A Unifying Theory for Graph Transformation

The field of graph transformation studies the rule-based transformation of graphs. An important branch is the algebraic graph transformation tradition, in which approaches are defined and studied using the language of category theory. Most algebraic graph transformation approaches (such as DPO, SPO, SqPO, and AGREE) are opinionated about the local contexts that are allowed around matches for rules, and about how replacement in context should work exactly. The approaches also differ considerably in their underlying formal theories and their general expressiveness (e.g., not all frameworks allow duplication). This dissertation proposes an expressive algebraic graph transformation approach, called PBPO+, which is an adaptation of PBPO by Corradini et al. The central contribution is a proof that PBPO+ subsumes (under mild restrictions) DPO, SqPO, AGREE, and PBPO in the important categorical setting of quasitoposes. This result allows for a more unified study of graph transformation metatheory, methods, and tools. A concrete example of this is found in the second major contribution of this dissertation: a graph transformation termination method for PBPO+, based on decreasing interpretations, and defined for general categories. By applying the proposed encodings into PBPO+, this method can also be applied for DPO, SqPO, AGREE, and PBPO.