In this thesis, we investigate the computational content and the logical strength of Ramsey's theorem and its consequences. For this, we use the frameworks of reverse mathematics and of computable reducibility. We proceed to a systematic study of various Ramsey-type statements under a unified and minimalistic framework and obtain a precise analysis of their interrelations. We clarify the role of the number of colors in Ramsey's theorem. In particular, we show that the hierarchy of Ramsey's theorem induced by the number of colors is strictly increasing over computable reducibility, and exhibit in reverse mathematics an infinite decreasing hiearchy of Ramsey-type theorems by weakening the homogeneity constraints. These results tend to show that the Ramsey-type statements are not robust, that is, slight variations of the statements lead to strictly different subsystems. Finally, we pursuit the analysis of the links between Ramsey's theorems and compacity arguments, by extending Liu's theorem to several Ramsey-type statements and by proving its optimality under various aspects.
In this paper, we propose a weak regularity principle which is similar to both weak König's lemma and Ramsey's theorem. We begin by studying the computational strength of this principle in the context of reverse mathematics. We then analyze different ways of generalizing this principle.
We show that the well-partial orderedness of the finite downwards closed subsets of $\mathbb{N}^k$ ,ordered by inclusion, is equivalent to the well-foundedness of the ordinal $ω^{ω^ω}$. This was conjectured to be the case by Hatzikiriakou and Simpson. Since we use Friedman's adjacent Ramsey theorem for fixed dimensions in the upper bound, we also give a treatment of the reverse mathematical status of that theorem.
We identify computability-theoretic properties enabling us to separate various statements about partial orders in reverse mathematics. We obtain simpler proofs of existing separations, and deduce new compound ones. This work is part of a larger program of unification of the separation proofs of various Ramsey-type theorems in reverse mathematics in order to obtain a better understanding of the combinatorics of Ramsey's theorem and its consequences. We also answer a question of Murakami, Yamazaki and Yokoyama about pseudo Ramsey's theorem for pairs.
Informally, a mathematical statement is robust if its strength is left unchanged under variations of the statement. In this paper, we investigate the lack of robustness of Ramsey's theorem and its consequence under the frameworks of reverse mathematics and computable reducibility. To this end, we study the degrees of unsolvability of cohesive sets for different uniformly computable sequence of sets and identify different layers of unsolvability. This analysis enables us to answer some questions of Wang about how typical sets help computing cohesive sets. We also study the impact of the number …
This list presents problems in the Reverse Mathematics of infinitary Ramsey theory which I find interesting but do not personally have the techniques to solve. The intent is to enlist the help of those working in Reverse Mathematics to take on such problems, and the myriad of related questions one can infer from them. A short bit of background and starting references are provided.
This paper falls within the general program of investigating the proof theoretic strength (in terms of reverse mathematics) of combinatorial principals which follow from versions of Ramsey's theorem. We examine two statements in graph theory and one statement in lattice theory proved by Galvin, Rival and Sands \cite{GRS:82} using Ramsey's theorem for 4-tuples. Our main results are that the statements concerning graph theory are equivalent to Ramsey's theorem for 4-tuples over $\RCA$ while the statement concerning lattices is provable in $\RCA$. Revised 12/2010. To appear in Archive for Mathema…
Ramsey's theorem for pairs asserts that every 2-coloring of the pairs of integers has an infinite monochromatic subset. In this paper, we study a strengthening of Ramsey's theorem for pairs due to Erdos and Rado, which states that every 2-coloring of the pairs of rationals has either an infinite 0-homogeneous set or a 1-homogeneous set of order type eta, where eta is the order type of the rationals. This theorem is a natural candidate to lie strictly between the arithmetic comprehension axiom and Ramsey's theorem for pairs. This Erdos-Rado theorem, like the tree theorem for pairs, belongs to a…
In 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 $\RT$.
We show a short proof of Higman's lemma using Friedman's adjacent Ramsey theorem for pairs. This provides an alternative proof of the known upper bound for the reverse mathematical status of Higman's lemma and that of its miniaturised version.
Every function over the natural numbers has an infinite subdomain on which the function is non-decreasing. Motivated by a question of Dzhafarov and Schweber, we study the reverse mathematics of variants of this statement. It turns out that this statement restricted to computably bounded functions is computationally weak and does not imply the existence of the halting set. On the other hand, we prove that it is not a consequence of Ramsey's theorem for pairs. This statement can therefore be seen as an arguably natural principle between the arithmetic comprehension axiom and stable Ramsey's theo…
A Turing degree d bounds a principle P of reverse mathematics if every computable instance of P has a d-computable solution. P admits a universal instance if there exists a computable instance such that every solution bounds P. We prove that the stable version of the ascending descending sequence principle (SADS) as well as the stable version of the thin set theorem for pairs (STS(2)) do not admit a bound of low_2 degree. Therefore no principle between Ramsey's theorem for pairs RT22 and SADS or STS(2) admit a universal instance. We construct a low_2 degree bounding the Erdős-Moser theorem (EM…
We use the framework of reverse mathematics to address the question of, given a mathematical problem, whether or not it is easier to find an infinite partial solution than it is to find a complete solution. Following Flood, we say that a Ramsey-type variant of a problem is the problem with the same instances but whose solutions are the infinite partial solutions to the original problem. We study Ramsey-type variants of problems related to König's lemma, such as restrictions of König's lemma, Boolean satisfiability problems, and graph coloring problems. We find that sometimes the Ramsey-type va…
Ramsey's theorem states that each coloring has an infinite homogeneous set, but these sets can be arbitrarily spread out. Paul Erdos and Fred Galvin proved that for each coloring f, there is an infinite set that is "packed together" which is given "a small number" of colors by f. We analyze the strength of this theorem from the perspective of computability theory and reverse mathematics. We show that this theorem is close in computational strength to standard Ramsey's theorem by giving arithmetical upper and lower bounds for solutions to computable instances. In reverse mathematics, we show th…
We show that RT(2,4) cannot be proved with one typical application of RT(2,2) in an intuitionistic extension of RCA0 to higher types, but that this does not remain true when the law of the excluded middle is added. The argument uses Kohlenbach's axiomatization of higher order reverse mathematics, results related to modified reducibility, and a formalization of Weihrauch reducibility.
We prove that $\RCA + \RRT^3_2 \not\vdash \ACA$ where $\RRT^3_2$ is the Rainbow Ramsey Theorem for 2-bounded colorings of triples. This reverse mathematical result is based on a cone avoidance theorem, that every 2-bounded coloring of pairs admits a cone-avoiding infinite rainbow, regardless of the complexity of the given coloring. We also apply the proof of the cone avoidance theorem to the question whether $\RCA + \RRT^4_2 \vdash \ACA$ and obtain some partial answer.
Inspired by Ramsey's theorem for pairs, Rival and Sands proved what we refer to as an inside/outside Ramsey theorem: every infinite graph $G$ contains an infinite subset $H$ such that every vertex of $G$ is adjacent to precisely none, one, or infinitely many vertices of $H$. We analyze the Rival-Sands theorem from the perspective of reverse mathematics and the Weihrauch degrees. In reverse mathematics, we find that the Rival-Sands theorem is equivalent to arithmetical comprehension and hence is stronger than Ramsey's theorem for pairs. We also identify a weak form of the Rival-Sands theorem th…
The rainbow Ramsey theorem states that every coloring of tuples where each color is used a bounded number of times has an infinite subdomain on which no color appears twice. The restriction of the statement to colorings over pairs (RRT22) admits several characterizations: it is equivalent to finding an infinite subset of a 2-random, to diagonalizing against Turing machines with the halting set as oracle... In this paper we study principles that are closely related to the rainbow Ramsey theorem, the Erdős Moser theorem and the thin set theorem within the framework of reverse mathematics. We pro…
The stable Ramsey's theorem for pairs has been the subject of numerous investigations in mathematical logic. We introduce a weaker form of it by restricting from the class of all stable colorings to subclasses of it that are non-null in a certain effective measure-theoretic sense. We show that the sets that can compute infinite homogeneous sets for non-null many computable stable colorings and the sets that can compute infinite homogeneous sets for all computable stable colorings agree below $\emp'$ but not in general. We also answer the analogs of two well known questions about the stable Ram…
A function is diagonally non-computable (d.n.c.) if it diagonalizes against the universal partial computable function. D.n.c. functions play a central role in algorithmic randomness and reverse mathematics. Flood and Towsner asked for which functions h, the principle stating the existence of an h-bounded d.n.c. function (DNR_h) implies the Ramsey-type König's lemma (RWKL). In this paper, we prove that for every computable order h, there exists an~$ω$-model of DNR_h which is not a not model of the Ramsey-type graph coloring principle for two colors (RCOLOR2) and therefore not a model of RWKL. T…
The paper is devoted to a reverse-mathematical study of some well-known consequences of Ramsey's theorem for pairs, focused on the chain-antichain principle $\mathsf{CAC}$, the ascending-descending sequence principle $\mathsf{ADS}$, and the Cohesive Ramsey Theorem for pairs $\mathsf{CRT}^2_2$. We study these principles over the base theory $\mathsf{RCA}^*_0$, which is weaker than the usual base theory $\mathsf{RCA}_0$ considered in reverse mathematics in that it allows only $Δ^0_1$-induction as opposed to $Σ^0_1$-induction. In $\mathsf{RCA}^*_0$, it may happen that an unbounded subset of $\mat…
We study the reverse mathematics and computability-the\-o\-re\-tic strength of (stable) Ramsey's Theorem for pairs and the related principles COH and DNR. We show that SRT$^2_2$ implies DNR over RCA$_0$ but COH does not, and answer a question of Mileti by showing that every computable stable $2$-coloring of pairs has an incomplete $Δ^0_2$ infinite homogeneous set. We also give some extensions of the latter result, and relate it to potential approaches to showing that SRT$^2_2$ does not imply RT$^2_2$.
Ramsey's theorem asserts that every $k$-coloring of $[ω]^n$ admits an infinite monochromatic set. Whenever $n \geq 3$, there exists a computable $k$-coloring of $[ω]^n$ whose solutions compute the halting set. On the other hand, for every computable $k$-coloring of $[ω]^2$ and every non-computable set $C$, there is an infinite monochromatic set $H$ such that $C \not \leq_T H$. The latter property is known as cone avoidance. In this article, we design a natural class of Ramsey-like theorems encompassing many statements studied in reverse mathematics. We prove that this class admits a maximal st…
Among the Ramsey-type hierarchies, namely, Ramsey's theorem, the free set, the thin set and the rainbow Ramsey theorem, only Ramsey's theorem is known to collapse in reverse mathematics. A promising approach to show the strictness of the hierarchies would be to prove that every computable instance at level n has a low_n solution. In particular, this requires effective control of iterations of the Turing jump. In this paper, we design some variants of Mathias forcing to construct solutions to cohesiveness, the Erdos-Moser theorem and stable Ramsey's theorem for pairs, while controlling their it…
Satisfiability problems play a central role in computer science and engineering as a general framework for studying the complexity of various problems. Schaefer proved in 1978 that truth satisfaction of propositional formulas given a language of relations is either NP-complete or tractable. We classify the corresponding satisfying assignment construction problems in the framework of reverse mathematics and show that the principles are either provable over RCA or equivalent to WKL. We formulate also a Ramseyan version of the problems and state a different dichotomy theorem. However, the differe…
We extend theories of reverse mathematics by a non-principal ultrafilter, and show that these are conservative extensions of the usual theories ACA0, ATR0, and Pi11-Comprehension.
We study four families of consequences of Ramsey's Theorem from the viewpoint of reverse mathematics. The first, which we call the Achromatic Ramsey Theorem, is from a partition relation introduced by Erdős, Hajnal and Rado: $ω\to [ω]^r_{c,\leq d}$, which asserts that for every $f: [ω]^r \to c$ there exists an infinite $H$ with $|f([H]^r)| \leq d$. The second and third are the Free Set Theorem and the Thin Set Theorem, which were introduced by Harvey Friedman. And the last is the Rainbow Ramsey Theorem. We show that, most theorems from these families are quite weak, i.e., they are strictly wea…
We analyze the Dual Ramsey Theorem for $k$ partitions and $\ell$ colors ($\mathsf{DRT}^k_\ell$) in the context of reverse math, effective analysis, and strong reductions. Over $\mathsf{RCA}_0$, the Dual Ramsey Theorem stated for Baire colorings is equivalent to the statement for clopen colorings and to a purely combinatorial theorem $\mathsf{cDRT}^k_\ell$. When the theorem is stated for Borel colorings and $k\geq 3$, the resulting principles are essentially relativizations of $\mathsf{cDRT}^k_\ell$. For each $α$, there is a computable Borel code for a $Δ^0_α$ coloring such that any partition h…
We extend a study by Lempp and Hirst of infinite versions of some problems from finite complexity theory, using an intuitionistic version of reverse mathematics and techniques of Weihrauch analysis.
We examine a number of results of infinite combinatorics using the techniques of reverse mathematics. Our results are inspired by similar results in recursive combinatorics. Theorems included concern colorings of graphs and bounded graphs, Euler paths, and Hamilton paths.
We study the uniform computational content of Ramsey's theorem in the Weihrauch lattice. Our central results provide information on how Ramsey's theorem behaves under product, parallelization and jumps. From these results we can derive a number of important properties of Ramsey's theorem. For one, the parallelization of Ramsey's theorem for cardinality $n\geq1$ and an arbitrary finite number of colors $k\geq2$ is equivalent to the $n$--th jump of weak Kőnig's lemma. In particular, Ramsey's theorem for cardinality $n\geq1$ is $Σ^0_{n+2}$--measurable in the effective Borel hierarchy, but not $Σ^…
The aim of this paper is to highlight a hitherto unknown computational aspect of Nonstandard Analysis pertaining to Reverse Mathematics (RM). In particular, we shall establish RM-equivalences between theorems from Nonstandard Analysis in a fragment of Nelson's internal set theory. We then extract primitive recursive terms from Goedel's system T (not involving Nonstandard Analysis) from the proofs of the aforementioned nonstandard equivalences. The resulting terms turn out to be witnesses for effective1 equivalences in Kohlenbach's higher-order RM. In other words, from an RM-equivalence in Nons…
We prove that several versions of the Tietze extension theorem for functions with moduli of uniform continuity are equivalent to WKL_0 over RCA_0. This confirms a conjecture of Giusto and Simpson that was also phrased as a question in Montalbán's "Open questions in reverse mathematics."
It is a striking fact from reverse mathematics that almost all theorems of countable and countably representable mathematics are equivalent to just five subsystems of second order arithmetic. The standard view is that the significance of these equivalences lies in the set existence principles that are necessary and sufficient to prove those theorems. In this article I analyse the role of set existence principles in reverse mathematics, and argue that they are best understood as closure conditions on the powerset of the natural numbers.
Building on previous work by Mummert, Saadaoui and Sovine, we study the logic underlying the web of implications and nonimplications which constitute the so called reverse mathematics zoo. We introduce a tableaux system for this logic and natural deduction systems for important fragments of the language.
Reverse Mathematics is a program in the foundations of mathematics which provides an elegant classification of theorems of ordinary mathematics based on computability. Our aim is to provide an alternative classification of theorems based on the central tenet of Feferman's Explicit Mathematics, namely that a proof of existence of an object yields a procedure to compute said object. Our classification gives rise to the Explicit Mathematics theme (EMT) of Nonstandard Analysis. Intuitively speaking, the EMT states that a standard object with certain properties can be computed by a functional if an…
Reverse mathematics studies which subsystems of second order arithmetic are equivalent to key theorems of ordinary, non-set-theoretic mathematics. The main philosophical application of reverse mathematics proposed thus far is foundational analysis, which explores the limits of different foundations for mathematics in a formally precise manner. This paper gives a detailed account of the motivations and methodology of foundational analysis, which have heretofore been largely left implicit in the practice. It then shows how this account can be fruitfully applied in the evaluation of major foundat…
Matroids generalize the familiar notion of linear dependence from linear algebra. Following a brief discussion of founding work in computability and matroids, we use the techniques of reverse mathematics to determine the logical strength of some basis theorems for matroids and enumerated matroids. Next, using Weihrauch reducibility, we relate the basis results to combinatorial choice principles and statements about vector spaces. Finally, we formalize some of the Weihrauch reductions to extract related reverse mathematics results. In particular, we show that the existence of bases for vector s…
In reverse mathematics, is is possible to have a curious situation where we know that an implication does not reverse, but appear to have no information on on how to weaken the assumption while preserving the conclusion. A main cause of this phenomenon is the proof of a $Π^1_2$ sentence from the theory {\Pioo}. Using methods based on the functional interpretation, we introduce a family of weakenings of {\Pioo} and use them to give new upper bounds for the Nash-Williams Theorem of wqo theory and Menger's Theorem for countable graphs.
Working in subsystems of second order arithmetic, we formulate several representations for hypergraphs. We then prove the equivalence of various vertex coloring theorems to ${\sf WKL}_0$, ${\sf ACA}_0$ and $Π^1_ 1$-${\sf CA}_0$.
This paper analyzes theorems about algebraic field extensions using the techniques of reverse mathematics. In section 2, we show that $\mathsf{WKL}_0$ is equivalent to the ability to extend $F$-automorphisms of field extensions to automorphisms of $\bar{F}$, the algebraic closure of $F$. Section 3 explores finitary conditions for embeddability. Normal and Galois extensions are discussed in section 4, and the Galois correspondence theorems for infinite field extensions are treated in section 5.
In intuitionistic mathematics, the Brouwer Continuity Theorem states that all total real functions are (uniformly) continuous on the unit interval. We study this theorem and related principles from the point of view of Reverse Mathematics over a base theory accommodating higher types and Nonstandard Analysis. With regard to the bigger picture, Reverse Mathematics provides a classification of theorems of ordinary mathematics based on computability. Our aim is to provide an alternative classification of theorems based on the central tenet of Feferman's Explicit Mathematics}, namely that a proof …
We investigate subsystems $COM_{fcn}$, $COMI_{fcn}$ and $PRA_{fcn}$ of the elementary theory of functions $ETF$, the base theory for countable strict reverse mathematics. We show that inductions on any variable for unary, binary and ternary functions are pairwise equivalent over $COM_{fcn}$. We prove that weakened primitive recursion axiom $WPRA$ is equivalent to primitive recursion axiom $PRA$ over $COMI_{fcn}$. We show that permutation axiom and minimization axioms $MIN^1$, $MIN^2$, $MIN^3$ are pairwise equivalent over $PRA_{fcn}$. Thus, we present several equivalent axiomatizations of $ETF$…
Recently, conservative extensions of Peano and Heyting arithmetic in the spirit of Nelson's axiomatic approach to Nonstandard Analysis, have been proposed. In this paper, we study the Transfer axiom of Nonstandard Analysis restricted to formulas without parameters. Based on this axiom, we formulate a base theory for the Reverse Mathematics of Nonstandard Analysis and prove some natural reversals, and show that most of these equivalences do not hold in the absence of parameter-free Transfer.
We analyze the strength of the existence of idempotent ultrafilters in higher-order reverse mathematics. Let (Uidem) be the statement that an idempotent ultrafilter on the natural numbers exists. We show that over ACA_0^w, the higher-order extension of ACA_0, the statement (Uidem) implies the iterated Hindman's theorem (IHT), and we show that ACA_0^w + (Uidem) is Pi^1_2-conservative over ACA_0^w + IHT and thus over ACA_0^+.
Reverse Mathematics is a program in the foundations of mathematics. It provides an elegant classification in which the majority of theorems of ordinary mathematics fall into only five categories, based on the 'Big Five' logical systems. Recently, a lot of effort has been directed towards finding exceptional theorems, i.e. which fall outside the Big Five. The so-called Reverse Mathematics zoo is a collection of such exceptional theorems (and their relations). It was shown in [17] that a number of uniform versions of the zoo-theorems, i.e. where a functional computes the objects stated to exist,…
In his book, John Stillwell wrote "finding the exact strength of the Brouwer invariance theorems seems to me one of the most interesting open problems in reverse mathematics." In this article, we solve Stillwell's problem by showing that (some forms of) the Brouwer invariance theorems are equivalent to weak König's lemma over the base system ${\sf RCA}_0$. In particular, there exists an explicit algorithm which, whenever weak König's lemma is false, constructs a topological embedding of $\mathbb{R}^4$ into $\mathbb{R}^3$.
Ultrafilters are a tool, originating in mathematical logic and general topology, that has steadily found more and more uses in multiple areas of mathematics, such as combinatorics, dynamics, and algebra, among others. The purpose of this article is to introduce ultrafilters in a friendly manner and present some applications to the branch of combinatorics known as Ramsey theory, culminating with a new ultrafilter-based proof of van der Waerden's theorem.
In this paper we investigate the reverse mathematics of higher-order analogues of the theory \ATRz{} within the framework of higher order reverse mathematics developed by Kohlenbach \cite{Koh01}. We define a theory \RCAzthr, a close higher-type analogue of the classical base theory \RCAz, and show that it is essentially a conservative subtheory of Kohlenbach's base theory \RCAzo. Working over \RCAzthr, we study higher-type analogues of statements classically equivalent to \ATRz, including open and clopen determinacy, as well as two choice principles, and prove several equivalences and separati…
The separation between two theorems in reverse mathematics is usually done by constructing a Turing ideal satisfying a theorem P and avoiding the solutions to a fixed instance of a theorem Q. Lerman, Solomon and Towsner introduced a forcing technique for iterating a computable non-reducibility in order to separate theorems over omega-models. In this paper, we present a modularized version of their framework in terms of preservation of hyperimmunity and show that it is powerful enough to obtain the same separations results as Wang did with his notion of preservation of definitions.
The Erdos-Moser theorem (EM) states that every infinite tournament has an infinite transitive subtournament. This principle plays an important role in the understanding of the computational strength of Ramsey's theorem for pairs (RT^2_2) by providing an alternate proof of RT^2_2 in terms of EM and the ascending descending sequence principle (ADS). In this paper, we study the computational weakness of EM and construct a standard model (omega-model) of simultaneously EM, weak König's lemma and the cohesiveness principle, which is not a model of the atomic model theorem. This separation answers a…
