A Formulation of Linear Logic Based on Dependency-Relations

In this paper we describe a solution to the problem of proving cut-elimination for FILL, a variant of exponential-free and multiplicative Linear Logic originally introduced by Hyland and de Paiva. In the work of Hyland and de Paiva, a term assignment system is used to describe the intuitionistic character of FILL and a proof of cut-elimination is barely sketched. In the present paper, as well as correcting a small mistake in their work and extending the system to deal with exponentials, we introduce a diierent formal system describing the intuitionistic character of FILL and we provide a full proof of the cut-elimination theorem. The formal system is based on a dependency-relation between formulae occurrences within a given proof and seems of independent interest. The procedure for cut-elimination applies to (multiplicative and exponential) Classical Linear Logic, and we can (with care) restrict our attention to the subsystem FILL. The proof, as usual with cut-elimination proofs, is a little involved and we have not seen it published anywhere.