First-order definitions in rings via quadratic form methods.

In mathematics, a ring is a collection of objects which one can add, subtract and multiply sort of like we are used to with numbers. For example, the collection of integers (…, -2, -1, 0, 1, 2, …) forms a ring, since they can be added, subtracted or multiplied to form new integers. In our research, we intend to study techniques which might establish relationships between the computational complexity of different rings. While we find this interesting in its own right, it is further motivated by questions about which parts of mathematics can be 'automatized', in the sense that one can write a computer program to solve certain types of mathematical problems. A notorious example of this is the following, stated in some form by David Hilbert in 1900: to find an algorithm which tells you whether a given equation has a solution or not. As it turned out, what such a program might look like and even whether it exists depends heavily not only on the sorts of equations one considers, but also on what kinds of solutions one allows: only integers? Also fractions of integers? What about irrational numbers like pi? For integers, it is known that such a program cannot possibly exist; the problem cannot be automatized. On the other hand, a program is known in the case one allows all real numbers. For fractions of integers, the question remains unsolved. The techniques we will consider might bring us closer to an answer, for example by relating the complexity of the fractions and the integers.

Keywords:ALGEBRA

Disciplines:Field theory and polynomials, Number theory, Mathematical logic and foundations

Project type:Collaboration project