HYPER-REF: A General Model of Reference for First-Order Logic and First-Order Arithmetic

In this article I present HYPER-REF, a model to determine the referent of any given expression in First-Order Logic (FOL). I also explain how this model can be used to determine the referent of a first-order theory such as First-Order Arithmetic (FOA). By reference or referent I mean the non-empty set of objects that the syntactical terms of a well-formed formula (wff) pick out given a particular interpretation of the language. To do so, I will first draw on previous work to make explicit the notion of reference and its hyperintensional features. Then I present HYPER-REF and offer a heuristic method for determining the reference of any formula. Then I discuss some of the benefits and most salient features of HYPER-REF, including some remarks on the nature of self-reference in formal languages.

Reverse Mathematics of Divisibility in Integral Domains

<p>This thesis establishes new results concerning the proof-theoretic strength of two classic theorems of Ring Theory relating to factorization in integral domains. The first theorem asserts that if every irreducible is a prime, then every element has at most one decomposition into irreducibles; the second states that well-foundedness of divisibility implies the existence of an irreducible factorization for each element. After introductions to the Algebra framework used and Reverse Mathematics, we show that the first theorem is provable in the base system of Second Order Arithmetic RCA0, while the other is equivalent over RCA0 to the system ACA0.</p>

Reverse Mathematics of Divisibility in Integral Domains

<p>This thesis establishes new results concerning the proof-theoretic strength of two classic theorems of Ring Theory relating to factorization in integral domains. The first theorem asserts that if every irreducible is a prime, then every element has at most one decomposition into irreducibles; the second states that well-foundedness of divisibility implies the existence of an irreducible factorization for each element. After introductions to the Algebra framework used and Reverse Mathematics, we show that the first theorem is provable in the base system of Second Order Arithmetic RCA0, while the other is equivalent over RCA0 to the system ACA0.</p>

Finite Arithmetic Axiomatization for the Basis of Hyperrational Non-Standard Analysis

The standard elementary number theory is not a finite axiomatic system due to the presence of the induction axiom scheme. Absence of a finite axiomatic system is not an obstacle for most tasks, but may be considered as imperfect since the induction is strongly associated with the presence of set theory external to the axiomatic system. Also in the case of logic approach to the artificial intelligence problems presence of a finite number of basic axioms and states is important. Axiomatic hyperrational analysis is the axiomatic system of hyperrational number field. The properties of hyperrational numbers and functions allow them to be used to model real numbers and functions of classical elementary mathematical analysis. However hyperrational analysis is based on well-known non-finite hyperarithmetic axiomatics. In the article we present a new finite first-order arithmetic theory designed to be the basis of the axiomatic hyperrational analysis and, as a consequence, mathematical analysis in general as a basis for all mathematical application including AI problems. It is shown that this axiomatics meet the requirements, i.e., it could be used as the basis of an axiomatic hyperrational analysis. The article in effect completes the foundation of axiomatic hyperrational analysis without calling in an arithmetic extension, since in the framework of the presented theory infinite numbers arise without invoking any new constants. The proposed system describes a class of numbers in which infinite numbers exist as natural objects of the theory itself. We also do not appeal to any “enveloping” set theory.

Reverse mathematics of rings

<p>Using the tools of reverse mathematics in second-order arithmetic, as developed by Friedman, Simpson, and others, we determine the axioms necessary to develop various topics in commutative ring theory. Our main contributions to the field are as follows. We look at fundamental results concerning primary ideals and the radical of an ideal, concepts previously unstudied in reverse mathematics. Then we turn to a fine-grained analysis of four different definitions of Noetherian in the weak base system RCA_0 + Sigma-2 induction. Finally, we begin a systematic study of various types of integral domains: PIDs, UFDs and Bézout and GCD domains.</p>

Reverse mathematics of rings

<p>Using the tools of reverse mathematics in second-order arithmetic, as developed by Friedman, Simpson, and others, we determine the axioms necessary to develop various topics in commutative ring theory. Our main contributions to the field are as follows. We look at fundamental results concerning primary ideals and the radical of an ideal, concepts previously unstudied in reverse mathematics. Then we turn to a fine-grained analysis of four different definitions of Noetherian in the weak base system RCA_0 + Sigma-2 induction. Finally, we begin a systematic study of various types of integral domains: PIDs, UFDs and Bézout and GCD domains.</p>

Countable sets versus sets that are countable in reverse mathematics

The program Reverse Mathematics (RM for short) seeks to identify the axioms necessary to prove theorems of ordinary mathematics, usually working in the language of second-order arithmetic L 2 . A major theme in RM is therefore the study of structures that are countable or can be approximated by countable sets. Now, countable sets must be represented by sequences here, because the higher-order definition of ‘countable set’ involving injections/bijections to N cannot be directly expressed in L 2 . Working in Kohlenbach’s higher-order RM, we investigate various central theorems, e.g. those due to König, Ramsey, Bolzano, Weierstrass, and Borel, in their (often original) formulation involving the definition of ‘countable set’ based on injections/bijections to N. This study turns out to be closely related to the logical properties of the uncountably of R, recently developed by the author and Dag Normann. Now, ‘being countable’ can be expressed by the existence of an injection to N (Kunen) or the existence of a bijection to N (Hrbacek–Jech). The former (and not the latter) choice yields ‘explosive’ theorems, i.e. relatively weak statements that become much stronger when combined with discontinuous functionals, even up to Π 2 1 - CA 0 . Nonetheless, replacing ‘sequence’ by ‘countable set’ seriously reduces the first-order strength of these theorems, whatever the notion of ‘set’ used. Finally, we obtain ‘splittings’ involving e.g. lemmas by König and theorems from the RM zoo, showing that the latter are ‘a lot more tame’ when formulated with countable sets.

Short note: Least fixed points versus least closed points

This short note is on the question whether the intersection of all fixed points of a positive arithmetic operator and the intersection of all its closed points can proved to be equivalent in a weak fragment of second order arithmetic.

Interpreting the compositional truth predicate in models of arithmetic

We present a construction of a truth class (an interpretation of a compositional truth predicate) in an arbitrary countable recursively saturated model of first-order arithmetic. The construction is fully classical in that it employs nothing more than the classical techniques of formal proof theory.