First-Order Modal Logic: Frame Definability and Lindstr¨om Theorems R. Zoghifard∗ M. Pourmahdian† Abstract This paper involves generalizing the Goldblatt-Thomason and the Lindstr¨om characterization theorems to first-order modal logic. Keywords: First-order modal logic, Kripke semantics, Bisimulation, Goldblatt- Thomason theorem, Lindstr¨om theorem. 1 Introduction and Preliminaries The purpose of this study is to extend two well-known theorems of propositional modal logic, namely the Goldblatt-Thomason and the Lindstr¨om characterization theorems, to first-order modal logic. First-order modal logic (FML) provides a framework for incorporating both propositional modal and classical first-order logics (FOL). This, from a model theoretic point of view, means that a Kripke frame can be expanded by a non-empty set as a domain over which the quantified variables range. In particular, arXiv:1602.00201v2 [math.LO] 29 May 2016 first-order Kripke models subsume both propositional Kripke models and classical first- order structures. The celebrated Goldblatt-Thomason theorem provides a model theoretic character- ization of elementary classes of frames which are definable by a set of propositional modal sentences. This theorem states that an elementary class of Kripke frames is definable by a set of propositional modal formulas if and only if it is closed under ∗Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, Amirkabir University of Technology, Tehran, Iran. E-mail:
[email protected]. †Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, Amirkabir University of Technology, Tehran, Iran and School of Mathematics, Institute for Research in Fundamental Sciences (IPM), Tehran, Iran. E-mail:
[email protected]. 1 bounded morphic images, generated subframes and disjoint unions and reflects ultra- filter extensions.