English

Finding the limit of incompleteness I

Logic 2023-09-13 v2

Abstract

In this paper, we examine the limit of applicability of G\"{o}del's first incompleteness theorem (G1\sf G1 for short). We first define the notion "G1\sf G1 holds for the theory TT". This paper is motivated by the following question: can we find a theory with a minimal degree of interpretation for which G1\sf G1 holds. To approach this question, we first examine the following question: is there a theory TT such that Robinson's R\mathbf{R} interprets TT but TT does not interpret R\mathbf{R} (i.e. TT is weaker than R\mathbf{R} w.r.t. interpretation) and G1\sf G1 holds for TT? In this paper, we show that there are many such theories based on Je\v{r}\'{a}bek's work using some model theory. We prove that for each recursively inseparable pair A,B\langle A,B\rangle, we can construct a r.e. theory UA,BU_{\langle A,B\rangle} such that UA,BU_{\langle A,B\rangle} is weaker than R\mathbf{R} w.r.t. interpretation and G1\sf G1 holds for UA,BU_{\langle A,B\rangle}. As a corollary, we answer a question from Albert Visser. Moreover, we prove that for any Turing degree 0<d<0\mathbf{0}< \mathbf{d}<\mathbf{0}^{\prime}, there is a theory TT with Turing degree d\mathbf{d} such that G1\sf G1 holds for TT and TT is weaker than R\mathbf{R} w.r.t. Turing reducibility. As a corollary, based on Shoenfield's work using some recursion theory, we show that there is no theory with a minimal degree of Turing reducibility for which G1\sf G1 holds.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1902.06658,
  title  = {Finding the limit of incompleteness I},
  author = {Yong Cheng},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1902.06658},
  year   = {2023}
}

Comments

18 pages. Accepted and to appear in Bulletin of Symbolic Logic

R2 v1 2026-06-23T07:43:53.948Z