Distributed Computing
Formal theories of knowledge in AI and robotics
New Generation Computing
On the possibility and impossibility of achieving clock synchronization
Journal of Computer and System Sciences
What processes know: Definitions and proof methods
PODC '86 Proceedings of the fifth annual ACM symposium on Principles of distributed computing
The synthesis of digital machines with provable epistemic properties
Proceedings of the 1986 Conference on Theoretical aspects of reasoning about knowledge
Knowledge and common knowledge in a Byzantine environment I: crash failures
Proceedings of the 1986 Conference on Theoretical aspects of reasoning about knowledge
Foundations of knowledge for distributed systems
Proceedings of the 1986 Conference on Theoretical aspects of reasoning about knowledge
The logic of distributed protocols
Proceedings of the 1986 Conference on Theoretical aspects of reasoning about knowledge
A knowledge-theoretic analysis of atomic commitment protocols
PODS '87 Proceedings of the sixth ACM SIGACT-SIGMOD-SIGART symposium on Principles of database systems
Belief, awareness, and limited reasoning
Artificial Intelligence
Concurrent common knowledge: a new definition of agreement for asynchronous systems
PODC '88 Proceedings of the seventh annual ACM Symposium on Principles of distributed computing
Impossibility of distributed consensus with one faulty process
Journal of the ACM (JACM)
Distributed snapshots: determining global states of distributed systems
ACM Transactions on Computer Systems (TOCS)
A formal model of knowledge, action, and communication in distributed systems: preliminary report
Proceedings of the fourth annual ACM symposium on Principles of distributed computing
Synthesis of Communicating Processes from Temporal Logic Specifications
ACM Transactions on Programming Languages and Systems (TOPLAS)
Knowledge Consistency: A Useful Suspension of Disbelief
Proceedings of the 2nd Conference on Theoretical Aspects of Reasoning about Knowledge
A Knowledge Theoretic Account of Recovery in Distributed Systems: The Case of Negotiated Commitment
Proceedings of the 2nd Conference on Theoretical Aspects of Reasoning about Knowledge
Reasoning about Knowledge and Probability
Proceedings of the 2nd Conference on Theoretical Aspects of Reasoning about Knowledge
Distributed Processes and the Logic of Knowledge
Proceedings of the Conference on Logic of Programs
Proceedings of the 2nd Conference on Theoretical Aspects of Reasoning about Knowledge
Knowledge and common knowledge in a distributed environment
PODC '84 Proceedings of the third annual ACM symposium on Principles of distributed computing
On the model theory of knowledge
On the model theory of knowledge
Knowledge in shared memory systems (preliminary version)
PODC '91 Proceedings of the tenth annual ACM symposium on Principles of distributed computing
A semantics for a logic of authentication (extended abstract)
PODC '91 Proceedings of the tenth annual ACM symposium on Principles of distributed computing
A predicate transformer approach to knowledge and knowledge-based protocols (extended abstract)
PODC '91 Proceedings of the tenth annual ACM symposium on Principles of distributed computing
Message-optimal protocols for byzantine agreement (extended abstract)
PODC '91 Proceedings of the tenth annual ACM symposium on Principles of distributed computing
Unreliable failure detectors for asynchronous systems (preliminary version)
PODC '91 Proceedings of the tenth annual ACM symposium on Principles of distributed computing
A model-theoretic analysis of knowledge
Journal of the ACM (JACM)
The possibility and the complexity of achieving fault-tolerant coordination
PODC '92 Proceedings of the eleventh annual ACM symposium on Principles of distributed computing
What can machines know?: On the properties of knowledge in distributed systems
Journal of the ACM (JACM)
Simulating synchronized clocks and common knowledge in distributed systems
Journal of the ACM (JACM)
Knowledge, probability, and adversaries
Journal of the ACM (JACM)
Knowledge-oriented programming
PODC '93 Proceedings of the twelfth annual ACM symposium on Principles of distributed computing
Wait-free k-set agreement is impossible: the topology of public knowledge
STOC '93 Proceedings of the twenty-fifth annual ACM symposium on Theory of computing
Adding time to a logic of authentication
CCS '93 Proceedings of the 1st ACM conference on Computer and communications security
Reasoning about knowledge and probability
Journal of the ACM (JACM)
Optimal NODUP All-to-All Broadcast Schemes in Distributed Computing Systems
IEEE Transactions on Parallel and Distributed Systems
Knowledge, timed precedence and clocks (preliminary report)
PODC '94 Proceedings of the thirteenth annual ACM symposium on Principles of distributed computing
Local and temporal predicates in distributed systems
ACM Transactions on Programming Languages and Systems (TOPLAS)
Proceedings of the fourteenth annual ACM symposium on Principles of distributed computing
Impossibility results for recycling random bits in two-prover proof systems
STOC '95 Proceedings of the twenty-seventh annual ACM symposium on Theory of computing
Unreliable failure detectors for reliable distributed systems
Journal of the ACM (JACM)
Modular competitiveness for distributed algorithms
STOC '96 Proceedings of the twenty-eighth annual ACM symposium on Theory of computing
Strategic directions in concurrency research
ACM Computing Surveys (CSUR) - Special ACM 50th-anniversary issue: strategic directions in computing research
Refining knowledge oriented actions to layered implementations
PODC '96 Proceedings of the fifteenth annual ACM symposium on Principles of distributed computing
A new look at membership services (extended abstract)
PODC '96 Proceedings of the fifteenth annual ACM symposium on Principles of distributed computing
Applications of a logic of knowledge to motion planning under uncertainty
Journal of the ACM (JACM)
Unifying synchronous and asynchronous message-passing models
PODC '98 Proceedings of the seventeenth annual ACM symposium on Principles of distributed computing
Optimal Elections in Faulty Loop Networks and Applications
IEEE Transactions on Computers
What is wrong with us? Improving robustness through social diagnosis
AAAI '98/IAAI '98 Proceedings of the fifteenth national/tenth conference on Artificial intelligence/Innovative applications of artificial intelligence
Fundamentals of fault-tolerant distributed computing in asynchronous environments
ACM Computing Surveys (CSUR)
Replica Determinism and Flexible Scheduling in Hard Real-Time Dependable Systems
IEEE Transactions on Computers
An axiomatic treatment of three qualitative decision criteria
Journal of the ACM (JACM)
Knowledge in multiagent systems: initial configurations and broadcast
ACM Transactions on Computational Logic (TOCL)
Simplifying fault-tolerance: providing the abstraction of crash failures
Journal of the ACM (JACM)
Towards robust teams with many agents
Proceedings of the first international joint conference on Autonomous agents and multiagent systems: part 2
Channeled multicast for group communications
Proceedings of the first international joint conference on Autonomous agents and multiagent systems: part 3
Coordination in an Email Game without ``Almost Common Knowledge''
Journal of Logic, Language and Information
Beliefs, time and incomplete information in multiple encounter negotiations among autonomous agents
Annals of Mathematics and Artificial Intelligence
Exploiting focal points among alternative solutions: Two approaches
Annals of Mathematics and Artificial Intelligence
Approximate Common Knowledge and Co-ordination: Recent Lessons from Game Theory
Journal of Logic, Language and Information
Bayesian Update of Recursive Agent Models
User Modeling and User-Adapted Interaction
Rational Coordination in Multi-Agent Environments
Autonomous Agents and Multi-Agent Systems
A Refinement Theory that Supports Reasoning About Knowledge and Time
LPAR '01 Proceedings of the Artificial Intelligence on Logic for Programming
Toward sofware synthesis for distributed applications
TARK '98 Proceedings of the 7th conference on Theoretical aspects of rationality and knowledge
Knowledge and the logic of local propositions
TARK '98 Proceedings of the 7th conference on Theoretical aspects of rationality and knowledge
A Model of BDI-Agent in Game-Theoretic Framework
Selected papers from the ESPRIT Project ModelAge Final Workshop on Formal Models of Agents
Efficient Model Checking of Causal-Knowledge Protocols
CEEMAS '01 Revised Papers from the Second International Workshop of Central and Eastern Europe on Multi-Agent Systems: From Theory to Practice in Multi-Agent Systems
A Program Refinement Framework Supporting Reasoning about Knowledge and Time
FOSSACS '00 Proceedings of the Third International Conference on Foundations of Software Science and Computation Structures: Held as Part of the Joint European Conferences on Theory and Practice of Software,ETAPS 2000
On Verification in Secret Sharing
CRYPTO '91 Proceedings of the 11th Annual International Cryptology Conference on Advances in Cryptology
Model Checking Knowledge and Time in Systems with Perfect Recall (Extended Abstract)
Proceedings of the 19th Conference on Foundations of Software Technology and Theoretical Computer Science
Proceedings of the 19th Conference on Foundations of Software Technology and Theoretical Computer Science
Concurrent Knowledge and Logical Clock Abstractions
FST TCS 2000 Proceedings of the 20th Conference on Foundations of Software Technology and Theoretical Computer Science
Modelling Change with the Aid of Knowledge and Time
FCT '01 Proceedings of the 13th International Symposium on Fundamentals of Computation Theory
Emergent Mental Attitudes in Layered Agents
ATAL '98 Proceedings of the 5th International Workshop on Intelligent Agents V, Agent Theories, Architectures, and Languages
On Multi-agent Systems Specification via Deontic Logic
ATAL '01 Revised Papers from the 8th International Workshop on Intelligent Agents VIII
Proceedings of the 9th conference on Theoretical aspects of rationality and knowledge
Remote Belief: Preserving Volition for Loosely Coupled Processes
ICDCS '03 Proceedings of the 23rd International Conference on Distributed Computing Systems
Verifying epistemic properties of multi-agent systems via bounded model checking
AAMAS '03 Proceedings of the second international joint conference on Autonomous agents and multiagent systems
Verifying epistemic properties of multi-agent systems via bounded model checking
Fundamenta Informaticae - Concurrency specification and programming
Exploiting the efficiency and fairness potential of AIMD-based congestion avoidance and control
Computer Networks: The International Journal of Computer and Telecommunications Networking
An Analysable Bus-Guardian for Event-Triggered Communication
RTSS '03 Proceedings of the 24th IEEE International Real-Time Systems Symposium
Probabilistic belief logic and its probabilistic aumann semantics
Journal of Computer Science and Technology
Hundreds of impossibility results for distributed computing
Distributed Computing - Papers in celebration of the 20th anniversary of PODC
Efficiency and equilibrium in the electronic mail game; the general case
Theoretical Computer Science
COLING '96 Proceedings of the 16th conference on Computational linguistics - Volume 1
An epistemic logic of situations: extended abstract
TARK '94 Proceedings of the 5th conference on Theoretical aspects of reasoning about knowledge
Knowledge as a tool in motion planning under uncertainty
TARK '94 Proceedings of the 5th conference on Theoretical aspects of reasoning about knowledge
TARK '94 Proceedings of the 5th conference on Theoretical aspects of reasoning about knowledge
Knowledge and the ordering of events in distributed systems: extended abstract
TARK '94 Proceedings of the 5th conference on Theoretical aspects of reasoning about knowledge
Extending interpreted systems with some deontic concepts
TARK '01 Proceedings of the 8th conference on Theoretical aspects of rationality and knowledge
Local knowledge assertions in a changing world: extended abstract
TARK '96 Proceedings of the 6th conference on Theoretical aspects of rationality and knowledge
Implementing knowledge-based programs
TARK '96 Proceedings of the 6th conference on Theoretical aspects of rationality and knowledge
Knowledge based programs: on the complexity of perfect recall in finite environments
TARK '96 Proceedings of the 6th conference on Theoretical aspects of rationality and knowledge
TARK '96 Proceedings of the 6th conference on Theoretical aspects of rationality and knowledge
Knowledge and communication: a tutorial
TARK '92 Proceedings of the 4th conference on Theoretical aspects of reasoning about knowledge
TARK '92 Proceedings of the 4th conference on Theoretical aspects of reasoning about knowledge
Characterizing distributed systems using knowledge-based models: preliminary version
TARK '92 Proceedings of the 4th conference on Theoretical aspects of reasoning about knowledge
Using knowledge to optimally achieve coordination in distributed systems: extended abstract
TARK '92 Proceedings of the 4th conference on Theoretical aspects of reasoning about knowledge
Modal logic S4F and the minimal knowledge paradigm
TARK '92 Proceedings of the 4th conference on Theoretical aspects of reasoning about knowledge
On perfect introspection with quantifying-in: extended abstract
TARK '92 Proceedings of the 4th conference on Theoretical aspects of reasoning about knowledge
The expressive power of the hierarchical approach to modeling knowledge and common knowledge
TARK '92 Proceedings of the 4th conference on Theoretical aspects of reasoning about knowledge
A note on knowledge-based programs and specifications
Distributed Computing
Keeping track of the latest gossip in a distributed system
Distributed Computing
Using counterfactuals in knowledge-based programming
Distributed Computing
The power of logical clock abstractions
Distributed Computing
Distributed Computing
Common knowledge and consistent simultaneous coordination
Distributed Computing
Concurrent common knowledge: defining agreement for asynchronous systems
Distributed Computing
Knowledge in shared memory systems
Distributed Computing
Continuous consensus via common knowledge
TARK '05 Proceedings of the 10th conference on Theoretical aspects of rationality and knowledge
Morphogenesis as an amorphous computation
Proceedings of the 3rd conference on Computing frontiers
Extensive games with possibly unaware players
AAMAS '06 Proceedings of the fifth international joint conference on Autonomous agents and multiagent systems
Theoretical Computer Science - Clifford lectures and the mathematical foundations of programming semantics
Evolution of Collective Commitment during Teamwork
Fundamenta Informaticae
FUSE: lightweight guaranteed distributed failure notification
OSDI'04 Proceedings of the 6th conference on Symposium on Opearting Systems Design & Implementation - Volume 6
Symbolic model checking for temporal-epistemic logics
ACM SIGACT News
Single-bit messages are insufficient for data link over duplicating channels
Information Processing Letters
Justified and Common Knowledge: Limited Conservativity
LFCS '07 Proceedings of the international symposium on Logical Foundations of Computer Science
Model Checking Knowledge and Linear Time: PSPACE Cases
LFCS '07 Proceedings of the international symposium on Logical Foundations of Computer Science
Languages, Methodologies and Development Tools for Multi-Agent Systems
Symmetric and Synchronous Communication in Peer-to-Peer Networks
MPC '08 Proceedings of the 9th international conference on Mathematics of Program Construction
Local Terminations and Distributed Computability in Anonymous Networks
DISC '08 Proceedings of the 22nd international symposium on Distributed Computing
Continuous Consensus with Failures and Recoveries
DISC '08 Proceedings of the 22nd international symposium on Distributed Computing
No Double Discount: Condition-Based Simultaneity Yields Limited Gain
DISC '08 Proceedings of the 22nd international symposium on Distributed Computing
Measuring the premium on common knowledge in computer-mediated coordination problems
Computers in Human Behavior
Acknowledged broadcasting in ad hoc radio networks
Information Processing Letters
Models of Interaction as a Grounding for Peer to Peer Knowledge Sharing
Advances in Web Semantics I
LFCS '09 Proceedings of the 2009 International Symposium on Logical Foundations of Computer Science
On BAN logic and hash functions or: how an unjustified inference rule causes problems
Autonomous Agents and Multi-Agent Systems
Revisiting simultaneous consensus with crash failures
Journal of Parallel and Distributed Computing
Syntactic Cut-elimination for Common Knowledge
Electronic Notes in Theoretical Computer Science (ENTCS)
Common knowledge does not have the Beth property
Information Processing Letters
Towards Partial Order Reduction for Model Checking Temporal Epistemic Logic
Model Checking and Artificial Intelligence
The Shadow Knows: Refinement and security in sequential programs
Science of Computer Programming
Towards strategic Kriegspiel play with opponent modeling
Proceedings of The 8th International Conference on Autonomous Agents and Multiagent Systems - Volume 2
Common knowledge in interaction structures
Proceedings of the 12th Conference on Theoretical Aspects of Rationality and Knowledge
A Logical Treatment for the Emergence of Control in Complex Self-Organising Systems
Proceedings of the 2005 conference on Self-Organization and Autonomic Informatics (I)
WoLLIC '09 Proceedings of the 16th International Workshop on Logic, Language, Information and Computation
Robust agent teams via socially-attentive monitoring
Journal of Artificial Intelligence Research
On the formal semantics of speech-act based communication in an agent-oriented programming language
Journal of Artificial Intelligence Research
Journal of Artificial Intelligence Research
Liveness and fairness properties in multi-agent systems
IJCAI'93 Proceedings of the 13th international joint conference on Artifical intelligence - Volume 1
Knowledge considerations in robotics and distribution of robotic tasks
IJCAI'95 Proceedings of the 14th international joint conference on Artificial intelligence - Volume 1
Communication and inference through situations
IJCAI'91 Proceedings of the 12th international joint conference on Artificial intelligence - Volume 1
Towards action prediction using a mental-level model
IJCAI'95 Proceedings of the 14th international joint conference on Artificial intelligence - Volume 2
An Optimal Self-stabilizing Firing Squad
SSS '09 Proceedings of the 11th International Symposium on Stabilization, Safety, and Security of Distributed Systems
OPODIS '09 Proceedings of the 13th International Conference on Principles of Distributed Systems
Designing Protocols for Collaborative Translation
PRIMA '09 Proceedings of the 12th International Conference on Principles of Practice in Multi-Agent Systems
A complete probabilistic belief logic
CLIMA VII'06 Proceedings of the 7th international conference on Computational logic in multi-agent systems
Representing and verifying temporal epistemic properties in multi-agent systems
CLIMA VII'06 Proceedings of the 7th international conference on Computational logic in multi-agent systems
Perceiving environments for intelligent agents
PRICAI'00 Proceedings of the 6th Pacific Rim international conference on Artificial intelligence
Symbiotic robot organisms: REPLICATOR and SYMBRION projects
PerMIS '08 Proceedings of the 8th Workshop on Performance Metrics for Intelligent Systems
Taming the complexity of temporal epistemic reasoning
FroCoS'09 Proceedings of the 7th international conference on Frontiers of combining systems
The price of anonymity: optimal consensus despite asynchrony, crash and anonymity
DISC'09 Proceedings of the 23rd international conference on Distributed computing
Optimum simultaneous consensus for general omissions is equivalent to an NP oracle
DISC'09 Proceedings of the 23rd international conference on Distributed computing
Proceedings of the 9th International Conference on Autonomous Agents and Multiagent Systems: volume 1 - Volume 1
Automata for Epistemic Temporal Logic with Synchronous Communication
Journal of Logic, Language and Information
Towards knowledge-level analysis of motion planning
AAAI'93 Proceedings of the eleventh national conference on Artificial intelligence
On the axiomatization of qualitative decision criteria
AAAI'97/IAAI'97 Proceedings of the fourteenth national conference on artificial intelligence and ninth conference on Innovative applications of artificial intelligence
Distributed computing: a Glimmer of a theory
Algorithms and theory of computation handbook
Fundamenta Informaticae - Concurrency Specification and Programming (CS&P)
Beyond Lamport's happened-before: on the role of time bounds in synchronous systems
DISC'10 Proceedings of the 24th international conference on Distributed computing
An intuitionistic epistemic logic for sequential consistency on shared memory
LPAR'10 Proceedings of the 16th international conference on Logic for programming, artificial intelligence, and reasoning
Correlated Information: A Logic for Multi-Partite Quantum Systems
Electronic Notes in Theoretical Computer Science (ENTCS)
Learning in a changing world, an algebraic modal logical approach
AMAST'10 Proceedings of the 13th international conference on Algebraic methodology and software technology
Distributed decision problems: the locality angle
TAPAS'11 Proceedings of the First international ICST conference on Theory and practice of algorithms in (computer) systems
Coordinated consensus in dynamic networks
Proceedings of the 30th annual ACM SIGACT-SIGOPS symposium on Principles of distributed computing
Transforming worst-case optimal solutions for simultaneous tasks into all-case optimal solutions
Proceedings of the 30th annual ACM SIGACT-SIGOPS symposium on Principles of distributed computing
Abstraction for epistemic model checking of dining cryptographers-based protocols
Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Theoretical Aspects of Rationality and Knowledge
The Price of Anonymity: Optimal Consensus Despite Asynchrony, Crash, and Anonymity
ACM Transactions on Autonomous and Adaptive Systems (TAAS)
Reasoning about local properties in modal logic
The 10th International Conference on Autonomous Agents and Multiagent Systems - Volume 2
A partition-based first-order probabilistic logic to represent interactive beliefs
SUM'11 Proceedings of the 5th international conference on Scalable uncertainty management
Learning in multi-level stochastic games with delayed information
UAI'94 Proceedings of the Tenth international conference on Uncertainty in artificial intelligence
On the local closed-world assumption of data-sources
LPNMR'05 Proceedings of the 8th international conference on Logic Programming and Nonmonotonic Reasoning
Verifying real-time temporal, cooperation and epistemic properties for uncertain agents
MICAI'06 Proceedings of the 5th Mexican international conference on Artificial Intelligence
Complete axiomatizations of finite syntactic epistemic states
DALT'05 Proceedings of the Third international conference on Declarative Agent Languages and Technologies
Single-Bit messages are insufficient in the presence of duplication
IWDC'05 Proceedings of the 7th international conference on Distributed Computing
Mind out of programmable matter: exploring unified models of emergent autonomy
WRAC'05 Proceedings of the Second international conference on Radical Agent Concepts: innovative Concepts for Autonomic and Agent-Based Systems
Model checking for epistemic and temporal properties of uncertain agents
PRIMA'06 Proceedings of the 9th Pacific Rim international conference on Agent Computing and Multi-Agent Systems
Using consensus susceptibility and consistency measures for inconsistent knowledge management
PAKDD'05 Proceedings of the 9th Pacific-Asia conference on Advances in Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining
Non-alethic reasoning in distributed systems
KES'05 Proceedings of the 9th international conference on Knowledge-Based Intelligent Information and Engineering Systems - Volume Part II
No double discount: Condition-based simultaneity yields limited gain
Information and Computation
The shadow knows: refinement of ignorance in sequential programs
MPC'06 Proceedings of the 8th international conference on Mathematics of Program Construction
Strongly complete axiomatizations of “knowing at most” in syntactic structures
CLIMA'05 Proceedings of the 6th international conference on Computational Logic in Multi-Agent Systems
Knowledge as a window into distributed coordination
ICDCIT'12 Proceedings of the 8th international conference on Distributed Computing and Internet Technology
A spanning tree object-oriented distributed algorithm: specification and proof
Methods'96 Proceedings of the 1996 international conference on Methods Integration
Local properties in modal logic
Artificial Intelligence
A distributed logic for networked cyber-physical systems
FSEN'11 Proceedings of the 4th IPM international conference on Fundamentals of Software Engineering
An Optimal Self-Stabilizing Firing Squad
SIAM Journal on Computing
Combining epistemic logic and hennessy-milner logic
Logic and Program Semantics
Symbolic model checking for temporal-epistemic logic
Logic Programs, Norms and Action
Fundamenta Informaticae - Logic, Language, Information and Computation
Knowledge-Based distributed conflict resolution for multiparty interactions and priorities
FMOODS'12/FORTE'12 Proceedings of the 14th joint IFIP WG 6.1 international conference and Proceedings of the 32nd IFIP WG 6.1 international conference on Formal Techniques for Distributed Systems
Verifying Epistemic Properties of Multi-agent Systems via Bounded Model Checking
Fundamenta Informaticae - Concurrency Specification and Programming (CS&P'2002), Part 2
Evolution of Collective Commitment during Teamwork
Fundamenta Informaticae
Defining BDI with Abstract Languages
Fundamenta Informaticae
AN ALGEBRAIC FORMALIZATION OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN EVIDENTIAL STRUCTURES AND DATA TABLES
Fundamenta Informaticae
A Default Logic Based On Epistemic States
Fundamenta Informaticae
Common knowledge and state-dependent equilibria
SAGT'12 Proceedings of the 5th international conference on Algorithmic Game Theory
CATS 2011 Proceedings of the Seventeenth Computing on The Australasian Theory Symposium - Volume 119
Brief announcement: pareto optimal solutions to consensus and set consensus
Proceedings of the 2013 ACM symposium on Principles of distributed computing
Brief announcement: techniques for programmatically troubleshooting distributed systems
Proceedings of the 2013 ACM symposium on Principles of distributed computing
Adaptive collective decision-making in limited robot swarms without communication
International Journal of Robotics Research
Common Knowledge in Email Exchanges
ACM Transactions on Computational Logic (TOCL)
Towards privacy-preserving fault detection
Proceedings of the 9th Workshop on Hot Topics in Dependable Systems
Knowledge based transactional behavior
HVC'12 Proceedings of the 8th international conference on Hardware and Software: verification and testing
An epistemic perspective on consistency of concurrent computations
CONCUR'13 Proceedings of the 24th international conference on Concurrency Theory
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Reasoning about knowledge seems to play a fundamental role in distributed systems. Indeed, such reasoning is a central part of the informal intuitive arguments used in the design of distributed protocols. Communication in a distributed system can be viewed as the act of transforming the system's state of knowledge. This paper presents a general framework for formalizing and reasoning about knowledge in distributed systems. It is shown that states of knowledge of groups of processors are useful concepts for the design and analysis of distributed protocols. In particular, distributed knowledge corresponds to knowledge that is “distributed” among the members of the group, while common knowledge corresponds to a fact being “publicly known.” The relationship between common knowledge and a variety of desirable actions in a distributed system is illustrated. Furthermore, it is shown that, formally speaking, in practical systems common knowledge cannot be attained. A number of weaker variants of common knowledge that are attainable in many cases of interest are introduced and investigated.