Solovay showed that there are noncomputable reals ff such that H(ff _ n) 6 H(1n) + O(1), where H is prefix-free Kolmogorov complexity. Such H-trivial reals are interesting due to the connection between algorithmic complexity and effective randomness. We give a new, easier construction of an H-trivial real. We also analyze various computability-theoretic properties of the H-trivial reals, showing for example that no H-trivial real can compute the halting problem. Therefore, our construction of an H-trivial computably enumerable set is an easy, injury-free construction of an incomplete computably enumerable set. Finally, we relate the H-trivials to other classes of "highly nonrandom " reals that have been previously studied.

An explicit recursion-theoretic definition of a random sequence or random set of natural numbers was given by Martin-Löf in 1966. Other approaches leading to the notions of n-randomness and weak n-randomness have been presented by Solovay, Chaitin, and Kurtz. We investigate the properties of n-random and weakly n-random sequences with an emphasis on the structure of their Turing degrees. After an introduction and summary, in Chapter II we present several equivalent definitions of n-randomness and weak n-randomness including a new definition in terms of a forcing relation analogous to the characterization of n-generic sequences in terms of Cohen forcing. We also prove that, as conjectured by Kurtz, weak nrandomness is indeed strictly weaker than n-randomness. Chapter III is concerned with intrinsic properties of n-random sequences. The main results are that an (n + 1)-random sequence A satisfies the condition A (n) ≡T A⊕0 (n) (strengthening a result due originally to Sacks) and that n-random sequences satisfy a number of strong independence properties, e.g., if A ⊕ B is n-random then A is n-random relative to B. It follows that any countable distributive lattice can be embedded

The degrees of unsolvability have been extensively studied by Sacks in (4). This paper studies problems concerned with lower bounds of pairs of recursively enumerable (r.e.) degrees. It grew out of an unpublished paper written in June 1964 which presented a proof of the following conjecture of Sacks ((4) 170): there exist two r.e. degrees a, b whose greatest lower bound is 0. This result was first announced by Yates (6); the present author's proof is superficially at least quite different from that of Yates. The author is grateful to Yates for pointing out two errors in the original proof of Lemma 3, and for his careful reading of the whole of the earlier paper. The result already mentioned is Theorem 1 of this paper. As a by-product of the construction we can obtain a ' = b ' = 0'; Yates has made a similar observation regarding his construction. In Theorem 2 it is proved that there are r.e. degrees a, b whose greatest lower bound is 0 such that a, b are the degrees of maximal r.e. sets. Next, we show

Let R be a notion of algorithmic randomness for individual subsets of N. We say B is a base for R randomness if there is a Z �T B such that Z is R random relative to B. We show that the bases for 1-randomness are exactly the K-trivial sets and discuss several consequences of this result. We also show that the bases for computable randomness include every ∆ 0 2 set that is not diagonally noncomputable, but no set of PA-degree. As a consequence, we conclude that an n-c.e. set is a base for computable randomness iff it is Turing incomplete. 1

The biinterpretability conjecture for the r.e. degrees asks whether, for each sufficiently large k, the # k relations on the r.e. degrees are uniformly definable from parameters. We solve a weaker version: for each k >= 7, the k relations bounded from below by a nonzero degree are uniformly definable. As applications, we show that...

Abstract. One approach to understanding the fine structure of initial segment complexity was introduced by Downey, Hirschfeldt and LaForte. They define X ≤K Y to mean that (∀n) K(X ↾ n) ≤ K(Y ↾ n) +O(1). The equivalence classes under this relation are the K-degrees. We prove that if X ⊕ Y is 1-random, then X and Y have no upper bound in the K-degrees (hence, no join). We also prove that n-randomness is closed upward in the K-degrees. Our main tool is another structure intended to measure the degree of randomness of real numbers: the vL-degrees. Unlike the K-degrees, many basic properties of the vL-degrees are easy to prove. We show that X ≤K Y implies X ≤vL Y, so some results can be transferred. The reverse implication is proved to fail. The same analysis is also done for ≤C, the analogue of ≤K for plain Kolmogorov complexity. Two other interesting results are included. First, we prove that for any Z ∈ 2ω, a 1-random real computable from a 1-Z-random real is automatically 1-Z-random. Second, we give a plain Kolmogorov complexity characterization of 1-randomness. This characterization is related to our proof that X ≤C Y implies X ≤vL Y. 1.

: A set A of nonnegative integers is recursively enumerable (r.e.) if A can be computably listed. It is shown that there is a first order property, Q(X), definable in E, the lattice of r.e. sets under inclusion, such that: (1) if A is any r.e. set satisfying Q(A) then A is nonrecursive and Turing incomplete; and (2) there exists an r.e. set A satisfying Q(A). This resolves a long open question stemming from Post's Program of 1944, and it sheds new light on the fundamental problem of the relationship between the algebraic structure of an r.e. set A and the (Turing) degree of information which A encodes. Recursively enumerable (r.e.) sets have been a central topic in mathematical logic, in recursion theory (i.e. computability theory), and in undecidable problems. They are the next most effective type of set beyond recursive (i.e. computable) sets, and they occur naturally in many branches of mathematics. This together with the existence of nonrecursive r.e. sets has enabled them to pl...

Consider the countable semilattice RT consisting of the recursively enumerable Turing degrees. Although RT is known to be structurally rich, a major source of frustration is that no specific, natural degrees in RT have been discovered, except the bottom and top degrees, 0 and 0 ′. In order to overcome this difficulty, we embed RT into a larger degree structure which is better behaved. Namely, consider the countable distributive lattice Pw consisting of the weak degrees (also known as Muchnik degrees) of mass problems associated with non-empty Π 0 1 subsets of 2ω. It is known that Pw contains a bottom degree 0 and a top degree 1 and is structurally rich. Moreover, Pw contains many specific, natural degrees other than 0 and 1. In particular, we show that in Pw one has 0 < d < r1 < inf(r2, 1) < 1. Here, d is the weak degree of the diagonally non-recursive functions, and rn is the weak degree of the n-random reals. It is known that r1 can be characterized as the maximum weak degree ofaΠ 0 1 subset of 2ω of positive measure. We now show that inf(r2, 1) can be characterized as the maximum weak degree of a Π 0 1 subset of 2ω, the Turing upward closure of which is of positive measure. We exhibit a natural embedding of RT into Pw which is one-to-one, preserves the semilattice structure of RT, carries 0 to 0, and carries 0 ′ to 1. Identifying RT with its image in Pw, we show that all of the degrees in RT except 0 and 1 are incomparable with the specific degrees d, r1, and inf(r2, 1) inPw. 1.

ABSTRACT. For any rational number r, we show that there exists a set A (weak truthtable reducible to the halting problem) such that any set B weak truth-table reducible to it has effective Hausdorff dimension at most r, where A itself has dimension at least r. This implies, for any rational r, the existence of a wtt-lower cone of effective dimension r. 1.

Abstract not found