19:30
The Villiers Quartet at the Mathematical Institute - Late Beethoven Series III
We are delighted to welcome the Villiers Quartet back to Oxford Mathematics on May 27th 2023 when they continue their 'Late Beethoven' series with three works:
Benjamin Britten - Three Divertimenti
Alexander Goehr - Quartet No. 5 "Vision of the Soldier, Er"
Interval
Ludwig van Beethoven - Quartet Op. 130
May 27th, 7.30pm. Tickets £20 and £5 student concession
There will be a pre-concert talk 6:45pm from Dr. Peter Copley who will outline the musical impetus behind the Op.130, one of Beethoven's most personal works.

17:00
A strong version of Cobham's theorem
Abstract
Let $k,l>1$ be two multiplicatively independent integers. A subset $X$ of $\mathbb{N}^n$ is $k$-recognizable if the set of $k$-ary representations of $X$ is recognized by some finite automaton. Cobham's famous theorem states that a subset of the natural numbers is both $k$-recognizable and $l$-recognizable if and only if it is Presburger-definable (or equivalently: semilinear). We show the following strengthening. Let $X$ be $k$-recognizable, let $Y$ be $l$-recognizable such that both $X$ and $Y$ are not Presburger-definable. Then the first-order logical theory of $(\mathbb{N},+,X,Y)$ is undecidable. This is in contrast to a well-known theorem of Büchi that the first-order logical theory of $(\mathbb{N},+,X)$ is decidable. Our work strengthens and depends on earlier work of Villemaire and Bès. The essence of Cobham's theorem is that recognizability depends strongly on the choice of the base $k$. Our results strengthens this: two non-Presburger definable sets that are recognizable in multiplicatively independent bases, are not only distinct, but together computationally intractable over Presburger arithmetic. This is joint work with Christian Schulz.