Kleene's Recursion Research Articles

Fixed point theorems for precomplete numberings

In the context of his theory of numberings, Ershov showed that Kleene's recursion theorem holds for any precomplete numbering. We discuss various generalizations of this result. Among other things, we show that Arslanov's completeness criterion also holds for every precomplete numbering, and we discuss the relation with Visser's ADN theorem, as well as the uniformity or nonuniformity of the various fixed point theorems. Finally, we base numberings on partial combinatory algebras and prove a generalization of Ershov's theorem in this context.

Effectivity questions for Kleene's recursion theorem

The present paper investigates the quality of numberings measured in three different ways: (a) the complexity of finding witnesses of Kleene's Recursion Theorem in the numbering; (b) for which learning notions from inductive inference the numbering is an optimal hypothesis space; (c) the complexity needed to translate the indices of other numberings to those of the given one. In all three cases, one assumes that the corresponding witnesses or correct hypotheses are found in the limit and one measures the complexity with respect to the best criterion of convergence which can be achieved. The convergence criteria considered are those of finite, explanatory, vacillatory and behaviourally correct convergence. The main finding is that the complexity of finding witnesses for Kleene's Recursion Theorem and the optimality for learning are independent of each other. Furthermore, if the numbering is optimal for explanatory learning and also allows to solve Kleene's Recursion Theorem with respect to explanatory convergence, then it also allows to translate indices of other numberings with respect to explanatory convergence.

Properties Complementary to Program Self-Reference

In computability theory, program self-reference is formalized by the not-necessarily-constructive form of Kleene's Recursion Theorem (krt). In a programming system in which krt holds, for any preassigned, algorithmic task, there exists a program that, in a sense, creates a copy of itself, and then performs that task using the self-copy. Interpreted in this way, such self-copying programs have usable self-knowledge. Herein, properties complementary to krt are considered. Of particular interest are those properties involving the implementation of control structures. One main result is that no property involving the implementation of denotational control structures is complementary to krt. This is in contrast to a result of Royer, which showed that implementation of if-then-else — a denotational control structure — is complementary to the constructive form of Kleene's Recursion Theorem. Examples of non-denotational control structures whose implementation is complementary to krt are then given. Some such control structures so nearly resemble denotational control structures that they might be called quasi-denotational.

Naming and Diagonalization, from Cantor to Godel to Kleene

We trace self-reference phenomena to the possibility of naming functions by names that belong to the domain over which the functions are defined. A naming system is a structure of the form (D, type( ),{ }), where D is a non-empty set; for every a∈ D, which is a name of a k-ary function, {a}: Dk → D is the function named by a, and type(a) is the type of a, which tells us if a is a name and, if it is, the arity of the named function. Under quite general conditions we get a fixed point theorem, whose special cases include the fixed point theorem underlying Gödel's proof, Kleene's recursion theorem and many other theorems of this nature, including the solution to simultaneous fixed point equations. Partial functions are accommodated by including “undefined” values; we investigate different systems arising out of different ways of dealing with them. Many-sorted naming systems are suggested as a natural approach to general computatability with many data types over arbitrary structures. The first part of the paper is a historical reconstruction of the way Gödel probably derived his proof from Cantor's diagonalization, through the semantic version of Richard. The incompleteness proof–including the fixed point construction–result from a natural line of thought, thereby dispelling the appearance of a “magic trick”. The analysis goes on to show how Kleene's recursion theorem is obtained along the same lines.

On Abstract Computer Virology from a Recursion Theoretic Perspective

We are concerned with theoretical aspects of computer viruses. For this, we suggest a new definition of viruses which is clearly based on the iteration theorem and above all on Kleene's recursion theorem. We in this study capture in a natural way previous definitions, and in particular the one of Adleman. We establish generic virus constructions and we illustrate them by various examples. Lastly, we show the results on virus detection.

Some independence results for control structures in complete numberings

AbstractAcceptable programming systems have many nice properties like s-m-n-Theorem, Composition and Kleene Recursion Theorem. Those properties are sometimes called control structures, to emphasize that they yield tools to implement programs in programming systems. It has been studied, among others by Riccardi and Royer, how these control structures influence or even characterize the notion of acceptable programming system. The following is an investigation, how these control structures behave in the more general setting of complete numberings as defined by Mal'cev and Eršov.

Recursively enumerable sets modulo iterated jumps and extensions of Arslanov's completeness criterion

Let We be the eth recursively enumerable (r.e.) set in a standard enumeration. The fixed point form of Kleene's recursion theorem asserts that for every recursive function f there exists e which is a fixed point of f in the sense that We = Wf(e). In this paper our main concern is to study the degrees of functions with no fixed points. We consider both fixed points in the strict sense above and fixed points modulo various equivalence relations on recursively enumerable sets.Our starting point for the investigation of the degrees of functions without (strict) fixed points is the following result due to M. M. Arslanov [A1, Theorem 1] and known as the Arslanov completeness criterion. Proofs of this result may also be found in [So1, Theorem 1.3] and [So2, Chapter 12], and we will give a game version of the proof in §5 of this paper.Theorem 1.1 (Arslanov). Let A be an r.e. set. Then A is complete (i.e. A has degree0′) iff there is a function f recursive in A with no fixed point.

Recursively enumerable sets modulo iterated jumps and extensions of Arslanov's completeness criterion

Let We be the eth recursively enumerable (r.e.) set in a standard enumeration. The fixed point form of Kleene's recursion theorem asserts that for every recursive function f there exists e which is a fixed point of f in the sense that We = Wf(e). In this paper our main concern is to study the degrees of functions with no fixed points. We consider both fixed points in the strict sense above and fixed points modulo various equivalence relations on recursively enumerable sets.Our starting point for the investigation of the degrees of functions without (strict) fixed points is the following result due to M. M. Arslanov [A1, Theorem 1] and known as the Arslanov completeness criterion. Proofs of this result may also be found in [So1, Theorem 1.3] and [So2, Chapter 12], and we will give a game version of the proof in §5 of this paper.Theorem 1.1 (Arslanov). Let A be an r.e. set. Then A is complete (i.e. A has degree0′) iff there is a function f recursive in A with no fixed point.

The definability of E(α)

The question of the limits of recursive enumerability was first formulated by Sacks (1980) and investigated further in Sacks (198?). E-recursion or “set recursion”, as a natural generalization of Kleene recursion in normal objects of finite type, was introduced by Normann (1978) in order to facilitate the study of the degrees of functionals. We shall extend the work of Sacks on the question of how definable is the E-closure of an ordinal α (written E(α)). We write gc(κ) to denote the largest τ < κ such that Lκ ⊨ “τ is a cardinal” and cf (τ) for τ ∈ ON to denote the cofinality of τ.In §1 we give the basic definitions and state the results of Silver and Friedman (1980) used by Sacks to show that if E(α) = Lκ and is not Σ1-admissible andthen P(gc(κ)) ∩ Lκ is indexical on Lκ and hence RE. We show in this case first that P(gc(κ)) ∩ Lκ indexical implies that Lκ is indexical (and hence RE).In §2 we introduce the notion of a “nonstandard stage comparison” and use it to extend the definability result of §1 to show that this Lκ is in fact REC. Finally we remark that E(α) is indexical if and only if E(α) is RE.

Analytic sets having incomparable kleene degrees

One concern of descriptive set theory is the classification of definable sets of reals. Taken loosely ‘definable’ can mean anything from projective to formally describable in the language of Zermelo-Fraenkel set theory (ZF). Recursiveness, in the case of Kleene recursion, can be a particularly informative notion of definability. Sets of integers, for example, are categorized by their positions in the upper semilattice of Turing degrees, and the algorithms for computing their characteristic functions may be taken as their defining presentations. In turn it is interesting to position the common fauna of descriptive set theory in the upper semilattice of Kleene degrees. In so doing not only do we gain a perspective on the complexity of those sets common to the study of descriptive set theory but also a refinement of the theory of analytic sets of reals. The primary concern of this paper is to calculate the relative complexity of several notable coanalytic sets of reals and display (under suitable set theoretic hypothesis) several natural solutions to Post's problem for Kleene recursion.For sets of reals A and B one says A is Kleene recursive in B (written A ≤KB) iff there is a real y so that the characteristic function XA of A is recursive (in the sense of Kleene [1959]) in y, XB and the existential integer quantifier ∃; i.e. there is an integer e so that XA(x) ≃ {e}(x, y, XB, ≃). Intuitively, membership of a real x ϵ ωω in A can be decided from an oracle for x, y and B using a computing machine with a countably infinite memory and an ability to search and manipulate that memory in finite time. A set is Kleene semirecursive in B if it is the domain of an integer valued partial function recursive in y, XB and ≃ for some real y.

The independence of control structures in abstract programming systems

An instance of a control structure is a mapping which takes one or more programs into a new program whose behavior is based on that of the original programs. An instance of a control structure is effective iff it is effectively computable. In order to study the interrelationships of control structures, . we consider abstract programming systems (numberings of the partial recursive functions) in which some control structures, effective or otherwise, are present, but others are not. This paper uses the techniques of recursive function theory, including recursion theorems and priority arguments to prove the independence of certain control structures in abstract programming systems. For example, we have obtained the following results. In effective numberings of the partial recursive functions, the one-one effective Kleene recursion theorem and the one-one effective (partial) if-then-else control structure are independent, but together, they yield all effective control structures. In any effective numbering, the effective Kleene form of the double recursion theorem yields all effective control structures.

Uniformly reflexive structures: On the nature of gödelizations and relative computability

In this paper we present an axiomatic theory within which much of the theory of computability can be developed in an abstract manner. The paper is based on the axiomatically defined concept of a Uniformly Reflexive Structure (U.R.S.). The axioms are chosen so as to capture what we view to be the essential properties of a “gödelization” of a set of functions on arbitrary infinite domain. It can be shown that (with a “standard gödelization") both the partial recursive functions and the meta-recursive functions satisfy the axioms of U.R.S. In the first part of this paper, we define U.R.S. and develop the basic working theorems of the subject (e.g., analogues of the Kleene recursion theorems). The greater part of the paper is concerned with applying these basic results to (1) investigating the properties of gödelizations, and (2) developing an intrinsic theory of relative computability. The notion of relative computability which we develop is equivalent to Turing reducibility when applied to the partial recursive functions. Applied to appropriate U.R.S. on arbitrary domains, it provides an upper-semi-lattice ordering on the set of all functions (both total and partial) on that domain.