Skip to main content
1 of 3
Noah Schweber
  • 21.2k
  • 10
  • 110
  • 331

Is there a decidable theory of arithmetic with a non-collapsing quantifier hierarchy?

This question is very close to this old MSE question of mine, which is still unanswered.

Is there an (ideally reasonably-natural!) expansion of the structure $(\mathbb{N};+)$ in a finite language whose first-order theory is computable but such that, for each $n$, there is an $n$-quantifier formula not defining the same relation as any $<n$-quantifier formula?

For example, adjoining exponentiation with base $2$ does not work since its quantifier hierarchy collapses (due to Cherlin/Point, see here). Indeed, all the decidability results I'm familiar with for theories of arithmetic rely on quantifier elimination after some finite expansion by definitions, and so won't help here.

Noah Schweber
  • 21.2k
  • 10
  • 110
  • 331