Belief, information acquisition, and trust in multi-agent systems--A modal logic formulation

In this paper, we consider the influence of trust on the assimilation of acquired information into an agent’s belief. By use of modal logic, we semantically and axiomatically characterize the relationship among belief, information acquisition and trust. The belief and information acquisition operators are respectively represented by KD45 and KD normal modalities, whereas trust is denoted by a modal operator with minimal semantics. One characteristic axiom of the basic system is if agent i believes that agent j has told him the truth of p and he trusts the judgement of j on p, then he will also believe p. In addition to the basic system, some variants and further axioms for trust and information acquisition are also presented to show the expressive richness of the logic. The applications of the logic to computer security and database reasoning are also suggested by its connection with some previous works.  2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.