Paper detail

Computational Aspects of Dependence Logic

In this thesis (modal) dependence logic is investigated. It was introduced in 2007 by Jouko Vääanänen as an extension of first-order (resp. modal) logic by the dependence operator =(). For first-order (resp. propositional) variables x_1,...,x_n, =(x_1,...,x_n) intuitively states that the value of x_n is determined by those of x_1,...,x_n-1. We consider fragments of modal dependence logic obtained by restricting the set of allowed modal and propositional connectives. We classify these fragments with respect to the complexity of their satisfiability and model-checking problems. For satisfiability we obtain complexity degrees from P over NP, Sigma_P^2 and PSPACE up to NEXP, while for model-checking we only classify the fragments with respect to their tractability, i.e. we either show NP-completeness or containment in P. We then study the extension of modal dependence logic by intuitionistic implication. For this extension we again classify the complexity of the model-checking problem for its fragments. Here we obtain complexity degrees from P over NP and coNP up to PSPACE. Finally, we analyze first-order dependence logic, independence-friendly logic and their two-variable fragments. We prove that satisfiability for two-variable dependence logic is NEXP-complete, whereas for two-variable independence-friendly logic it is undecidable; and use this to prove that the latter is also more expressive than the former.