Combined decision procedures for nonlinear arithmetics, real and complex
View/ Open
Date
24/11/2011Author
Passmore, Grant Olney
Metadata
Abstract
We describe contributions to algorithmic proof techniques for deciding the satisfiability
of boolean combinations of many-variable nonlinear polynomial equations and
inequalities over the real and complex numbers.
In the first half, we present an abstract theory of Grobner basis construction algorithms
for algebraically closed fields of characteristic zero and use it to introduce
and prove the correctness of Grobner basis methods tailored to the needs of modern
satisfiability modulo theories (SMT) solvers. In the process, we use the technique of
proof orders to derive a generalisation of S-polynomial superfluousness in terms of
transfinite induction along an ordinal parameterised by a monomial order. We use this
generalisation to prove the abstract (“strategy-independent”) admissibility of a number
of superfluous S-polynomial criteria important for efficient basis construction. Finally,
we consider local notions of proof minimality for weak Nullstellensatz proofs and give
ideal-theoretic methods for computing complex “unsatisfiable cores” which contribute
to efficient SMT solving in the context of nonlinear complex arithmetic.
In the second half, we consider the problem of effectively combining a heterogeneous
collection of decision techniques for fragments of the existential theory of real
closed fields. We propose and investigate a number of novel combined decision methods
and implement them in our proof tool RAHD (Real Algebra in High Dimensions).
We build a hierarchy of increasingly powerful combined decision methods, culminating
in a generalisation of partial cylindrical algebraic decomposition (CAD) which we
call Abstract Partial CAD. This generalisation incorporates the use of arbitrary sound
but possibly incomplete proof procedures for the existential theory of real closed fields
as first-class functional parameters for “short-circuiting” expensive computations during
the lifting phase of CAD. Identifying these proof procedure parameters formally
with RAHD proof strategies, we implement the method in RAHD for the case of
full-dimensional cell decompositions and investigate its efficacy with respect to the
Brown-McCallum projection operator.
We end with some wishes for the future.
Collections
The following license files are associated with this item: