We use the category of presheaves over PTIME-functions in order to show that Cook and Urquhart's higher-order function algebra PVω defines exactly the PTIME-iunctions. As a byproduct we obtain a syntax-free generalisation of PTIME-computability to higher types.

By restricting to sheaves for a suitable topology we obtain a model for intuitionistic predicate logic with -induction over PVω and use this to re-establish that the provably total functions in this system are polynomial time computable. Finally, we apply the category-theoretic approach to a new higher-order extension of Bellantoni-Cook's system BC of safe recursion.

I survey the syntactic technique of tiering which can be used to restrict the power of a recursion scheme. I show how various results can be obtained entirely proof theoretically without the use of a model of computation.

This paper surveys the interactions between Russell and Gödel, both personal and intellectual. After a description of Russell’s influence on Gödel, it concludes with a discussion of Russell’s reaction to the incompleteness theorems.

We present a characterization of supercompactness measures for ω1 in L(ℝ), and of countable products of such measures, using inner models. We give two applications of this characterization, the first obtaining the consistency of with ZFC+ADL(ℝ), and the second proving the uniqueness of the supercompactness measure over in L(ℝ) for .

A well known fact is that every Lebesgue measurable set is regular, i.e., it includes an Fσ set of the same measure. We analyze this fact from a metamathematical or foundational standpoint. We study a family of Muchnik degrees corresponding to measuretheoretic regularity at all levels of the effective Borel hierarchy. We prove some new results concerning Nies's notion of LR-reducibility. We build some ω-models of RCA0 which are relevant for the reverse mathematics of measure-theoretic regularity.

This is the introductory half of a lecture given at the Association for Symbolic Logic Annual Meeting in Philadelphia in March, 2001. Our goal is to give logicians and advanced students who are unfamiliar with inner model theory a taste of what the subject is about at a level where it is possible to say something meaningful about the intuitions and proofs. At the same time, we wish to avoid overwhelming the reader, so we will leave out many well known closely related theorems and give only short proof sketches. Neither the results nor the proofs found here are due to the author. We will begin near the beginning but still touch on some modern aspects of the theory. The proofs and historical notes that we leave out can be found in the books and articles listed in the references. Our approach to the theory of 0# is a combination of that taken by Dodd in his book and by Steel in his lectures to students. Dodd's introduction is one of the author's favorite essays on inner model theory; another is the introduction to Martin-Steel [6]. In Section 2, we review the theory of 0# in a form that touches on some of the techniques that have been and continue to be generalized. These combine what is commonly called iteration and fine structure. In Section 3, we give a superficial description of what comes after 0#. Those interested in learning about more recent developments in inner model theory are encouraged to see the articles Lowe-Steel [5] and Steel [8], both of which are currently available online at http://www.math.berkeley.edu/~ steel.

This paper surveys the recent developments in the area that grew out of attempts to solve an analog of Hilbert's Tenth Problem for the field of rational numbers and the rings of integers of number fields. It is based on a plenary talk the author gave at the annual North American meeting of ASL at the University of Notre Dame in May of 2009.

Heinrich Behmann (1891–1970) obtained his Habilitation under David Hilbert in Göttingen in 1921 with a thesis on the decision problem. In his thesis, he solved—independently of Löwenheim and Skolem’s earlier work—the decision problem for monadic second-order logic in a framework that combined elements of the algebra of logic and the newer axiomatic approach to logic then being developed in Göttingen. In a talk given in 1921, he outlined this solution, but also presented important programmatic remarks on the significance of the decision problem and of decision procedures more generally. The text of this talk as well as a partial English translation are included.

This is a survey paper on the descriptive set theory of hereditary families of closed sets in Polish spaces. Most of the paper is devoted to ideals and σ-ideals of closed or compact sets.

In historical discussions of twentieth-century logic, it is typically assumed that model theory emerged within the tradition that adopted first-order logic as the standard framework. Work within the type-theoretic tradition, in the style of Principia Mathematica, tends to be downplayed or ignored in this connection. Indeed, the shift from type theory to first-order logic is sometimes seen as involving a radical break that first made possible the rise of modern model theory. While comparing several early attempts to develop the semantics of axiomatic theories in the 1930s, by two proponents of the type-theoretic tradition (Carnap and Tarski) and two proponents of the first-order tradition (Gödel and Hilbert), we argue that, instead, the move from type theory to first-order logic is better understood as a gradual transformation, and further, that the contributions to semantics made in the type-theoretic tradition should be seen as central to the evolution of model theory.

In papers published between 1930 and 1935, Zermelo outlines a foundational program, with infinitary logic at its heart, that is intended to (1) secure axiomatic set theory as a foundation for arithmetic and analysis and (2) show that all mathematical propositions are decidable. Zermelo's theory of systems of infinitely long propositions may be termed “Cantorian” in that a logical distinction between open and closed domains plays a signal role. Well-foundedness and strong inaccessibility are used to systematically integrate highly transfinite concepts of demonstrability and existence. Zermelo incompleteness is then the analogue of the Problem of Proper Classes, and the resolution of these two anomalies is similarly analogous.

§1. Introduction. With Hrushovski's proof of the function field Mordell-Lang conjecture [16] the relevance of geometric stability theory to diophantine geometry first came to light. A gulf between logicians and number theorists allowed for contradictory reactions. It has been asserted that Hrushovski's proof was simply an algebraic argument masked in the language of model theory. Another camp held that this theorem was merely a clever one-off. Still others regarded the argument as magical and asked whether such sorcery could unlock the secrets of a wide coterie of number theoretic problems.

In the intervening years each of these prejudices has been revealed as false though such attitudes are still common. The methods pioneered in [16] have been extended and applied to a number of other problems. At their best, these methods have been integrated into the general methods for solving diophantine problems. Moreover, the newer work suggests limits to the application of model theory to diophantine geometry. For example, all such known applications are connected with commutative algebraic groups. This need not be an intrinsic restriction, but its removal requires serious advances in the model theory of fields.

We show that if there is a nonconstructible real, then every perfect set has a nonconstructible element, answering a question of K. Prikry. This is a specific instance of a more general theorem giving a sufficient condition on a pair M ⊂ N of models of set theory implying that every perfect set in N has an element in N which is not in M.

This paper explores how the Generalized Continuum Hypothesis (GCH) arose from Cantor's Continuum Hypothesis in the work of Peirce, Jourdain, Hausdorff, Tarski, and how GCH was used up to Gödel's relative consistency result.

We recall some of the early occurrences of the notions of interactivity and symmetry in the operational and denotational semantics of programming languages. We suggest some connections with ludics.

We present several results that rely on arguments involving the combinatorics of “bushy trees”. These include the fact that there are arbitrarily slow-growing diagonally noncomputable (DNC) functions that compute no Kurtz random real, as well as an extension of a result of Kumabe in which we establish that there are DNC functions relative to arbitrary oracles that are of minimal Turing degree. Along the way, we survey some of the existing instances of bushy tree arguments in the literature.

Around 1989, a striking letter written in March 1956 from Kurt Gödel to John von Neumann came to light. It poses some problems about the complexity of algorithms; in particular, it asks a question that can be seen as the first formulation of the P = ? NP question. This paper discusses some of the background to this letter, including von Neumann's own ideas on complexity theory. Von Neumann had already raised explicit questions about the complexity of Tarski's decision procedure for elementary algebra and geometry in a letter of 1949 to J. C. C. McKinsey. The paper concludes with a discussion of why theoretical computer science did not emerge as a separate discipline until the 1960s.

Apologies. The purpose of the following talk is to give an overview of the present state of aims, methods and results in Pure Proof Theory. Shortage of time forces me to concentrate on my very personal views. This entails that I will emphasize the work which I know best, i.e., work that has been done in the triangle Stanford, Munich and Münster. I am of course well aware that there are as important results coming from outside this triangle and I apologize for not displaying these results as well.

Moreover the audience should be aware that in some points I have to oversimplify matters. Those who complain about that are invited to consult the original papers.

1.1. General. Proof theory startedwithHilbert's Programme which aimed at a finitistic consistency proof for mathematics.

By Gödel's Theorems, however, we know that we can neither formalize all mathematics nor even prove the consistency of formalized fragments by finitistic means. Inspite of this fact I want to give some reasons why I consider proof theory in the style of Gentzen's work still as an important and exciting field of Mathematical Logic. I will not go into applications of Gentzen's cut-elimination technique to computer science problems—this may be considered as applied proof theory—but want to concentrate on metamathematical problems and results. In this sense I am talking about Pure Proof Theory.

Mathematicians are interested in structures. There is only one way to find the theorems of a structure. Start with an axiom system for the structure and deduce the theorems logically. These axiom systems are the objects of proof-theoretical research. Studying axiom systems there is a series of more or less obvious questions.

A computability structure on a metric space is a set of sequences which satisfy certain conditions. Of a particular interest are those computability structures which contain a dense sequence, so called separable computability structures. In this paper we observe maximal computability structures which are more general than separable computability structures and we examine their properties. In particular, we examine maximal computability structures on subspaces of Euclidean space, we give their characterization and we investigate conditions under which a maximal computability structure on such a space is unique. We also give a characterization of separable computability structures on a segment.

We give a survey of the study of nonstandard models in recursion theory and reverse mathematics. We discuss the key notions and techniques in effective computability in nonstandard models, and their applications to problems concerning combinatorial principles in subsystems of second order arithmetic. Particular attention is given to principles related to Ramsey’s Theorem for Pairs.