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Remarks on the equational theory of non-normalizing pure type systems

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 September 2003

GILLES BARTHE
Affiliation:
INRIA Sophia-Antipolis, France (e-mail: Gilles.Barthe@inria.fr)
THIERRY COQUAND
Affiliation:
Chalmers University, Göteborg, Sweden (e-mail: coquand@cs.chalmers.se)
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Abstract

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Pure Type Systems (PTS) come in two flavours: domain-free systems with untyped $\lambda$-abstractions (i.e. of the form $\lambda{x}.{M}$); and domain-free systems with typed $\lambda$-abstractions (i.e. of the form $\lambda{x}{A}{M}$). Both flavours of systems are related by an erasure function $\er{.}$ that removes types from $\lambda$-abstractions. Preservation of Equational Theory, which states the equational theories of both systems coincide through the erasure function, is a property of functional and normalizing PTSs. In this paper we establish that Preservation of Equational Theory fails for some non-normalizing PTSs, including the PTS with $\ast:\ast$. The gist of our argument is to exhibit a typable expression $Y_H$ whose erasure $\er{Y}$ is a fixpoint combinator, but which is not a fixpoint combinator itself.

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Copyright
2003 Cambridge University Press
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