An approximate Herbrand’s theorem and definable functions in metric structures

Abstract

AbstractWe develop a version of Herbrand's theorem for continuous logic and use it to prove that definable functions in infinite‐dimensional Hilbert spaces are piecewise approximable by affine functions. We obtain similar results for definable functions in Hilbert spaces expanded by a group of generic unitary operators and Hilbert spaces expanded by a generic subspace. We also show how Herbrand's theorem can be used to characterize definable functions in absolutely ubiquitous structures from classical logic.