We introduce the framework of AECats (abstract elementary categories), generalizing both the category of models of some first-order theory and the category of subsets of models. Any AEC and any compact abstract theory (“cat”, as introduced by Ben-Yaacov) forms an AECat. In particular, we find applications in positive logic and continuous logic: the category of (subsets of) models of a positive or continuous theory is an AECat. The Kim–Pillay theorem for first-order logic characterizes simple theories by the properties dividing independence has. We prove a version of the Kim–Pillay theorem for AECats with the amalgamation property, generalizing the first-order version and existing versions for positive logic.

Among various unnatural and technically burdensome effects of the theory of types, one is the unstable character of meaningfulness: a mere permutation of variables is capable of reducing a significant context to meaninglessness. Another effect, and perhaps the most conspicuous, is the systematic reduplication to which the logical constants are subjected; the calculi of classes and relations and even arithmetic lose their unity and generality, and are reproduced anew within each type. The elaborate compensatory manoeuvres which are thus made necessary are familiar to all readers of Principle, mathematica.

In a recent publication, to be cited henceforth as New foundations, I proposed an alternative course which avoids these consequences, but which would seem to offer less assurance of consistency. My efforts to derive a contradiction have delivered none, but they have lent a strange aspect to Cantor's proof that every class has more subclasses than members. This result is the topic of the present paper.

Preparatory to sketching the new system, which I shall call S′, I shall sketch a very similar but contradictory system S. By way of primitives S involves just membership, universal quantification, and alternative denial (Sheffer's stroke function), together with general variables “x”, “y”, …; the adequacy of this equipment as a basis for mathematical logic is made evident by Wiener's and Kuratowski's discovery of methods of constructing relation theory in terms of classes. Thus the formulae or statements and statement forms of S are describable recursively as follows: if a variable is put in each blank of “(ϵ)”, the result is a formula; if a variable enclosed in parentheses is prefixed to a formula, the result is a formula; and if a formula is put in each blank of “(∣)”, the result is a formula. The theorems of S are determined by a postulate and five rules, called P1 and R1-5 in New foundations. P1 and R1-3 specify various formulae as initial theorems, and R4-5 specify inferential connections for deriving further theorems. R1–2 and R4–5 are so fashioned as to provide the “theory of deduction”: they provide as theorems all those formulae which are valid by virtue merely of their structure in terms of alternative denial and quantification.

A truth for λ is a pair 〈Q, ψ〉 so that Q ⊆ Hλ, ψ is a first order formula with one free variable, and there exists B ⊆ Hλ+ such that (Hλ+; ∈, B) ⊨ ψ[Q]. A cardinal λ is , indescribable just in case that for every truth 〈Q, ψ〈 for λ, there exists < λ so that is a cardinal and 〈Q ∩ , ψ) is a truth for . More generally, an interval of cardinals [κ, λ] with κ ≤ λ is indescribable if for every truth 〈Q, ψ〈 for λ, there exists , and π: → Hλ so that is a cardinal, is a truth for , and π is elementary from () into (H; ∈, κ, Q) with id.

We prove that the restriction of the proper forcing axiom to ϲ-linked posets requires a indescribable cardinal in L, and that the restriction of the proper forcing axiom to ϲ+-linked posets, in a proper forcing extension of a fine structural model, requires a indescribable 1-gap [κ, κ+]. These results show that the respective forward directions obtained in Hierarchies of Forcing Axioms I by Neeman and Schimmerling are optimal.

Let T be a set of axioms for a classical theory TC (e.g. abelian groups, linear order, unary function, algebraically closed fields, etc.). Suppose we regard T as a set of axioms for an intuitionistic theory TH (more precisely, we regard T as axioms in Heyting's predicate calculus HPC).

Question. Is TH decidable (or, more generally, if X is any intermediate logic, is TX decidable)? In [1] we gave sufficient conditions for the undecidability of TH. These conditions depend on the formulas of T (different axiomatization of the same TC may give rise to different TH) and on the classical model theoretic properties of TC (the method did not work for model complete theories, e.g. those of the title of the paper). For details see [1]. In [2] we gave some decidability results for some theories: The problem of the decidability of theories TH for a classically model complete TC remained open. An undecidability result in this direction, for dense linear order was obtained by Smorynski [4]. The cases of algebraically closed fields and real closed fields and divisible abelian groups are treated in this paper. Other various decidability results of the intuitionistic theories were obtained by several authors, see [1], [2], [4] for details.

One more remark before we start. There are several possible formulations for an intuitionistic theory of, e.g. fields, that correspond to several possible axiomatizations of the classical theory. Other formulations may be given in terms of the apartness relation, such as the one for fields given by Heyting [5]. The formulations that we consider here are of interest as these systems occur in intuitionistic mathematics. We hope that the present methods could be extended to the (more interesting) case of Heyting's systems [5].

In his paper [7] Steel asked whether there can exist a normal measure U on a cardinal κ such that

We use Reverse Easton forcing to show that this is consistent from a P2κ hypermeasure; we also show that the result is sharp, using the core model for nonoverlapping coherent extender sequences.

The proof uses forcing technology due to Woodin.

In this section we collect some facts that are useful in the forcing constructions of the next section. None of them are due to us, and we are unsure to whom they should be attributed for the most part. We give sketchy proofs; the reader who wants to see more details is referred to [2].

Many properties of curves, surfaces, or other varieties in Algebraic Geometry can be formulated in the lower functional calculus as predicates of the coefficients of the polynomial or polynomials which define the variety (curve, surface) in question. For example, the property of a plane curve of order n to possess exactly m double points, or the property to be of genus p — where m and p are specified integers — can be formulated in this way. Similarly many statements on the relation between two or more varieties, e.g., concerning the number and type of their intersection points, can be expressed in the lower functional calculus. It is usual to study the properties of a variety in an algebraically closed field. Accordingly, it is of considerable interest to investigate the general structure of the class of predicates mentioned above in relation to algebraically closed fields. The following result will be proved in the present paper.

Main Theorem. Let F be a commutative algebraic field of arbitrary characteristic, and let F′ = F[x1, …, xn] be the ring of polynomials of n variables with coefficients in F. With every predicate Q{x1, …, xn) which is formulated in the lower functional calculus in terms of the relations of equality, addition, and multiplication and (possibly) in terms of some of the elements of F, there can be associated an ascending chain of ideals in F′,

such that

for every extension F* of F which is algebraically closed. In this formula, V0, …, V2k+ 1 are the varieties of the ideals J1, …, J2k+i in the coordinate space Sn: (x1, … xn) over F*, and VQ is the set of points of Sn which satisfy Q.

In [10, §0, E), 5)] Shelah states using the proofs of 7.9 and 6.9 in [9] it is possible to prove that if a countable first-order theory T is ℵ0-stable (totally transcendental) and not ℵ1-categorical, then it has at least ∣1 + α∣ models of power ℵα.

In this note we will give a new proof of this theorem using the work of Baldwin and Lachlan [1]. Our original proof used the generalized continuum hypothesis (GCH). We are indebted to G. E. Sacks for suggesting that the notions of ℵ0-stability and ℵ1-categoricity are absolute, and that consequently our use of GCH was eliminable [8]. Routine results from model theory may be found, e.g. in [2].

Proof (with GCH). In the proof of Theorem 3 of [1] Baldwin and Lachlin show of power ℵα such that there is a countable definable subset in . Let B0 be such a subset. Say . We will give by transfinite induction an elementary chain of models of T of power ℵα such that B[i1 … in] has power ℵβ and such that every infinite definable subset of has power ≥ℵβ. This clearly suffices.

Finitely axiomatizable ℵ1 categorical theories are locally modular.

It is shown that for every (Turing) degree 0 < a < 0′ there is a minimal degree m < 0′ such that a ∨ m = 0′ (and therefore a ∧ m = 0).

We develop a dimension theory for D-semianalytic sets over an arbitrary non-Arehimedean eomplete field. Our main results are the equivalence of several notions of dimension and a theorem on additivity of dimensions of projections and fibers in characteristic 0. We also prove a parameterized version of normalization for D-semianalytic sets.

We consider ωn-automatic structures which are relational structures whose domain and relations are accepted by automata reading ordinal words of length ωn for some integer n ≥ 1. We show that all these structures are ω-tree-automatic structures presentable by Muller or Rabin tree automata. We prove that the isomorphism relation for ω2-automatic (resp. ωn-automatic for n > 2) boolean algebras (respectively, partial orders, rings, commutative rings, non commutative rings, non commutative groups) is not determined by the axiomatic system ZFC. We infer from the proof of the above result that the isomorphism problem for ωn-automatic boolean algebras, n ≥ 2, (respectively, rings, commutative rings, non commutative rings, non commutative groups) is neither a -set nor a -set. We obtain that there exist infinitely many ωn-automatic, hence also ω-tree-automatic, atomless boolean algebras , which are pairwise isomorphic under the continuum hypothesis CH and pairwise non isomorphic under an alternate axiom AT, strengthening a result of [14].

Sometimes it is said that mathematics talks only about truths that are invariant under isomorphisms. Thus, a syntactical characterization of sentences preserved under isomorphisms seems to be important to understand what mathematics is.

The importance of such sentences is underlined, for instance, by Bourbaki's requirement in [1, Chapter IV] that all axioms for mathematical structures satisfy the condition of being what they call transportable, that is, preserved under isomorphisms. In [2, §1], a formalization of Bourbaki's notion of mathematical structure and of the notion of transportable sentence was given and discussed. We adopt here, as in [2], Bourbaki's terminology, and call a sentence φ transportable if φ is true in a structure E if and only if φ is true in any structure F isomorphic to E.

An alternative formulation for Bourbaki's notion of structure is offered in [2, §3], which is also intended as a formalization of Suppes' notion of set-theoretical predicate, as formulated, for instance, in [3]. It is this alternative formulation that we adopt here.

In [2, p. 106], it was conjectured that a set-theoretical sentence is transportable if and only if it is equivalent to a sentence of type theory. One direction of the conjecture is obvious, namely, that any sentence of type theory is transportable. It is also clear that there are sentences of set theory which are not transportable. The main purpose of the present paper is to prove the rest of the conjecture. That is, we prove here that any transportable set-theoretical sentence is equivalent to a sentence of type theory.

Non-n-ampleness as denned by Pillay [20] and Evans [5] is preserved under analysability. Generalizing this to a more general notion of Σ-ampleness, this gives an immediate proof for all simple theories of a weakened version of the Canonical Base Property (CBP) proven by Chatzidakis [4] for types of finite SU-rank. This is then applied to the special case of groups.

One of the most fundamental results of higher-type recursion theory was first proved by Thomas Grilliot [3]. He showed that the functional embodying number quantification, 2E, is computable from a type-2 object F if and only if F has an effective discontinuity. For the background to this work we recommend Normann's book [9] or his summary [10], and for an example of its many applications Normann-Wainer [11].

The purpose of §1 of this paper is to give an effective proof of the “only if” part of this result: i.e. a construction of a discontinuity of F from the information 2E = {e}F. This contrasts with Grilliot's argument which is topological and nonconstructive, and shows that “Grilliot's trick” for computing 2E from a discontinuity of F is essentially the only method.

We then apply the method to two more general situations in which it gives new results. In §2 we treat type-3 objects in which 3E is computable (assuming AC and CH), and obtain a strengthening of the result of Hartley [5, §5]. In §3 we consider the superjump and characterise it as the least among a class of functionals with a particular sort of family of discontinuities.

The degree spectrum of a countable structure is the set of all Turing degrees of presentations of that structure. We show that every nonlow Turing degree lies in the spectrum of some differentially closed field (of characteristic 0, with a single derivation) whose spectrum does not contain the computable degree 0. Indeed, this is an equivalence, for we also show that if this spectrum contained a low degree, then it would contain the degree 0. From these results we conclude that the spectra of differentially closed fields of characteristic 0 are exactly the jump-preimages of spectra of automorphically nontrivial graphs.

We prove that if μ is a regular cardinal and ℙ is a μ-centered forcing poset, then ℙ forces that (I[μ++[)V generates I[μ++] modulo clubs. Using this result, we construct models in which the approachability property fails at the successor of a singular cardinal. We also construct models in which the properties of being internally club and internally approachable are distinct for sets of size the successor of a singular cardinal.

The truth-table degree of the set of shortest programs remains an outstanding problem in recursion theory. We examine two related sets, the set of shortest descriptions and the set of domain-random strings, and show that the truth-table degrees of these sets depend on the underlying acceptable numbering. We achieve some additional properties for the truth-table incomplete versions of these sets, namely retraceability and approximability. We give priority-free constructions of bounded truth-table chains and bounded truth-table antichains inside the truth-table complete degree by identifying an acceptable set of domain-random strings within each degree.

Mathematics is a natural science whose great generality makes many philosophers think of it as a supernatural science, consisting of truths derived independently of experience about objects not given in experience. Some mathematicians, like Simpson [16], try to defend mathematics from the resulting objection that it is merely a mental game by first conceding that most of it is meaningless and then trying to save what is left by some technical tour de force. Some physicists, like Wigner [20], admit that mathematics is applicable to the world, but declare themselves unable to understand what makes its applications possible. Both Simpson's worries and Wigner's puzzlement can be relieved if we assimilate mathematics more closely to the other natural sciences.

A standard result in topological dynamics is the existence of minimal subsystem. It is a direct consequence of Zorn's lemma: given a compact topological space X with a map f: X→X, the set of compact non empty subspaces K of X such that f(K) ⊆ K ordered by inclusion is inductive, and hence has minimal elements. It is natural to ask for a point-free (or formal) formulation of this statement. In a previous work [3], we gave such a formulation for a quite special instance of this statement, which is used in proving a purely combinatorial theorem (van de Waerden's theorem on arithmetical progression).

In this paper, we extend our analysis to the case where X is a boolean space, that is compact totally disconnected. In such a case, we give a point-free formulation of the existence of a minimal subspace for any continuous map f: X→X. We show that such minimal subspaces can be described as points of a suitable formal topology, and the “existence” of such points become the problem of the consistency of the theory describing a generic point of this space. We show the consistency of this theory by building effectively and algebraically a topological model. As an application, we get a new, purely algebraic proof, of the minimal property of [3]. We show then in detail how this property can be used to give a proof of (a special case of) van der Waerden's theorem on arithmetical progression, that is “similar in structure” to the topological proof [6, 8], but which uses a simple algebraic remark (Proposition 1) instead of Zorn's lemma. A last section tries to place this work in a wider context, as a reformulation of Hilbert's method of introduction/elimination of ideal elements.