English

The weakness of finding descending sequences in ill-founded linear orders

Logic 2025-09-23 v5 Logic in Computer Science Combinatorics

Abstract

We explore the Weihrauch degree of the problems ``find a bad sequence in a non-well quasi order'' (BS\mathsf{BS}) and ``find a descending sequence in an ill-founded linear order'' (DS\mathsf{DS}). We prove that DS\mathsf{DS} is strictly Weihrauch reducible to BS\mathsf{BS}, correcting our mistaken claim in [arXiv:2010.03840]. This is done by separating their respective first-order parts. On the other hand, we show that BS\mathsf{BS} and DS\mathsf{DS} have the same finitary and deterministic parts, confirming that BS\mathsf{BS} and DS\mathsf{DS} have very similar uniform computational strength. We prove that K\"onig's lemma KL\mathsf{KL} and the problem wList2N,ω\mathsf{wList}_{2^{\mathbb{N}},\leq\omega} of enumerating a given non-empty countable closed subset of 2N2^{\mathbb{N}} are not Weihrauch reducible to DS\mathsf{DS} or BS\mathsf{BS}, resolving two main open questions raised in [arXiv:2010.03840]. We also answer the question, raised in [arXiv:1804.10968], on the existence of a ``parallel quotient'' operator, and study the behavior of BS\mathsf{BS} and DS\mathsf{DS} under the quotient with some known problems.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2401.11807,
  title  = {The weakness of finding descending sequences in ill-founded linear orders},
  author = {Jun Le Goh and Arno Pauly and Manlio Valenti},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2401.11807},
  year   = {2025}
}

Comments

This is an extended version of the homonymous paper published in: Twenty Years of Theoretical and Practical Synergies. CiE 2024. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 14773, pp. 339-350