On parameterization of higher-order processes

ABSTRACT

Parameterization provides an effective way to improve on the expressiveness of process-passing. In this paper, we study two kinds of parameterization: name parameterization and process parameterization. Firstly, we show that process parameterization retains the characterization of context bisimulation in terms of the far simpler normal bisimulation, in which universal quantifiers are eliminated. Secondly, we prove that name parameterization is at least as expressive as process parameterization by giving an encoding from the higher-order calculus with process parameterization into the higher-order calculus with name parameterization. These results clarify further the theoretical framework of higher-order processes, and shed light on the relationship between the two kinds of parameterization.

KEYWORDS:

• Context bisimulation
• normal bisimulation
• expressiveness
• parameterization
• higher-order process calculi

2010 AMS SUBJECT CLASSIFICATION:

• 68Q85

Acknowledgments

The authors are particularly grateful to Alan Schmitt for his very helpful comments and constructive suggestions (e.g. the discussion on expressiveness in the last section finds source in an instructive encoding suggested by him) during the revision of this paper. We also thank Davide Sangiorgi and the anonymous referees for their useful comments.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

The authors are supported by NSFC [61261130589, 61202023, 61173048, 61472239, 61572318], and ANR PACE [12IS02001].