English

Undecidability in function fields of positive characteristic

Number Theory 2008-02-27 v2 Logic

Abstract

We prove that the first-order theory of any function field K of characteristic p>2 is undecidable in the language of rings without parameters. When K is a function field in one variable whose constant field is algebraic over a finite field, we can also prove undecidability in characteristic 2. The proof uses a result by Moret-Bailly about ranks of elliptic curves over function fields.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.0709.1739,
  title  = {Undecidability in function fields of positive characteristic},
  author = {Kirsten Eisentraeger and Alexandra Shlapentokh},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:0709.1739},
  year   = {2008}
}

Comments

12 pages; strengthened main theorem, proved undecidability in the language of rings without parameters

R2 v1 2026-06-21T09:16:32.576Z