Non-finitely axiomatisable two-dimensional modal logics (Q2915901)

In this very clearly structured paper, the authors consider the problem of axiomatizing products of two finitely axiomatizable unimodal propositional logics. The paper settles some open problems from the literature on product logics in the negative. It is shown that certain recursively enumerable product logics characterized by classes of product frames with a linearly ordered first component, including the decidable logic \textbf{K4.3} \(\times\) \textbf{K}, cannot be axiomatized with only a finite number of propositional variables. Moreover, the notion of vertical depth of a bimodal formula is defined, and it is shown that for \textbf{K4.3} \(\times\) \textbf{K} and certain two-dimensional modal logics extending \textbf{K4.3} \(\times\) \textbf{K}, every axiomatization must contain formulas of arbitrarily large vertical depth. The paper ends with a list of open problems.