3,048 research outputs found
Reverse mathematics and well-ordering principles
The paper is concerned with generally Pi^1_2 sentences of the form 'if X is well ordered then f(X) is well ordered', where f is a standard proof theoretic function from ordinals to ordinals. It has turned out that a statement of this form is often equivalent to the existence of countable coded omega-models for a particular theory T_f whose consistency can be proved by means of a cut elimination theorem in infinitary logic which crucially involves the function f. To illustrate this theme, we shall focus on the well-known psi-function which figures prominently in so-called predicative proof theory. However, the approach taken here lends itself to generalization in that the techniques we employ can be applied to many other proof-theoretic functions associated with cut elimination theorems. In this paper we show that the statement 'if X is well ordered then 'X0 is well ordered' is equivalent to ATR0. This was first proved by Friedman, Montalban and Weiermann [7] using recursion-theoretic and combinatorial methods. The proof given here is proof-theoretic, the main techniques being Schuette's method of proof search (deduction chains) [13], generalized to omega logic, and cut elimination for infinitary ramified analysis
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
Reverse mathematics and equivalents of the axiom of choice
We study the reverse mathematics of countable analogues of several maximality
principles that are equivalent to the axiom of choice in set theory. Among
these are the principle asserting that every family of sets has a
-maximal subfamily with the finite intersection property and the
principle asserting that if is a property of finite character then every
set has a -maximal subset of which holds. We show that these
principles and their variations have a wide range of strengths in the context
of second-order arithmetic, from being equivalent to to being
weaker than and incomparable with . In
particular, we identify a choice principle that, modulo induction,
lies strictly below the atomic model theorem principle and
implies the omitting partial types principle
Controlling iterated jumps of solutions to combinatorial problems
Among the Ramsey-type hierarchies, namely, Ramsey's theorem, the free set,
the thin set and the rainbow Ramsey theorem, only Ramsey's theorem is known to
collapse in reverse mathematics. A promising approach to show the strictness of
the hierarchies would be to prove that every computable instance at level n has
a low_n solution. In particular, this requires effective control of iterations
of the Turing jump. In this paper, we design some variants of Mathias forcing
to construct solutions to cohesiveness, the Erdos-Moser theorem and stable
Ramsey's theorem for pairs, while controlling their iterated jumps. For this,
we define forcing relations which, unlike Mathias forcing, have the same
definitional complexity as the formulas they force. This analysis enables us to
answer two questions of Wei Wang, namely, whether cohesiveness and the
Erdos-Moser theorem admit preservation of the arithmetic hierarchy, and can be
seen as a step towards the resolution of the strictness of the Ramsey-type
hierarchies.Comment: 32 page
Unprovability results involving braids
We construct long sequences of braids that are descending with respect to the
standard order of braids (``Dehornoy order''), and we deduce that, contrary to
all usual algebraic properties of braids, certain simple combinatorial
statements involving the braid order are true, but not provable in the
subsystems ISigma1 or ISigma2 of the standard Peano system.Comment: 32 page
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