Let A be a propositionalintuitionistic formula. A modal formula T is defined by induction on the complexity of A: As negation is in intuitionistic logic defined by, we also have T is called the Gödel translation or Gödel–McKinsey–Tarski translation. The translation is sometimes presented in slightly different ways: for example, one may insert before every subformula. All such variants are provably equivalent in S4.
Modal companions
For any normal modal logic M which extends S4, we define its si-fragment ρM as The si-fragment of any normal extension of S4 is a superintuitionistic logic. A modal logic M is a modal companion of a superintuitionistic logic L if. Every superintuitionistic logic has modal companions. The smallest modal companion of L is where denotes normal closure. It can be shown that every superintuitionistic logic also has the largest modal companion, which is denoted by σL. A modal logic M is a companion of L if and only if. For example, S4 itself is the smallest modal companion of the intuitionistic logic. The largest modal companion of IPC is the Grzegorczyk logic Grz, axiomatized by the axiom over K. The smallest modal companion of the classical logic is Lewis' S5, whereas its largest modal companion is the logic More examples:
The set of extensions of a superintuitionistic logic L ordered by inclusion forms a complete lattice, denoted ExtL. Similarly, the set of normal extensions of a modal logic M is a complete lattice NExtM. The companion operators ρM, τL, and σL can be considered as mappings between the lattices ExtIPC and NExtS4: It is easy to see that all three are monotone, and is the identity function on ExtIPC. L. Maksimova and V. Rybakov have shown that ρ, τ, and σ are actually complete, join-complete and meet-complete lattice homomorphisms respectively. The cornerstone of the theory of modal companions is the Blok–Esakia theorem, proved independently by Wim Blok and Leo Esakia. It states Accordingly, σ and the restriction of ρ to NExtGrz are called the Blok–Esakia isomorphism. An important corollary to the Blok–Esakia theorem is a simple syntactic description of largest modal companions: for every superintuitionistic logic L,
Semantic description
The Gödel translation has a frame-theoretic counterpart. Let be a transitive and reflexive modal general frame. The preorderR induces the equivalence relation on F, which identifies points belonging to the same cluster. Let be the induced quotientpartial order, and put Then is an intuitionistic general frame, called the skeleton of F. The point of the skeleton construction is that it preserves validity modulo Gödel translation: for any intuitionistic formula A, Therefore, the si-fragment of a modal logic M can be defined semantically: if M is complete with respect toa classC of transitive reflexive general frames, then ρM is complete with respect to the class. The largest modal companions also have a semantic description. For any intuitionistic general frame, let σV be the closure of V under Boolean operations. It can be shown that σV is closed under, thus is a general modal frame. The skeleton of σF is isomorphic to F. If L is a superintuitionistic logic complete with respect to a class C of general frames, then its largest modal companion σL is complete with respect to. The skeleton of a Kripke frame is itself a Kripke frame. On the other hand, σF is never a Kripke frame if F is a Kripke frame of infinite depth.
Preservation theorems
The value of modal companions and the Blok–Esakia theorem as a tool for investigation of intermediate logics comes from the fact that many interesting properties of logics are preserved by some or all of the mappings ρ, σ, and τ. For example,
decidability is preserved by ρ, τ, and σ,
finite model property is preserved by ρ, τ, and σ,
tabularity is preserved by ρ and σ,
Kripke completeness is preserved by ρ and τ,
first-order definability on Kripke frames is preserved by ρ and τ.
Other properties
Every intermediate logic L has an infinite number of modal companions, and moreover, the set of modal companions of L contains an infinite descending chain. For example, consists of S5, and the logics for every positive integern, where is the n-element cluster. The set of modal companions of any L is either countable, or it has the cardinality of the continuum. Rybakov has shown that the lattice ExtL can be embedded in ; in particular, a logic has a continuum of modal companions if it has a continuum of extensions. It is unknown whether the converse is also true. The Gödel translation can be applied to rules as well as formulas: the translation of a rule is the rule A rule R is admissible in a logic L if the set of theorems of L is closed under R. It is easy to see that R is admissible in a superintuitionistic logic L whenever T is admissible in a modal companion of L. The converse is not true in general, but it holds for the largest modal companion of L.
