Davis, Matijasevic, and Robinson, in their admirable survey article [D-M-R], interpret the negative solution of Hilbert's Tenth Problem as a resounding positive statement about the versatility of Diophantine equations (that any listable set can be coded as the set of parameter values for which a suitable polynomial possesses integral solutions).

One can also view the Matijasevic result as implying that there are families of Diophantine equations parametrized by a variable t, which have integral solutions for some integral values t = a > 0, and yet there is no computable function of t which provides an upper bound for the smallest integral solution for these values a. The smallest integral solutions of the Diophantine equation for these values are, at least sporadically, too large to be bounded by any computable function. This is somewhat difficult to visualize, since there is quite an array of computable functions. But let us take an explicit example. Consider the function

Matijasevic's result guarantees the existence of parametrized families of Diophantine equations such that even this function fails to yield an upper bound for its smallest integral solutions (for all values of the parameter t for which there are integral solutions).

Families of Diophantine equations in a parameter t, whose integral solutions for t = 1, 2, 3,… exhibit a certain arythmia in terms of their size, have fascinated mathematicians for centuries, and this phenomenon (the size of smallest integral solution varying wildly with the parameter-value) is surprising, even when the equations are perfectly “decidable”.

The present article is an attempt to bridge the gap between the researchers that work in the areas adjacent to Hilbert's Tenth Problem (for short, HTP), mainly, number theory and mathematical logic. It presents the main results that have been obtained and asks some of the open questions in the area, leading to the main unanswered question (at least in the opinion of the author)—the analogue of HTP for the rational numbers. In this respect, the article is a successor of [Da] where the reader can find more information on the solution of the initial problem. Most of the results that are presented are not new, but some of the proofs are. As the purpose of a survey article is the “unification” of the methods involved, we present a proof of the analogue of HTP in the case of polynomial rings which is more geometric in nature than the initial proof of Denef (although it uses essentially the same tools). This allows, in our opinion, an easy introduction to the utilisation of the concepts used in the more recent approaches, like that of elliptic curves. We must say that the approach to the subject that we suggest through the questions we ask (mostly consisting of generalisations of HTP to various algebraic and analytic domains) is not the only one.

If K is a class of semiassociative relation algebras and K contains the relation algebra of all binary relations on a denumerable set, then the word problem for the free algebra over K on one generator is unsolvable. This result implies that the set of sentences which are provable in the formalism ℒw× is an undecidable theory. A stronger algebraic result shows that the set of logically valid sentences in ℒw× forms a hereditarily undecidable theory in ℒw×. These results generalize similar theorems, due to Tarski, concerning relation algebras and the formalism ℒ×.

We study interpolation for elementary fragments of classical linear logic. Unlike in intuitionistic logic (see [Renardel de Lavalette, 1989]) there are fragments in linear logic for which interpolation does not hold. We prove interpolation for a lot of fragments and refute it for the multiplicative fragment (→, +), using proof nets and quantum graphs. We give a separate proof for the fragment with implication and product, but without the structural rule of permutation. This is nearly the Lambek calculus. There is an appendix explaining what quantum graphs are and how they relate to proof nets.

The paper is a continuation of [The SCH revisited], In § 1 we define a forcing with countably many nice systems. It is used, for example, to construct a model “GCH below κ, c f κ = ℵ0, and 2κ > κ+ω” from 0(κ) = κ+ω. In §2 we define a triangle iteration and use it to construct a model satisfying “{μ ≤ λ∣c f μ = ℵ0 and pp(μ) > λ} is countable for some λ”. The question of whether this is possible was asked by S. Shelah. In §3 a forcing for blowing the power of a singular cardinal without collapsing cardinals or adding new bounded subsets is presented. Answering a question of H. Woodin, we show that it is consistent to have “c f κ = ℵ0. GCH below κ, 2κ > κ+, and ”. In §4 a variation of the forcing of [The SCH revisited, §1] is defined. It behaves nicely in iteration processes. As an application, we sketch a construction of a model satisfying:

“κ is a measurable and 2κ ≥ κ+α for some α, κ < c f α < α” starting with 0(κ) = κ+α. This answers the question from Gitik's On measurable cardinals violating the continuum hypothesis.

Mathematicians have one over on the physicists in that they already have a unified theory of mathematics, namely, set theory. Unfortunately, the plethora of independence results since the invention of forcing has taken away some of the luster of set theory in the eyes of many mathematicians. Will man's knowledge of mathematical truth be forever limited to those theorems derivable from the standard axioms of set theory, ZFC? This author does not think so, he feels that set theorists' intuition about the universe of sets is stronger than ZFC. Here in this paper, using part of this intuition, we introduce some axiom schemata which we feel are very natural candidates for being considered as part of the axioms of set theory. These schemata assert the existence of many generics over simple inner models. The main purpose of this article is to present arguments for why the assertion of the existence of such generics belongs to the axioms of set theory.

Our central guiding principle in justifying the axioms is what Maddy called the rule of thumb maximize in her survey article on the axioms of set theory, [8] and [9]. More specifically, our intuition conforms with that expressed by Mathias in his article What is Maclane Missing? challenging Mac Lane's view of set theory.

This paper deals with some structural properties of the sequent calculus and describes strong symmetries between cut-free derivations and derivations, which do not make use of identity axioms. Both of them are discussed from a semantic and syntactic point of view.

Identity axioms and cuts are closely related to the treatment of negation in the sequent calculus, so the results of this article explain some nice symmetries of negation.

A generator program for a computable function (by definition) generates an infinite sequence of programs all but finitely many of which compute that function. Machine learning of generator programs for computable functions is studied. To motivate these studies partially, it is shown that, in some cases, interesting global properties for computable functions can be proved from suitable generator programs which cannot be proved from any ordinary programs for them. The power (for variants of various learning criteria from the literature) of learning generator programs is compared with the power of learning ordinary programs. The learning power in these cases is also compared to that of learning limiting programs, i.e., programs allowed finitely many mind changes about their correct outputs.

With a certain graphic interpretation in mind, we say that a function whose value at every point in its domain is a nonempty set of real numbers is an Abacus. It is shown that to every collection C of abaci there corresponds a logic, called an abacus logic, i.e.. a certain set of propositions partially ordered by generalized implication. It is also shown that to every collection C of abaci there corresponds a theory Jc in a classical propositional calculus such that the abacus logic determined by C is isomorphic to the poset of Jc. Two examples are given. In both examples abacus logic is a lattice in which there happens to be an operation of orthocomplementation. In the first example abacus logic turns out to be the Lindenbaum algebra of Jc. In the second example abacus logic is a lattice isomorphic to the ortholattice of subspaces of a Hilbert space. Thus quantum logic can be regarded as an abacus logic. Without suggesting “hidden variables” it is finally shown that the Lindenbaum algebra of the theory in the second example is a subalgebra of the abacus logic B of the kind studied in example 1. It turns out that the “classical observables” associated with B and the “quantum observables” associated with quantum logic are not unrelated. The value of a classical observable contains, in coded form, information about the “uncertainty” of a quantum observable. This information is retrieved by decoding the value of the corresponding classical observable.

This paper was inspired by Lerman [14] in which he proved various properties of upper bounds for the arithmetical degrees. The degrees which are upper bounds for the arithmetical degrees were first studied by Hodes [5] and Enderton and Putnam [5]. Enderton and Putnam [5] showed that if a is an upper bound for the arithmetical degrees, then a(2) ≥ 0(ω). This area was further studied by Hodes [5], Knight, Lachlan and Soare [12], Jockusch and Simpson [12], and Sacks [17].

Enderton and Putnam [5] and Sacks [17] have combined to show that 0(ω) is the least degree in {a(2): a is an upper bound for the arithmetical degrees}. So there seem to be some analogies between the degrees of upper bounds for the arithmetical degrees and the degrees below 0(2). But Sacks [17] showed an important difference between these two structures; namely, the Turing jumps of upper bounds for the arithmetical degrees have no least element. In Lerman [14], a systematic investigation of properties of the jumps of upper bounds for the arithmetical degrees was suggested, which could lead to a definition of the jump operator over the elementary theory of the partial ordering of the degrees. Although Cooper [5] found a degree-theoretic definition of the jump operator, Lerman's plan is still interesting.

We say a degree a is generic if there is a representative A of a such that A is Cohen generic for the arithmetical sentences. By Jockusch [5], the statement that A is Cohen generic for the arithmetical sentences is equivalent to saying that for any arithmetical set S of binary strings, there is a σ extended by A such that σ is in S or no extension of σ is in S. First, we investigate the relation between generic degrees and upper bounds for the arithmetical degrees. In the case D(≤ 0′), the set of degrees below 0′, it is well known that any nonrecursive r.e. degree bounds a 1-generic degree (Cohen generic for Σ1 sentences). Jockusch and Ponser [12] showed that any degree a with a″ >T (a ∪ 0′)′ bounds a 1-generic degree.

In this paper we investigate the closure of certain filters under different definitions of diagonal intersection. The space of partitions over which filters concern us is Qκ(λ), the set of partitions of λ into fewer than κ pieces, invented by Henle and Zwicker [4] in the spirit of Pκ(λ). Various notions of normality for filters over Qκ(λ) have been introduced in [4] and [7]. Our objective is to find a notion of normality in terms of a tractable diagonal intersection which also in some sense reflects the construction of a partition. Extending the parallels between Pκ(λ) and Qκ(λ) we define two diagonal intersections, Δ1 and Δ2, under which the club filter is closed.

In 1962 Jan Mycielski proposed a very general notion of interpretability [M1]. This led to the question whether a given theory could be interpreted in the disjoint union of two theories, without being interpretable in any of them. He argued that in such a case it would be presumably simpler to study each of these theories separately, and hence conjectured that this situation can never occur for any of the well-known theories of mathematics. This conjecture has now been verified for the following theories (see [MPS], [P], [S1, 2]): ELO (endless, i.e., without maximal element, linear order), Th(〈ℚ, ≤〉), Th(〈ω, ≤〉) and all sequential theories (those which can code finite sequences of elements of their models). The latter include PA, ZF, GB and Th(〈ω,+,·〉). In view of these confirmations it became ever more plausible that the conjecture is valid also for RCF (real closed fields), i.e., for Th(〈ℝ,≤,+,·,0,1〉). In the present paper we show that Mycielski's conjecture is valid for a class of theories which includes RCF and OF (ordered fields).

We consider only theories with equality and without function symbols. Interpretations will be meant local, multidimensional, and with parameters, as defined in [M1], [M2] and surveyed in [MPS] (for a recent definition see also [S2]). We shall write T0 ≪ T1 to say that T0 is interpretable in T1 (or that T1 interprets T0), and this will mean that for every theorem α of T0 there is an interpretation of α in T1.

We present a game semantics for Linear Logic, in which formulas denote games and proofs denote winning strategies. We show that our semantics yields a categorical model of Linear Logic and prove full completeness for Multiplicative Linear Logic with the MIX rule: every winning strategy is the denotation of a unique cut-free proof net. A key role is played by the notion of history-free strategy; strong connections are made between history-free strategies and the Geometry of Interaction. Our semantics incorporates a natural notion of polarity, leading to a refined treatment of the additives. We make comparisons with related work by Joyal, Blass, et al.

If * is a binary partial function which happens to be a group law on some infinite subset of some model of a stable theory, then this subset can be embedded into a definable group such that * becomes the group operation.

We know from [H1], [H2] that in a stable theory, given a nontrivial locally modular regular type q, one can define a group with generic domination equivalent to q, and that the dependence relation on q can be analyzed in terms of this group. In a stable one-based theory, every regular type is locally modular; hence, this result holds for every nontrivial regular type. We show here that, in fact, in a stable one-based theory, a similar type of construction can be done without the assumption of regularity. More precisely, we show that for any type q, the nontrivial part of q can be analyzed by generics of groups and that any nontrivial relation can be described by affine relations (Theorem A).

This construction is then used to answer a question about homogeneity in pairs of models which is still open in the case of arbitrary stable theories (Theorem C).

We give a constructive proof of McNaughton's theorem stating that every piecewise linear function with integral coefficients is representable by some sentence in the infinite-valued calculus of Lukasiewicz. For the proof we only use Minkowski's convex body theorem and the rudiments of piecewise linear topology.

We consider the infinite game where player ONE chooses terms of a strictly increasing sequence of first category subsets of a space and TWO chooses nowhere dense sets. If after ω innings TWO's nowhere dense sets cover ONE's first category sets, then TWO wins. We prove a theorem which implies for the real line: If TWO has a winning strategy which depends on the most recent n moves of ONE only, then TWO has a winning strategy depending on the most recent 3 moves of ONE (Corollary 3). Our results give some new information concerning Problem 1 of [S1] and clarifies some of the results in [B-J-S] and in [S1].

The Genericity Conjecture, as stated in Beller-Jensen-Welch [1], is the following:

(*) If O# ∉ L[R], R ⊆ ω, then R is generic over L.

We must be precise about what is meant by “generic”.

Definition (Stated in Class Theory). A generic extension of an inner model M is an inner model M[G] such that for some forcing notion ⊆ M:

(a) 〈M, 〉 is amenable and ⊩ is 〈M, 〉-definable for sentences.

(b) G ⊆ is compatible, closed upwards, and intersects every 〈M, 〉-definable dense D ⊆ .

A set x is generic over M if it is an element of a generic extension of M. And x is strictly generic over M if M[x] is a generic extension of M.

Though the above definition quantifies over classes, in the special case where M = L and O# exists, these notions are in fact first order, as all L-amenable classes are definable over L[O#]. From now on assume that O# exists.

Theorem A. The Genericity Conjecture is false.

The proof is based upon the fact that every real generic over L obeys a certain definability property, expressed as follows.

Fact. If R is generic over L, then for some L-amenable class A, Sat〈L, A〉 is not definable over 〈L[R],A〉, where Sat〈L,A〉 is the canonical satisfaction predicate for 〈L,A〉.

A stationary subset S of a regular uncountable cardinal κreflects fully at regular cardinals if for every stationary set T ⊆ κ of higher order consisting of regular cardinals there exists an α Є T such that S ∩ α is a stationary subset of α. Full Reflection states that every stationary set reflects fully at regular cardinals. We will prove that under a slightly weaker assumption than κ having the Mitchell order κ++ it is consistent that Full Reflection holds at every λ ≤ κ and κ is measurable.

We shall show that certain natural and interesting intervals in the lattice of varieties of representable relation algebras embed the lattice of all subsets of the natural numbers, and therefore must have a very complicated lattice-theoretic structure.