On naturally continuous non-dcpo domains

Abstract

After works of Normann and the author on sequentiality (Normann 2006Mathematical Structures in Computer Science16 (2) 279–289; Normann and Sazonov 2012Annals of Pure and Applied Logic163 (5) 575–603; Sazonov 2007Logical Methods in Computer Science3 (3:7) 1–50), the necessity and possibility of a non-dcpo domain theory became evident. In this paper, the category of continuous dcpo domains is generalized to a category of ‘naturally’ continuous non-dcpo domains with ‘naturally’ continuous maps as arrows. A full subcategory of the latter, assuming a kind of bounded-completeness requirement of domains and presence of ⊥ in each, proves to be Cartesian closed and equivalent to a subclass of Ershov's general A-spaces (Ershov 1974Algebra and Logics12 (4) 369–416). This extends a non-dcpo generalization of Scott (algebraic) domains introduced and proved to be equivalent to Ershov's general f-spaces (Ershov 1972Algebra and Logic11 (4) 367–437) in Sazonov (2007 op. cit.; 2009 Annals of Pure and Applied Logic159 (3) 341–355).The current approach to natural domains (v-domains) is different from f-spaces and A-spaces in that it has arisen in Sazonov (2007 op. cit.) in a different way from defining fully abstract models for some versions of the language PCF over Integers, whereas the Ershov's approach was not initially related with full abstraction, and non-dcpo version of f-spaces and A-spaces were originally considered in an abstract (mainly topological) style. In this paper devoted to naturally continuous natural domains (v-continuous v-domains), we also work in an abstract (mainly order-theoretic) style but with the hope to relate it in the future with the ideas of PCF over Reals by exploring and adapting the ideas in Escardó (1996Theoretical Computer Science162 (1) 79–115), Escardó et al. (2004Mathematical Structures in Computer Science, 14 (6), Cambridge University Press 803–814), Marcial-Romero and Escardó (2007Theoretical Computer Science379 (1-2) 120–141), Sazonov (2007 op. cit.).