Many-dimensional modal logic of tense and temporal interval and its decidability

Abstract

Linear tense logics are widely accepted for structural temporal representation, where the basic KT has two modal operators G and H, each of which represents the future and the past, respectively. On the other hand, the temporal interval relations arranged by Allen have long been the standard of natural language semantics, though it still lacks the modal-logical foundation. Van Benthem proposed □ up and □down in regard to the accessibility to overlapping intervals and subintervals, respectively; however, the logical feature of the modality has not well studied. In this study, we propose a many-dimensional logic including the conventional tense logic, together with such interval accessibility. And, we show that our logic provide a formal apparatus for a precise aspectual classification. Lastly, we introduce the sequent system for our logic. We show the subformula property holds in our system, and thus would be able to show the decidability.