English

$\Pi^0_4$ conservation of the Ordered Variable Word theorem

Logic 2024-08-30 v2

Abstract

A left-variable word over an alphabet~AA is a word over~A{}A \cup \{\star\} whose first letter is the distinguished symbol~\star standing for a placeholder. The Ordered Variable Word theorem (OVW\mathsf{OVW}), also known as Carlson-Simpson's theorem, is a tree partition theorem, stating that for every finite alphabet~AA and every finite coloring of the words over~AA, there exists a word c0c_0 and an infinite sequence of left-variable words w1,w2,w_1, w_2, \dots such that {c0w1[a1]wk[ak]:kN,a1,,akA}\{ c_0 \cdot w_1[a_1] \cdot \dots \cdot w_k[a_k] : k \in \mathbb{N}, a_1, \dots, a_k \in A \} is monochromatic. In this article, we prove that OVW\mathsf{OVW} is Π40\Pi^0_4-conservative over~RCA0+BΣ20\mathsf{RCA}_0 + \mathsf{B}\Sigma^0_2. This implies in particular that OVW\mathsf{OVW} does not imply ACA0\mathsf{ACA}_0 over~RCA0\mathsf{RCA}_0. This is the first principle for which the only known separation from~ACA0\mathsf{ACA}_0 involves non-standard models.

Cite

@article{arxiv.2404.18749,
  title  = {$\Pi^0_4$ conservation of the Ordered Variable Word theorem},
  author = {Quentin Le Houérou and Ludovic Levy Patey},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2404.18749},
  year   = {2024}
}

Comments

19 pages

R2 v1 2026-06-28T16:09:52.853Z