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In "The field of reals with a predicate for the powers of two", Van den Dries has proved that the set of integers is not definable in $(\mathbb{R}, +,\cdot, \leq, 0, 1, 2^{\mathbb{Z}})$, where $2^{\mathbb{Z}}=\{2^n: n \in \mathbb{Z} \}$.

Question. Is there a subset $S$ of $2^{\mathbb{Z}}$ such that $\mathbb{Z}$ is definable in $(\mathbb{R}, +,\cdot, \leq, 0, 1, S)?$

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The answer is no, due to Friedman and Miller, Expansions of o-minimal structures by sparse sets, Fundamenta Mathematicae, 1(167), 55-64. Thanks to Erik Walsberg for providing the reference.

The main result of the paper is the following remarkable theorem:

Let $\mathfrak{R}$ be an o-minimal expansion of $(\mathbb{R}, <, +)$. Let $E \subseteq \mathbb{R}$ be such that, for every $m\in \mathbb{N}$ and $f: \mathbb{R}^m \to \mathbb{R}$ definable in $\mathfrak{R}$, the closure of $f(E^m)$ is a finite union of discrete sets. Then every subset of $\mathbb{R}$ definable in $(\mathfrak{R},E)^\#$ either has interior or is a finite union of discrete sets.

Here $(\mathfrak{R},E)^\#$ is the structure obtained by adding to $\mathfrak{R}$ predicates picking out every subset of every cartesian power $E^k$ of $E$.

Moreover, they show that the same is true if "a finite union of discrete sets" is replaced by "nowhere dense", "null", "countable", or "discrete".

As an example, Friedman and Miller observe that the work of van den Dries implies that the theorem applies to $E = 2^{\mathbb{Z}}$. So you can expand the real field by all subsets of $2^\mathbb{Z}$ at once, without defining $\mathbb{Z}$ (since defining $\mathbb{Z}$ implies defining $\mathbb{Q}$ which has empty interior but is not a finite union of discrete sets).

Note, however, that there are subsets $X\subseteq 2^{\mathbb{Z}}$ such that $(\mathbb{R},+,\cdot,\leq,0,1,X)$ interprets $(\mathbb{Z},+,\cdot)$. For example, let $X = \{2^{n^2}\mid n\in \mathbb{N}\}$. Since every natural number is the sum of four squares, $X^4 = 2^\mathbb{N}$, and by taking quotients, we can define $2^\mathbb{Z}$. Then $(2^\mathbb{Z},\cdot,X)$ is isomorphic to $(\mathbb{Z},+,S)$, where $S$ is a predicate picking out the perfect squares, and multiplication on $\mathbb{Z}$ is definable in $(\mathbb{Z},+,S)$.

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  • $\begingroup$ You might also be interested in the sequel paper by the same authors Expansions of o-minimal structures by fast sequences. $\endgroup$ Commented Apr 18, 2018 at 5:27
  • $\begingroup$ hi! this is a wonderful theorem. I have quite an off-topic comment, but I stumbled on your answer here so I hope it's okay to ask. do you happen to know if much is known about the reduct $(\mathbb{R},<,+,2^{\mathbb{Z}})$? in particular, I'm curious what the induced structure on $2^\mathbb{Z}$ in this reduct is. I don't see anything to immediately rule out the induced structure being o-minimal, but maybe I'm missing something obvious $\endgroup$ Commented Apr 3, 2022 at 17:09
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    $\begingroup$ @AtticusStonestrom I don't know off the top of my head. A good place to start might be the paper "A tetrachotomy for expansions of the real ordered additive group" by Hieronymi and Walsberg. They don't treat this example explicitly, but I think it should fall on the tamest side of their "tetrachotomy". You could also ask either of the authors of that paper - I'm sure they have thought about this expansion. $\endgroup$ Commented Apr 3, 2022 at 17:51
  • $\begingroup$ wonderful, thank you for the reference!! $\endgroup$ Commented Apr 3, 2022 at 17:53
  • $\begingroup$ (okay, I asked Hieronymi, and he said that he indeed believes the induced structure is just $(2^\mathbb{Z},<)$.) $\endgroup$ Commented Apr 9, 2022 at 14:16

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