Separating principles below Ramsey's theorem for pairs.Manuel Lerman,Reed Solomon &Henry Towsner -2013 -Journal of Mathematical Logic 13 (2):1350007.detailsIn recent years, there has been a substantial amount of work in reverse mathematics concerning natural mathematical principles that are provable from RT, Ramsey's Theorem for Pairs. These principles tend to fall outside of the "big five" systems of reverse mathematics and a complicated picture of subsystems below RT has emerged. In this paper, we answer two open questions concerning these subsystems, specifically that ADS is not equivalent to CAC and that EM is not equivalent to RT.
Epsilon substitution for transfinite induction.Henry Towsner -2005 -Archive for Mathematical Logic 44 (4):397-412.detailsWe apply Mints’ technique for proving the termination of the epsilon substitution method via cut-elimination to the system of Peano Arithmetic with Transfinite Induction given by Arai.
Functional interpretation and inductive definitions.Jeremy Avigad &Henry Towsner -2009 -Journal of Symbolic Logic 74 (4):1100-1120.detailsExtending Gödel's Dialectica interpretation, we provide a functional interpretation of classical theories of positive arithmetic inductive definitions, reducing them to theories of finite-type functionals defined using transfinite recursion on well-founded trees.
Hindman's theorem: An ultrafilter argument in second order arithmetic.Henry Towsner -2011 -Journal of Symbolic Logic 76 (1):353 - 360.detailsHindman's Theorem is a prototypical example of a combinatorial theorem with a proof that uses the topology of the ultrafilters. We show how the methods of this proof, including topological arguments about ultrafilters, can be translated into second order arithmetic.
Constructing sequences one step at a time.Henry Towsner -2020 -Journal of Mathematical Logic 20 (3):2050017.detailsWe propose a new method for constructing Turing ideals satisfying principles of reverse mathematics below the Chain–Antichain (CAC) Principle. Using this method, we are able to prove several new separations in the presence of Weak König’s Lemma (WKL), including showing that CAC+WKL does not imply the thin set theorem for pairs, and that the principle “the product of well-quasi-orders is a well-quasi-order” is strictly between CAC and the Ascending/Descending Sequences principle, even in the presence of WKL.
Ultrafilters in reverse mathematics.Henry Towsner -2014 -Journal of Mathematical Logic 14 (1):1450001.detailsWe extend theories of reverse mathematics by a non-principal ultrafilter, and show that these are conservative extensions of the usual theories ACA0, ATR0, and [Formula: see text].
Partial impredicativity in reverse mathematics.Henry Towsner -2013 -Journal of Symbolic Logic 78 (2):459-488.detailsIn reverse mathematics, it is possible to have a curious situation where we know that an implication does not reverse, but appear to have no information on how to weaken the assumption while preserving the conclusion (other than reducing all the way to the tautology of assuming the conclusion). A main cause of this phenomenon is the proof of a $\Pi^1_2$ sentence from the theory $\mathbf{\Pi^{\textbf{1}}_{\textbf{1}}-CA_{\textbf{0}}}$. Using methods based on the functional interpretation, we introduce a family of weakenings of $\mathbf{\Pi^{\textbf{1}}_{\textbf{1}}-CA_{\textbf{0}}}$ (...) and use them to give new upper bounds for the Nash-Williams Theorem of wqo theory and Menger's Theorem for countable graphs. (shrink)
Ordinal analysis by transformations.Henry Towsner -2009 -Annals of Pure and Applied Logic 157 (2-3):269-280.detailsThe technique of using infinitary rules in an ordinal analysis has been one of the most productive developments in ordinal analysis. Unfortunately, one of the most advanced variants, the Buchholz Ωμ rule, does not apply to systems much stronger than -comprehension. In this paper, we propose a new extension of the Ω rule using game-theoretic quantifiers. We apply this to a system of inductive definitions with at least the strength of a recursively inaccessible ordinal.
Metastability in the Furstenberg-Zimmer Tower.Jeremy Avigad &Henry Towsner -unknowndetailsAccording to the Furstenberg-Zimmer structure theorem, every measure-preserving system has a maximal distal factor, and is weak mixing relative to that factor. Furstenberg and Katznelson used this structural analysis of measure-preserving systems to provide a perspicuous proof of Szemer\'edi's theorem. Beleznay and Foreman showed that, in general, the transfinite construction of the maximal distal factor of a separable measure-preserving system can extend arbitrarily far into the countable ordinals. Here we show that the Furstenberg-Katznelson proof does not require the full strength (...) of the maximal distal factor, in the sense that the proof only depends on a combinatorial weakening of its properties. We show that this combinatorially weaker property obtains fairly low in the transfinite construction, namely, by the $\omega^{\omega^\omega}$th level. (shrink)
Dividing and weak quasi-dimensions in arbitrary theories.Isaac Goldbring &Henry Towsner -2015 -Archive for Mathematical Logic 54 (7-8):915-920.detailsWe show that any countable model of a model complete theory has an elementary extension with a “pseudofinite-like” quasi-dimension that detects dividing.
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Relative exchangeability with equivalence relations.Harry Crane &Henry Towsner -2018 -Archive for Mathematical Logic 57 (5-6):533-556.detailsWe describe an Aldous–Hoover-type characterization of random relational structures that are exchangeable relative to a fixed structure which may have various equivalence relations. Our main theorem gives the common generalization of the results on relative exchangeability due to Ackerman \)-invariant measures: part I, 2015. arXiv:1509.06170) and Crane and Towsner and hierarchical exchangeability results due to Austin and Panchenko :809–823, 2014).
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A realizability interpretation for classical analysis.Henry Towsner -2004 -Archive for Mathematical Logic 43 (7):891-900.detailsWe present a realizability interpretation for classical analysis–an association of a term to every proof so that the terms assigned to existential formulas represent witnesses to the truth of that formula. For classical proofs of Π2 sentences ∀x∃yA(x,y), this provides a recursive type 1 function which computes the function given by f(x)=y iff y is the least number such that A(x,y).
A Simple Proof and Some Difficult Examples for Hindman's Theorem.Henry Towsner -2012 -Notre Dame Journal of Formal Logic 53 (1):53-65.detailsWe give a short, explicit proof of Hindman's Theorem that in every finite coloring of the integers, there is an infinite set all of whose finite sums have the same color. We give several examples of colorings of the integers which do not have computable witnesses to Hindman's Theorem.
Borel combinatorics fail inHYP.Henry Towsner,Rose Weisshaar &Linda Westrick -2022 -Journal of Mathematical Logic 23 (2).detailsWe characterize the completely determined Borel subsets of HYP as exactly the [Formula: see text] subsets of HYP. As a result, HYP believes there is a Borel well-ordering of the reals, that the Borel Dual Ramsey Theorem fails, and that every Borel d-regular bipartite graph has a Borel perfect matching, among other examples. Therefore, the Borel Dual Ramsey Theorem and several theorems of descriptive combinatorics are not theories of hyperarithmetic analysis. In the case of the Borel Dual Ramsey Theorem, this (...) answers a question of Astor, Dzhafarov, Montalbán, Solomon and the third author. (shrink)
Epsilon substitution for $$\textit{ID}_1$$ ID 1 via cut-elimination.Henry Towsner -2018 -Archive for Mathematical Logic 57 (5-6):497-531.detailsThe \-substitution method is a technique for giving consistency proofs for theories of arithmetic. We use this technique to give a proof of the consistency of the impredicative theory \ using a variant of the cut-elimination formalism introduced by Mints.