Reference. Impredicativity in Linear Dependent Type Theory

We construct a realizability model of linear dependent type theory from a linear combinatory algebra. Our model motivates a number of additions to the type theory. In particular, we add a universe with two decoding operations: one takes codes to cartesian types and the other takes codes to linear types. The universe is impredicative in the sense that it is closed under both large cartesian dependent products and large linear dependent products. We also add a rule for injectivity of the modality turning linear terms into cartesian terms. With all of the additions, we are able to encode (linear) inductive types. As a case study, we consider the type of lists over a linear type, and demonstrate that our encoding has the relevant uniqueness principle. The construction of the realizability model is fully formalized in the proof assistant Rocq.

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Cite as @speight-2026-impredicativity (helia, typst) · \cite{speight-2026-impredicativity} (LaTeX)
BibTeX
bibtex · 8 lines
@misc{speight-2026-impredicativity,
  author = {Sam Speight and Niels van der Weide},
  title = {Impredicativity in Linear Dependent Type Theory},
  year = {2026},
  month = {2},
  eprint = {2602.08846},
  archiveprefix = {arXiv}
}
hayagriva YAML (typst)
yaml · 11 lines
speight-2026-impredicativity:
  type: misc
  title: Impredicativity in Linear Dependent Type Theory
  author:
  - Speight, Sam
  - name: Weide
    given-name: Niels
    prefix: van der
  date: 2026-02
  serial-number:
    arxiv: '2602.08846'
Cites 73 works (14 here)
With notes (14)

From Semantics to Syntax: A Type Theory for Comprehension Categories najmaei-2026-from

Recent models of intensional type theory have been constructed in algebraic weak factorization systems (AWFSs). AWFSs give rise to comprehension categories that feature non-trivial morphisms between types; these morphisms are not used in the standard interpretation of Martin-Löf type theory in comprehension categories. We develop a type theory that internalizes morphisms between types, reflecting this semantic feature back into syntax. Our type theory comes with Π-, Σ-, and identity types. We discuss how it can be viewed as an extension of Martin-Löf type theory with coercive subtyping, as sketched by Coraglia and Emmenegger. We furthermore define semantic structure that interprets our type theory and prove a soundness result. Finally, we exhibit many examples of the semantic structure, yielding a plethora of interpretations.
PDF · DOI · arXiv · pldb

Impredicative Encodings of Inductive and Coinductive Types bronsveld-2025-impredicative

In impredicative type theory (System F, also known as λ2), it is possible to define inductive data types, such as natural numbers and lists. It is also possible to define coinductive data types such as streams. They work well in the sense that their (co)recursion principles obey the expected computation rules (the β-rules). Unfortunately, they do not yield a (co)induction principle [Herman Geuvers, 2001; Ivar Rummelhoff, 2004], because the necessary uniqueness principles are missing (the η-rules). Awodey, Frey, and Speight [Steve Awodey et al., 2018] used an extension of the Calculus of Constructions [Thierry Coquand and Gérard P. Huet, 1988] (λ C) with Σ-types, identity-types, and functional extensionality to define System F style inductive types with an induction principle, by encoding them as a well-chosen subtype, making them initial algebras. In this paper, we extend their results to coinductive data types, and we detail the example of the stream data type with the desired coinduction principle (also called bisimulation). To do that, we first define quotient types (with the desired η-rules) and we also need a stronger form of the definable existential types. We also show that we can use the original method by Awodey, Frey and Speight for general inductive types by defining W-types with an induction principle. The dual approach for streams can be extended to M-types, the generic notion of coinductive types, and the dual of W-types.
DOI

Displayed Monoidal Categories for the Semantics of Linear Logic ahrens-2024-displayed

PDF · DOI · pldb

Internal Parametricity, without an Interval altenkirch-2024-internal

Parametricity is a property of the syntax of type theory implying, e.g., that there is only one function having the type of the polymorphic identity function. Parametricity is usually proven externally, and does not hold internally. Internalising it is difficult because once there is a term witnessing parametricity, it also has to be parametric itself and this results in the appearance of higher dimensional cubes. In previous theories with internal parametricity, either an explicit syntax for higher cubes is present or the theory is extended with a new sort for the interval. In this paper we present a type theory with internal parametricity which is a simple extension of Martin-Löf type theory: there are a few new type formers, term formers and equations. Geometry is not explicit in this syntax, but emergent: the new operations and equations only refer to objects up to dimension 3. We show that this theory is modelled by presheaves over the BCH cube category. Fibrancy conditions are not needed because we use span-based rather than relational parametricity. We define a gluing model for this theory implying that external parametricity and canonicity hold. The theory can be seen as a special case of a new kind of modal type theory, and it is the simplest setting in which the computational properties of higher observational type theory can be demonstrated.
PDF · DOI · arXiv · pldb

Quantitative Polynomial Functors nakov_quantitative_2022

We investigate containers and polynomial functors in Quantitative Type Theory, and give initial algebra semantics of inductive data types in the presence of linearity. We show that reasoning by induction is supported, and equivalent to initiality, also in the linear setting.
DOI

Monoidal Grothendieck construction moeller_vasilakopoulou_2020

We lift the standard equivalence between fibrations and indexed categories to an equivalence between monoidal fibrations and monoidal indexed categories, namely lax monoidal pseudofunctors to the 2-category of categories. Furthermore, we investigate the relation between this ‘global’ monoidal version where the total category is monoidal and the fibration strictly preserves the structure, and a ‘fibrewise’ one where the fibres are monoidal and the reindexing functors strongly preserve the structure, first hinted by Shulman. In particular, when the domain is cocartesian monoidal, we show how lax monoidal structures on a pseudofunctor to Cat bijectively correspond to lifts of the pseudofunctor to MonCat. Finally, we give some examples where this correspondence appears, spanning from the fundamental and family fibrations to network models and systems.
Web · arXiv

Displayed Categories ahrens-lumsdaine-2019

We introduce and develop the notion of displayed categories. A displayed category over a category C is equivalent to “a category D and functor F : D –> C”, but instead of having a single collection of “objects of D” with a map to the objects of C, the objects are given as a family indexed by objects of C, and similarly for the morphisms. This encapsulates a common way of building categories in practice, by starting with an existing category and adding extra data/properties to the objects and morphisms. The interest of this seemingly trivial reformulation is that various properties of functors are more naturally defined as properties of the corresponding displayed categories. Grothendieck fibrations, for example, when defined as certain functors, use equality on objects in their definition. When defined instead as certain displayed categories, no reference to equality on objects is required. Moreover, almost all examples of fibrations in nature are, in fact, categories whose standard construction can be seen as going via displayed categories. We therefore propose displayed categories as a basis for the development of fibrations in the type-theoretic setting, and similarly for various other notions whose classical definitions involve equality on objects. Besides giving a conceptual clarification of such issues, displayed categories also provide a powerful tool in computer formalisation, unifying and abstracting common constructions and proof techniques of category theory, and enabling modular reasoning about categories of multi-component structures. As such, most of the material of this article has been formalised in Coq over the UniMath library, with the aim of providing a practical library for use in further developments.

We introduce and develop the notion of displayed categories. A displayed category over a category 𝐶 is equivalent to “a category 𝐷 and functor 𝐹:𝐷→𝐶, but instead of having a single collection of “objects of 𝐷” with a map to the objects of 𝐶, the objects are given as a family indexed by objects of 𝐶, and similarly for the morphisms. This encapsulates a common way of building categories in practice, by starting with an existing category and adding extra data/properties to the objects and morphisms. The interest of this seemingly trivial reformulation is that various properties of functors are more naturally defined as properties of the corresponding displayed categories. Grothendieck fibrations, for example, when defined as certain functors, use equality on objects in their definition. When defined instead as certain displayed categories, no reference to equality on objects is required. Moreover, almost all examples of fibrations in nature are, in fact, categories whose standard construction can be seen as going via displayed categories. We therefore propose displayed categories as a basis for the development of fibrations in the type-theoretic setting, and similarly for various other notions whose classical definitions involve equality on objects. Besides giving a conceptual clarification of such issues, displayed categories also provide a powerful tool in computer formalisation, unifying and abstracting common constructions and proof techniques of category theory, and enabling modular reasoning about categories of multi-component structures. As such, most of the material of this article has been formalised in Coq over the UniMath library, with the aim of providing a practical library for use in further developments.

DOI · arXiv

Syntax and Semantics of Quantitative Type Theory atkey-2018-syntax

DOI

I Got Plenty o’ Nuttin’ mcbride-2016-i

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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

Integrating Linear and Dependent Types krishnaswami_integrating_2015

In this paper, we show how to integrate linear types with type dependency, by extending the linear/non-linear calculus of Benton to support type dependency.
PDF · DOI · pldb

A mixed linear and non-linear logic: Proofs, terms and models: Extended abstract bentonMixedLinearNonlinear1995

Intuitionistic linear logic regains the expressive power of intuitionistic logic through the ! (‘of course’) modality. Benton, Bierman, Hyland and de Paiva have given a term assignment system for ILL and an associated notion of categorical model in which the ! modality is modelled by a comonad satisfying certain extra conditions. Ordinary intuitionistic logic is then modelled in a cartesian closed category which arises as a full subcategory of the category of coalgebras for the comonad. This paper attempts to explain the connection between ILL and IL more directly and symmetrically by giving a logic, term calculus and categorical model for a system in which the linear and non-linear worlds exist on an equal footing, with operations allowing one to pass in both directions. We start from the categorical model of ILL given by Benton, Bierman, Hyland and de Paiva and show that this is equivalent to having a symmetric monoidal adjunction between a symmetric monoidal closed category and a cartesian closed category. We then derive both a sequent calculus and a natural deduction presentation of the logic corresponding to the new notion of model.
DOI

Adjointness in Foundations lawvere_1969

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A linear logical framework cervesato-nd-a

DOI
External (59)
speight-2026-impredicativity reference entries/refs/speight-2026-impredicativity/speight-2026-impredicativity.hel