Data Complexity of Query Answering in Description Logics

We study the data complexity of answering conjunctive queries over Description Logic knowledge bases constituted by a TBox and an ABox. In particular, we are interested in characterizing the FO-rewritability and the polynomial tractability boundaries of conjunctive query answering, depending on the expressive power of the DL used to express the knowledge base. What emerges from our complexity analysis is that the Description Logics of the DL-Lite family are essentially the maximal logics allowing for conjunctive query answering through standard database technology.