Evidenced Frames: A Unifying Framework Broadening Realizability Models

Constructive foundations have for decades been built upon realizability models for higher-order logic and type theory. However, traditional realizability models have a rather limited notion of computation, which only supports non-termination and avoids many other commonly used effects. Work to address these limitations has typically overlaid structure on top of existing models, such as by using powersets to represent non-determinism, but kept the realizers themselves deterministic. This paper alternatively addresses these limitations by making the structure underlying realizability models more flexible. To this end, we introduce evidenced frames: a general-purpose framework for building realizability models that support diverse effectful computations. We demonstrate that this flexibility permits models wherein the realizers themselves can be effectful, such as λ-terms that can manipulate state, reduce non-deterministically, or fail entirely. Beyond the broader notions of computation, we demonstrate that evidenced frames form a unifying framework for (realizability) models of higher-order dependent predicate logic. In particular, we prove that evidenced frames are complete with respect to these models, and that the existing completeness construction for implicative algebras - another foundational framework for realizability - factors through our simpler construction. As such, we conclude that evidenced frames offer an ideal domain for unifying and broadening realizability models.