Abstract. We propose a methodology for the analysis of open systems based on process calculi and bisimilarity. Open systems are seen as coordinators (i.e. terms with place-holders), that evolve when suitable components (i.e. closed terms) fill in their place-holders. The distinguishing feature of our approach is the definition of a symbolic operational semantics for coordinators that exploits spatial/modal formulae as labels of transitions and avoids the universal closure of coordinators w.r.t. all components. Two kinds of bisimilarities are then defined, called strict and large, which differ in the way formulae are compared. Strict bisimilarity implies large bisimilarity which, in turn, implies the one based on universal closure. Moreover, for process calculi in suitable formats, we show how the symbolic semantics can be defined constructively, using unification. Our approach is illustrated on a toy process calculus with ccs-like communication within ambients. 1

We introduce a notion of bisimulation for graph rewriting systems, allowing us to prove observational equivalence for dynamically evolving graphs and networks. We use the framework of synchronized graph rewriting with mobility which we describe in two different, but operationally equivalent ways: on graphs defined as syntactic judgements and by using tile logic. One of the main results of the paper says that bisimilarity for synchronized graph rewriting is a congruence whenever the rewriting rules satisfy the basic source property. Furthermore we introduce an up-to technique simplifying bisimilarity proofs and use it in an example to show the equivalence of a communication network and its specification.

Abstract. The focus of process calculi is interaction rather than computation, and for this very reason: (i) their operational semantics is conveniently expressed by labelled transition systems (LTSs) whose labels model the possible interactions with the environment; (ii) their abstract semantics is conveniently expressed by observational congruences. However, many current-day process calculi are more easily equipped with reduction semantics, where the notion of observable action is missing. Recent techniques attempted to bridge this gap by synthesising LTSs whose labels are process contexts that enable reactions and for which bisimulation is a congruence. Starting from Sewell’s set-theoretic construction, category-theoretic techniques were defined and based on Leifer and Milner’s relative pushouts, later refined by Sassone and the fourth author to deal with structural congruences given as groupoidal 2-categories. Building on recent works concerning observational equivalences for tile logic, the paper demonstrates that double categories provide an elegant setting in which the aforementioned contributions can be studied. Moreover, the formalism allows for a straightforward and natural definition of weak observational congruence. 1

We apply to logic programming some recently emerging ideas from the field of reduction-based communicating systems, with the aim of giving evidence of the hidden interactions and the coordination mechanisms that rule the operational machinery of such a programming paradigm. The semantic framework we have chosen for presenting our results is tile logic, which has the advantage of allowing a uniform treatment of goals and observations and of applying abstract categorical tools for proving the results. As main contributions, we mention the finitary presentation of abstract unification, and a concurrent and coordinated abstract semantics consistent with the most common semantics of logic programming. Moreover, the compositionality of the tile semantics is guaranteed by standard results, as it reduces to check that the tile systems associated to logic programs enjoy the tile decomposition property. An extension of the approach for handling constraint systems is also discussed.

h ground and open terms in a uniform way. To this aim, transition labels become pairs, whose components are called triggers (expressing the interaction of a context with its arguments) and effect (representing the behavior offered to the rest of the system, i.e. a possible context). Tiles can be represented as rectangles where the horizontal dimension is devoted to the assembling of states and the vertical dimension is dedicated to the evolution of components. Thus, triggers and effects form the left and right sides of tiles, respectively. The vertices of tiles are called interfaces, connecting the input and output observations to the initial (before the step) and final (after the step) configurations. Thanks to the abstract notions of configuration and observation, tiles allow us to develop a theoretical framework parametric in such structures (e.g. graphs or hypergraphs or trees or l-terms rather than terms), and able to capture analogies in the structures by means of suitable auxili

In recent years, logical frameworks and tile logic have been separately proposed by our research groups, respectively in Udine and in Pisa, as suitable metalanguages with higher-order features for encoding and studying nominal calculi. This paper discusses the main features of the two approaches, tracing di#erences and analogies on the basis of two case studies: late #-calculus and lazy simply typed #-calculus.

Graph Types" and "Updatable Graph Views".

this paper we consider bisimulation equivalences [33, 37] (with bisimilarity meaning the maximal bisimulation), where the entire branching structure of the transition system is accounted for: informally, two states are equivalent if whatever transition one can perform, the other can simulate it via a transition with the same observation, still ending in equivalent states.

Abstract. We present a coinductive proof system for bisimilarity in transition systems specifiable in the de Simone SOS format. Our coinduction is incremental, in that it allows building incrementally an a priori unknown bisimulation, and pattern-based, in that it works on equalities of process patterns (i.e., universally quantified equations of process terms containing process variables), thus taking advantage of equational reasoning in a “circular ” manner, inside coinductive proof loops. The proof system has been formalized and proved sound in Isabelle/HOL. 1