On posetal and complete partial applicative structures

TL;DR

This paper characterizes partial applicative structures based on the properties of their associated indexed relations, linking algebraic and computational aspects to order-theoretic structures like preorders and posets.

Contribution

It provides algebraic and computational characterizations of partial applicative structures that generate indexed relations with specific properties, including completeness conditions.

Findings

Characterization of structures giving rise to indexed preorders and posets

Analysis of algebraic and computational properties in the posetal case

Necessary conditions for completeness in partial applicative structures

Abstract

Every partial applicative structure gives rise to an indexed binary relation, that is a contravariant functor from the category of sets to the category of sets endowed with binary relations and maps preserving them. In this paper we characterize those partial applicative structures giving rise to indexed relations satisfying certain elementary properties in terms of algebraic or computational properties. We will then provide a characterization of those partial applicative structures giving rise to indexed preorders and indexed posets, and we will relate the latter ones to some particular classes of unary partial endofunctions. We will analyze the relation between a series of computational and algebraic properties in the posetal case. Finally, we will study the problem of existence of suprema in the case of partial applicative structures giving rise to indexed preorders, by providing some necessary conditions for a partial applicative structure to be complete.