# Past Logic Seminar

29 May 2014
17:15
Andrew Brooke-Taylor
Abstract
<p>Cardinal characteristics of the continuum are (definitions for) cardinals that are provably uncountable and at most the cardinality c of the reals, but which (if the continuum hypothesis fails) may be strictly less than c.&nbsp; Cichon's diagram is a standard diagram laying out all of the ZFC-provable inequalities between the most familiar cardinal characteristics of the continuum.&nbsp; There is a natural analogy that can be drawn between these cardinal characteristics and highness properties of Turing oracles in computability theory, with implications taking the place of inequalities.&nbsp; The diagram in this context is mostly the same with a few extra equivalences: many of the implications were trivial or already known, but there remained gaps, which in joint work with Brendle, Ng and Nies we have filled in.</p>
• Logic Seminar
22 May 2014
17:15
Will Anscombe
Abstract
<p>A 1-dimensional asymptotic class (Macpherson-Steinhorn) is a class of finite structures which satisfies the theorem of Chatzidakis-van den Dries-Macintyre about finite fields: definable sets are assigned a measure and dimension which gives the cardinality of the set asymptotically, and there are only finitely many dimensions and measures in any definable family. There are many examples of these classes, and they all have reasonably tame theories. Non-principal ultraproducts of these classes are supersimple of finite rank.<br /><br /> Recently this definition has been generalised to `Multidimensional Asymptotic Class' (joint work with Macpherson-Steinhorn-Wood). This is a much more flexible framework, suitable for multi-sorted structures. Examples are not necessarily simple. I will give conditions which imply simplicity/supersimplicity of non-principal ultraproducts.<br /><br /> An interesting example is the family of vector spaces over finite fields with a non-degenerate bilinear form (either alternating or symmetric). If there's time, I will explain some joint work with Kestner in which we look in detail at this class.</p>
• Logic Seminar
13 March 2014
17:15
Colin McLarty
Abstract
Several number theorists have stressed that the proofs of FLT focus on small concrete arithmetically defined groups rings and modules, so the steps can be checked by direct calculation in any given case. The talk looks at this in relation both to Hilbert's idea of contentual (inhaltlich) mathematics, and to formal provability in Peano arithmetic and other stronger and weaker axioms.
• Logic Seminar
27 February 2014
17:15
Kentaro Fujimoto
Abstract
Formal truth theory sits between mathematical logic and philosophy. In this talk, I will try to give a partial overview of formal truth theory, from my particular perspective and research, in connection to some areas of mathematical logic.
• Logic Seminar
13 February 2014
17:15
Philip Welch
Abstract
It is well known that infinite perfect information two person games at low levels in the arithmetic hierarchy of sets have winning strategies for one of the players, and moreover this fact can be proven in analysis alone. This has led people to consider reverse mathematical analyses of precisely which subsystems of second order arithmetic are needed. We go over the history of these results. Recently Montalban and Shore gave a precise delineation of the amount of determinacy provable in analysis. Their arguments use concretely given levels of the Gödel constructible hierarchy. It should be possible to lift those arguments to the amount of determinacy, properly including analytic determinacy, provable in stronger theories than the standard ZFC set theory. We summarise some recent joint work with Chris Le Sueur.
• Logic Seminar
30 January 2014
17:15
Dugald Macpherson
Abstract
<p>A pseudofinite group is an infinite model of the theory of finite groups. I will discuss what can be said about pseudofinite groups under various tameness assumptions on the theory (e.g. NIP, supersimplicity), structural results on pseudofinite permutation groups, and connections to word maps and generalisations.</p>
• Logic Seminar
23 January 2014
17:15
Itaï Ben Yaacov
Abstract
<p>In joint work with T. Tsankov we study a (yet other) point at which model theory and dynamics intersect. On the one hand, a (metric) aleph_0-categorical structure is determined, up to bi-interpretability, by its automorphism group, while on the other hand, such automorphism groups are exactly the Roelcke precompact ones. One can further identify formulae on the one hand with Roelcke-continuous functions on the other hand, and similarly stable formulae with WAP functions, providing an easy tool for proving that a group is Roelcke precompact and for calculating its Roelcke/WAP compactification. Model-theoretic techniques, transposed in this manner into the topological realm, allow one to prove further that if R(G) = W(G); then G is totally minimal. </p>
• Logic Seminar
28 November 2013
17:15
James Studd
Abstract
The use of tensed language and the metaphor of set "formation" found in informal descriptions of the iterative conception of set are seldom taken at all seriously. This talk offers an axiomatisation of the iterative conception in a bimodal language and presents some reasons to thus take the tense more seriously than usual (although not literally).
• Logic Seminar
21 November 2013
17:15
Alex Wilkie
Abstract
I am interested in integer solutions to equations of the form $f(x)=0$ where $f$ is a transcendental, globally analytic function defined in a neighbourhood of $\infty$ in $\mathbb{R}^n \cup \{\infty\}$. These notions will be defined precisely, and clarified in the wider context of globally semi-analytic and globally subanalytic sets. The case $n=1$ is trivial (the global assumption forces there to be only finitely many (real) zeros of $f$) and the case $n=2$, which I shall briefly discuss, is completely understood: the number of such integer zeros of modulus at most $H$ is of order $\log\log H$. I shall then go on to consider the situation in higher dimensions.
• Logic Seminar
14 November 2013
17:15
Lee Butler
Abstract
A major desideratum in transcendental number theory is a simple sufficient condition for a given real number to be irrational, or better yet transcendental. In this talk we consider various forms such a criterion might take, and prove the existence or non-existence of them in various settings.
• Logic Seminar