Core Concepts
The paper presents a categorical framework for composing codensity bisimulations, which generalize various notions of behavioral equivalence, in a way that preserves the equivalence under algebraic operations on state-based systems.
Abstract
The paper addresses the problem of compositionality of behavioral equivalence, such as bisimilarity, with respect to algebraic operations on state-based systems. It uses the framework of coalgebras and distributive laws to model these operations.
The key contributions are:
A generalization of the codensity lifting, a systematic way of defining behavioral equivalences, beyond endofunctors to also lift product functors. This allows for non-trivial ways of composing relations, metrics, etc. on component systems.
A sufficient condition for lifting distributive laws between codensity liftings. This condition ensures that the composition of behavioral equivalences on component systems is preserved in the composed system.
A composition of codensity games, which characterize codensity bisimulations, that also composes game invariants. This provides an alternative proof of the preservation of bisimilarities under the sufficient condition.
The paper illustrates the results with examples of deterministic automata and probabilistic systems, showing how the framework can be used to prove compositionality of qualitative and quantitative behavioral properties.