Medvedev degrees of two-dimensional subshifts of finite type
AbstractIn this paper, we apply some fundamental concepts and results from recursion theory in order to obtain an apparently new example in symbolic dynamics. Two sets X and Y are said to be Medvedev equivalent if there exist partial computable functionals from X into Y and vice versa. The Medvedev degree of X is the equivalence class of X under Medvedev equivalence. There is an extensive recursion-theoretic literature on the lattices ℰs and ℰw of Medvedev degrees and Muchnik degrees of non-empty effectively closed subsets of {0,1}ℕ. We now prove that ℰs and ℰwconsist precisely of the Medvedev degrees and Muchnik degrees of two-dimensional subshifts of finite type. We apply this result to obtain an infinite collection of two-dimensional subshifts of finite type which are, in a certain sense, mutually incompatible.