An Efficient Nominal Unification Algorithm

Nominal Unification is an extension of first-order unification where terms can contain binders and unification is performed modulo α equivalence. Here we prove that the existence of nominal unifiers can be decided in quadratic time. First, we linearly-reduce nominal unification problems to a sequenc...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Levy, Jordi; Villaret i Ausellé, Mateu
Tipo de documento: Artículo
Estado:Published version
Fecha de publicación:2010
País:España
Institución:Varias* (Consorci de Biblioteques Universitáries de Catalunya, Centre de Serveis Científics i Acadèmics de Catalunya)
Repositorio:Recercat. Dipósit de la Recerca de Catalunya
OAI Identifier:oai:recercat.cat:10256/8404
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/10256/8404
Nivel de acceso:Acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Algorismes computacionals
Computer algorithms
Lògica matemàtica
Logic, Symbolic and mathematical
Complexitat computacional
Computational complexity
Descripción
Sumario:Nominal Unification is an extension of first-order unification where terms can contain binders and unification is performed modulo α equivalence. Here we prove that the existence of nominal unifiers can be decided in quadratic time. First, we linearly-reduce nominal unification problems to a sequence of freshness and equalities between atoms, modulo a permutation, using ideas as Paterson and Wegman for first-order unification. Second, we prove that solvability of these reduced problems may be checked in quadràtic time. Finally, we point out how using ideas of Brown and Tarjan for unbalanced merging, we could solve these reduced problems more efficiently