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2-Adic Obstructions to Presburger-Definable Characterizations of Collatz Cycles

Number Theory 2026-01-21 v1 Dynamical Systems

Abstract

I investigate structural limitations of Presburger-arithmetic-based approaches to the Collatz problem. I show that the Collatz cycle equation admits a unique solution in the 22-adic integers, which I term a \emph{ghost cycle}. These ghost cycles are shown to be genuine periodic orbits of the 22-adic Collatz map, satisfying all local parity constraints. I prove unconditionally that the divisibility predicate Dy={(x,C)N2:(2x3y)C}\mathcal{D}_y = \{(x, C) \in \mathbb{N}^2: (2^x - 3^y) \mid C\}, which acts as the algebraic necessary condition for integrality, is not semilinear for any fixed number of odd steps y1y \ge 1. This result is established by demonstrating that the fibers of Dy\mathcal{D}_y exhibit unbounded periods, an obstruction to Presburger definability. Consequently, strategies relying solely on Presburger arithmetic or finite automata to define the integrality constraint cannot capture the distinction between ghost cycles and genuine integer cycles. I conclude with a heuristic argument suggesting that because ghost cycles satisfy the algebraic cycle equation, the non-existence of integer cycles cannot be proven solely through algebraic manipulation of the cycle equation itself.

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Cite

@article{arxiv.2601.12772,
  title  = {2-Adic Obstructions to Presburger-Definable Characterizations of Collatz Cycles},
  author = {Madhav Dhiman and Rohan Pandey},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2601.12772},
  year   = {2026}
}

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14 pages