The Complexity of Second-order HyperLTL

Abstract: We determine the complexity of second-order HyperLTL satisfiability, finite-state satisfiability, and model-checking: All three are equivalent to truth in third-order arithmetic. We also consider two fragments of second-order HyperLTL that have been introduced with the aim to facilitate effective model-checking by restricting the sets one can quantify over. The first one restricts second-order quantification to smallest/largest sets that satisfy a guard while the second one restricts second-order quantification further to least fixed points of (first-order) HyperLTL definable functions. All three problems for the first fragment are still equivalent to truth in third-order arithmetic while satisfiability for the second fragment is $\Sigma_1^1$-complete, i.e., only as hard as for (first-order) HyperLTL and therefore much less complex. Finally, finite-state satisfiability and model-checking are in $\Sigma_2^2$ and are $\Sigma_1^1$-hard, and thus also less complex than for full second-order HyperLTL.