A coalgebraic approach to non-determinism: Applications to multilattices

Multilattices are a suitable generalization of lattices which enables to accommodate the formalization of non-deterministic computation; specifically, the algebraic characterization for multilattices provides a formal framework to develop tools in several fields of computer science. On the other hand, the usefulness of coalgebra theory has been increasing in the recent years, and its importance is undeniable. In this paper, somehow mimicking the use of universal algebra, we define a new kind of coalgebras (the ND-coalgebras) that allows to formalize non-determinism, and show that several concepts, widely used in computer science are, indeed, ND-coalgebras. Within this formal context, we study a minimal set of properties which provides a coalgebraic definition of multilattices.