arXiv subjects

Alexis Bès

Publications and source records attributed to Alexis Bès.

6 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2022

Decidability of definability issues in the theory of real addition

Given a subset of $X\subseteq \mathbb{R}^{n}$ we can associate with every point $x\in \mathbb{R}^{n}$ a vector space $V$ of maximal dimension with the property that for some ball centered at $x$, the subset $X$ coincides inside the ball with a union of lines parallel with $V$. A point is singular if $V$ has dimension $0$. In an earlier paper we proved that a $(\mathbb{R}, +,< ,\mathbb{Z})$-definable relation $X$ is actually definable in $(\mathbb{R}, +,< ,1)$ if and only if the number of singular points is finite and every rational section of $X$ is $(\mathbb{R}, +,< ,1)$-definable, where a rational section is a set obtained from $X$ by fixing some component to a rational value. Here we show that we can dispense with the hypothesis of $X$ being $(\mathbb{R}, +,< ,\mathbb{Z})$-definable by assuming that the components of the singular points are rational numbers. This provides a topological characterization of first-order definability in the structure $(\mathbb{R}, +,< ,1)$. It also allows us to deliver a self-definable criterion (in Muchnik's terminology) of $(\mathbb{R}, +,< ,1)$- and $(\mathbb{R}, +,< ,\mathbb{Z})$-definability for a wide class of relations, which turns into an effective criterion provided that the corresponding theory is decidable. In particular these results apply to the class of $k-$recognizable relations on reals, and allow us to prove that it is decidable whether a $k-$recognizable relation (of any arity) is $l-$recognizable for every base $l \geq 2$.

math.LO↗

arXiv2021

Theories of real addition with and without a predicate for integers

We show that it is decidable whether or not a relation on the reals definable in the structure $\langle \mathbb{R}, +,<, \mathbb{Z} \rangle$ can be defined in the structure $\langle \mathbb{R}, +,<, 1 \rangle$. This result is achieved by obtaining a topological characterization of $\langle \mathbb{R}, +,<, 1 \rangle$-definable relations in the family of $\langle \mathbb{R}, +,<, \mathbb{Z} \rangle$-definable relations and then by following Muchnik's approach of showing that the characterization of the relation $X$ can be expressed in the logic of $\langle \mathbb{R}, +,<,1, X \rangle$. The above characterization allows us to prove that there is no intermediate structure between $\langle \mathbb{R}, +,<, \mathbb{Z} \rangle$ and $\langle \mathbb{R}, +,<, 1 \rangle$. We also show that a $\langle \mathbb{R}, +,<, \mathbb{Z} \rangle$-definable relation is $\langle \mathbb{R}, +,<, 1 \rangle$-definable if and only if its intersection with every $\langle \mathbb{R}, +,<, 1 \rangle$-definable line is $\langle \mathbb{R}, +,<, 1 \rangle$-definable. This gives a noneffective but simple characterization of $\langle \mathbb{R}, +,<, 1 \rangle$-definable relations.

cs.LO↗

arXiv2018

Decidability of the existential fragment of some infinitely generated trace monoids: an application to ordinals

Diekert, Matiyasevich and Muscholl proved that the existential first-order theory of a trace monoid over a finite alphabet is decidable. We extend this result to a natural class of trace monoids with infinitely many generators. As an application, we prove that for every ordinal $λ$ less than $\varepsilon_0$, the existential theory of the set of successor ordinals less than $λ$ equipped with multiplication is decidable.

cs.LO↗

arXiv2018

Complexity and (un)decidability of fragments of $\langle ω^{ω^λ}; \times \rangle$

We specify the frontier of decidability for fragments of the first-order theory of ordinal multiplication. We give a NEXPTIME lower bound for the complexity of the existential fragment of $\langle ω^{ω^λ}; \times, ω, ω+1, ω^2+1 \rangle$ for every ordinal $λ$. Moreover, we prove (by reduction from Hilbert Tenth Problem) that the $\exists^*\forall^{6}$-fragment of $\langle ω^{ω^λ}; \times \rangle$ is undecidable for every ordinal $λ$.

cs.LO↗

arXiv2013

Expansions of MSO by cardinality relations

We study expansions of the Weak Monadic Second Order theory of (N,<) by cardinality relations, which are predicates R(X1,...,Xn) whose truth value depends only on the cardinality of the sets X1, ...,Xn. We first provide a (definable) criterion for definability of a cardinality relation in (N,<), and use it to prove that for every cardinality relation R which is not definable in (N,<), there exists a unary cardinality relation which is definable in (N,<,R) and not in (N,<). These results resemble Muchnik and Michaux-Villemaire theorems for Presburger Arithmetic. We prove then that + and x are definable in (N,<,R) for every cardinality relation R which is not definable in (N,<). This implies undecidability of the WMSO theory of (N,<,R). We also consider the related satisfiability problem for the class of finite orderings, namely the question whether an MSO sentence in the language {<,R} admits a finite model M where < is interpreted as a linear ordering, and R as the restriction of some (fixed) cardinality relation to the domain of M. We prove that this problem is undecidable for every cardinality relation R which is not definable in (N,<).

cs.LO↗

arXiv2008

An Application of the Feferman-Vaught Theorem to Automata and Logics for Words over an Infinite Alphabet

We show that a special case of the Feferman-Vaught composition theorem gives rise to a natural notion of automata for finite words over an infinite alphabet, with good closure and decidability properties, as well as several logical characterizations. We also consider a slight extension of the Feferman-Vaught formalism which allows to express more relations between component values (such as equality), and prove related decidability results. From this result we get new classes of decidable logics for words over an infinite alphabet.

cs.LO↗