English

Mixed quantifier prefixes over Diophantine equations with integer variables

Number Theory 2024-06-14 v3 Logic

Abstract

In this paper we first review the history of Hilbert's Tenth Problem, and then study mixed quantifier prefixes over Diophantine equations with integer variables. For example, we prove that 24\forall^2\exists^4 over Z\mathbb Z is undecidable, that is, there is no algorithm to determine for any P(x1,,x6)Z[x1,,x6]P(x_1,\ldots,x_6)\in\mathbb Z[x_1,\ldots,x_6] whether x1x2x3x4x5x6(P(x1,,x6)=0),\forall x_1\forall x_2\exists x_3\exists x_4\exists x_5\exists x_6(P(x_1,\ldots,x_6)=0), where x1,,x6x_1,\ldots,x_6 are integer variables. We also have some similar undecidable results with universal quantifies bounded, for example, 222\exists^2\forall^2\exists^2 over Z\mathbb Z with \forall bounded is undecidable. We conjecture that 22\forall^2\exists^2 over Z\mathbb Z is undecidable.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2103.08302,
  title  = {Mixed quantifier prefixes over Diophantine equations with integer variables},
  author = {Zhi-Wei Sun},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2103.08302},
  year   = {2024}
}

Comments

25 pages, refined version for publication

R2 v1 2026-06-24T00:09:54.796Z