1,239 research outputs found
Turing jumps through provability
Fixing some computably enumerable theory , the
Friedman-Goldfarb-Harrington (FGH) theorem says that over elementary
arithmetic, each formula is equivalent to some formula of the form
provided that is consistent. In this paper we give various
generalizations of the FGH theorem. In particular, for we relate
formulas to provability statements which
are a formalization of "provable in together with all true
sentences". As a corollary we conclude that each is
-complete. This observation yields us to consider a recursively
defined hierarchy of provability predicates which look a lot
like except that where calls upon the
oracle of all true sentences, the recursively
calls upon the oracle of all true sentences of the form . As such we obtain a `syntax-light' characterization of
definability whence of Turing jumps which is readily extended
beyond the finite. Moreover, we observe that the corresponding provability
predicates are well behaved in that together they provide a
sound interpretation of the polymodal provability logic
Consistency of circuit lower bounds with bounded theories
Proving that there are problems in that require
boolean circuits of super-linear size is a major frontier in complexity theory.
While such lower bounds are known for larger complexity classes, existing
results only show that the corresponding problems are hard on infinitely many
input lengths. For instance, proving almost-everywhere circuit lower bounds is
open even for problems in . Giving the notorious difficulty of
proving lower bounds that hold for all large input lengths, we ask the
following question: Can we show that a large set of techniques cannot prove
that is easy infinitely often? Motivated by this and related
questions about the interaction between mathematical proofs and computations,
we investigate circuit complexity from the perspective of logic.
Among other results, we prove that for any parameter it is
consistent with theory that computational class , where is one of
the pairs: and , and , and
. In other words, these theories cannot establish
infinitely often circuit upper bounds for the corresponding problems. This is
of interest because the weaker theory already formalizes
sophisticated arguments, such as a proof of the PCP Theorem. These consistency
statements are unconditional and improve on earlier theorems of [KO17] and
[BM18] on the consistency of lower bounds with
Computational reverse mathematics and foundational analysis
Reverse mathematics studies which subsystems of second order arithmetic are
equivalent to key theorems of ordinary, non-set-theoretic mathematics. The main
philosophical application of reverse mathematics proposed thus far is
foundational analysis, which explores the limits of different foundations for
mathematics in a formally precise manner. This paper gives a detailed account
of the motivations and methodology of foundational analysis, which have
heretofore been largely left implicit in the practice. It then shows how this
account can be fruitfully applied in the evaluation of major foundational
approaches by a careful examination of two case studies: a partial realization
of Hilbert's program due to Simpson [1988], and predicativism in the extended
form due to Feferman and Sch\"{u}tte.
Shore [2010, 2013] proposes that equivalences in reverse mathematics be
proved in the same way as inequivalences, namely by considering only
-models of the systems in question. Shore refers to this approach as
computational reverse mathematics. This paper shows that despite some
attractive features, computational reverse mathematics is inappropriate for
foundational analysis, for two major reasons. Firstly, the computable
entailment relation employed in computational reverse mathematics does not
preserve justification for the foundational programs above. Secondly,
computable entailment is a complete relation, and hence employing it
commits one to theoretical resources which outstrip those available within any
foundational approach that is proof-theoretically weaker than
.Comment: Submitted. 41 page
Herbrand Consistency of Some Arithmetical Theories
G\"odel's second incompleteness theorem is proved for Herbrand consistency of
some arithmetical theories with bounded induction, by using a technique of
logarithmic shrinking the witnesses of bounded formulas, due to Z. Adamowicz
[Herbrand consistency and bounded arithmetic, \textit{Fundamenta Mathematicae}
171 (2002) 279--292]. In that paper, it was shown that one cannot always shrink
the witness of a bounded formula logarithmically, but in the presence of
Herbrand consistency, for theories with , any witness for any bounded formula can be shortened logarithmically. This
immediately implies the unprovability of Herbrand consistency of a theory
in itself.
In this paper, the above results are generalized for . Also after tailoring the definition of Herbrand
consistency for we prove the corresponding theorems for . Thus the Herbrand version of G\"odel's second incompleteness
theorem follows for the theories and
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