% ===================================================================== % turing_degrees_rigidity_v2.txt % % Rigidity of the Turing degrees: a complete, self-contained proof that % every order automorphism of the Turing degrees is the identity. % % This single file replaces the original collection % Rigidity-of-the-Turing-degrees/{main,glyph-mappings,references}.tex % .../sections/{introduction,preliminaries,representation,recovery,rigidity}.tex % .../figures/bounded-recurrence.tex % % Exactly one external input is used: the Slaman--Woodin representation % theorem (Theorem 3.1 below). Everything else is proved here. % % Written to be read by a strong high-school student: every symbol is % introduced before it is used, every lemma has a full proof, and the % two ideas that make the argument work (a bounded recurrence, and % Baire category) are explained in plain words first. % ===================================================================== \documentclass[11pt]{article} \usepackage[T1]{fontenc} \usepackage{lmodern} \usepackage{amsmath,amssymb,amsthm,mathtools} \usepackage[margin=1.1in]{geometry} \usepackage{microtype} \usepackage{enumitem} \usepackage{tikz} \usetikzlibrary{arrows.meta} \usepackage[colorlinks=true,linkcolor=blue,citecolor=blue,urlcolor=blue]{hyperref} \hypersetup{pdftitle={Rigidity of the Turing degrees}} \setlength{\emergencystretch}{1.5em} \setlist[enumerate]{leftmargin=*,itemsep=3pt,topsep=4pt} \setlist[itemize]{leftmargin=*,itemsep=3pt,topsep=4pt} \numberwithin{equation}{section} \newtheorem{theorem}{Theorem}[section] \newtheorem{proposition}[theorem]{Proposition} \newtheorem{lemma}[theorem]{Lemma} \newtheorem{corollary}[theorem]{Corollary} \theoremstyle{remark} \newtheorem{remark}[theorem]{Remark} \newcommand{\N}{\mathbb N} \newcommand{\Q}{\mathbb Q} \newcommand{\R}{\mathbb R} \newcommand{\DT}{\mathcal D_T} \newcommand{\leT}{\le_T} \newcommand{\equivT}{\equiv_T} \newcommand{\degT}[1]{[#1]_T} \DeclareMathOperator{\Aut}{Aut} \title{Rigidity of the Turing degrees} \author{} \date{} \begin{document} \maketitle \begin{abstract} Every order automorphism of the partial order of Turing degrees is the identity. We give a complete proof. The single external input is a Slaman--Woodin representation theorem, which turns an arbitrary automorphism into a Borel function on sets of integers. Everything else is proved from scratch, and two tools do the work: a four-value recovery lemma for Borel functions that are subadditive up to join, and a Baire category argument that removes the auxiliary reals used in the recovery. \end{abstract} % ===================================================================== \section{Introduction}\label{sec:introduction} \subsection{What a Turing degree is} Fix once and for all an effective list $(\Phi_e)_{e\in\N}$ of Turing machines (think: programs). A set $A\subseteq\N$ is \emph{computable} if some machine decides membership in $A$: it halts with output $1$ on inputs $n\in A$ and with output $0$ on inputs $n\notin A$. An \emph{oracle} for a set $B\subseteq\N$ is a black box that answers the question ``is $n\in B$?'' for any $n$, instantly and correctly. An \emph{oracle machine} is a Turing machine that may consult such a box at any time. Write \[ A\leT B \] if some oracle machine with an oracle for $B$ decides membership in $A$. Thus $A\leT B$ means ``$B$ carries at least as much information as $A$'', or ``$A$ can be computed from $B$''. This relation is reflexive and transitive; the underlying notion of relative computation is Turing's \cite[Section~4]{Turing1939}, and \cite{Soare1987} is the standard reference for the subject. Mutual reducibility $A\equivT B$ (both $A\leT B$ and $B\leT A$) is an equivalence relation. The class $\degT A$ of $A$ is its \emph{Turing degree}. The relation \[ \degT A\leT\degT B \iff A\leT B \] is well defined and makes the set $\DT$ of all degrees a partial order, the \emph{Turing degrees}. The least degree $\mathbf 0$ is the degree of the computable sets. Any two degrees have a least upper bound, the \emph{join} $\mathbf a\vee\mathbf b$: it is the degree of $A\oplus B$, where $A\oplus B$ interleaves the characteristic functions of $A$ and $B$. An oracle computes $A\oplus B$ exactly when it computes both $A$ and $B$, so $\mathbf a\vee\mathbf b$ is indeed the least upper bound. Finite joins are obtained by repeating this operation; the result does not depend on the bracketing. \subsection{The question} An \emph{order automorphism} of $(\DT,\leT)$ is a bijection $\pi:\DT\to\DT$ with \[ \mathbf a\leT\mathbf b \quad\Longleftrightarrow\quad \pi(\mathbf a)\leT\pi(\mathbf b). \] Such a $\pi$ is a symmetry of the information order: it may rename degrees, but it must preserve every comparison. The rigidity conjecture predicts that there is nothing to rename, that is, that the ordering by itself determines each degree. We prove it. \begin{theorem}[Rigidity]\label{thm:rigidity} Every order automorphism $\pi$ of $(\DT,\leT)$ is the identity: \[ \pi(\mathbf a)=\mathbf a \qquad(\mathbf a\in\DT). \] \end{theorem} No definability, measurability, or continuity is assumed on $\pi$; it is an arbitrary bijection of a set of size $2^{\aleph_0}$. Two remarks will be used without further comment. First, an order automorphism fixes $\mathbf 0$, since $\mathbf 0$ is the unique least element. Second, it preserves joins, since a join is a least upper bound and least upper bounds are described purely in terms of $\leT$. Thus $\pi(\mathbf 0)=\mathbf 0$ and $\pi(\mathbf a\vee\mathbf b)=\pi(\mathbf a)\vee\pi(\mathbf b)$. \subsection{What was already known} The \emph{Turing jump} sends a degree $\mathbf a$ to the degree $\mathbf a'$ of the halting problem relative to an oracle of degree $\mathbf a$. Jockusch and Solovay proved that every jump-preserving order automorphism fixes every degree above $\mathbf 0^{(4)}$, the fourth jump of $\mathbf 0$ \cite{JockuschSolovay1977}. Shore and Slaman proved that the jump is definable from the ordering alone \cite{ShoreSlaman1999}, so every order automorphism preserves the jump; Shore later gave direct degree-theoretic definitions \cite{Shore2007}. A \emph{cone} is the set of all degrees above a fixed degree. Nerode and Shore proved that every automorphism fixes some cone, whose base may depend on the automorphism \cite{NerodeShore1980}; see also \cite[Theorem~3.2]{SlamanGlobal}. Slaman and Woodin improved this to a cone fixed by \emph{all} automorphisms at once, namely the cone above $\mathbf 0''$. They also showed that each automorphism is induced on degrees by an arithmetic function on sets of integers, and that the automorphism group is countable \cite{SlamanWoodin2005,SlamanGlobal}. So the ordering does determine a great deal. What was missing was any control on degrees below $\mathbf 0''$, where an automorphism could in principle permute freely. \subsection{The plan} The proof has four steps, one per section. \begin{enumerate} \item \emph{Code reals by degrees} (Section~\ref{sec:preliminaries}). Associate to a real number $x$ the set $C(x)$ of rationals below $x$, and let $d(x)$ be its degree. Rational affine combinations then have degrees below the join of the ingredients (Lemma~\ref{lem:cuts}). Two category lemmas are also proved here. \item \emph{Pass to a nice function} (Section~\ref{sec:representation}). By Slaman--Woodin, an arbitrary $\pi$ is induced by an arithmetic, hence Borel, function $\widehat F$ on sets. Composing with $C$ gives a Borel $F:\R\to2^\N$ with $\degT{F(x)}=\pi(d(x))$ and, because $\pi$ preserves joins, $F(x+y)\leT F(x)\oplus F(y)$. \item \emph{Recover a parameter from four values} (Section~\ref{sec:recovery}). For such an $F$, and any irrational $t\in(0,1)$, the cut $C(t)$ is computable from four values of $F$ at explicit affine arguments, for a comeager set of auxiliary pairs $(u,v)$. The engine is a bounded recurrence, explained in plain words below. \item \emph{Remove the auxiliaries} (Section~\ref{sec:rigidity}). A bound that holds for comeager many $(u,v)$ and mentions $u,v$ can be freed of them by Sacks' category cone avoidance. Applied to $\pi$ and to $\pi^{-1}$, this forces $\pi$ to be the identity. \end{enumerate} The bounded recurrence, in plain words. Pick a rational step length $\delta>0$. Start a walker at $0$. At stage $n$ the walker is at $s_n$; we look at one bit of $F(u+s_n)$ and use it to choose one of two steps, $+\delta t$ or $-\delta(1-t)$. The bit is rigged so that near the right end of an interval $[b_-,b_+]$ the walker is pushed left, and near the left end pushed right. Since each step is shorter than $\delta$, the walker never leaves $[b_-,b_+]$. Summing the steps shows that a state $s_N$ is $\delta(Nt-\#\{\text{left steps}\})$, so the long-run frequency of left steps is $t$ with an explicit error bound. The point is that the walker's \emph{states} need never be computed by the reduction: only the \emph{bits}, which are bits of the four known values of $F$. That is what makes the recovery effective. \subsection{The one external input} Step 2 is the only place where we appeal to deep prior work: the all-input form of the Slaman--Woodin representation theorem, which assigns to every automorphism of the full degree order a single arithmetic function on sets that induces it at \emph{every} input, not merely at generic inputs \cite[Theorem~6.3.1(2)]{SlamanWoodin2005}; it is restated as Theorem~\ref{thm:representation} below. This supplies the regularity (Borelness) needed for category arguments, while keeping the unrestricted scope of Theorem~\ref{thm:rigidity}. \subsection{A consequence for definability} Full second-order arithmetic is the two-sorted structure of natural numbers together with all subsets of $\N$, with arithmetic operations and membership. Slaman and Woodin interpret this structure inside finite tuples of Turing degrees. Their \emph{biinterpretability} conjecture asks whether the relation matching a tuple coding a set $X\subseteq\N$ with the degree $\degT X$ is first-order definable in the degree ordering without parameters \cite[Definition~7.5.1]{SlamanWoodin2005}. They prove that this is equivalent to rigidity \cite[Theorem~7.5.3]{SlamanWoodin2005}, so Theorem~\ref{thm:rigidity} settles it; see Corollary~\ref{cor:biinterpretability}. \subsection{Organization} Section~\ref{sec:preliminaries} sets up the coding of reals by degrees and proves the three lemmas on cuts, continuity, and category avoidance. Section~\ref{sec:representation} states the Slaman--Woodin theorem and extracts the Borel function $F$ on $\R$. Section~\ref{sec:recovery} proves four-value recovery. Section~\ref{sec:rigidity} proves rigidity and the corollary. % ===================================================================== \section{Reals, degrees, and category}\label{sec:preliminaries} \subsection{Coding a real number by a degree} A degree is attached to a set of integers, but addition lives on the real line. The bridge is the rational cut. Identify a subset of $\N$ with its characteristic function, so that $2^\N$ is the set of all subsets of $\N$, topologized as a product of discrete two-point spaces (Cantor space). Fix an effective listing $(q_i)_{i\in\N}$ of $\Q$, for instance $0,1,-1,2,-2,\dots$, and for $x\in\R$ put \[ C(x)=\{i\in\N : q_i0$ such that the bit $j$ differs from $h$ on $H\cap[b_-,b_-+\varepsilon_1]$ and equals $h$ on $H\cap[b_+-\varepsilon_2,b_+]$. Any smaller positive number has the same property, so a rational $\delta$ with $0<\delta<\min(\rho,\varepsilon_1,\varepsilon_2)$ gives \begin{align} F(u+s)(j)&\ne h &&\bigl(s\in H\cap[b_-,b_-+\delta]\bigr),\label{eq:left}\\ F(u+s)(j)&=h &&\bigl(s\in H\cap[b_+-\delta,b_+]\bigr).\label{eq:right} \end{align} Every translate tested here lies in $D$ by \eqref{eq:all-shifts}; the endpoints themselves are not tested. \medskip \noindent\emph{Step 4: a walk that cannot escape.} Define $s_0=0$ and, for $n\ge0$, \begin{equation}\label{eq:recurrence} r_n=\begin{cases}1,&F(u+s_n)(j)=h,\\ 0,&F(u+s_n)(j)\ne h,\end{cases} \qquad s_{n+1}=s_n+\delta(t-r_n). \end{equation} Then $s_n\in H\cap[b_-,b_+]$ for all $n$. This is proved by induction on $n$; the case $n=0$ holds since $b_-<0b_-+\delta$; the increment $\delta(t-1)$ has size $\delta(1-t)<\delta$, so $s_{n+1}\in(b_-,s_n)$. In both cases $s_{n+1}\in[b_-,b_+]$, and rationality of $\delta$ together with $t\in H$ gives $s_{n+1}\in H$. In particular every $s_n$ and every increment $\delta(t-r_n)$ has absolute value less than $\rho$, so \eqref{eq:p} and \eqref{eq:q} apply at every stage. No monotonicity or regularity of the tested bit between the two endpoints is required; the only feature used is that near either end the bit points the next step inward. See Figure~\ref{fig:bounded-recurrence}. \begin{figure}[tb] \centering \begin{tikzpicture}[x=1cm,y=1cm,>=Stealth,font=\small] \fill[blue!12] (0,0) rectangle (1.2,.55); \fill[gray!7] (1.2,0) rectangle (8.8,.55); \fill[orange!18] (8.8,0) rectangle (10,.55); \draw[thick] (0,0) -- (10,0); \foreach \x in {0,1.2,8.8,10} {\draw (\x,-.08) -- (\x,.62);} \node[below] at (0,-.09) {$b_-$}; \node[below] at (1.2,-.09) {$b_-+\delta$}; \node[below] at (8.8,-.09) {$b_+-\delta$}; \node[below] at (10,-.09) {$b_+$}; \node at (.6,.3) {$r_n=0$}; \node at (9.4,.3) {$r_n=1$}; \node at (5,.3) {either choice may occur}; \draw[->,thick,blue!65!black] (.12,.9) -- (1.1,.9); \node[above,blue!65!black] at (.61,.97) {$+\delta t$}; \draw[->,thick,orange!70!black] (9.88,.9) -- (8.9,.9); \node[above,orange!70!black] at (9.39,.97) {$-\delta(1-t)$}; \end{tikzpicture} \caption{The bounded recurrence. In the left strip the tested bit forces the step $+\delta t$; in the right strip it forces $-\delta(1-t)$. Each step is shorter than $\delta$, so the walk never leaves $[b_-,b_+]$. The bit may behave arbitrarily in between. The reduction computes the choices $r_n$, not the states $s_n$.} \label{fig:bounded-recurrence} \end{figure} \medskip \noindent\emph{Step 5: the bits are computable from the tuple.} Let $T$ denote the join on the right of \eqref{eq:four-values}. We maintain, relative to $T$, an index $P_n$ with \[ \Phi_{P_n}^{T}=F(u+s_n). \] Initially take $P_0$ to be the projection onto the first component $F(u)$. Given $P_n$, read $\Phi_{P_n}^{T}(j)$, compare with the fixed bit $h$, and obtain $r_n$. Then select the third component of $T$ if $r_n=0$ and the fourth if $r_n=1$; that component is $F(v-u+\delta(t-r_n))$. Put $a_n=\delta(t-r_n)$. By Step 4, $s_n,a_n\in H$ and $|s_n|,|a_n|,|s_n+a_n|<\rho$. So \eqref{eq:p} applies to the pair $(s_n,a_n)$: program $p$, run with the two oracle components simulated by $\Phi_{P_n}^{T}$ and by the selected component, computes \[ F\bigl(v+s_n+a_n\bigr)=F(v+s_{n+1}). \] Since $|s_{n+1}|<\rho$, \eqref{eq:q} applies to $s_{n+1}$: program $q$, run with this output and with the fixed component $F(u-v)$, computes $F(u+s_{n+1})$. Substituting oracle programs into one another effectively produces the next index $P_{n+1}$. This is a genuine computation relative to the fixed tuple. The indices are built using the bits already computed; inductively each substituted program is total on its actual oracle and each outer program is a correct reduction at the argument pair where it is used; nesting depth is finite and every bit computation halts. No bound on running time is needed. To compute $r_n$, carry out the finite construction through stage $n$. The program uses only the integers $p,q,j,h$, the rational $\delta$, and the four components of $T$. It does not compute the states $s_n$, and it does not use $t,u,v,\rho,b_-,b_+$ as oracles. The constants may depend on $t$ and on $(u,v)$, which is exactly the nonuniformity allowed in \eqref{eq:four-values}. \medskip \noindent\emph{Step 6: recovering the parameter.} Summing \eqref{eq:recurrence} and using $s_0=0$ gives the telescoping identity \[ s_N=\delta\Bigl(Nt-\sum_{nA_N+1/(N\delta)$, and answer accordingly. The existence of such $N$ follows from \eqref{eq:error} and $q\ne t$; here irrationality of $t$ is used. So $q