arXiv subjects

Andreas Blass

Publications and source records attributed to Andreas Blass.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

arXiv2008

Persistent Queries

We propose a syntax and semantics for interactive abstract state machines to deal with the following situation. A query is issued during a certain step, but the step ends before any reply is received. Later, a reply arrives, and later yet the algorithm makes use of this reply. By a persistent query, we mean a query for which a late reply might be used. Syntactically, our proposal involves issuing, along with a persistent query, a location where a late reply is to be stored. Semantically, it involves only a minor modification of the existing theory of interactive small-step abstract state machines.

cs.PL↗

arXiv2008

Generalizing Hartogs' Trichotomy Theorem

A celebrated argument of F. Hartogs (1915) deduces the Axiom of Choice from the hypothesis of comparability for any pair of cardinals. We show how each of a sequence of seemingly much weaker hypotheses suffices. Fixing a finite number $k>1$, the Axiom of Choice follows if merely any family of $k$ cardinals contains at least one comparable pair.

math.LO↗

arXiv2007

Basic Subgroups and Freeness, A Counterexample

We construct a non-free but aleph_1-separable, torsion-free abelian group G with a pure free subgroup B such that all subgroups of G disjoint from B are free and such that G/B is divisible. This answers a question of Irwin and shows that a theorem of Blass and Irwin cannot be strengthened so as to give an exact analog for torsion-free groups of a result proved for p-groups by Benabdallah and Irwin.

math.LO↗

arXiv2007

Interactive Small-Step Algorithms I: Axiomatization

cs.LO↗

arXiv2007

Interactive Small-Step Algorithms II: Abstract State Machines and the Characterization Theorem

In earlier work, the Abstract State Machine Thesis -- that arbitrary algorithms are behaviorally equivalent to abstract state machines -- was established for several classes of algorithms, including ordinary, interactive, small-step algorithms. This was accomplished on the basis of axiomatizations of these classes of algorithms. In Part I (Interactive Small-Step Algorithms I: Axiomatization), the axiomatization was extended to cover interactive small-step algorithms that are not necessarily ordinary. This means that the algorithms (1) can complete a step without necessarily waiting for replies to all queries from that step and (2) can use not only the environment's replies but also the order in which the replies were received. In order to prove the thesis for algorithms of this generality, we extend here the definition of abstract state machines to incorporate explicit attention to the relative timing of replies and to the possible absence of replies. We prove the characterization theorem for extended abstract state machines with respect to general algorithms as axiomatized in Part I.

cs.LO↗

arXiv2005

Disjoint Non-Free Subgoups of Abelian Groups

Let G be an abelian group and let lambda be the smallest rank of any group whose direct sum with a free group is isomorphic to G. If lambda is uncountable, then G has lambda pairwise disjoint, non-free subgroups. There is an example where lambda is countably infinite and G does not have even two disjoint, non-free subgroups.

math.LO↗

arXiv2005

Ultrafilters and partial products of infinite cyclic groups

We consider, for infinite cardinals kappa and alpha <= kappa^+, the group Pi(kappa,< alpha) of sequences of integers, of length kappa, with non-zero entries in fewer than alpha positions. Our main result tells when Pi(kappa,< alpha) can be embedded in Pi(lambda,< beta). The proof involves some set-theoretic results, one about familes of finite sets and one about families of ultrafilters.

math.LO↗

arXiv2001

On Polynomial Time Computation Over Unordered Structures

This paper is motivated by the question whether there exists a logic capturing polynomial time computation over unordered structures. We consider several algorithmic problems near the border of the known, logically defined complexity classes contained in polynomial time. We show that fixpoint logic plus counting is stronger than might be expected, in that it can express the existence of a complete matching in a bipartite graph. We revisit the known examples that separate polynomial time from fixpoint plus counting. We show that the examples in a paper of Cai, Furer, and Immerman, when suitably padded, are in choiceless polynomial time yet not in fixpoint plus counting. Without padding, they remain in polynomial time but appear not to be in choiceless polynomial time plus counting. Similar results hold for the multipede examples of Gurevich and Shelah, except that their final version of multipedes is, in a sense, already suitably padded. Finally, we describe another plausible candidate, involving determinants, for the task of separating polynomial time from choiceless polynomial time plus counting.

math.LO↗

arXiv1998

Characteristic and Ehrhart polynomials

Let A be a subspace arrangement and let chi(A,t) be the characteristic polynomial of its intersection lattice L(A). We show that if the subspaces in A are taken from L(B_n), where B_n is the type B Weyl arrangement, then chi(A,t) counts a certain set of lattice points. One can use this result to study the partial factorization of chi(A,t) over the integers and the coefficients of its expansion in various bases for the polynomial ring R[t]. Next we prove that the characteristic polynomial of any Weyl hyperplane arrangement can be expressed in terms of an Ehrhart quasi-polynomial for its affine Weyl chamber. Note that our first result deals with all subspace arrangements embedded in B_n while the second deals with all finite Weyl groups but only their hyperplane arrangements.

math.CO↗

arXiv1998

Mobius functions of lattices

We introduce the concept of a bounded below set in a lattice. This can be used to give a generalization of Rota's broken circuit theorem to any finite lattice. We then show how this result can be used to compute and combinatorially explain the Möbius function in various examples including non-crossing set partitions, shuffle posets, and integer partitions in dominance order. Next we present a generalization of Stanley's theorem that the characteristic polynomial of a semimodular supersolvable lattice factors over the integers. We also give some applications of this second main theorem, including the Tamari lattices.

math.CO↗

arXiv1997

Choiceless polynomial time

Turing machines define polynomial time (PTime) on strings but cannot deal with structures like graphs directly, and there is no known, easily computable string encoding of isomorphism classes of structures. Is there a computation model whose machines do not distinguish between isomorphic structures and compute exactly PTime properties? This question can be recast as follows: Does there exist a logic that captures polynomial time (without presuming the presence of a linear order)? Earlier, one of us conjectured the negative answer. The problem motivated a quest for stronger and stronger PTime logics. All these logics avoid arbitrary choice. Here we attempt to capture the choiceless fragment of PTime. Our computation model is a version of abstract state machines (formerly called evolving algebras). The idea is to replace arbitrary choice with parallel execution. The resulting logic is more expressive than other PTime logics in the literature. A more difficult theorem shows that the logic does not capture all PTime.

math.LO↗

arXiv1996

On the cofinality of ultrapowers

All ultrafilters under consideration here are non-principal ultrafilters on the set omega of natural numbers. We are concerned with the possible cofinalities of ultrapowers of omega with respect to such ultrafilters. We show that no cardinal below the groupwise density number g can occur as such a cofinality and that at most one cardinal below the splitting number s can so occur. The proof for s, when combined with a result of Nyikos, gives the additional information that all P_{kappa}-point ultrafilters, for kappa greater than the bounding number b, are nearly coherent.

math.LO↗

arXiv1994

Reductions Between Cardinal Characteristics of the Continuum

We discuss two general aspects of the theory of cardinal characteristics of the continuum, especially of proofs of inequalities between such characteristics. The first aspect is to express the essential content of these proofs in a way that makes sense even in models where the inequalities hold trivially (e.g., because the continuum hypothesis holds). For this purpose, we use a Borel version of Vojtas's theory of generalized Galois-Tukey connections. The second aspect is to analyze a sequential structure often found in proofs of inequalities relating one characteristic to the minimum (or maximum) of two others. Vojtas's max-min diagram, abstracted from such situations, can be described in terms of a new, higher-type object in the category of generalized Galois-Tukey connections. It turns out to occur also in other proofs of inequalities where no minimum (or maximum) is mentioned.

math.LO↗

arXiv1994

Subgroups of the Baer-Specker Group with Few Endomorphisms but Large Dual

The Baer-Specker group is the product of countably many copies of the additive group Z of integers. Assuming the continuum hypothesis, we construct a pure subgroup G of the Baer-Specker group with the following properties. Every endomorphism of G differs from a scalar multiplication by an endomorphism of finite rank. Yet G has uncountably many homomorphisms to Z.

math.LO↗

arXiv1994

Simple Cardinal Characteristics of the Continuum

We classify many cardinal characteristics of the continuum according to the complexity, in the sense of descriptive set theory, of their definitions. The simplest characteristics (boldface Sigma^0_2 and, under suitable restrictions, Pi^0_2) are shown to have pleasant properties, related to Baire category. We construct models of set theory where (unrestricted) boldface Pi^0_2-characteristics behave quite chaotically and no new characteristics appear at higher complexity levels. We also discuss some characteristics associated with partition theorems and we present, in an appendix, a simplified proof of Shelah's theorem that the dominating number is less than or equal to the independence number.

math.LO↗

arXiv1994

Baire Category for Monotone Sets

We study Baire category for subsets of 2^omega that are downward-closed with respect to the almost-inclusion ordering (on the power set of the natural numbers, identified with 2^omega). We show that it behaves better in this context than for general subsets of 2^omega. In the downward-closed context, the ideal of meager sets is prime and b-complete (where b is the bounding number), while the complementary filter is g-complete (where g is the groupwise density cardinal). We also discuss other cardinal characteristics of this ideal and this filter, and we show that analogous results for measure in place of category are not provable in ZFC.

math.LO↗

arXiv1994

An Induction Principle and Pigeonhole Principles for K-Finite Sets

We establish a course-of-values induction principle for K-finite sets in intuitionistic type theory. Using this principle, we prove a pigeonhole principle conjectured by Benabou and Loiseau. We also comment on some variants of this pigeonhole principle.

math.LO↗

arXiv1993

On the divisible parts of quotient groups

Techniques of combinatorial set theory are applied to the following algebraic problem. Suppose G is an abelian group such that, for all countable subgroups C, the divisible part of the quotient G/C is countable. What can one conclude about the size of the divisible part of G/K when the cardinality of the subgroup K is a given uncountable cardinal?

math.LO↗