A model of the untyped lambda calculus induces a lambda theory, i.e., a congruence relation on λ-terms closed under ff- and fi-conversion. A semantics (= class of models) of the lambda calculus is incomplete if there exists a lambda theory which is not induced by any model in the semantics. In this paper we introduce a new technique to prove the incompleteness of a wide range of lambda calculus semantics, including the strongly stable one, whose incompleteness had been conjectured by Bastonero-Gouy [6, 7] and by Berline [9]. The main results of the paper are a topological incompleteness theorem and an order incompleteness theorem. In the first one we show the incompleteness of the lambda calculus semantics given in terms of topological models whose topology satisfies a property of connectedness. In the second one we prove the incompleteness of the class of partially ordered models with finitely many connected components w.r.t. the Alexandroff topology. A further result of the paper is a proof of the completeness of the semantics of the lambda calculus given in terms of topological models whose topology is non-trivial and metrizable.

Abstract. A longstanding open problem is whether there exists a nonsyntactical model of the untyped λ-calculus whose theory is exactly the least λ-theory λβ. In this paper we investigate the more general question of whether the equational/order theory of a model of the untyped λ-calculus can be recursively enumerable (r.e. for brevity). We introduce a notion of effective model of λ-calculus, which covers in particular all the models individually introduced in the literature. We prove that the order theory of an effective model is never r.e.; from this it follows that its equational theory cannot be λβ, λβη. We then show that no effective model living in the stable or strongly stable semantics has an r.e. equational theory. Concerning Scott’s semantics, we investigate the class of graph models and prove that no order theory of a graph model can be r.e., and that there exists an effective graph model whose equational/order theory is the minimum one. Finally, we show that the class of graph models enjoys a kind of downwards Löwenheim-Skolem theorem.

Rewriting is the repeated transformation of a structured object according to a set of rules. This simple concept has turned out to have a rich variety of elaborations, giving rise to many different theoretical frameworks for reasoning about computation. Aside from its theoretical importance, rewriting has also

A longstanding open problem in lambda calculus is whether there exists a non-syntactical model of the untyped lambda calculus whose theory is exactly the least λ-theory λβ. In this paper we make use of the Visser topology for investigating the related question of whether the equational theory of a model can be recursively enumerable (r.e. for brevity). We introduce the notion of an effective model of lambda calculus and prove the following results: (i) The equational theory of an effective model cannot be λβ, λβη; (ii) The order theory of an effective model cannot be r.e.; (iii) No effective model living in the stable or strongly stable semantics has an r.e. equational theory. Concerning Scott’s semantics, we investigate the class of graph models and prove the following, where “graph theory ” is a shortcut for “theory of a graph model”: (iv) There exists a minimum order graph theory (for equational graph theories this was proved in [9, 10]). (v) The minimum equational/order graph theory is the theory of an effective graph model. (vi) No order graph theory can be r.e. (vii) Every equational/order graph theory is the theory of a graph model having a countable web. This last result proves that the class of graph models enjoys a kind of (downwards) Löwenheim-Skolem theorem, and it answers positively Question 3 in [4, Section 6.3] for the class of graph models. 1.

The aim of this paper is double. From one side we survey the knowledge we have acquired these last ten years about the lattice of all λ-theories ( = equational extensions of untyped λ-calculus) and the models of lambda calculus via universal algebra. This includes positive or negative answers to several questions raised in these years as well as several independent results, the state of the art about the long-standing open questions concerning the representability of λ-theories as theories of models, and 26 open problems. On the other side, against the common belief, we show that lambda calculus and combinatory logic satisfy interesting algebraic properties. In fact the Stone representation theorem for Boolean algebras can be generalized to combinatory algebras and λ-abstraction algebras. In every combinatory and λ-abstraction algebra there is a Boolean algebra of central elements (playing the role of idempotent elements in rings). Central elements are used to represent any combinatory and λ-abstraction algebra as a weak Boolean product of directly indecomposable algebras (i.e., algebras which cannot be decomposed as the Cartesian product of two other non-trivial algebras). Central elements are also used to provide applications of the representation theorem to lambda calculus. We show that the indecomposable semantics (i.e., the semantics of lambda calculus given in terms of models of lambda calculus, which are directly indecomposable as combinatory algebras) includes the continuous, stable and strongly stable semantics, and the term models of all semisensible λ-theories. In one of the main results of the paper we show that the indecomposable semantics is equationally incomplete, and this incompleteness is as wide as possible.