Cut-Elimination for Full Intuitionistic Linear Logic

Abstract

We describe in full detail a solution to the problem of proving the cut elimination theorem for FILL, a variant of (multiplicative and exponential-free) Linear Logic<br />introduced by Hyland and de Paiva. Hyland and de Paiva's work used a term assignment<br />system to describe FILL and barely sketched the proof of cut elimination. In this paper, as well as correcting a small mistake in their paper and extending the<br />system to deal with exponentials, we introduce a different formal system describing the intuitionistic character of FILL and we provide a full proof of the cut elimination<br />theorem. The formal system is based on a notion of dependence between formulae within a given proof and seems of independent interest. The procedure for<br />cut elimination applies to (classical) multiplicative Linear Logic, and we can (with care) restrict our attention to the subsystem FILL. The proof, as usual with cut<br />elimination proofs, is a little involved and we have not seen it published anywhere.