Search

We adapt the classical notion of learning from text to computable structure theory. Our main result is a model-theoretic characterization of the learnability from text for classes of structures. We show that a family of structures is learnable from text if and only if the structures can be distinguished in terms of their theories restricted to positive infinitary $\Sigma_2$ sentences.

We prove an effective version of the Lopez-Escobar theorem for continuous domains. Let $Mod(\tau)$ be the set of countable structures with universe $\omega$ in vocabulary $\tau$ topologized by the Scott topology. We show that an invariant set $X \subseteq Mod(\tau)$ is $\Pi^0_\alpha$ in the effective Borel hierarchy of this topology if and only if it is definable by a $\Pi^p_\alpha$ - formula, a positive $\Pi^0_\alpha$ formula in the infinitary logic $L_{\omega_1,\omega}$. As a corollary of this result we obtain a new pullback theorem for positive computable embeddings: Let $K$ be positively computably embeddable in $K'$ by $\Phi$, then for every $\Pi^p_\alpha$ formula $\xi$ in the vocabulary of $K'$ there is a $\Pi^p_\alpha$ formula $\xi^\star$ in the vocabulary of $K$ such that for all $A \in K$, $A \models \xi^\star$ if and only if $\Phi(A) \models \xi$. We use this to obtain new results on the possibility of positive computable embeddings into the class of linear orderings., Comment: 17 pages

We use a second-order analogy $\mathsf{PRA}^2$ of $\mathsf{PRA}$ to investigate the proof-theoretic strength of theorems in countable algebra, analysis, and infinite combinatorics. We compare our results with similar results in the fast-developing field of primitive recursive (\lq punctual\rq) algebra and analysis, and with results from \lq online\rq\ combinatorics. We argue that $\mathsf{PRA}^2$ is sufficiently robust to serve as an alternative base system below $\mathsf{RCA}_0$ to study the proof-theoretic content of theorems in ordinary mathematics. (The most popular alternative is perhaps $\mathsf{RCA}_0^*$.) We discover that many theorems that are known to be true in $\mathsf{RCA}_0$ either hold in $\mathsf{PRA}^2$ or are equivalent to $\mathsf{RCA}_0$ or its weaker (but natural) analogy $2^N-\mathsf{RCA}_0$ over $\mathsf{PRA}^2$. However, we also discover that some standard mathematical and combinatorial facts are incomparable with these natural subsystems.

Shapiro's notations for natural numbers, and the associated desideratum of acceptability - the property of a notation that all recursive functions are computable in it - is well-known in philosophy of computing. Computable structure theory, however, although capable of fully reconstructing Shapiro's approach, seems to be off philosophers' radar. Based on the case study of natural numbers with standard order, we make initial steps to reconcile these two perspectives. First, we lay the elementary conceptual groundwork for the reconstruction of Shapiro's approach in terms of computable structures and show, on a few examples, how results pertinent to the former can inform our understanding of the latter. Secondly, we prove a new result, inspired by Shapiro's notion of acceptability, but also relevant for computable structure theory. The result explores the relationship between the classical notion of degree spectrum of a computable function on the structure in question - specifically, having all c.e. degrees as a spectrum - and our ability to compute the (image of the) successor from the (image of the) function in any computable copy of the structure. The latter property may be otherwise seen as relativized acceptability of every notation for the structure., Comment: 15 pages, 0 figures

We study algorithmic learning of algebraic structures. In our framework, a learner receives larger and larger pieces of an arbitrary copy of a computable structure and, at each stage, is required to output a conjecture about the isomorphism type of such a structure. The learning is successful if the conjectures eventually stabilize to a correct guess. We prove that a family of structures is learnable if and only if its learning domain is continuously reducible to the relation $E_0$ of eventual agreement on reals. This motivates a novel research program, that is, using descriptive set theoretic tools to calibrate the (learning) complexity of nonlearnable families. Here, we focus on the learning power of well-known benchmark Borel equivalence relations (i.e., $E_1$, $E_2$, $E_3$, $Z_0$, and $E_{set}$)., Comment: 28 pages, 3 figures

Intrinsic complexity of a relation on a given computable structure is captured by the notion of its degree spectrum - the set of Turing degrees of images of the relation in all computable isomorphic copies of that structure. We investigate the intrinsic complexity of unary total recursive functions on nonnegative integers with standard order. According to existing results, possible spectra of such functions include three sets consisting of precisely: the computable degree, all c.e. degrees and all $\Delta_2$ degrees. These results, however, fall far short of the full classification. In this paper, we obtain a more complete picture by giving a few criteria for a function to have intrinsic complexity equal to one of the three candidate sets of degrees. Our investigations are based on the notion of block functions and a broader class of quasi-block functions beyond which all functions of interest have intrinsic complexity equal to the c.e. degrees. We also answer the questions raised by Wright and Harrison-Trainor by showing that the division between computable, c.e. and $\Delta_2$ degrees is insufficient in this context as there is a unary total recursive function whose spectrum contains all c.e. degrees but is strictly contained in the $\Delta_2$ degrees., Comment: 22 pages, 7 figures

The complexity of equivalence relations has received much attention in the recent literature. The main tool for such endeavour is the following reducibility: given equivalence relations $R$ and $S$ on natural numbers, $R$ is computably reducible to $S$ if there is a computable function $f \colon \omega \to \omega$ that induces an injective map from $R$-equivalence classes to $S$-equivalence classes. In order to compare the complexity of equivalence relations which are computable, researchers considered also feasible variants of computable reducibility, such as the polynomial-time reducibility. In this work, we explore $\mathbf{Peq}$, the degree structure generated by primitive recursive reducibility on punctual equivalence relations (i.e., primitive recursive equivalence relations with domain $\omega$). In contrast with all other known degree structures on equivalence relations, we show that $\mathbf{Peq}$ has much more structure: e.g., we show that it is a dense distributive lattice. On the other hand, we also offer evidence of the intricacy of $\mathbf{Peq}$, proving, e.g., that the structure is neither rigid nor homogeneous., Comment: 37 pages

Computability theorists have introduced multiple hierarchies to measure the complexity of sets of natural numbers. The Kleene Hierarchy classifies sets according to the first-order complexity of their defining formulas. The Ershov Hierarchy classifies $\Delta^0_2$ sets with respect to the number of mistakes that are needed to approximate them. Biacino and Gerla extended the Kleene Hierarchy to the realm of fuzzy sets, whose membership functions range in a complete lattice $L$ (e.g., the real interval $[0; 1]_\mathbb{R}$). In this paper, we combine the Ershov Hierarchy and fuzzy set theory, by introducing and investigating the Fuzzy Ershov Hierarchy. In particular, we focus on the fuzzy $n$-c.e. sets which form the finite levels of this hierarchy. Intuitively, a fuzzy set is $n$-c.e. if its membership function can be approximated by changing monotonicity at most $n-1$ times. We prove that the Fuzzy Ershov Hierarchy does not collapse; that, in analogy with the classical case, each fuzzy $n$-c.e. set can be represented as a Boolean combination of fuzzy c.e. sets; but that, contrary to the classical case, the Fuzzy Ershov Hierarchy does not exhaust the class of all $\Delta^0_2$ fuzzy sets., Comment: 11 pages

We investigate computable metrizability of Polish spaces up to homeomorphism. In this paper we focus on Stone spaces. We use Stone duality to construct the first known example of a computable topological Polish space not homeomorphic to any computably metrized space. In fact, in our proof we construct a right-c.e. metrized Stone space which is not homeomorphic to any computably metrized space. Then we introduce a new notion of effective categoricity for effectively compact spaces and prove that effectively categorical Stone spaces are exactly the duals of computably categorical Boolean algebras. Finally, we prove that, for a Stone space $X$, the Banach space $C(X;\mathbb{R})$ has a computable presentation if, and only if, $X$ is homeomorphic to a computably metrized space. This gives an unexpected positive partial answer to a question recently posed by McNicholl., Comment: 18 pages

In previous work, we have combined computable structure theory and algorithmic learning theory to study which families of algebraic structures are learnable in the limit (up to isomorphism). In this paper, we measure the computational power that is needed to learn finite families of structures. In particular, we prove that, if a family of structures is both finite and learnable, then any oracle which computes the Halting set is able to achieve such a learning. On the other hand, we construct a pair of structures which is learnable but no computable learner can learn it., Comment: 11 pages, 1 figure, accepted for publication in the Journal of Logic and Computation

A numbering of a countable family $S$ is a surjective map from the set of natural numbers $\omega$ onto $S$. The paper studies Rogers semilattices, i.e. upper semilattices induced by the reducibility between numberings, for families $S\subset P(\omega)$. Working in set theory ZF+DC+PD, we obtain the following results on families from various levels of the analytical hierarchy. For a non-zero number $n$, by $E^1_n$ we denote $\Pi^1_n$ if $n$ is odd, and $\Sigma^1_n$ if $n$ is even. We show that for a finite family $S$ of $E^1_n$ sets, its Rogers $E^1_n$-semilattice has the greatest element if and only if $S$ contains the least element under set-theoretic inclusion. Furthermore, if $S$ does not have the $\subseteq$-least element, then the corresponding Rogers $E^1_n$-semilattice is upwards dense., Comment: 26 pages

In several classes of countable structures it is known that every hyperarithmetic structure has a computable presentation up to bi-embeddability. In this article we investigate the complexity of embeddings between bi-embeddable structures in two such classes, the classes of linear orders and Boolean algebras. We show that if $\mathcal L$ is a computable linear order of Hausdorff rank $n$, then for every bi-embeddable copy of it there is an embedding computable in $2n-1$ jumps from the atomic diagrams. We furthermore show that this is the best one can do: Let $\mathcal L$ be a computable linear order of Hausdorff rank $n\geq 1$, then $\mathbf 0^{(2n-2)}$ does not compute embeddings between it and all its computable bi-embeddable copies. We obtain that for Boolean algebras which are not superatomic, there is no hyperarithmetic degree computing embeddings between all its computable bi-embeddable copies. On the other hand, if a computable Boolean algebra is superatomic, then there is a least computable ordinal $\alpha$ such that $\mathbf 0^{(\alpha)}$ computes embeddings between all its computable bi-embeddable copies. The main technique used in this proof is a new variation of Ash and Knight's pairs of structures theorem.

A general theme of computable structure theory is to investigate when structures have copies of a given complexity $\Gamma$. We discuss such problem for the case of equivalence structures and preorders. We show that there is a $\Pi^0_1$ equivalence structure with no $\Sigma^0_1$ copy, and in fact that the isomorphism types realized by the $\Pi^0_1$ equivalence structures coincide with those realized by the $\Delta^0_2$ equivalence structures. We also construct a $\Sigma^0_1$ preorder with no $\Pi^0_1$ copy., Comment: 13 pages

We continue the study of computable embeddings for pairs of structures, i.e. for classes containing precisely two non-isomorphic structures. Surprisingly, even for some pairs of simple linear orders, computable embeddings induce a non-trivial degree structure. Our main result shows that although $\{\omega \cdot 2, \omega^\star \cdot 2\}$ is computably embeddable in $\{\omega^2, {(\omega^2)}^\star\}$, the class $\{\omega \cdot k,\omega^\star \cdot k\}$ is \emph{not} computably embeddable in $\{\omega^2, {(\omega^2)}^\star\}$ for any natural number $k \geq 3$., Comment: 13 pages, accepted to CiE 2020

A numbering of a countable family $S$ is a surjective map from the set of natural numbers $\omega$ onto $S$. A numbering $\nu$ is reducible to a numbering $\mu$ if there is an effective procedure which given a $\nu$-index of an object from $S$, computes a $\mu$-index for the same object. The reducibility between numberings gives rise to a class of upper semilattices, which are usually called Rogers semilattices. The paper studies Rogers semilattices for families $S \subset P(\omega)$ belonging to various levels of the analytical hierarchy. We prove that for any non-zero natural numbers $m\neq n$, any non-trivial Rogers semilattice of a $\Pi^1_m$-computable family cannot be isomorphic to a Rogers semilattice of a $\Pi^1_n$-computable family. One of the key ingredients of the proof is an application of the result by Downey and Knight on degree spectra of linear orders., Comment: 15 pages

A standard tool for classifying the complexity of equivalence relations on $\omega$ is provided by computable reducibility. This reducibility gives rise to a rich degree structure. The paper studies equivalence relations, which induce minimal degrees with respect to computable reducibility. Let $\Gamma$ be one of the following classes: $\Sigma^0_{\alpha}$, $\Pi^0_{\alpha}$, $\Sigma^1_n$, or $\Pi^1_n$, where $\alpha \geq 2$ is a computable ordinal and $n$ is a non-zero natural number. We prove that there are infinitely many pairwise incomparable minimal equivalence relations that are properly in $\Gamma$., Comment: 8 pages

We investigate the complexity of embeddings between bi-embeddable structures. In analogy with categoricity spectra, we define the bi-embeddable categoricity spectrum of a structure $\mathcal A$ as the family of Turing degrees that compute embeddings between any computable bi-embeddable copies of $\mathcal A$; the degree of bi-embeddable categoricity of $\mathcal A$ is the least degree in this spectrum (if it exists). We extend many known results about categoricity spectra to the case of bi-embeddability. In particular, we exhibit structures without degree of bi-embeddable categoricity, and we show that every degree d.c.e. above $\mathbf{0}^{(\alpha)}$ for $\alpha$ a computable successor ordinal and $\mathbf{0}^{(\lambda)}$ for $\lambda$ a computable limit ordinal is a degree of bi-embeddable categoricity. We also give examples of families of degrees that are not bi-embeddable categoricity spectra., Comment: 18 pages

We combine computable structure theory and algorithmic learning theory to study learning of families of algebraic structures. Our main result is a model-theoretic characterization of the class $\mathbf{InfEx}_{\cong}$, consisting of the structures whose isomorphism types can be learned in the limit. We show that a family of structures $\mathfrak{K}$ is $\mathbf{InfEx}_{\cong}$-learnable if and only if the structures from $\mathfrak{K}$ can be distinguished in terms of their $\Sigma^{\mathrm{inf}}_2$-theories. We apply this characterization to familiar cases and we show the following: there is an infinite learnable family of distributive lattices; no pair of Boolean algebras is learnable; no infinite family of linear orders is learnable., Comment: 28 pages, 1 figure, forthcoming in Information and Computation

We study computable embeddings for pairs of structures, i.e. for classes containing precisely two non-isomorphic structures. Surprisingly, even for some pairs of simple linear orders, computable embeddings induce a non-trivial degree structure. Our main result shows that $\{\omega \cdot k,\omega^\star \cdot k\}$ is computably embeddable in $\{\omega \cdot t, \omega^\star \cdot t\}$ iff $k$ divides $t$., Comment: 20 pages

Computably enumerable equivalence relations (ceers) received a lot of attention in the literature. The standard tool to classify ceers is provided by the computable reducibility $\leq_c$. This gives rise to a rich degree-structure. In this paper, we lift the study of $c$-degrees to the $\Delta^0_2$ case. In doing so, we rely on the Ershov hierarchy. For any notation $a$ for a non-zero computable ordinal, we prove several algebraic properties of the degree-structure induced by $\leq_c$ on the $\Sigma^{-1}_{a}\smallsetminus \Pi^{-1}_a$ equivalence relations. A special focus of our work is on the (non)existence of infima and suprema of $c$-degrees., Comment: 35 pages

We study the algorithmic complexity of embeddings between bi-embeddable equivalence structures. We define the notions of computable bi-embeddable categoricity, (relative) $\Delta^0_\alpha$ bi-embeddable categoricity, and degrees of bi-embeddable categoricity. These notions mirror the classical notions used to study the complexity of isomorphisms between structures. We show that the notions of $\Delta^0_\alpha$ bi-embeddable categoricity and relative $\Delta^0_\alpha$ bi-embeddable categoricity coincide for equivalence structures for $\alpha=1,2,3$. We also prove that computable equivalence structures have degree of bi-embeddable categoricity $\mathbf{0},\mathbf{0}'$, or $\mathbf{0}''$. We obtain results on index sets of computable equivalence structure with respect to bi-embeddability., Comment: 18 pages