English

Defining $\mathbb{Z}$ in $\mathbb{Q}$

Number Theory 2013-11-14 v2 Logic

Abstract

We show that Z{\mathbb Z} is definable in Q{\mathbb Q} by a universal first-order formula in the language of rings. We also present an \forall\exists-formula for Z{\mathbb Z} in Q{\mathbb Q} with just one universal quantifier. We exhibit new diophantine subsets of Q{\mathbb Q} like the complement of the image of the norm map under a quadratic extension, and we give an elementary proof of the fact that the set of non-squares is diophantine. Finally, we show that there is no existential formula for Z{\mathbb Z} in Q{\mathbb Q}, provided one assumes a strong variant of the Bombieri-Lang Conjecture for varieties over Q{\mathbb Q} with many Q{\mathbb Q}-rational points.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1011.3424,
  title  = {Defining $\mathbb{Z}$ in $\mathbb{Q}$},
  author = {Jochen Koenigsmann},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1011.3424},
  year   = {2013}
}

Comments

New shorter proofs of Proposition 16 (a) and Corollary 23, improved presentation and many tiny corrections

R2 v1 2026-06-21T16:43:58.985Z