Charta of the RTA list of open problems

The RTA list of open problems (RTALooP in the following) gives pointers to problems in the field of the International Conference on Rewriting Techniques and Applications (RTA). Each problem description falls into two sections:

1. an editorial section, consisting of
   1. a problem description,
   2. remarks on relevant results,
2. a comments section.

1  Problems

The open problems to be published here should match one of the topics of the RTA conference. For the RTA 2002 conference, the subjects of RTA were given as

• Applications: case studies; rule-based programming; symbolic and algebraic computation; theorem proving; functional and logic programming; proof checking.
• Foundations: matching and unification; completion techniques; strategies; constraint solving; explicit substitutions.
• Frameworks: string, term, and graph rewriting; lambda-calculus and higher-order rewriting; conditional rewriting; proof nets; constrained rewriting and deduction; categorical and infinitary rewriting.
• Implementation: compilation techniques; parallel execution; rewriting tools.
• Semantics: equational logic; rewriting logic.

Problem descriptions are usually concise and do not include all the preliminaries and details. Each problem description should however provide a reference to the literature (even better, a web pointer) where a more detailed description can be found.

No guarantee is given that the summarized description provided on the RTALooP pages is accurate. Always check the literature or contact the originator of a problem to be sure.

2  Remarks

After a problem has been published, pointers to work reporting progress on a problem (or even a solution) are given in this section. In any case, only pointers to work published in (or accepted for publication in) a refereed conference, journal or book will be included here.

RTALooP declines any guarantee for the adequacy or completeness of this information. In particular, the fact that no solution is reported here does not guarantee that the problem is still open.

3  Comments

Anybody can summit a comment to a problem. Comments are published after approval by the RTALooP editorial board. The editorial board, however, does not replace the program committee of a conference or a journal.

The announcement of a solution to a problem in the comments section of RTALooP is not a publication but rather has the same status as a message communicated via a moderated mailing list.

4  Submissions

Evidently, the RTALooP project depends heavily on input from the community. Submisssions and remarks are most welcome. RTALooP accepts two kinds of submissions:

1. New problems: Problems will be published only after approval by the editorial board. RTALooP reserves the right to edit problem descriptions
2. Comments to a specific problem: RTALooP reserves the right to decide whether to incorporate a comment in the remarks section of a problem, or to publish a comment in the comments section, or to reject