English

On the logical depth function

Computational Complexity 2013-07-08 v2

Abstract

For a finite binary string xx its logical depth dd for significance bb is the shortest running time of a program for xx of length K(x)+bK(x)+b. There is another definition of logical depth. We give a new proof that the two versions are close. There is an infinite sequence of strings of consecutive lengths such that for every string there is a bb such that incrementing bb by 1 makes the associated depths go from incomputable to computable. The maximal gap between depths resulting from incrementing appropriate bb's by 1 is incomputable. The size of this gap is upper bounded by the Busy Beaver function. Both the upper and the lower bound hold for the depth with significance 0. As a consequence, the minimal computation time of the associated shortest programs rises faster than any computable function but not so fast as the Busy Beaver function.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1301.4451,
  title  = {On the logical depth function},
  author = {L. Antunes and A. Souto and A. Teixeira and P. M. B. Vitanyi},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1301.4451},
  year   = {2013}
}

Comments

11 pages LaTeX; previous version was incorrect, this is a new version with almost the same results

R2 v1 2026-06-21T23:11:55.792Z