Nabla algebras and Chu spaces

This paper is a study into some properties and applications of Moss’ coalgebraic or ‘cover’ modality ∇.

First we present two axiomatizations of this operator, and we prove these axiomatizations to be sound and complete with respect to basic modal and positive modal logic, respectively. More precisely, we introduce the notions of a modal ∇-algebra and of a positive modal ∇-algebra. We establish a categorical isomorphism between the category of modal ∇-algebra and that of modal algebras, and similarly for positive modal ∇-algebras and positive modal algebras.

We then turn to a presentation, in terms of relation lifting, of the Vietoris hyperspace in topology. The key ingredient is an F-lifting construction, for an arbitrary set functor F, on the category Chu of two-valued Chu spaces and Chu transforms, based on relation lifting.

As a case study, we show how to realize the Vietoris construction on Stone spaces as a special instance of this Chu construction for the (finite) power set functor. Finally, we establish a tight connection with the axiomatization of the modal ∇-algebras.