The Baire algebra of a topological space X is the quotient of the algebra of all subsets of X modulo the meager sets. We show that this Boolean algebra can be endowed with a natural closure operator, resulting in a closure algebra which we denote $\mathbf {Baire}(X)$. We identify the modal logic of such algebras to be the well-known system $\mathsf {S5}$, and prove soundness and strong completeness for the cases where X is crowded and either completely metrizable and continuum-sized or locally compact Hausdorff. We also show that every extension of $\mathsf {S5}$ is the modal logic of a subalgebra of $\mathbf {Baire}(X)$, and that soundness and strong completeness also holds in the language with the universal modality.

Modal logic enjoys topological semantics that may be traced back to McKinsey and Tarski, and the classification of topological spaces via modal axioms is a lively area of research. In the past two decades, there has been interest in extending topological modal logic to the language of the mu-calculus, but previously no class of topological spaces was known to be mu-calculus definable that was not already modally definable. In this paper, we show that the full mu-calculus is indeed more expressive than standard modal logic, in the sense that there are classes of topological spaces (and weakly transitive Kripke frames), which are mu-definable but not modally definable. The classes we exhibit satisfy a modally definable property outside of their perfect core, and thus we dub them imperfect spaces. We show that the mu-calculus is sound and complete for these classes. Our examples are minimal in the sense that they use a single instance of a greatest fixed point, and we show that least fixed points alone do not suffice to define any class of spaces that is not already modally definable.

In topological modal logic, it is well known that the Cantor derivative is more expressive than the topological closure, and the ‘elsewhere’, or ‘difference’, operator is more expressive than the ‘somewhere’ operator. In 2014, Kudinov and Shehtman asked whether the combination of closure and elsewhere becomes strictly more expressive when adding the Cantor derivative. In this paper we give an affirmative answer: in fact, the Cantor derivative alone can define properties of topological spaces not expressible with closure and elsewhere. To prove this, we develop a novel theory of morphisms which preserve formulas with the elsewhere operator.

We prove that the modal logic of a crowded locally compact generalized ordered space is $\textsf {S4}$ . This provides a version of the McKinsey–Tarski theorem for generalized ordered spaces. We then utilize this theorem to axiomatize the modal logic of an arbitrary locally compact generalized ordered space.

We prove that the existence of a measurable cardinal is equivalent to the existence of a normal space whose modal logic coincides with the modal logic of the Kripke frame isomorphic to the powerset of a two element set.

In recent work, Stalnaker proposes a logical framework in which belief is realized as a weakened form of knowledge 35. Building on Stalnaker’s core insights, and using frameworks developed in 11 and 3, we employ topological tools to refine and, we argue, improve on this analysis. The structure of topological subset spaces allows for a natural distinction between what is known and (roughly speaking) what is knowable; we argue that the foundational axioms of Stalnaker’s system rely intuitively on both of these notions. More precisely, we argue that the plausibility of the principles Stalnaker proposes relating knowledge and belief relies on a subtle equivocation between an “evidence-in-hand” conception of knowledge and a weaker “evidence-out-there” notion of what could come to be known. Our analysis leads to a trimodal logic of knowledge, knowability, and belief interpreted in topological subset spaces in which belief is definable in terms of knowledge and knowability. We provide a sound and complete axiomatization for this logic as well as its uni-modal belief fragment. We then consider weaker logics that preserve suitable translations of Stalnaker’s postulates, yet do not allow for any reduction of belief. We propose novel topological semantics for these irreducible notions of belief, generalizing our previous semantics, and provide sound and complete axiomatizations for the corresponding logics.

In the topological semantics, quantified intuitionistic logic, QH, is known to be strongly complete not only for the class of all topological spaces but also for some particular topological spaces — for example, for the irrational line, ${\Bbb P}$, and for the rational line, ${\Bbb Q}$, in each case with a constant countable domain for the quantifiers. Each of ${\Bbb P}$ and ${\Bbb Q}$ is a separable zero-dimensional dense-in-itself metrizable space. The main result of the current article generalizes these known results: QH is strongly complete for any zero-dimensional dense-in-itself metrizable space with a constant domain of cardinality ≤ the space’s weight; consequently, QH is strongly complete for any separable zero-dimensional dense-in-itself metrizable space with a constant countable domain. We also prove a result that follows from earlier work of Moerdijk: if we allow varying domains for the quantifiers, then QH is strongly complete for any dense-in-itself metrizable space with countable domains.

We add propositional quantifiers to the propositional modal logic S4 and to the propositional intuitionistic logic H, introducing axiom schemes that are the natural analogs to axiom schemes typically used for first-order quantifiers in classical and intuitionistic logic. We show that the resulting logics are sound and complete for a topological semantics extending, in a natural way, the topological semantics for S4 and for H.

We develop the theory of Krull dimension for S4-algebras and Heyting algebras. This leads to the concept of modal Krull dimension for topological spaces. We compare modal Krull dimension to other well-known dimension functions, and show that it can detect differences between topological spaces that Krull dimension is unable to detect. We prove that for a T1-space to have a finite modal Krull dimension can be described by an appropriate generalization of the well-known concept of a nodec space. This, in turn, can be described by modal formulas zemn which generalize the well-known Zeman formula zem. We show that the modal logic S4.Zn := S4 + zemn is the basic modal logic of T1-spaces of modal Krull dimension ≤ n, and we construct a countable dense-in-itself ω-resolvable Tychonoff space Zn of modal Krull dimension n such that S4.Zn is complete with respect to Zn. This yields a version of the McKinsey-Tarski theorem for S4.Zn. We also show that no logic in the interval [S4n+1S4.Zn) is complete with respect to any class of T1-spaces.

Given a scattered space $\mathfrak{X} = \left( {X,\tau } \right)$ and an ordinal λ, we define a topology $\tau _{ + \lambda } $ in such a way that τ +0 = τ and, when $\mathfrak{X}$ is an ordinal with the initial segment topology, the resulting sequence {τ +λ}λ∈Ord coincides with the family of topologies $\left\{ {\mathcal{I}_\lambda } \right\}_{\lambda \in Ord} $ used by Icard, Joosten, and the second author to provide semantics for polymodal provability logics.

We prove that given any scattered space $\mathfrak{X}$ of large-enough rank and any ordinal λ > 0, GL is strongly complete for τ + λ. The special case where $\mathfrak{X} = \omega ^\omega + 1$ and λ = 1 yields a strengthening of a theorem of Abashidze and Blass.

This paper explores a new language of neighbourhood structures where existential information can be given about what kind of worlds occur in a neighbourhood of a current world. The resulting system of ‘instantial neighbourhood logic’ INL has a nontrivial mix of features from relational semantics and from neighbourhood semantics. We explore some basic model-theoretic behavior, including a matching notion of bisimulation, and give a complete axiom system for which we prove completeness by a new normal form technique. In addition, we relate INL to other modal logics by means of translations, and determine its precise SAT complexity. Finally, we discuss proof-theoretic fine-structure of INL in terms of semantic tableaux and some expressive fine-structure in terms of fragments, while discussing concrete illustrations of the instantial neighborhood language in topological spaces, in games with powers for players construed in a new way, as well as in dynamic logics of acquiring or deleting evidence. We conclude with some coalgebraic perspectives on what is achieved in this paper. Many of these final themes suggest follow-up work of independent interest.

It is a celebrated result of McKinsey and Tarski [28] that S4 is the logic of the closure algebra Χ+ over any dense-in-itself separable metrizable space. In particular, S4 is the logic of the closure algebra over the reals R, the rationals Q, or the Cantor space C. By [5], each logic above S4 that has the finite model property is the logic of a subalgebra of Q+, as well as the logic of a subalgebra of C+. This is no longer true for R, and the main result of [5] states that each connected logic above S4 with the finite model property is the logic of a subalgebra of the closure algebra R+.

In this paper we extend these results to all logics above S4. Namely, for a normal modal logic L, we prove that the following conditions are equivalent: (i) L is above S4, (ii) L is the logic of a subalgebra of Q+, (iii) L is the logic of a subalgebra of C+. We introduce the concept of a well-connected logic above S4 and prove that the following conditions are equivalent: (i) L is a well-connected logic, (ii) L is the logic of a subalgebra of the closure algebra $\xi _2^ + $ over the infinite binary tree, (iii) L is the logic of a subalgebra of the closure algebra ${\bf{L}}_2^ + $ over the infinite binary tree with limits equipped with the Scott topology. Finally, we prove that a logic L above S4 is connected iff L is the logic of a subalgebra of R+, and transfer our results to the setting of intermediate logics.

Proving these general completeness results requires new tools. We introduce the countable general frame property (CGFP) and prove that each normal modal logic has the CGFP. We introduce general topological semantics for S4, which generalizes topological semantics the same way general frame semantics generalizes Kripke semantics. We prove that the categories of descriptive frames for S4 and descriptive spaces are isomorphic. It follows that every logic above S4 is complete with respect to the corresponding class of descriptive spaces. We provide several ways of realizing the infinite binary tree with limits, and prove that when equipped with the Scott topology, it is an interior image of both C and R. Finally, we introduce gluing of general spaces and prove that the space obtained by appropriate gluing involving certain quotients of L2 is an interior image of R.