Samson Abramsky on Logic and Structure in Computer Science and Beyond

Samson Abramsky on Logic and Structure in Computer Science and Beyond
Author: Alessandra Palmigiano
Publisher: Springer Nature
Total Pages: 1149
Release: 2023-09-02
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 3031241177

Samson Abramsky’s wide-ranging contributions to logical and structural aspects of Computer Science have had a major influence on the field. This book is a rich collection of papers, inspired by and extending Abramsky’s work. It contains both survey material and new results, organised around six major themes: domains and duality, game semantics, contextuality and quantum computation, comonads and descriptive complexity, categorical and logical semantics, and probabilistic computation. These relate to different stages and aspects of Abramsky’s work, reflecting its exceptionally broad scope and his ability to illuminate and unify diverse topics. Chapters in the volume include a review of his entire body of work, spanning from philosophical aspects to logic, programming language theory, quantum theory, economics and psychology, and relating it to a theory of unification of sciences using dual adjunctions. The section on game semantics shows how Abramsky’s work has led to a powerful new paradigm for the semantics of computation. The work on contextuality and categorical quantum mechanics has been highly influential, and provides the foundation for increasingly widely used methods in quantum computing. The work on comonads and descriptive complexity is building bridges between currently disjoint research areas in computer science, relating Structure to Power. The volume also includes a scientific autobiography, and an overview of the contributions. The outstanding set of contributors to this volume, including both senior and early career academics, serve as testament to Samson Abramsky’s enduring influence. It will provide an invaluable and unique resource for both students and established researchers.

Topological Duality for Distributive Lattices

Topological Duality for Distributive Lattices
Author: Mai Gehrke
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 370
Release: 2024-02-29
Genre: Computers
ISBN: 1009349716

Introducing Stone–Priestley duality theory and its applications to logic and theoretical computer science, this book equips graduate students and researchers with the theoretical background necessary for reading and understanding current research in the area. After giving a thorough introduction to the algebraic, topological, logical, and categorical aspects of the theory, the book covers two advanced applications in computer science, namely in domain theory and automata theory. These topics are at the forefront of active research seeking to unify semantic methods with more algorithmic topics in finite model theory. Frequent exercises punctuate the text, with hints and references provided.

From Electrons to Elephants and Elections

From Electrons to Elephants and Elections
Author: Shyam Wuppuluri
Publisher: Springer Nature
Total Pages: 886
Release: 2022-04-08
Genre: Science
ISBN: 3030921921

This highly interdisciplinary book, covering more than six fields, from philosophy and sciences all the way up to the humanities and with contributions from eminent authors, addresses the interplay between content and context, reductionism and holism and their meeting point: the notion of emergence. Much of today’s science is reductionist (bottom-up); in other words, behaviour on one level is explained by reducing it to components on a lower level. Chemistry is reduced to atoms, ecosystems are explained in terms of DNA and proteins, etc. This approach fails quickly since we can’t cannot extrapolate to the properties of atoms solely from Schrödinger's equation, nor figure out protein folding from an amino acid sequence or obtain the phenotype of an organism from its genotype. An alternative approach to this is holism (top-down). Consider an ecosystem or an organism as a whole: seek patterns on the same scale. Model a galaxy not as 400 billion-point masses (stars) but as an object in its own right with its own properties (spiral, elliptic). Or a hurricane as a structured form of moist air and water vapour. Reductionism is largely about content, whereas holistic models are more attuned to context. Reductionism (content) and holism (context) are not opposing philosophies — in fact, they work best in tandem. Join us on a journey to understand the multifaceted dialectic concerning this duo and how they shape the foundations of sciences and humanities, our thoughts and, the very nature of reality itself.

The Quantum-Like Revolution

The Quantum-Like Revolution
Author: Arkady Plotnitsky
Publisher: Springer Nature
Total Pages: 387
Release: 2023-06-27
Genre: Science
ISBN: 3031129865

Over the last ten years, elements of the formalism of quantum mechanics have been successfully applied beyond physics in areas such as psychology (especially cognition), economics and finance (especially in the formalization of so-called ‘decision making’), political science, and molecular biology. An important stream of work along these lines, commonly under the heading of quantum-like modeling, has been published in well regarded scientific journals, and major publishers have devoted entire books to the topic. This Festschrift honors a key figure in this field of research: Andrei Khrennikov, who made momentous contributions to it and to quantum foundations themselves. While honoring these contributions, and in order to do so, this Festschrift orients its reader toward the future rather than focusing on the past: it addresses future challenges and establishes the way forward in both domains, quantum-like modeling and quantum foundations. A while ago, in response to the developments of using the quantum formalism outside of quantum mechanics, the eminent quantum physicist Anton Zeilinger said, ‘Why should it be precisely the quantum mechanics formalism? Maybe its generalization would be more adequate...’ This volume responds to this statement by both showing the reasons for the continuing importance of quantum formalism and yet also considering pathways to such generalizations. Khrennikov’s work has been indispensable in establishing the great promise of quantum and quantum-like thinking in shaping the future of scientific research across the disciplines.

Mathematical Foundations of Information Flow

Mathematical Foundations of Information Flow
Author: Samson Abramsky
Publisher: American Mathematical Soc.
Total Pages: 282
Release: 2012
Genre: Mathematics
ISBN: 0821849239

This volume is based on the 2008 Clifford Lectures on Information Flow in Physics, Geometry and Logic and Computation, held March 12-15, 2008, at Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana. The varying perspectives of the researchers are evident in the topics represented in the volume, including mathematics, computer science, quantum physics and classical and quantum information. A number of the articles address fundamental questions in quantum information and related topics in quantum physics, using abstract categorical and domain-theoretic models for quantum physics to reason about such systems and to model spacetime. Readers can expect to gain added insight into the notion of information flow and how it can be understood in many settings. They also can learn about new approaches to modeling quantum mechanics that provide simpler and more accessible explanations of quantum phenomena, which don't require the arcane aspects of Hilbert spaces and the cumbersome notation of bras and kets.

Computation, Logic, Games, and Quantum Foundations - The Many Facets of Samson Abramsky

Computation, Logic, Games, and Quantum Foundations - The Many Facets of Samson Abramsky
Author: Bob Coecke
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 381
Release: 2013-11-18
Genre: Computers
ISBN: 3642381642

This Festschrift volume, published in honor of Samson Abramsky, contains contributions written by some of his colleagues, former students, and friends. In celebration of the 60th birthday of Samson Abramsky, a conference was held in Oxford, UK, during May 28-30, 2010. The papers in this volume represent his manifold contributions to semantics, logic, games, and quantum mechanics.

Logic and Program Semantics

Logic and Program Semantics
Author: Robert L. Constable
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 367
Release: 2012-04-26
Genre: Computers
ISBN: 3642294855

This Festschrift volume is published in honor of Dexter Kozen on the occasion of his 60th birthday. Dexter Kozen has been a leader in the development of Kleene Algebras (KAs). The contributions in this volume reflect the breadth of his work and influence. The volume includes 19 full papers related to Dexter Kozen's research. They deal with coalgebraic methods, congruence closure; the completeness of various programming logics; decision procedure for logics; alternation; algorithms and complexity; and programming languages and program analysis. The second part of this volume includes laudatios from several collaborators, students and friends, including the members of his current band.

Category Theory and Computer Science

Category Theory and Computer Science
Author: David H. Pitt
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 314
Release: 1991-08-21
Genre: Mathematics
ISBN: 9783540544951

The papers in this volume were presented at the fourth biennial Summer Conference on Category Theory and Computer Science, held in Paris, September3-6, 1991. Category theory continues to be an important tool in foundationalstudies in computer science. It has been widely applied by logicians to get concise interpretations of many logical concepts. Links between logic and computer science have been developed now for over twenty years, notably via the Curry-Howard isomorphism which identifies programs with proofs and types with propositions. The triangle category theory - logic - programming presents a rich world of interconnections. Topics covered in this volume include the following. Type theory: stratification of types and propositions can be discussed in a categorical setting. Domain theory: synthetic domain theory develops domain theory internally in the constructive universe of the effective topos. Linear logic: the reconstruction of logic based on propositions as resources leads to alternatives to traditional syntaxes. The proceedings of the previous three category theory conferences appear as Lecture Notes in Computer Science Volumes 240, 283 and 389.

Coalgebraic Methods in Computer Science

Coalgebraic Methods in Computer Science
Author: Dirk Pattinson
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 266
Release: 2012-08-13
Genre: Mathematics
ISBN: 3642327842

This book constitutes the thoroughly refereed post-proceedings of the 11th International Workshop on Coalgebraic Methods in Computer Science, CMCS 2012, colocated with ETAPS 2012, held in Tallin, Estonia, in March/April 2012. The 10 revised full papers were carefully reviewed and selected from 23 submissions. Also included are three invited talks. The papers cover a wide range of topics in the theory, logics and applications of coalgebras.