Let K be a field of characteristic p. The map τ(X) = Xp − X is an additive endomorphism of K, with kernel Fp. The Galois extensions of K of order p are obtained by adjoining to K solutions to equations of the form Xp − X = a for some a in K. These extensions are called the Artin-Schreier extensions of K and have a cyclic Galois group.

The study of Artin-Schreier extensions is very important for studying fields of characteristic p, in particular for studying valued fields of the form K((t)). An attempt at getting quantifier elimination for those fields would necessitate the adjunction to the language of fields of a cross-section for the function τ, i.e. a function σ such that τ ∘ σ is the identity on the image of τ. When K = Fp, such a cross-section is in fact definable in K((t)): it associates to τ(x) the element of {x, x + 1, …, x + p – 1} whose constant term is 0 (see [2]). When K is infinite, such a cross-section is usually not definable.

The results presented in this paper originate from a question of L. van den Dries: is there a natural way of defining a cross-section σ for τ on F̃p, and is the theory of (F̃p, σ) decidable? (F̃p is the algebraic closure of Fp.)

Kueker's conjecture is proved for stable theories, for theories that interpret a linear ordering, and for theories with Skolem functions. The proof of the stable case involves certain results on coordinatization that are of independent interest.

We show in this paper that all fragments of intuitionistic propositional logic based on a subset of the connectives ∧, ∨, →, ¬ satisfy interpolation. Fragments containing ↔ or ¬¬ are briefly considered.

We prove two results about the embeddability relation between Borel linear orders: For η a countable ordinal, let 2η (resp. 2< η) be the set of sequences of zeros and ones of length η (resp. < η), equipped with the lexicographic ordering. Given a Borel linear order X and a countable ordinal ξ, we prove the following two facts.

(a) Either X can be embedded (in a (X, ξ) way) in 2ωξ or 2ωξ + 1 continuously embeds in X.

(b) Either X can embedded (in a (X, ξ) way) in 2<ωξ or 2ωξ continuously embeds in X. These results extend previous work of Harrington, Shelah and Marker.

We get consistency results on I(λ, T, T) under the assumption that D(T) has cardinality > ∣T∣. We get positive results and consistency results on IE(λ, T 1, T).

The interest is model-theoretic, but the content is mostly set-theoretic: in Theorems 1–3, combinatorial; in Theorems 4–7 and 11(2), to prove consistency of counterexamples we concentrate on forcing arguments; and in Theorems 8–10 and 11(1), combinatorics for counterexamples; the rest are discussion and problems. In particular:

(A) By Theorems 1 and 2, if T ⊆ T 1 are first order countable, T complete stable but ℵ0-unstable, λ > ℵ0, and ∣D(T)∣ > ℵ0, then IE(λ, T 1, T) > Min{2 λ , ℶ2}.

(B) By Theorems 4,5,6 of this paper, if e.g. V = L, then in some generic extension of V not collapsing cardinals, for some first order T ⊆ T 1, ∣T∣ = ℵ0, ∣T 1∣ = ℵ1, ∣D(T)∣ = ℵ2 and IE(ℵ2, T1, T) = 1.

This paper (specifically the ZFC results) is continued in the very interesting work of Baldwin on diversity classes [Bl]. Some more advances can be found in the new version of [Sh300] (see Chapter III, mainly §7); they confirm 0.1, 0.2 and 14(1), 14(2).

A stable theory is finitely based if every set of indiscernibles is based on a finite subset. This is a common generalization of superstability and 1-basedness. We show that if such theories have more than one model they must have infinitely many, and prove some other conjectures.

Let I(μ, Κ) denote the number of nonisomorphic models of power μ and IE(μ, Κ) the number of nonmutually embeddable models. We define in this paper the notion of a diverse class and use it to prove a number of results. The major result is Theorem B: For any diverse class Κ and μ greater than the cardinality of the language of Κ,

From it we deduce both an old result of Shelah, Theorem C: If T is countable and λ0 > ℵ0 then for every μ > ℵ0, IE(μ, T) ≥ min(2μ, ⊐2), and an extension of that result to uncountable languages, Theorem D: If ∣T∣ < 2ωλ0 > ∣T∣, and ∣D(T)∣ = ∣T∣ then for μ > ∣T∣,

Smullyan in [Smu61] identified the recursion theoretic essence of incompleteness results such as Gödel's first incompleteness theorem and Rosser's theorem. Smullyan (improving upon [Kle50] and [Kle52]) showed that, for sufficiently complex theories, the collection of provable formulae and the collection of refutable formulae are effectively inseparable—where formulae and their Gödel numbers are identified. This paper gives a similar treatment for proof speed-up. We say that a formal system S1 is speedable over another system S0 on a set of formulae A iff, for each recursive function h, there is a formula α in A such that the length of the shortest proof of α in S0 is larger than h of the shortest proof of α in S1. (Here we equate the length of a proof with something like the number of characters making it up, not its number of lines.) We characterize speedability in terms of the inseparability by r.e. sets of the collection of formulae which are provable in S1 but unprovable in S0 from the collection A–where again formulae and their Gödel numbers are identified. We provide precise definitions of proof length, speedability and r.e. inseparability below.

We follow the terminology and notation of [Rog87] with borrowings from [Soa87]. Below, ϕ is an acceptable numbering of the partial recursive functions [Rog87] and Φ a (Blum) complexity measure associated with ϕ [Blu67], [DW83].

We introduce a reducibility preordering between classes of countable structures, each class containing only structures of a given similarity type (which is allowed to vary from class to class). Though we sometimes work in a slightly larger context, we are principally concerned with the case where each class is an invariant Borel class (i.e. the class of all models, with underlying set = ω, of an Lω1ω sentence; from this point of view, the reducibility can be thought of as a (rather weak) sort of Lω1ω-interpretability notion). We prove a number of general results about this notion, but our main thrust is to situate various mathematically natural classes with respect to the preordering, most notably classes of algebraic structures such as groups and fields.

In a modal system of arithmetic, a theory S has the modal disjunction property if whenever S ⊢ □φ ∨ □ψ, either S ⊢ □φ or S ⊢ □ψ. S has the modal numerical existence property if whenever S ⊢ ∃x □φ(x), there is some natural number n such that S ⊢ □φ(n). Under certain broadly applicable assumptions, these two properties are equivalent.

If ℱ is a normal filter on a regular uncountable cardinal κ, let ║f║ be the ℱ-norm of an ordinal function f. We introduce the class of positive ordinal operations and prove that if F is a positive operation then ║F(f)║ ≥ F(║f║). For each η < κ+ let fη be the canonical ηth function. We show that if F is a ∑ operation then F(fη) = fF(η).

As an application we show that if κ is greatly Mahlo then there are normal filters on κ of order greater than κ+.

Following Soare [11] we say a recursively enumerable (r.e.) degree a has the anticupping (a.c.) property if there is a nonzero r.e. degree b < a such that for no r.e. c < a does a = b ∪ c.

Cooper [2] and Yates showed that 0′ has the a.c. property, while Harrington (see Miller [6]) proved that every high r.e. degree a has the a.c. property.

The recent paper by Ambos-Spies, Jockusch, Shore and Soare [1] describes a general theoretical framework for cupping and capping below 0′ which seems likely to be useful in a wider context.

Definition. (1) We say b is strongly noncuppable belowa if 0 < b < a and, for each d < a, b ∪ d ≠ a.

(2) We say an r.e. a has the strong anticupping property if there is an r.e. b which is strongly noncuppable below a.

The main results on cupping in (≤ 0′) are due to Epstein, Posner and Robinson. For instance it is known (Posner and Robinson [8]) that the s.a.c. property fails for 0′.

We prove below that r.e. degrees with the s.a.c. property do exist, hence obtaining a nonzero r.e. degree a such that (≤ a) ≢e(≤h) for any high r.e. degree h. This result, obtained by means of an infinite injury construction in (≤ 0′), extends Theorem 2 of [3], proved using a finite injury construction in (≤ 0′).

Our main source of notation and terminology is [3].

Several rather concrete propositions about Borel measurable functions of several variables on the Hilbert cube (countable sequences of reals in the unit interval) were formulated by Harvey Friedman [F1] and correlated with strong set-theoretic hypotheses. Most notably, he established that a “Borel diagonalization” proposition P is equivalent to: for any a ⊆ co and n ⊆ ω there is an ω-model of ZFC + ∃κ(κ is n-Mahlo) containing a. In later work (see the expository Stanley [St] and Friedman [F2]), Friedman was to carry his investigations further into propositions about spaces of groups and the like, and finite propositions. He discovered and analyzed mathematical propositions which turned out to have remarkably strong consistency strength in terms of large cardinal hypotheses in set theory.

In this paper, we refine and extend Friedman's work on the Borel diagonalization proposition P. First, we provide more combinatorics about regressive partitions and n-Mahlo cardinals and extend the approach to the context of the Erdös cardinals In passing, a combinatorial proof of a well-known result of Silver about these cardinals is given. Incorporating this work and sharpening Friedman's proof, we then show that there is a level-by-level analysis of P which provides for each n ⊆ ω a proposition almost equivalent to: for any a ⊆ co there is an ω-model of ZFC + ∃κ(κ is n-Mahlo) containing a. Finally, we use the combinatorics to bracket a natural generalization Sω of P between two large cardinal hypotheses.

A previously unexplored method, combining logical and mathematical elements, is shown to yield substantial numerical improvements in the area of Diophantine approximations. Kreisel illustrated the method abstractly by noting that effective bounds on the number of elements are ensured if Herbrand terms from ineffective proofs of Σ2-finiteness theorems satisfy certain simple growth conditions. Here several efficient growth conditions for the same purpose are presented that are actually satisfied in practice, in particular, by the proofs of Roth's theorem due to Roth himself and to Esnault and Viehweg. The analysis of the former yields an exponential bound of order exp(70ε−2d2) in place of exp(285ε−2d2) given by Davenport and Roth in 1955, where α is (real) algebraic of degree d ≥ 2 and ∣α − pq−1∣ < q−2−ε. (Thus the new bound is less than the fourth root of the old one.) The new bounds extracted from the other proof are polynomial of low degree (in ε−1 and log d). Corollaries: Apart from a new bound for the number of solutions of the corresponding Diophantine equations and inequalities (among them Thue's inequality), log log qν, < Cα, εν5/6+ε, where qν are the denominators of the convergents to the continued fraction of α.

The problem of the nonequivalent modalities available in certain systems is a classical problem of modal logic. In this paper we deal with this problem without referring to particular logics, but considering the whole class of normal propositional logics. Given a logic L let P(L) (the m-partition generated by L) denote the set of the classes of L-equivalent modalities. Obviously, different logics may generate the same m-partition; the first problem arising from this general point of view is therefore to determine the cardinality of the set of all m-partitions. Since, as is well known, there exist normal logics, and since one immediately realizes that there are infinitely many m-partitions, the problem consists in choosing (assuming the continuum hypothesis) between ℵ0 and . In Theorem 1.2 we show that there are m-partitions, as many as the logics.

The next problem which naturally arises consists in determining, given an m-partition P(L), the number of logics generating P(L) (in symbols, μ(P(L))). In Theorem 2.1(ii) we show that ∣{P(L): μ(P(L)) = }∣ = . Now, the set {L′) = P(L)} has a natural minimal element; that is, the logic L* axiomatized by K ∪ {φ(p) ↔ ψ(p): φ, ψ are L-equivalent modalities}; P(L) and L* can be, in some sense, identified, thus making the set of m-partitions a subset of the set of logics.

The results in this paper were motivated by the following question of Sacks. Suppose T is a recursive theory with countably many countable models. What can you say about the least ordinal α such that all models of T have Scott rank below α? If Martin's conjecture is true for T then α ≤ ω · 2.

Our goal was to look at this problem in a more abstract setting. Let E be a equivalence relation on ωω with countably many classes each of which is Borel. What can you say about the least α such that each equivalence class is ? This problem is closely related to the following question. Suppose X ⊆ ωω is and Borel. What can you say about the least α such that X is ?

In §1 we answer these questions in ZFC. In §2 we give more informative answers under the added assumptions V = L or -determinacy. The final section contains related results on the separation of sets by Borel sets.

Our notation is standard. The reader may consult Moschovakis [5] for undefined terms.

Some of these results were proved first by Sami and rediscovered by Kechris and Marker.

An Ehrenfeucht theory is a complete first order theory with exactly n countable models up to isomorphism, 1 < n < ω. Numerous results have emerged regarding these theories ([1]–[15]). A general question in model theory is whether or not the number of countable models of a complete theory can be different than the number of countable models of a complete consistent extension of the theory by finitely many constant symbols. Examples are known of Ehrenfeucht theories that have complete extensions by finitely many constant symbols such that the extensions fail to be Ehrenfeucht ([4], [8], [13]). These examples are easily modified to allow finite increases in the number of countable models.

This paper contains examples in the other direction—complete theories that have consistent extensions by finitely many constant symbols such that the extensions have fewer countable models. This answers affirmatively a question raised by, among others, Peretyat'kin [8]. The first example will be an Ehrenfeucht theory with exactly four countable models with an extension by a constant symbol that has only three countable models. The second example will be a complete theory that is not Ehrenfeucht, but which has an extension by a constant symbol that is Ehrenfeucht. The notational conventions for this paper are standard.

Peretyat'kin introduced the theory of a dense binary branching tree with a meet operator [7]. Dense ω-branching trees have also proven useful [5], [11]. Both of the Theories that will be constructed make use of dense ω-branching trees.

Recall that a theory is said to be almost strongly minimal if in every model every element is in the algebraic closure of a strongly minimal set. In 1970 Hodges and Macintyre conjectured that there is a natural number n such that every ℵ0-categorical almost strongly minimal theory is Σn axiomatizable. Recently Ahlbrandt and Baldwin [A-B] proved that if T is ℵ0-categorical and almost strongly minimal, then T is Σn axiomatizable for some n. This result also follows from Ahlbrandt and Ziegler's results on quasifinite axiomatizability [A-Z]. In this paper we will refute Hodges and Macintyre's conjecture by showing that for each n there is an ℵ0-categorical almost strongly minimal theory which is not Σn axiomatizable.

Before we begin we should note that in all these examples the complexity of the theory arises from the complexity of the definition of the strongly minimal set. It is still open whether the conjecture is true if we allow a predicate symbol for the strongly minimal set.

We will prove the following result.

Theorem. For every n there is an almost strongly minimal ℵ0-categorical theory T with models M and N such that N is Σn elementary but not Σn + 1 elementary.

To show that these theories yield counterexamples to the conjecture we apply the following result of Chang [C].

Theorem. If T is a Σn axiomatizable theory categorical in some infinite power, M and N are models of T and N is a Σn elementary extension of M, then N is an elementary extension of M.

In [1], Degtëv constructed a nonzero r.e. tt-degree containing a single r.e. m-degree. It is not difficult to construct an r.e. tt-degree containing infinitely many r.e. m-degrees (Fischer [6]); indeed, in [3], the author constructed an r.e. tt-degree with no greatest r.e. m-degree. Odifreddi [12, Problem 10] asked if every r.e. tt-degree contains either one or infinitely many r.e. m-degrees. The goal of this paper is to solve Odifreddi's question by showing:

Theorem. There exists a nonzero r.e. tt-degree containing exactly 3 r.e. m-degrees.

This theorem can be extended to show that there exist r.e. tt-degrees with arbitrarily large finite numbers of r.e. m-degrees.

We remark that save for the aforementioned results, very little is known about the structures that can be realized as the collection of r.e. m-degrees within an r.e. tt-degree. It seems conceivable that the methods of the present paper may be useful in, for example, embedding distributive (semi) lattices into such structures.

In part II of this paper [4], we continue our analysis of r.e. m- and tt-degrees. We define an r.e. tt-degree to be singular if it contains a single r.e. m-degree, and an r.e. T-degree a to be singular if a contains a singular r.e. tt-degree.

In [4] we study the distribution (in the r.e. T-degrees) of singular tt-degrees. We show that 0′T is singular (solving a question of Odifreddi [11]), and that the singular T-degrees are dense, but also we construct a nonsingular T-degree. The techniques used for the first results extend those of §2 of the present paper.