In this thesis, we study the complexity of some mathematical problems: in particular, those arising in computable analysis and algorithmic learning theory for algebraic structures. Our study is not limited to these two areas: indeed, in both cases, the results we obtain are tightly connected to ideas and tools coming from different areas of mathematical logic, including for example descriptive set theory and reverse mathematics.

After giving the necessary preliminaries, we first study the uniform computational strength of the Cantor–Bendixson theorem in the Weihrauch lattice. This work falls into the program connecting reverse mathematics and computable analysis via the framework of Weihrauch reducibility. We concentrate on problems related to perfect subsets of Polish spaces, studying the perfect set theorem, the Cantor–Bendixson theorem, and various problems arising from them. As far as we know, this is the first systematic study of problems at the level of $\mathbf {\Pi }^1_1\mathsf {-CA}_0$ in the Weihrauch lattice. We show that the strength of some of the problems we study depends on the topological properties of the Polish space under consideration, while others have the same strength once the space is rich enough.

We continue considering problems related to (induced) subgraphs. We provide results on the (effective) Wadge complexity of sets of graphs, that are also used to determine the Weihrauch degree of certain decision problems. The decision problems we consider are defined for a fixed graph G, and they take as input a graph H, answering whether G is an (induced) subgraph of H: we also consider the opposite problem (i.e., answering whether H is an induced subgraph of G). We conclude this part on (induced) subgraphs considering the Weihrauch degree of “search problems.”These problems are defined for a fixed graph G, and they take as input a graph H such that G is an (induced) subgraph H: the output is a copy of G in H. In both cases, we highlight differences and analogies between the subgraph and the induced subgraph relation.

We then move our attention to algorithmic learning theory, and we present the framework we use to study the learnability of families of algebraic structures: here, given a countable family of pairwise nonisomorphic structures $\mathfrak {K}$, a learner receives larger and larger pieces of an arbitrary copy of a structure in $\mathfrak {K}$ and, at each stage, is required to output a conjecture about the isomorphism type of such a structure. We say that $\mathfrak {K}$ is learnable if there exists a learner which eventually stabilizes to a correct guess. The framework was lacking a method for comparing the complexity of nonlearnable families, and so we propose a solution to this problem using tools coming from invariant descriptive set theory. To do so, we first prove that a family of structures is learnable if and only if its learning domain is continuously reducible to the relation $E_0$ of eventual agreement on infinite binary sequences and then, replacing $E_0$ with Borel equivalence relations of higher complexity, we obtain a new hierarchy of learning problems. This leads to the notion of E-learnability, where a family of structures $\mathfrak {K}$ is E-learnable, for a Borel equivalence relation E, if there is a continuous reduction from the isomorphism relation associated with $\mathfrak {K}$ to E. It is then natural to ask how the notion of E-learnability interacts with “classical” learning paradigms.

Finally, we study the number of mind changes that a learner needs to learn a given family, both from a topological and a combinatorial point of view, and we consider how the complexity of a learner (in terms of Turing reducibility) affects the number of mind changes for learning a given family.

Abstract prepared by Vittorio Cipriani.

E-mail: [email protected].

URL: https://air.uniud.it/handle/11390/1252226.

In the study of the arithmetic degrees the $\omega \text {-REA}$ sets play a role analogous to the role the r.e. degrees play in the study of the Turing degrees. However, much less is known about the arithmetic degrees and the role of the $\omega \text {-REA}$ sets in that structure than about the Turing degrees. Indeed, even basic questions such as the existence of an $\omega \text {-REA}$ set of minimal arithmetic degree are open. This paper makes progress on this question by demonstrating that some promising approaches inspired by the analogy with the r.e. sets fail to show that no $\omega \text {-REA}$ set is arithmetically minimal. Finally, it constructs a $\prod ^0_{2}$ singleton of minimal arithmetic degree. Not only is this a result of considerable interest in its own right, constructions of $\prod ^0_{2}$ singletons often pave the way for constructions of $\omega \text {-REA}$ sets with similar properties. Along the way, a number of interesting results relating arithmetic reducibility and rates of growth are established.

We call an $\alpha \in \mathbb {R}$ regainingly approximable if there exists a computable nondecreasing sequence $(a_n)_n$ of rational numbers converging to $\alpha $ with $\alpha - a_n < 2^{-n}$ for infinitely many ${n \in \mathbb {N}}$. We also call a set $A\subseteq \mathbb {N}$ regainingly approximable if it is c.e. and the strongly left-computable number $2^{-A}$ is regainingly approximable. We show that the set of regainingly approximable sets is neither closed under union nor intersection and that every c.e. Turing degree contains such a set. Furthermore, the regainingly approximable numbers lie properly between the computable and the left-computable numbers and are not closed under addition. While regainingly approximable numbers are easily seen to be i.o. K-trivial, we construct such an $\alpha $ such that ${K(\alpha \restriction n)>n}$ for infinitely many n. Similarly, there exist regainingly approximable sets whose initial segment complexity infinitely often reaches the maximum possible for c.e. sets. Finally, there is a uniform algorithm splitting regular real numbers into two regainingly approximable numbers that are still regular.

We define $\Psi $-autoreducible sets given an autoreduction procedure $\Psi $. Then, we show that for any $\Psi $, a measurable class of $\Psi $-autoreducible sets has measure zero. Using this, we show that classes of cototal, uniformly introenumerable, introenumerable, and hyper-cototal enumeration degrees all have measure zero.

By analyzing the arithmetical complexity of the classes of cototal sets and cototal enumeration degrees, we show that weakly 2-random sets cannot be cototal and weakly 3-random sets cannot be of cototal enumeration degree. Then, we see that this result is optimal by showing that there exists a 1-random cototal set and a 2-random set of cototal enumeration degree. For uniformly introenumerable degrees and introenumerable degrees, we utilize $\Psi $-autoreducibility again to show the optimal result that no weakly 3-random sets can have introenumerable enumeration degree. We also show that no 1-random set can be introenumerable.

The Probably Approximately Correct (PAC) learning is a machine learning model introduced by Leslie Valiant in 1984. The PACi reducibility refers to the PAC reducibility independent of size and computation time. This reducibility in PAC learning resembles the reducibility in Turing computability. The ordering of concept classes under PAC reducibility is nonlinear, even when restricted to particular concrete examples.

Due to the resemblance to Turing Reducibility, we suspected that there could be incomparable PACi and PAC degrees for the PACi and PAC reducibilities as in Turing incomparable degrees. In 1957 Friedberg and in 1956 Muchnik independently solved the Post problem by constructing computably enumerable sets A and B of incomparable degrees using the priority construction method. We adapt this idea to PACi and PAC reducibilities and construct two effective concept classes C and D such that C is not reducible to D and vice versa. When considering PAC reducibility it was necessary to work on the size of an effective concept class, thus we use Kolmogorov complexity to obtain the size. The non-learnability of concept classes in the PAC learning model is explained by the existence of PAC incomparable degrees.

Analogous to the Turing jump, we give a jump operation on effective concept classes for the zero jump. To define the zero jump operator for PACi degrees the join of all the effective concept classes is constructed and proved that it is a greatest element. There are many properties proven for existing degrees. Thus we can explore proving those properties to PACi and PAC degrees. But if we prove an embedding from those degrees to PACi and PAC degrees then those properties will be true for PACi and PAC degrees without explicitly proving them.

Abstract prepared by Dodamgodage Gihnee M. Senadheera and taken directly from the thesis

E-mail: [email protected]

URL: https://www.proquest.com/docview/2717762461/abstract/ACD19F29A8774AF6PQ/1?accountid=13864

The Friedman–Stanley jump, extensively studied by descriptive set theorists, is a fundamental tool for gauging the complexity of Borel isomorphism relations. This paper focuses on a natural computable analog of this jump operator for equivalence relations on $\omega $, written ${\dotplus }$, recently introduced by Clemens, Coskey, and Krakoff. We offer a thorough analysis of the computable Friedman–Stanley jump and its connections with the hierarchy of countable equivalence relations under the computable reducibility $\leq _c$. In particular, we show that this jump gives benchmark equivalence relations going up the hyperarithmetic hierarchy and we unveil the complicated highness hierarchy that arises from ${\dotplus }$.

Working toward showing the decidability of the $\forall \exists $-theory of the ${\Sigma ^0_2}$-enumeration degrees, we prove that no so-called Ahmad pair of ${\Sigma ^0_2}$-enumeration degrees can join to ${\mathbf 0}_e'$.

Reverse Mathematics (RM hereafter) is a program in the foundations of mathematics where the aim is to identify the minimal axioms needed to prove a given theorem from ordinary, i.e., non-set theoretic, mathematics. This program has unveiled surprising regularities: the minimal axioms are very often equivalent to the theorem over the base theory, a weak system of ‘computable mathematics’, while most theorems are either provable in this base theory, or equivalent to one of only four logical systems. The latter plus the base theory are called the ‘Big Five’ and the associated equivalences are robust following Montalbán, i.e., stable under small variations of the theorems at hand. Working in Kohlenbach’s higher-order RM, we obtain two new and long series of equivalences based on theorems due to Bolzano, Weierstrass, Jordan, and Cantor; these equivalences are extremely robust and have no counterpart among the Big Five systems. Thus, higher-order RM is much richer than its second-order cousin, boasting at least two extra ‘Big’ systems.

We study the relative computational power of structures related to the ordered field of reals, specifically using the notion of generic Muchnik reducibility. We show that any expansion of the reals by a continuous function has no more computing power than the reals, answering a question of Igusa, Knight, and Schweber [7]. On the other hand, we show that there is a certain Borel expansion of the reals that is strictly more powerful than the reals and such that any Borel quotient of the reals reduces to it.

The tower number ${\mathfrak t}$ and the ultrafilter number $\mathfrak {u}$ are cardinal characteristics from set theory. They are based on combinatorial properties of classes of subsets of $\omega $ and the almost inclusion relation $\subseteq ^*$ between such subsets. We consider analogs of these cardinal characteristics in computability theory.

We say that a sequence $(G_n)_{n \in {\mathbb N}}$ of computable sets is a tower if $G_0 = {\mathbb N}$, $G_{n+1} \subseteq ^* G_n$, and $G_n\smallsetminus G_{n+1}$ is infinite for each n. A tower is maximal if there is no infinite computable set contained in all $G_n$. A tower ${\left \langle {G_n}\right \rangle }_{n\in \omega }$ is an ultrafilter base if for each computable R, there is n such that $G_n \subseteq ^* R$ or $G_n \subseteq ^* \overline R$; this property implies maximality of the tower. A sequence $(G_n)_{n \in {\mathbb N}}$ of sets can be encoded as the “columns” of a set $G\subseteq \mathbb N$. Our analogs of ${\mathfrak t}$ and ${\mathfrak u}$ are the mass problems of sets encoding maximal towers, and of sets encoding towers that are ultrafilter bases, respectively. The relative position of a cardinal characteristic broadly corresponds to the relative computational complexity of the mass problem. We use Medvedev reducibility to formalize relative computational complexity, and thus to compare such mass problems to known ones.

We show that the mass problem of ultrafilter bases is equivalent to the mass problem of computing a function that dominates all computable functions, and hence, by Martin’s characterization, it captures highness. On the other hand, the mass problem for maximal towers is below the mass problem of computing a non-low set. We also show that some, but not all, noncomputable low sets compute maximal towers: Every noncomputable (low) c.e. set computes a maximal tower but no 1-generic $\Delta ^0_2$-set does so.

We finally consider the mass problems of maximal almost disjoint, and of maximal independent families. We show that they are Medvedev equivalent to maximal towers, and to ultrafilter bases, respectively.

Recall that B is PA relative to A if B computes a member of every nonempty $\Pi ^0_1(A)$ class. This two-place relation is invariant under Turing equivalence and so can be thought of as a binary relation on Turing degrees. Miller and Soskova [23] introduced the notion of a $\Pi ^0_1$ class relative to an enumeration oracle A, which they called a $\Pi ^0_1{\left \langle {A}\right \rangle }$ class. We study the induced extension of the relation B is PA relative to A to enumeration oracles and hence enumeration degrees. We isolate several classes of enumeration degrees based on their behavior with respect to this relation: the PA bounded degrees, the degrees that have a universal class, the low for PA degrees, and the ${\left \langle {\text {self}\kern1pt}\right \rangle }$-PA degrees. We study the relationship between these classes and other known classes of enumeration degrees. We also investigate a group of classes of enumeration degrees that were introduced by Kalimullin and Puzarenko [14] based on properties that are commonly studied in descriptive set theory. As part of this investigation, we give characterizations of three of their classes in terms of a special sub-collection of relativized $\Pi ^0_1$ classes—the separating classes. These three can then be seen to be direct analogues of three of our classes. We completely determine the relative position of all classes in question.

We introduce the computable FS-jump, an analog of the classical Friedman–Stanley jump in the context of equivalence relations on the natural numbers. We prove that the computable FS-jump is proper with respect to computable reducibility. We then study the effect of the computable FS-jump on computably enumerable equivalence relations (ceers).

This thesis is devoted to the exploration of the complexity of some mathematical problems using the framework of computable analysis and (effective) descriptive set theory. We will especially focus on Weihrauch reducibility as a means to compare the uniform computational strength of problems. After a short introduction of the relevant background notions, we investigate the uniform computational content of problems arising from theorems that lie at the higher levels of the reverse mathematics hierarchy.

We first analyze the strength of the open and clopen Ramsey theorems. Since there is not a canonical way to phrase these theorems as multi-valued functions, we identify eight different multi-valued functions (five corresponding to the open Ramsey theorem and three corresponding to the clopen Ramsey theorem) and study their degree from the point of view of Weihrauch, strong Weihrauch, and arithmetic Weihrauch reducibility.

We then discuss some new operators on multi-valued functions and study their algebraic properties and the relations with other previously studied operators on problems. In particular, we study the first-order part and the deterministic part of a problem f, capturing the Weihrauch degree of the strongest multi-valued problem that is reducible to f and that, respectively, has codomain $\mathbb {N}$ or is single-valued.

These notions proved to be extremely useful when exploring the Weihrauch degree of the problem $\mathsf {DS}$ of computing descending sequences in ill-founded linear orders. They allow us to show that $\mathsf {DS}$ , and the Weihrauch equivalent problem $\mathsf {BS}$ of finding bad sequences through non-well quasi-orders, while being very “hard” to solve, are rather weak in terms of uniform computational strength. We then generalize $\mathsf {DS}$ and $\mathsf {BS}$ by considering $\boldsymbol {\Gamma }$ -presented orders, where $\boldsymbol {\Gamma }$ is a Borel pointclass or $\boldsymbol {\Delta }^1_1$ , $\boldsymbol {\Sigma }^1_1$ , $\boldsymbol {\Pi }^1_1$ . We study the obtained $\mathsf {DS}$ -hierarchy and $\mathsf {BS}$ -hierarchy of problems in comparison with the (effective) Baire hierarchy and show that they do not collapse at any finite level.

Finally, we work in the context of geometric measure theory and we focus on the characterization, from the point of view of descriptive set theory, of some conditions involving the notions of Hausdorff/Fourier dimension and Salem sets. We first work in the hyperspace $\mathbf {K}([0,1])$ of compact subsets of $[0,1]$ and show that the closed Salem sets form a $\boldsymbol {\Pi }^0_3$ -complete family. This is done by characterizing the complexity of the family of sets having sufficiently large Hausdorff or Fourier dimension. We also show that the complexity does not change if we increase the dimension of the ambient space and work in $\mathbf {K}([0,1]^d)$ . We also generalize the results by relaxing the compactness of the ambient space and show that the closed Salem sets are still $\boldsymbol {\Pi }^0_3$ -complete when we endow $\mathbf {F}(\mathbb {R}^d)$ with the Fell topology. A similar result holds also for the Vietoris topology.

We conclude by analyzing the same notions from the point of view of effective descriptive set theory and Type-2 Theory of Effectivity, and show that the complexities remain the same also in the lightface case. In particular, we show that the family of all the closed Salem sets is $\Pi ^0_3$ -complete. We furthermore characterize the Weihrauch degree of the functions computing Hausdorff and Fourier dimension of closed sets.

Abstract prepared by Manlio Valenti.

E-mail:[email protected]

We introduce the point degree spectrum of a represented space as a substructure of the Medvedev degrees, which integrates the notion of Turing degrees, enumeration degrees, continuous degrees and so on. The notion of point degree spectrum creates a connection among various areas of mathematics, including computability theory, descriptive set theory, infinite-dimensional topology and Banach space theory. Through this new connection, for instance, we construct a family of continuum many infinite-dimensional Cantor manifolds with property C whose Borel structures at an arbitrary finite rank are mutually nonisomorphic. This resolves a long-standing question by Jayne and strengthens various theorems in infinite-dimensional topology such as Pol’s solution to Alexandrov’s old problem.

We examine the degree structure $\operatorname {\mathrm {\mathbf {ER}}}$ of equivalence relations on $\omega $ under computable reducibility. We examine when pairs of degrees have a least upper bound. In particular, we show that sufficiently incomparable pairs of degrees do not have a least upper bound but that some incomparable degrees do, and we characterize the degrees which have a least upper bound with every finite equivalence relation. We show that the natural classes of finite, light, and dark degrees are definable in $\operatorname {\mathrm {\mathbf {ER}}}$. We show that every equivalence relation has continuum many self-full strong minimal covers, and that $\mathbf {d}\oplus \mathbf {\operatorname {\mathrm {\mathbf {Id}}}_1}$ needn’t be a strong minimal cover of a self-full degree $\mathbf {d}$. Finally, we show that the theory of the degree structure $\operatorname {\mathrm {\mathbf {ER}}}$ as well as the theories of the substructures of light degrees and of dark degrees are each computably isomorphic with second-order arithmetic.

Cantor’s first set theory paper (1874) establishes the uncountability of ${\mathbb R}$ . We study this most basic mathematical fact formulated in the language of higher-order arithmetic. In particular, we investigate the logical and computational properties of ${\mathsf {NIN}}$ (resp. ${\mathsf {NBI}}$ ), i.e., the third-order statement there is no injection resp. bijection from  $[0,1]$ to ${\mathbb N}$ . Working in Kohlenbach’s higher-order Reverse Mathematics, we show that ${\mathsf {NIN}}$ and ${\mathsf {NBI}}$ are hard to prove in terms of (conventional) comprehension axioms, while many basic theorems, like Arzelà’s convergence theorem for the Riemann integral (1885), are shown to imply ${\mathsf {NIN}}$ and/or ${\mathsf {NBI}}$ . Working in Kleene’s higher-order computability theory based on S1–S9, we show that the following fourth-order process based on ${\mathsf {NIN}}$ is similarly hard to compute: for a given $[0,1]\rightarrow {\mathbb N}$ -function, find reals in the unit interval that map to the same natural number.

It is known that every non-universal self-full degree in the structure of the degrees of computably enumerable equivalence relations (ceers) under computable reducibility has exactly one strong minimal cover. This leaves little room for embedding wide partial orders as initial segments using self-full degrees. We show that considerably more can be done by staying entirely inside the collection of non-self-full degrees. We show that the poset can be embedded as an initial segment of the degrees of ceers with infinitely many classes. A further refinement of the proof shows that one can also embed the free distributive lattice generated by the lower semilattice as an initial segment of the degrees of ceers with infinitely many classes.

Matthias Schröder has asked the question whether there is a weakest discontinuous problem in the topological version of the Weihrauch lattice. Such a problem can be considered as the weakest unsolvable problem. We introduce the discontinuity problem, and we show that it is reducible exactly to the effectively discontinuous problems, defined in a suitable way. However, in which sense this answers Schröder’s question sensitively depends on the axiomatic framework that is chosen, and it is a positive answer if we work in Zermelo–Fraenkel set theory with dependent choice and the axiom of determinacy $\mathsf {AD}$. On the other hand, using the full axiom of choice, one can construct problems which are discontinuous, but not effectively so. Hence, the exact situation at the bottom of the Weihrauch lattice sensitively depends on the axiomatic setting that we choose. We prove our result using a variant of Wadge games for mathematical problems. While the existence of a winning strategy for Player II characterizes continuity of the problem (as already shown by Nobrega and Pauly), the existence of a winning strategy for Player I characterizes effective discontinuity of the problem. By Weihrauch determinacy we understand the condition that every problem is either continuous or effectively discontinuous. This notion of determinacy is a fairly strong notion, as it is not only implied by the axiom of determinacy $\mathsf {AD}$, but it also implies Wadge determinacy. We close with a brief discussion of generalized notions of productivity.

In this survey we discuss work of Levin and V’yugin on collections of sequences that are non-negligible in the sense that they can be computed by a probabilistic algorithm with positive probability. More precisely, Levin and V’yugin introduced an ordering on collections of sequences that are closed under Turing equivalence. Roughly speaking, given two such collections $\mathcal {A}$ and $\mathcal {B}$ , $\mathcal {A}$ is below $\mathcal {B}$ in this ordering if $\mathcal {A}\setminus \mathcal {B}$ is negligible. The degree structure associated with this ordering, the Levin–V’yugin degrees (or $\mathrm {LV}$ -degrees), can be shown to be a Boolean algebra, and in fact a measure algebra. We demonstrate the interactions of this work with recent results in computability theory and algorithmic randomness: First, we recall the definition of the Levin–V’yugin algebra and identify connections between its properties and classical properties from computability theory. In particular, we apply results on the interactions between notions of randomness and Turing reducibility to establish new facts about specific LV-degrees, such as the LV-degree of the collection of 1-generic sequences, that of the collection of sequences of hyperimmune degree, and those collections corresponding to various notions of effective randomness. Next, we provide a detailed explanation of a complex technique developed by V’yugin that allows the construction of semi-measures into which computability-theoretic properties can be encoded. We provide two examples of the use of this technique by explicating a result of V’yugin’s about the LV-degree of the collection of Martin-Löf random sequences and extending the result to the LV-degree of the collection of sequences of DNC degree.

We investigate computability theoretic and descriptive set theoretic contents of various kinds of analytic choice principles by performing a detailed analysis of the Medvedev lattice of $\Sigma ^1_1$ -closed sets. Among others, we solve an open problem on the Weihrauch degree of the parallelization of the $\Sigma ^1_1$ -choice principle on the integers. Harrington’s unpublished result on a jump hierarchy along a pseudo-well-ordering plays a key role in solving this problem.