The complexity of equivalence relations has received much attention in the recent literature. The main tool for such endeavour is the following reducibility: given equivalence relations $R$ and $S$ on natural numbers, $R$ is computably reducible to $S$ if there is a computable function $f \colon ω\to ω$ that induces an injective map from $R$-equivalence classes to $S$-equivalence classes. In order to compare the complexity of equivalence relations which are computable, researchers considered also feasible variants of computable reducibility, such as the polynomial-time reducibility. In this work, we explore $\mathbf{Peq}$, the degree structure generated by primitive recursive reducibility on punctual equivalence relations (i.e., primitive recursive equivalence relations with domain $ω$). In contrast with all other known degree structures on equivalence relations, we show that $\mathbf{Peq}$ has much more structure: e.g., we show that it is a dense distributive lattice. On the other hand, we also offer evidence of the intricacy of $\mathbf{Peq}$, proving, e.g., that the structure is neither rigid nor homogeneous.
Computable reducibility is a well-established notion that allows to compare the complexity of various equivalence relations over the natural numbers. We generalize computable reducibility by introducing degree spectra of reducibility and bi-reducibility. These spectra provide a natural way of measuring the complexity of reductions between equivalence relations. We prove that any upward closed collection of Turing degrees with a countable basis can be realised as a reducibility spectrum or as a bi-reducibility spectrum. We show also that there is a reducibility spectrum of computably enumerable…
(1) There is a finitely presented group with a word problem which is a uniformly effectively inseparable equivalence relation. (2) There is a finitely generated group of computable permutations with a word problem which is a universal co-computably enumerable equivalence relation. (3) Each c.e. truth-table degree contains the word problem of a finitely generated group of computable permutations.
We study the class of Borel equivalence relations under continuous reducibility. In particular , we characterize when a Borel equivalence relation with countable equivalence classes is $Σ$ 0 $ξ$ (or $Π$ 0 $ξ$). We characterize when all the equivalence classes of such a relation are $Σ$ 0 $ξ$ (or $Π$ 0 $ξ$). We prove analogous results for the Borel equivalence relations with countably many equivalence classes. We also completely solve these two problems for the first two ranks. In order to do this, we prove some extensions of the Louveau-Saint Raymond theorem which itself generalized the Hurewi…
We study the relative complexity of equivalence relations and preorders from computability theory and complexity theory. Given binary relations $R, S$, a componentwise reducibility is defined by $ R\le S \iff \ex f \, \forall x, y \, [xRy \lra f(x) Sf(y)]. $ Here $f$ is taken from a suitable class of effective functions. For us the relations will be on natural numbers, and $f$ must be computable. We show that there is a $Π_1$-complete equivalence relation, but no $Πk$-complete for $k \ge 2$. We show that $Σk$ preorders arising naturally in the above-mentioned areas are $Σk$-complete. This incl…
We introduce the notion of filtration between topologies and study its stabilization properties. Descriptive set theoretic complexity plays a role in this study. Filtrations lead to natural transfinite sequences approximating a given equivalence relation. We investigate those.
We prove that any divisible dynamical simplex is the set of invariant measures of some Toeplitz subshift. We apply our construction to prove that orbit equivalence of Toeplitz subshifts is Borel bireducible to the universal equivalence relation induced by a Borel action of a nonarchimedean Polish group.
We prove that for every Borel equivalence relation $E$, either $E$ is Borel reducible to $\mathbb{E}\_0$, or the family of Borel equivalence relations incompatible with $E$ has cofinal essential complexity. It follows that if $F$ is a Borel equivalence relation and $\cal F$ is a family of Borel equivalence relations of non-cofinal essential complexity which together satisfy the dichotomy that for every Borel equivalence relation $E$, either $E\in {\cal F}$ or $F$ is Borel reducible to $E$, then $\cal F$ consists solely of smooth equivalence relations, thus the dichotomy is equivalent to a know…
We show that polynomial time Turing equivalence and a large class of other equivalence relations from computational complexity theory are universal countable Borel equivalence relations. We then discuss ultrafilters on the invariant Borel sets of these equivalence relations which are related to Martin's ultrafilter on the Turing degrees.
We study the algorithmic complexity of embeddings between bi-embeddable equivalence structures. We define the notions of computable bi-embeddable categoricity, (relative) $Δ^0_α$ bi-embeddable categoricity, and degrees of bi-embeddable categoricity. These notions mirror the classical notions used to study the complexity of isomorphisms between structures. We show that the notions of $Δ^0_α$ bi-embeddable categoricity and relative $Δ^0_α$ bi-embeddable categoricity coincide for equivalence structures for $α=1,2,3$. We also prove that computable equivalence structures have degree of bi-embeddabl…
A class K of structures is controlled if, for all cardinals lambda, the relation of L_{infty,lambda}-equivalence partitions K into a set of equivalence classes (as opposed to a proper class). We prove that the class of doubly transitive linear orders is controlled, while any pseudo-elementary class with the omega-independence property is not controlled.
We introduce and study the notion of functorial Borel complexity for Polish groupoids. Such a notion aims at measuring the complexity of classifying the objects of a category in a constructive and functorial way. In the particular case of principal groupoids such a notion coincide with the usual Borel complexity of equivalence relations. Our main result is that on one hand for Polish groupoids with essentially treeable orbit equivalence relation, functorial Borel complexity coincides with the Borel complexity of the associated orbit equivalence relation. On the other hand for every countable e…
A class K of structures is controlled if for all cardinals lambda, the relation of L_{infty,lambda}-equivalence partitions K into a set of equivalence classes (as opposed to a proper class). We prove that no pseudo-elementary class with the independence property is controlled. By contrast, there is a pseudo-elementary class with the strict order property that is controlled.
We are dealing with the complexity of the homeomorphism equivalence relation on some classes of metrizable compacta from the viewpoint of invariant descriptive set theory. We prove that the homeomorphism equivalence relation of absolute retracts in the plane is Borel bireducible with the isomorphism equivalence relation of countable graphs. In order to stress the sharpness of this result, we prove that neither the homeomorphism relation of locally connected continua in the plane nor the homeomorphism relation of absolute retracts in $\mathbb R^3$ is Borel reducible to the isomorphism relation …
We prove that for a countable discrete group $Γ$ containing a copy of the free group $\F_n$, for some $2\leq n\leq\infty$, as a normal subgroup, the equivalence relations of conjugacy, orbit equivalence and von Neumann equivalence of the ergodic a.e. free actions of $Γ$ are analytic non-Borel equivalence relations in the Polish space of probability measure preserving $Γ$ actions. As a consequence we obtain that the isomorphism relation in the spaces of separably acting factors of type $\II_1$, $\II_\infty$ and $\III_λ$, $0\leqλ\leq 1$, are analytic and not Borel when these spaces are given the…
A general theme of computable structure theory is to investigate when structures have copies of a given complexity $Γ$. We discuss such problem for the case of equivalence structures and preorders. We show that there is a $Π^0_1$ equivalence structure with no $Σ^0_1$ copy, and in fact that the isomorphism types realized by the $Π^0_1$ equivalence structures coincide with those realized by the $Δ^0_2$ equivalence structures. We also construct a $Σ^0_1$ preorder with no $Π^0_1$ copy.
A Borel equivalence relation on a Polish space is said to be countable if all of its equivalence classes are countable. Standard examples of countable Borel equivalence relations (on the space of subsets of the integers) that occur in recursion theory are: recursive isomorphism, Turing equivalence, arithmetic equivalence, etc. There is a canonical hierarchy of complexity of countable Borel equivalence relations imposed by the notion of Borel reducibility. We will survey results and conjectures concerning the problem of identifying the place in this hierarchy of these equivalence relations from…
We consider the homeomorphic classification of finite-dimensional continua as well as several related equivalence relations. We show that, when $n \geq 2$, the classification problem of $n$-dimensional continua is strictly more complex than the isomorphism problem of countable graphs. We also obtain results that compare the relative complexity of various equivalence relations.
A standard tool for classifying the complexity of equivalence relations on $ω$ is provided by computable reducibility. This reducibility gives rise to a rich degree structure. The paper studies equivalence relations, which induce minimal degrees with respect to computable reducibility. Let $Γ$ be one of the following classes: $Σ^0_α$, $Π^0_α$, $Σ^1_n$, or $Π^1_n$, where $α\geq 2$ is a computable ordinal and $n$ is a non-zero natural number. We prove that there are infinitely many pairwise incomparable minimal equivalence relations that are properly in $Γ$.
Working with uncountable structures of fixed cardinality, we investigate the complexity of certain equivalence relations and show that if V = L, then many of them are Σ^1_1-complete, in particular the isomorphism relation of dense linear orders. Then we show that it is undecidable in ZFC whether or not the isomorphism relation of a certain well behaved theory (stable, NDOP, NOTOP) is Σ^1_1-complete (it is, if V = L, but can be forced not to be).
We consider the problem of determining the complexity of the uniform homeomorphism relation between separable Banach spaces in the Borel reducibility hierarchy of analytic equivalence relations. We prove that the complete $K_σ$ equivalence relation is Borel reducible to the uniform homeomorphism relation, and we also determine the possible complexities of the relation when restricted to some small classes of Banach spaces. Moreover, we determine the exact complexity of the local equivalence relation between Banach spaces, namely that it is bireducible with $K_σ$. Finally, we construct a class …
We introduce the notion of finitary computable reducibility on equivalence relations on the natural numbers. This is a weakening of the usual notion of computable reducibility, and we show it to be distinct in several ways. In particular, whereas no equivalence relation can be $Π_{n+2}$-complete under computable reducibility, we show that, for every $n$, there does exist a natural equivalence relation which is $Π_{n+2}$-complete under finitary reducibility. We also show that our hierarchy of finitary reducibilities does not collapse, and illustrate how it sharpens certain known results. Along …
Building on work of Popa, Ioana, and Epstein--Törnquist, we show that, for every nonamenable countable discrete group $Γ$, the relations of conjugacy, orbit equivalence, and von Neumann equivalence of free ergodic (or weak mixing) measure preserving actions of $Γ$ on the standard atomless probability space are not Borel, thus answering questions of Kechris. This is an optimal and definitive result, which establishes a neat dichotomy with the amenable case, since any two free ergodic actions of an amenable group on the standard atomless probability space are orbit equivalent by classical result…
We study the complexity of isomorphism of classes of metric structures using methods from infinitary continuous logic. For Borel classes of locally compact structures, we prove that if the equivalence relation of isomorphism is potentially $\mathbfΣ^0_2$, then it is essentially countable. We also provide an equivalent model-theoretic condition that is easy to check in practice. This theorem is a common generalization of a result of Hjorth about pseudo-connected metric spaces and a result of Hjorth--Kechris about discrete structures. As a different application, we also give a new proof of Kechr…
We introduce an analog of the theory of Borel equivalence relations in which we study equivalence relations that are decidable by an infinite time Turing machine. The Borel reductions are replaced by the more general class of infinite time computable functions. Many basic aspects of the classical theory remain intact, with the added bonus that it becomes sensible to study some special equivalence relations whose complexity is beyond Borel or even analytic. We also introduce an infinite time generalization of the countable Borel equivalence relations, a key subclass of the Borel equivalence rel…
It is proved that the relation of isomorphism between separable Banach spaces is a complete analytic equivalence relation, i.e., that any analytic equivalence relation Borel reduces to it. Thus, separable Banach spaces up to isomorphism provide complete invariants for a great number of mathematical structures up to their corresponding notion of isomorphism. The same is shown to hold for (1) complete separable metric spaces up to uniform homeomorphism, (2) separable Banach spaces up to Lipschitz isomorphism, and (3) up to (complemented) biembeddability, (4) Polish groups up to topological isomo…
Weyl-von Neumann Theorem asserts that two bounded self-adjoint operators $A,B$ on a Hilbert space $H$ are unitarily equivalent modulo compacts, i.e., $uAu^*+K=B$ for some unitary $u\in \mathcal{U}(H)$ and compact self-adjoint operator $K$, if and only if $A$ and $B$ have the same essential spectra: $σ_{\rm{ess}}(A)=σ_{\rm{ess}}(B)$. In this paper we consider to what extent the above Weyl-von Neumann's result can(not) be extended to unbounded operators using descriptive set theory. We show that if $H$ is separable infinite-dimensional, this equivalence relation for bounded self-adjoin operators…
We prove various extensions of the Tennenbaum phenomenon to the case of computable quotient presentations of models of arithmetic and set theory. Specifically, no nonstandard model of arithmetic has a computable quotient presentation by a c.e. equivalence relation. No $Σ_1$-sound nonstandard model of arithmetic has a computable quotient presentation by a co-c.e. equivalence relation. No nonstandard model of arithmetic in the language $\{+,\cdot,\leq\}$ has a computably enumerable quotient presentation by any equivalence relation of any complexity. No model of ZFC or even much weaker set theori…
Given an L_{ω_1 ω}-elementary class C, that is the collection of the countable models of some L_{ω_1 ω}-sentence, denote by \cong_C and \equiv_C the analytic equivalence relations of, respectively, isomorphism and bi-embeddability on C. Generalizing some questions of Louveau and Rosendal [LR05], in [FMR09] it was proposed the problem of determining which pairs of analytic equivalence relations (E,F) can be realized (up to Borel bireducibility) as pairs of the form (\cong_C,\equiv_C), C some L_{ω_1 ω}-elementary class (together with a partial answer for some specific cases). Here we will provid…
We describe the basic theory of infinite time Turing machines and some recent developments, including the infinite time degree theory, infinite time complexity theory, and infinite time computable model theory. We focus particularly on the application of infinite time Turing machines to the analysis of the hierarchy of equivalence relations on the reals, in analogy with the theory arising from Borel reducibility. We define a notion of infinite time reducibility, which lifts much of the Borel theory into the class $\bmΔ^1_2$ in a satisfying way.
In this paper, we study the descriptive set theoretic complexity of the equivalence relation of conjugacy of Toeplitz subshifts of a residually finite group $G$. On the one hand, we show that if $G = \mathbb{Z}$, then topological conjugacy on Toeplitz subshifts with separated holes is amenable. In contrast, if $G$ is non-amenable, then conjugacy of Toeplitz $G$-subshifts is a non-amenable equivalence relation. The results were motivated by a general question, asked by Gao, Jackson and Seward, about the complexity of conjugacy for minimal, free subshifts of countable groups.
Generalizing the notion of automatic complexity of individual strings due to Shallit and Wang, we define the automatic complexity $A(E)$ of an equivalence relation $E$ on a finite set $S$ of strings. We prove that the problem of determining whether $A(E)$ equals the number $|E|$ of equivalence classes of $E$ is $\mathsf{NP}$-complete. The problem of determining whether $A(E) = |E| + k$ for a fixed $k\ge 1$ is complete for the second level of the Boolean hierarchy for $\mathsf{NP}$, i.e., $\mathsf{BH}_2$-complete. Let $L$ be the language consisting of all strings of maximal nondeterministic aut…
We consider classical representations of integers: Church's function iterators, cardinal equivalence classes of sets, ordinal equivalence classes of totally ordered sets. Since programs do not work on abstract entities and require formal representations of objects, we effectivize these abstract notions in order to allow them to be computed by programs. To any such effectivized representation is then associated a notion of Kolmogorov complexity. We prove that these Kolmogorov complexities form a strict hierarchy which coincides with that obtained by relativization to jump oracles and/or allowan…
We determine the exact complexity of classifying compact metric spaces up to homeomorphism. More precisely, the homeomorphism relation on compact metric spaces is Borel bi-reducible with the complete orbit equivalence relation of Polish group actions. Consequently, the same holds for the isomorphism relation between separable commutative C*-algebras and the isometry relation between C(K)-spaces.
We improve the known results about the complexity of the relation of isomorphism between separable Banach spaces up to Borel reducibility, and we achieve this using the classical spaces $c_0$, $\ell_p$ and $L_p$, $1 \leq p <2$. More precisely, we show that the relation $E_{K_σ}$ is Borel reducible to isomorphism and complemented biembeddability between subspaces of $c_0$ or $\ell_p, 1 \leq p <2$. We show that the relation $E_{K_σ} \otimes =^+$ is Borel reducible to isomorphism, complemented biembeddability, and Lipschitz equivalence between subspaces of $L_p, 1 \leq p <2$.
We study the complexity of the classification problem of conjugacy on dynamical systems on some compact metrizable spaces. Especially we prove that the conjugacy equivalence relation of interval dynamical systems is Borel bireducible to isomorphism equivalence relation of countable graphs. This solves a special case of the Hjorth's conjecture which states that every orbit equivalence relation induced by a continuous action of the group of all homeomorphisms of the closed unit interval is classifiable by countable structures. We also prove that conjugacy equivalence relation of Hilbert cube hom…
We study the complexity of the isomorphism relation for various classes of closed subgroups of the group of permutations of the natural numbers. We use the setting of Borel reducibility between equivalence relations on Polish spaces. For profinite, locally compact, and Roelcke precompact groups, we show that the complexity is the same as the one of countable graph isomorphism. For oligomorphic groups, we merely establish this as an upper bound, which is not sharp because the relation is Borel.
In a recent work, the authors studied various Borel equivalence relations defined on the Polish space ${\rm{SA}}(H)$ of all (not necessarily bounded) self-adjoint operators on a separable infinite-dimensional Hilbert space $H$. In this paper we study the domain equivalence relation $E_{\rm{dom}}^{\rm{SA}(H)}$ given by $AE_{\rm{dom}}^{\rm{SA}(H)}B\Leftrightarrow {\rm{dom}}{A}={\rm{dom}}{B}$ and determine its exact Borel complexity: $E_{\rm{dom}}^{\rm{SA}(H)}$ is an $F_σ$ (but not $K_σ$) equivalence relation which is continuously bireducible with the orbit equivalence relation $E_{\ell^{\infty}}…
