The interpretation of unsolvable λ-terms in models of untyped λ-calculus

Abstract

AbstractOur goal in this paper is to analyze the interpretation of arbitrary unsolvable λ-terms in a given model of λ-calculus. We focus on graph models and (a special type of) stable models. We introduce the syntactical notion of a decoration and the semantical notion of a critical sequence. We conjecture that any unsolvable term β-reduces to a term admitting a decoration. The main result of this paper concerns the interconnection between those two notions: given a graph model or stable model , we show that any unsolvable term admitting a decoration and having a non-empty interpretation in generates a critical sequence in the model.In the last section, we examine three classical graph models, namely the model of Plotkin and Scott, Engeler's model and Park's model . We show that and do not contain critical sequences whereas does.