgan cube category, as used in the CCHM model, and bicubical sets, as used in directed type theory.
DOI

2019

Noncommutative network models moeller-2019-noncommutative

Network models, which abstractly are given by lax symmetric monoidal functors, are used to construct operads for modeling and designing complex networks. Many common types of networks can be modeled with simple graphs with edges weighted by a monoid. A feature of the ordinary construction of network models is that it imposes commutativity relations between all edge components. Because of this, it cannot be used to model networks with bounded degree. In this paper, we construct the free network model on a given monoid, which can model networks with bounded degree. To do this, we generalize Green’s graph products of groups to pointed categories which are finitely complete and cocomplete.
DOI · arXiv

A generalised quantifier theory of natural language in categorical compositional distributional semantics with bialgebras hedges-2019-a

Categorical compositional distributional semantics is a model of natural language; it combines the statistical vector space models of words with the compositional models of grammar. We formalise in this model the generalised quantifier theory of natural language, due to Barwise and Cooper. The underlying setting is a compact closed category with bialgebras. We start from a generative grammar formalisation and develop an abstract categorical compositional semantics for it, and then instantiate the abstract setting to sets and relations and to finite-dimensional vector spaces and linear maps. We prove the equivalence of the relational instantiation to the truth theoretic semantics of generalised quantifiers. The vector space instantiation formalises the statistical usages of words and enables us to, for the first time, reason about quantified phrases and sentences compositionally in distributional semantics.
DOI · arXiv

2017

Brouwer’s fixed-point theorem in real-cohesive homotopy type theory shulman-2017-brouwer

We combine homotopy type theory with axiomatic cohesion, expressing the latter internally with a version of ‘adjoint logic’ in which the discretization and codiscretization modalities are characterized using a judgemental formalism of ‘crisp variables.’ This yields type theories that we call ‘spatial’ and ‘cohesive,’ in which the types can be viewed as having independent topological and homotopical structure. These type theories can then be used to study formally the process by which topology gives rise to homotopy theory (the ‘fundamental ∞-groupoid’ or ‘shape’), disentangling the ‘identifications’ of homotopy type theory from the ‘continuous paths’ of topology. In a further refinement called ‘real-cohesion,’ the shape is determined by continuous maps from the real numbers, as in classical algebraic topology. This enables us to reproduce formally some of the classical applications of homotopy theory to topology. As an example, we prove Brouwer’s fixed-point theorem.
DOI · arXiv

An Isbell duality theorem for type refinement systems mellies-2017-an

Any refinement system (= functor) has a fully faithful representation in the refinement system of presheaves, by interpreting types as relative slice categories, and refinement types as presheaves over those categories. Motivated by an analogy between side effects in programming and context effects in linear logic, we study logical aspects of this ‘positive’ (covariant) representation, as well as of an associated ‘negative’ (contravariant) representation. We establish several preservation properties for these representations, including a generalization of Day’s embedding theorem for monoidal closed categories. Then, we establish that the positive and negative representations satisfy an Isbell-style duality. As corollaries, we derive two different formulas for the positive representation of a pushforward (inspired by the classical negative translations of proof theory), which express it either as the dual of a pullback of a dual or as the double dual of a pushforward. Besides explaining how these constructions on refinement systems generalize familiar category-theoretic ones (by viewing categories as special refinement systems), our main running examples involve representations of Hoare logic and linear sequent calculus.
DOI · arXiv

2015

Univalent categories and the Rezk completion ahrens_etal_2015

We develop category theory within Univalent Foundations, which is a foundational system for mathematics based on a homotopical interpretation of dependent type theory. In this system, we propose a definition of ‘category’ for which equality and equivalence of categories agree. Such categories satisfy a version of the univalence axiom, saying that the type of isomorphisms between any two objects is equivalent to the identity type between these objects; we call them ‘saturated’ or ‘univalent’ categories. Moreover, we show that any category is weakly equivalent to a univalent one in a universal way. In homotopical and higher-categorical semantics, this construction corresponds to a truncated version of the Rezk completion for Segal spaces, and also to the stack completion of a prestack.
DOI · arXiv

2001

A judgmental reconstruction of modal logic pfenning-2001-a

DOI

1998

Normalization and the Yoneda embedding NormalizationAndTheYonedaEmbedding

We show how to solve the word problem for simply typed λβη-calculus by using a few well-known facts about categories of presheaves and the Yoneda embedding. The formal setting for these results is 𝒫-category theory, a version of ordinary category theory where each hom-set is equipped with a partial equivalence relation. The part of 𝒫-category theory we develop here is constructive and thus permits extraction of programs from proofs. It is important to stress that in our method we make no use of traditional proof-theoretic or rewriting techniques. To show the robustness of our method, we give an extended treatment for more general λ-theories in the Appendix.
DOI
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