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Documents authored by Winterhalter, Théo

Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.LICS.2026.41
Definitional Proof Irrelevance Made Accessible

Authors: Thiago Felicissimo, Yann Leray, Loïc Pujet, Nicolas Tabareau, Éric Tanter, and Théo Winterhalter

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 380, 41st Annual Symposium on Logic in Computer Science (LICS 2026)

Abstract
A universe of propositions equipped with definitional proof irrelevance constitutes a convenient medium to express properties and proofs in type-theoretic proof assistants such as Lean, Rocq, and Agda. However, allowing accessibility predicates - used to establish semantic termination arguments - to inhabit such a universe yields undecidable typechecking, hampering the predictability and foundational bases of a proof assistant. To effectively reconcile definitional proof irrelevance and accessibility predicates with both theoretical foundations and practicality in mind, we describe a type theory that extends the Calculus of Inductive Constructions featuring observational equality in a universe of strict propositions, with two variants for handling the elimination principle of accessibility predicates: one variant safeguards decidability by sticking to propositional unfolding, and the other variant favors flexibility with definitional unfolding, at the expense of a potentially diverging typechecking procedure. Crucially, the metatheory of this dual approach establishes that any proof made in the definitional variant of the theory can be translated into a proof of the same statement in the propositional variant, all while preserving the decidability of the latter. Moreover, we prove the two variants to be consistent and to satisfy forms of canonicity, ensuring that programs can indeed be properly evaluated. We present an implementation in Rocq and compare it with existing approaches. Overall, this work introduces an effective technique that informs the design of proof assistants with strict propositions, enabling local computation with accessibility predicates without compromising the ambient type theory.
Cite as

Thiago Felicissimo, Yann Leray, Loïc Pujet, Nicolas Tabareau, Éric Tanter, and Théo Winterhalter. Definitional Proof Irrelevance Made Accessible. In 41st Annual Symposium on Logic in Computer Science (LICS 2026). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 380, pp. 41:1-41:26, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)

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@InProceedings{felicissimo_et_al:LIPIcs.LICS.2026.41,
  author =	{Felicissimo, Thiago and Leray, Yann and Pujet, Lo\"{i}c and Tabareau, Nicolas and Tanter, \'{E}ric and Winterhalter, Th\'{e}o},
  title =	{{Definitional Proof Irrelevance Made Accessible}},
  booktitle =	{41st Annual Symposium on Logic in Computer Science (LICS 2026)},
  pages =	{41:1--41:26},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-434-5},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2026},
  volume =	{380},
  editor =	{Faggian, Claudia and Katoen, Joost-Pieter},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.LICS.2026.41},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-268289},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.LICS.2026.41},
  annote =	{Keywords: Dependent type theory, proof assistants, Rocq, proof irrelevance, accessibility predicates, observational equality, canonicity, set-theoretic models}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.ITP.2024.26
The Rewster: Type Preserving Rewrite Rules for the Coq Proof Assistant

Authors: Yann Leray, Gaëtan Gilbert, Nicolas Tabareau, and Théo Winterhalter

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 309, 15th International Conference on Interactive Theorem Proving (ITP 2024)

Abstract
In dependently typed proof assistants, users can declare axioms to extend the ambient logic locally with new principles and propositional equalities governing them. Additionally, rewrite rules have recently been proposed to allow users to extend the logic with new definitional equalities, enabling them to handle new principles with a computational behaviour. While axioms can only break consistency, the addition of arbitrary rewrite rules can break other important metatheoretical properties such as type preservation. In this paper, we present an implementation of rewrite rules on top of the Coq proof assistant, together with a modular criterion to ensure that the added rewrite rules preserve typing. This criterion, based on bidirectional type checking, is formally expressed in PCUIC - the type theory of Coq recently developed in the MetaCoq project.
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Yann Leray, Gaëtan Gilbert, Nicolas Tabareau, and Théo Winterhalter. The Rewster: Type Preserving Rewrite Rules for the Coq Proof Assistant. In 15th International Conference on Interactive Theorem Proving (ITP 2024). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 309, pp. 26:1-26:18, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2024)

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@InProceedings{leray_et_al:LIPIcs.ITP.2024.26,
  author =	{Leray, Yann and Gilbert, Ga\"{e}tan and Tabareau, Nicolas and Winterhalter, Th\'{e}o},
  title =	{{The Rewster: Type Preserving Rewrite Rules for the Coq Proof Assistant}},
  booktitle =	{15th International Conference on Interactive Theorem Proving (ITP 2024)},
  pages =	{26:1--26:18},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-337-9},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2024},
  volume =	{309},
  editor =	{Bertot, Yves and Kutsia, Temur and Norrish, Michael},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.ITP.2024.26},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-207545},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ITP.2024.26},
  annote =	{Keywords: type theory, dependent types, rewrite rules, type preservation, Coq}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.FSCD.2024.21
Impredicativity, Cumulativity and Product Covariance in the Logical Framework Dedukti

Authors: Thiago Felicissimo and Théo Winterhalter

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 299, 9th International Conference on Formal Structures for Computation and Deduction (FSCD 2024)

Abstract
Proof assistants such as Coq implement a type theory featuring three important features: impredicativity, cumulativity and product covariance. This combination has proven difficult to be expressed in the logical framework Dedukti, and previous attempts have failed in providing an encoding that is proven confluent, sound and conservative. In this work we solve this longstanding open problem by providing an encoding of these three features that we prove to be confluent, sound and to satisfy a restricted (but, we argue, strong enough) form of conservativity. Our proof of confluence is a contribution by itself, and combines various criteria and proof techniques from rewriting theory. Our proof of soundness also contributes a new strategy in which the result is shown in terms of an inverse translation function, fixing a common flaw made in some previous encoding attempts.
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Thiago Felicissimo and Théo Winterhalter. Impredicativity, Cumulativity and Product Covariance in the Logical Framework Dedukti. In 9th International Conference on Formal Structures for Computation and Deduction (FSCD 2024). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 299, pp. 21:1-21:23, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2024)

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@InProceedings{felicissimo_et_al:LIPIcs.FSCD.2024.21,
  author =	{Felicissimo, Thiago and Winterhalter, Th\'{e}o},
  title =	{{Impredicativity, Cumulativity and Product Covariance in the Logical Framework Dedukti}},
  booktitle =	{9th International Conference on Formal Structures for Computation and Deduction (FSCD 2024)},
  pages =	{21:1--21:23},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-323-2},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2024},
  volume =	{299},
  editor =	{Rehof, Jakob},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.FSCD.2024.21},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-203503},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.FSCD.2024.21},
  annote =	{Keywords: Dedukti, Rewriting, Confluence, Dependent types, Cumulativity, Universes}
}
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