Finite Models for a Spatial Logic with Discrete and Topological Path Operators

7^th June 2021, 16:00
Fabio Papacchini

Abstract

his paper analyses models of a spatial logic with path operators based on the class of neighbourhood spaces, also called pretopological or closure spaces, a generalisation of topological spaces. For this purpose, we distinguish two dimensions: the type of spaces on which models are built, and the type of allowed paths. For the spaces, we investigate general neighbourhood spaces and the subclass of quasi-discrete spaces, which closely resemble graphs. For the paths, we analyse the cases of quasi-discrete paths, which consist of an enumeration of points, and topological paths, based on the unit interval. We show that the logic admits finite models over quasi-discrete spaces, both with quasi-discrete and topological paths.
Finally, we prove that for general neighbourhood spaces, the logic does not have the finite model property, either for quasi-discrete or topological paths.

Co-authors: Sven Linker (Lancaster University Leipzig) and Michele Sevegnani (University of Glasgow)