1,974 research outputs found
Algorithmic Randomness for Infinite Time Register Machines
A concept of randomness for infinite time register machines (ITRMs),
resembling Martin-L\"of-randomness, is defined and studied. In particular, we
show that for this notion of randomness, computability from mutually random
reals implies computability and that an analogue of van Lambalgen's theorem
holds
Computing A Glimpse of Randomness
A Chaitin Omega number is the halting probability of a universal Chaitin
(self-delimiting Turing) machine. Every Omega number is both computably
enumerable (the limit of a computable, increasing, converging sequence of
rationals) and random (its binary expansion is an algorithmic random sequence).
In particular, every Omega number is strongly non-computable. The aim of this
paper is to describe a procedure, which combines Java programming and
mathematical proofs, for computing the exact values of the first 64 bits of a
Chaitin Omega:
0000001000000100000110001000011010001111110010111011101000010000. Full
description of programs and proofs will be given elsewhere.Comment: 16 pages; Experimental Mathematics (accepted
From Heisenberg to Goedel via Chaitin
In 1927 Heisenberg discovered that the ``more precisely the position is
determined, the less precisely the momentum is known in this instant, and vice
versa''. Four years later G\"odel showed that a finitely specified, consistent
formal system which is large enough to include arithmetic is incomplete. As
both results express some kind of impossibility it is natural to ask whether
there is any relation between them, and, indeed, this question has been
repeatedly asked for a long time. The main interest seems to have been in
possible implications of incompleteness to physics. In this note we will take
interest in the {\it converse} implication and will offer a positive answer to
the question: Does uncertainty imply incompleteness? We will show that
algorithmic randomness is equivalent to a ``formal uncertainty principle''
which implies Chaitin's information-theoretic incompleteness. We also show that
the derived uncertainty relation, for many computers, is physical. In fact, the
formal uncertainty principle applies to {\it all} systems governed by the wave
equation, not just quantum waves. This fact supports the conjecture that
uncertainty implies randomness not only in mathematics, but also in physics.Comment: Small change
Very Simple Chaitin Machines for Concrete AIT
In 1975, Chaitin introduced his celebrated Omega number, the halting
probability of a universal Chaitin machine, a universal Turing machine with a
prefix-free domain. The Omega number's bits are {\em algorithmically
random}--there is no reason the bits should be the way they are, if we define
``reason'' to be a computable explanation smaller than the data itself. Since
that time, only {\em two} explicit universal Chaitin machines have been
proposed, both by Chaitin himself.
Concrete algorithmic information theory involves the study of particular
universal Turing machines, about which one can state theorems with specific
numerical bounds, rather than include terms like O(1). We present several new
tiny Chaitin machines (those with a prefix-free domain) suitable for the study
of concrete algorithmic information theory. One of the machines, which we call
Keraia, is a binary encoding of lambda calculus based on a curried lambda
operator. Source code is included in the appendices.
We also give an algorithm for restricting the domain of blank-endmarker
machines to a prefix-free domain over an alphabet that does not include the
endmarker; this allows one to take many universal Turing machines and construct
universal Chaitin machines from them
The quantum measurement problem and physical reality: a computation theoretic perspective
Is the universe computable? If yes, is it computationally a polynomial place?
In standard quantum mechanics, which permits infinite parallelism and the
infinitely precise specification of states, a negative answer to both questions
is not ruled out. On the other hand, empirical evidence suggests that
NP-complete problems are intractable in the physical world. Likewise,
computational problems known to be algorithmically uncomputable do not seem to
be computable by any physical means. We suggest that this close correspondence
between the efficiency and power of abstract algorithms on the one hand, and
physical computers on the other, finds a natural explanation if the universe is
assumed to be algorithmic; that is, that physical reality is the product of
discrete sub-physical information processing equivalent to the actions of a
probabilistic Turing machine. This assumption can be reconciled with the
observed exponentiality of quantum systems at microscopic scales, and the
consequent possibility of implementing Shor's quantum polynomial time algorithm
at that scale, provided the degree of superposition is intrinsically, finitely
upper-bounded. If this bound is associated with the quantum-classical divide
(the Heisenberg cut), a natural resolution to the quantum measurement problem
arises. From this viewpoint, macroscopic classicality is an evidence that the
universe is in BPP, and both questions raised above receive affirmative
answers. A recently proposed computational model of quantum measurement, which
relates the Heisenberg cut to the discreteness of Hilbert space, is briefly
discussed. A connection to quantum gravity is noted. Our results are compatible
with the philosophy that mathematical truths are independent of the laws of
physics.Comment: Talk presented at "Quantum Computing: Back Action 2006", IIT Kanpur,
India, March 200
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