Univalent foundations and the equivalence principle
Benedikt Ahrens, Paige Randall North
发表信息：
In: Centrone S., Kant D., Sarikaya D. (eds) Reflections on the Foundations of Mathematics. Synthese Library (Studies in Epistemology, Logic, Methodology, and Philosophy of Science), vol 407. 2019. Springer, Cham
In this paper, we explore the 'equivalence principle' (EP): roughly, statements about mathematical objects should be invariant under an appropriate notion of equivalence for the kinds of objects under consideration. In set theoretic foundations, EP may not always hold: for instance, the statement '1 \in N' is not invariant under isomorphism of sets. In univalent foundations, on the other hand, EP has been proven for many mathematical structures. We first give an overview of earlier attempts at designing foundations that satisfy EP. We then describe how univalent foundations validates EP.
We give a concise presentation of the Univalent Foundations of mathematics outlining the main ideas, followed by a discussion of the UniMath library of formalized mathematics implementing the ideas of the Univalent Foundations (section 1), and the challenges one faces in attempting to design a large-scale library of formalized mathematics (section 2). This leads us to a general discussion about the links between architecture and mathematics where a meeting of minds is revealed between architects and mathematicians (section 3). On the way our odyssey from the foundations to the "horizon" of mat…
This is the text of my talk at CMU on Feb. 4, 2010 were I gave the second public presentation of the Univalence Axiom (called "equivalence axiom" in the text). The first presentation of the axiom was in a lecture at LMU Munich in November 2009.
We offer an introduction for mathematicians to the univalent foundations of Vladimir Voevodsky, aiming to explain how he chose to encode mathematics in type theory and how the encoding reveals a potentially viable foundation for all of modern mathematics that can serve as an alternative to set theory.
We introduce Voevodsky's univalent foundations and univalent mathematics, and explain how to develop them with the computer system Agda, which is based on Martin-Löf type theory. Agda allows us to write mathematical definitions, constructions, theorems and proofs, for example in number theory, analysis, group theory, topology, category theory or programming language theory, checking them for logical and mathematical correctness. Agda is a constructive mathematical system by default, which amounts to saying that it can also be considered as a programming language for manipulating mathematical o…
A typoid is a type equipped with an equivalence relation, such that the terms of equivalence between the terms of the type satisfy certain conditions, with respect to a given equivalence relation between them, that generalise the properties of the equality terms. The resulting weak 2-groupoid structure can be extended to every finite level. The introduced notions of typoid and typoid function generalise the notions of setoid and setoid function. A univalent typoid is a typoid satisfying a general version of the univalence axiom. We prove some fundamental facts on univalent typoids, their produ…
We investigate predicative aspects of constructive univalent foundations. By predicative and constructive, we respectively mean that we do not assume Voevodsky's propositional resizing axioms or excluded middle. Our work complements existing work on predicative mathematics by exploring what cannot be done predicatively in univalent foundations. Our first main result is that nontrivial (directed or bounded) complete posets are necessarily large. That is, if such a nontrivial poset is small, then weak propositional resizing holds. It is possible to derive full propositional resizing if we streng…
We provide a partial solution to the problem of defining a constructive version of Voevodsky's simplicial model of univalent foundations. For this, we prove constructive counterparts of the necessary results of simplicial homotopy theory, building on the constructive version of the Kan-Quillen model structure established by the second-named author. In particular, we show that dependent products along fibrations with cofibrant domains preserve fibrations, establish the weak equivalence extension property for weak equivalences between fibrations with cofibrant domain and define a univalent class…
We investigate predicative aspects of order theory in constructive univalent foundations. By predicative and constructive, we respectively mean that we do not assume Voevodsky's propositional resizing axioms or excluded middle. Our work complements existing work on predicative mathematics by exploring what cannot be done predicatively in univalent foundations. Our first main result is that nontrivial (directed or bounded) complete posets are necessarily large. That is, if such a nontrivial poset is small, then weak propositional resizing holds. It is possible to derive full propositional resiz…
We develop domain theory in constructive univalent foundations without Voevodsky's resizing axioms. In previous work in this direction, we constructed the Scott model of PCF and proved its computational adequacy, based on directed complete posets (dcpos). Here we further consider algebraic and continuous dcpos, and construct Scott's $D_\infty$ model of the untyped $λ$-calculus. A common approach to deal with size issues in a predicative foundation is to work with information systems or abstract bases or formal topologies rather than dcpos, and approximable relations rather than Scott continuou…
Recent discoveries have been made connecting abstract homotopy theory and the field of type theory from logic and theoretical computer science. This has given rise to a new field, which has been christened "homotopy type theory". In this direction, Vladimir Voevodsky observed that it is possible to model type theory using simplicial sets and that this model satisfies an additional property, called the Univalence Axiom, which has a number of striking consequences. He has subsequently advocated a program, which he calls univalent foundations, of developing mathematics in the setting of type theo…
Homotopy type theory is a new branch of mathematics, based on a recently discovered connection between homotopy theory and type theory, which brings new ideas into the very foundation of mathematics. On the one hand, Voevodsky's subtle and beautiful "univalence axiom" implies that isomorphic structures can be identified. On the other hand, "higher inductive types" provide direct, logical descriptions of some of the basic spaces and constructions of homotopy theory. Both are impossible to capture directly in classical set-theoretic foundations, but when combined in homotopy type theory, they pe…
The Univalence Principle is the statement that equivalent mathematical structures are indistinguishable. We prove a general version of this principle that applies to all set-based, categorical, and higher-categorical structures defined in a non-algebraic and space-based style, as well as models of higher-order theories such as topological spaces. In particular, we formulate a general definition of indiscernibility for objects of any such structure, and a corresponding univalence condition that generalizes Rezk's completeness condition for Segal spaces and ensures that all equivalences of struc…
The intended model of the homotopy type theories used in Univalent Foundations is the infinity-category of homotopy types, also known as infinity-groupoids. The problem of higher structures is that of constructing the homotopy types needed for mathematics, especially those that aren't sets. The current repertoire of constructions, including the usual type formers and higher inductive types, suffice for many but not all of these. We discuss the problematic cases, typically those involving an infinite hierarchy of coherence data such as semi-simplicial types, as well as the problem of developing…
This is an introductory textbook to univalent mathematics and homotopy type theory, a mathematical foundation that takes advantage of the structural nature of mathematical definitions and constructions. It is common in mathematical practice to consider equivalent objects to be the same, for example, to identify isomorphic groups. In set theory it is not possible to make this common practice formal. For example, there are as many distinct trivial groups in set theory as there are distinct singleton sets. Type theory, on the other hand, takes a more structural approach to the foundations of math…
This is an introduction to Homotopy Type Theory and Univalent Foundations for philosophers, written as a chapter for the book "Categories for the Working Philosopher" (ed. Elaine Landry)
