English

A computably enumerable many-one degree with no least finite-one degree

Logic 2026-04-14 v1

Abstract

Richter, Stephan, and Zhang asked whether every nonrecursive many-one degree contains a least finite-one degree. We solve this question in the negative, already within the class of computably enumerable many-one degrees. Positive answers are known in two disjoint natural settings: for a measure-one and comeager class of mm-rigid sets, and, in a companion paper, for computably enumerable many-one degrees containing a DD-maximal set. We construct a nonrecursive \ce\ set AA such that for every set X\eqmAX \eqm A there exists a c.e.\ set B\eqmAB \eqm A with X̸\lfoBX \not\lfo B. Hence the many-one degree of AA contains no least finite-one degree. The proof is a finite-injury priority construction based on virtual target sets and a dynamic trap mechanism forcing any putative finite-one reduction either to violate finite-oneness or to compute an incorrect reduction.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2604.10879,
  title  = {A computably enumerable many-one degree with no least finite-one degree},
  author = {Patrizio Cintioli},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2604.10879},
  year   = {2026}
}

Comments

14 pages. Companion paper on D-maximal c.e. many-one degrees