Call-by-Value Solvability and Multi Types

This paper provides a characterization of call-by-value solvability using call-by-value multi types. Our work is based on Accattoli and Paolini’s characterization of call-by-value solvable terms as those terminating with respect to the solving strategy of the value substitution calculus, a refinement of Plotkin’s call-by-value $\lambda$-calculus. Here we show that the solving strategy terminates on a term $t$ if and only if $t$ is typable in a certain way in the multi type system induced by Ehrhard’s call-by-value relational semantics. Moreover, we show how to extract from the type system exact bounds on the length of the solving evaluation and on the size of its normal form, adapting de Carvalho’s technique for call-by-name.