On the Decidability of Monadic Theories of Arithmetic Predicates

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Main Authors: Berthé, Valérie, Karimov, Toghrul, Nieuwveld, Joris, Ouaknine, Joël, Vahanwala, Mihir, Worrell, James
Format: Preprint
Published: 2024
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author Berthé, Valérie
Karimov, Toghrul
Nieuwveld, Joris
Ouaknine, Joël
Vahanwala, Mihir
Worrell, James
author_facet Berthé, Valérie
Karimov, Toghrul
Nieuwveld, Joris
Ouaknine, Joël
Vahanwala, Mihir
Worrell, James
contents We investigate the decidability of the monadic second-order (MSO) theory of the structure $\langle \mathbb{N};<,P_1, \ldots,P_d \rangle$, for various unary predicates $P_1,\ldots,P_d \subseteq \mathbb{N}$. We focus in particular on 'arithmetic' predicates arising in the study of linear recurrence sequences, such as fixed-base powers $k^{\mathbf{N}} = \{k^n : n \in \mathbb{N}\}$, $k$-th powers $\mathbf{N}^k = \{n^k : n \in \mathbb{N}\}$, and the set of terms of the Fibonacci sequence $\mathsf{Fib} = \{0,1,2,3,5,8,13,\ldots\}$ (and similarly for other linear recurrence sequences having a single, non-repeated, dominant characteristic root). We obtain several new unconditional and conditional decidability results, a select sample of which are the following: $\bullet$ The MSO theory of $\langle \mathbb{N};<, 2^{\mathbf{N}}, \mathsf{Fib} \rangle$ is decidable; $\bullet$ The MSO theory of $\langle \mathbb{N};<, 2^{\mathbf{N}}, 3^{\mathbf{N}}, 6^{\mathbf{N}} \rangle$ is decidable; $\bullet$ The MSO theory of $\langle \mathbb{N};<, 2^{\mathbf{N}}, 3^{\mathbf{N}}, 5^{\mathbf{N}} \rangle$ is decidable assuming Schanuel's conjecture; $\bullet$ The MSO theory of $\langle \mathbb{N};<, 4^{\mathbf{N}}, \mathbf{N}^2 \rangle$ is decidable; $\bullet$ The MSO theory of $\langle \mathbb{N};<, 2^{\mathbf{N}}, \mathbf{N}^2 \rangle$ is Turing-equivalent to the MSO theory of $\langle \mathbb{N};<,S \rangle$, where $S$ is the predicate corresponding to the binary expansion of $\sqrt{2}$. (As the binary expansion of $\sqrt{2}$ is widely believed to be normal, the corresponding MSO theory is in turn expected to be decidable.) These results are obtained by exploiting and combining techniques from dynamical systems, number theory, and automata theory.
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id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2405_07953
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle On the Decidability of Monadic Theories of Arithmetic Predicates
Berthé, Valérie
Karimov, Toghrul
Nieuwveld, Joris
Ouaknine, Joël
Vahanwala, Mihir
Worrell, James
Logic in Computer Science
We investigate the decidability of the monadic second-order (MSO) theory of the structure $\langle \mathbb{N};<,P_1, \ldots,P_d \rangle$, for various unary predicates $P_1,\ldots,P_d \subseteq \mathbb{N}$. We focus in particular on 'arithmetic' predicates arising in the study of linear recurrence sequences, such as fixed-base powers $k^{\mathbf{N}} = \{k^n : n \in \mathbb{N}\}$, $k$-th powers $\mathbf{N}^k = \{n^k : n \in \mathbb{N}\}$, and the set of terms of the Fibonacci sequence $\mathsf{Fib} = \{0,1,2,3,5,8,13,\ldots\}$ (and similarly for other linear recurrence sequences having a single, non-repeated, dominant characteristic root). We obtain several new unconditional and conditional decidability results, a select sample of which are the following: $\bullet$ The MSO theory of $\langle \mathbb{N};<, 2^{\mathbf{N}}, \mathsf{Fib} \rangle$ is decidable; $\bullet$ The MSO theory of $\langle \mathbb{N};<, 2^{\mathbf{N}}, 3^{\mathbf{N}}, 6^{\mathbf{N}} \rangle$ is decidable; $\bullet$ The MSO theory of $\langle \mathbb{N};<, 2^{\mathbf{N}}, 3^{\mathbf{N}}, 5^{\mathbf{N}} \rangle$ is decidable assuming Schanuel's conjecture; $\bullet$ The MSO theory of $\langle \mathbb{N};<, 4^{\mathbf{N}}, \mathbf{N}^2 \rangle$ is decidable; $\bullet$ The MSO theory of $\langle \mathbb{N};<, 2^{\mathbf{N}}, \mathbf{N}^2 \rangle$ is Turing-equivalent to the MSO theory of $\langle \mathbb{N};<,S \rangle$, where $S$ is the predicate corresponding to the binary expansion of $\sqrt{2}$. (As the binary expansion of $\sqrt{2}$ is widely believed to be normal, the corresponding MSO theory is in turn expected to be decidable.) These results are obtained by exploiting and combining techniques from dynamical systems, number theory, and automata theory.
title On the Decidability of Monadic Theories of Arithmetic Predicates
topic Logic in Computer Science
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2405.07953