Encoding Distributed Process Calculi into LMNtal

Towards a unifying model of concurrency, we have designed and implemented LMNtal (pronounced “elemental”), a model and language based on hierarchical graph rewriting that uses logical variables to represent connectivity and membranes to represent hierarchy. Diverse computational models including the π-calculus and the λ-calculus have been encoded into LMNtal and tested on our LMNtal system. This paper describes the encoding of the ambient calculus with running examples. The technical crux is the distributed management of names in the presence of locality an mobility. We have designed and implemented a self-adjusting management technique of names in which the name management and mobility operations are performed concurrently.