English

Decidability of MSO Reparameterization over Countable Chains

Logic in Computer Science 2026-05-20 v2

Abstract

Interpretations are a fundamental tool in mathematical logic, allowing structures to be encoded within other structures via logical definitions. We study \MSO\MSO \emph{multidimensional point interpretations}, where elements of an interpreted structure are represented by tuples of elements of the host structure, and address the problem of simplifying such interpretations by reducing their representation dimension. To formalize simplification, we use the notion of \emph{reparameterization}. Our main result shows that, over the class of countable labelled linear orders, it is decidable whether a given \MSO\MSO formula admits a dd-dimensional reparameterization. As a consequence, every interpretation whose domain admits such a reparameterization is equivalent to a dd-dimensional point interpretation.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2605.18248,
  title  = {Decidability of MSO Reparameterization over Countable Chains},
  author = {Alexander Rabinovich},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2605.18248},
  year   = {2026}
}