A (Co)Algebraic Framework for Ordered Processes

Abstract

A recently published paper (Schmid, Rozowski, Silva, and Rot, 2022) offers a (co)algebraic framework for studying processes with algebraic branching structures and recursion operators. The framework captures Milner's algebra of regular behaviours (Milner, 1984) but fails to give an honest account of a closely related calculus of probabilistic processes (Stark and Smolka, 1999). We capture Stark and Smolka's calculus by giving an alternative framework, aimed at studying a family of ordered process calculi with inequationally specified branching structures and recursion operators. We observe that a recent probabilistic extension of guarded Kleene algebra with tests (Rozowski, Kozen, Kappe, Schmid, Silva, 2022) is a fragment of one of our calculi, along with other examples. We also compare the intrinsic order in our process calculi with the notion of similarity in coalgebra.