A Complete Bounded Theory with Unbounded Types
Logic
2026-04-29 v1
Abstract
One measure of the complexity of a first-order theory, and similarly a type, is the complexity of the formulas required to axiomatize it. We say a theory is bounded if there is an axiomatization involving only -formulas for some finite , and unbounded otherwise. One might expect bounded theories to have only bounded types. In fact, an analogue holds in infinitary logic, where the complexity of a Scott sentence roughly agrees with the complexity of the most complicated automorphism orbit. Our main result, however, shows this is not the case in the first-order setting: Namely, there can be a bounded theory, in fact -axiomatizable, which has unbounded types.
Cite
@article{arxiv.2602.22398,
title = {A Complete Bounded Theory with Unbounded Types},
author = {Hongyu Zhu},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2602.22398},
year = {2026}
}