Published online by Cambridge University Press: 12 March 2014
We show that in the lattice of
classes there are initial segments [∅, P] =
(P) which are not Boolean algebras, but which have a decidable theory. In fact, we will construct for any finite distributive lattice L which satisfies the dual of the usual reduction property a
class P such that L is isomorphic to the lattice
(P)*, which is
(P). modulo finite differences. For the 2-element lattice, we obtain a minimal class, first constructed by Cenzer, Downey, Jockusch and Shore in 1993. For the simplest new
class P constructed, P has a single, non-computable limit point and
(P)* has three elements, corresponding to ∅, P and a minimal class P0 ⊂ P, The element corresponding to P0 has no complement in the lattice. On the other hand, the theory of
(P) is shown to be decidable.
A class P is said to be decidable if it is the set of paths through a computable tree with no dead ends. We show that if P is decidable and has only finitely many limit points, then
(P)* is always a Boolean algebra. We show that if P is a decidable
class and
(P) is not a Boolean algebra, then the theory of
(P) interprets the theory of arithmetic and is therefore undecidable.