Computability theory originated with the seminal work of Gödel, Church, Turing, Kleene and Post in the 1930s. This theory includes a wide spectrum of topics, such as the theory of reducibilities and their degree structures, computably enumerable sets and their automorphisms, and subrecursive hierarchy classifications. Recent work in computability theory has focused on Turing definability and promises to have far-reaching mathematical, scientific, and philosophical consequences. Written by a leading researcher, Computability Theory provides a concise, comprehensive, and authoritative introduction to contemporary (...) computability theory, techniques, and results. The basic concepts and techniques of computability theory are placed in their historical, philosophical and logical context. This presentation is characterized by an unusual breadth of coverage and the inclusion of advanced topics not to be found elsewhere in the literature at this level. The book includes both the standard material for a first course in computability and more advanced looks at degree structures, forcing, priority methods, and determinacy. The final chapter explores a variety of computability applications to mathematics and science. Computability Theory is an invaluable text, reference, and guide to the direction of current research in the field. Nowhere else will you find the techniques and results of this beautiful and basic subject brought alive in such an approachable and lively way. (shrink)

Simpson introduced the lattice of Π0 1 classes under Medvedev reducibility. Questions regarding completeness in are related to questions about measure and randomness. We present a solution to a question of Simpson about Medvedev degrees of Π0 1 classes of positive measure that was independently solved by Simpson and Slaman. We then proceed to discuss connections to constructive logic. In particular we show that the dual of does not allow an implication operator (i.e. that is not a Heyting algebra). We (...) also discuss properties of the class of PA-complete sets that are relevant in this context. (shrink)

Let $\mathfrak{M}$ be the Medvedev lattice: this paper investigates some filters and ideals (most of them already introduced by Dyment, [4]) of $\mathfrak{M}$ . If $\mathfrak{G}$ is any of the filters or ideals considered, the questions concerning $\mathfrak{G}$ which we try to answer are: (1) is $\mathfrak{G}$ prime? What is the cardinality of ${\mathfrak{M} \mathord{\left/ {\vphantom {\mathfrak{M} \mathfrak{G}}} \right. \kern-0em} \mathfrak{G}}$ ? Occasionally, we point out some general facts on theT-degrees or the partial degrees, by which these questions can be (...) answered. (shrink)

We investigate the initial segments of the Medvedev lattice as Brouwer algebras, and study the propositional logics connected to them.

We characterize the join-irreducible Medvedev degrees as the degrees of complements of Turing ideals, thereby solving a problem posed by Sorbi. We use this characterization to prove that there are Medvedev degrees above the second-least degree that do not bound any join-irreducible degrees above this second-least degree. This solves a problem posed by Sorbi and Terwijn. Finally, we prove that the filter generated by the degrees of closed sets is not prime. This solves a problem posed by Bianchini and Sorbi.

We investigate the structure of the Medvedev lattice as a partial order. We prove that every interval in the lattice is either finite, in which case it is isomorphic to a finite Boolean algebra, or contains an antichain of size $2^{2^{\aleph }0}$ , the size of the lattice itself. We also prove that it is consistent with ZFC that the lattice has chains of size $2^{2^{\aleph }0}$ , and in fact these big chains occur in every infinite interval. We also (...) study embeddings of lattices and algebras. We show that large Boolean algebras can be embedded into the Medvedev lattice as upper semilattices, but that a Boolean algebra can be embedded as a lattice only if it is countable. Finally we discuss which of these results hold for the closely related Muchnik lattice. (shrink)

We consider some nonprincipal filters of the Medvedev lattice. We prove that the filter generated by the nonzero closed degrees of difficulty is not principal and we compare this filter, with respect to inclusion, with some other filters of the lattice. All the filters considered in this paper are disjoint from the prime ideal generated by the dense degrees of difficulty.