English

The non-normal abyss in Kleene's computability theory

Logic 2023-02-15 v1 Logic in Computer Science

Abstract

Kleene's computability theory based on his S1-S9 computation schemes constitutes a model for computing with objects of any finite type and extends Turing's `machine model' which formalises computing with real numbers. A fundamental distinction in Kleene's framework is between normal and non-normal functionals where the former compute the associated Kleene quantifier n\exists^{n} and the latter do not. Historically, the focus was on normal functionals, but recently new non-normal functionals have been studied, based on well-known theorems like the uncountability of the reals. These new non-normal functionals are fundamentally different from historical examples like Tait's fan functional: the latter is computable from 2\exists^{2} while the former are only computable in 3\exists^{3}. While there is a great divide separating 2\exists^{2} and 3\exists^{3}, we identify certain closely related non-normal functionals that fall on different sides of this abyss. Our examples are based on mainstream mathematical notions, like quasi-continuity, Baire classes, and semi-continuity.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2302.07066,
  title  = {The non-normal abyss in Kleene's computability theory},
  author = {Sam Sanders},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2302.07066},
  year   = {2023}
}

Comments

12 pages. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:2210.05251

R2 v1 2026-06-28T08:39:51.620Z