English

The reverse mathematics of the pigeonhole hierarchy

Logic 2024-07-02 v1 Logic in Computer Science

Abstract

The infinite pigeonhole principle for kk colors (RTk\mathsf{RT}_k) states, for every kk-partition A0Ak1=NA_0 \sqcup \dots \sqcup A_{k-1} = \mathbb{N}, the existence of an infinite subset~HAiH \subseteq A_i for some~i<ki < k. This seemingly trivial combinatorial principle constitutes the basis of Ramsey's theory, and plays a very important role in computability and proof theory. In this article, we study the infinite pigeonhole principle at various levels of the arithmetical hierarchy from both a computability-theoretic and reverse mathematical viewpoint. We prove that this hierarchy is strict over~RCA0\mathsf{RCA}_0 using an elaborate iterated jump control construction, and study its first-order consequences. This is part of a large meta-mathematical program studying the computational content of combinatorial theorems.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2407.01236,
  title  = {The reverse mathematics of the pigeonhole hierarchy},
  author = {Quentin Le Houérou and Ludovic Levy Patey and Ahmed Mimouni},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2407.01236},
  year   = {2024}
}