True arithmetic


In mathematical logic, true arithmetic is the set of all true first-order statements about the arithmetic of natural numbers. This is the theory associated with the standard model of the Peano axioms in the language of the first-order Peano axioms.
True arithmetic is occasionally called Skolem arithmetic, though this term usually refers to the different theory of [natural numbers with multiplication].

Definition

The signature of Peano arithmetic includes the addition, multiplication, and successor function symbols, the equality and less-than relation symbols, and a constant symbol for 0. The formulas of the language of first-order arithmetic are built up from these symbols together with the logical symbols in the usual manner of first-order logic.
The structure is defined to be a model of Peano arithmetic as follows.
This structure is known as the [nonstandard arithmetic|standard model] or intended interpretation of first-order arithmetic.
A sentence in the language of first-order arithmetic is said to be true in if it is true in the structure just defined. The notation is used to indicate that the sentence is true in
True arithmetic is defined to be the set of all sentences in the language of first-order arithmetic that are true in, written. This set is, equivalently, the theory of the structure.

Arithmetic undefinability

The central result on true arithmetic is the undefinability theorem of Alfred Tarski. It states that
the set is not arithmetically definable. This means that there is no formula in the language of first-order arithmetic such that, for every sentence θ in this language,
Here is the numeral of the canonical Gödel number of the sentence θ.
Post's theorem is a sharper version of the undefinability theorem that shows a relationship between the definability of and the Turing degrees, using the arithmetical hierarchy. For each natural number n, let be the subset of consisting of only sentences that are or lower in the arithmetical hierarchy. Post's theorem shows that, for each n, is arithmetically definable, but only by a formula of complexity higher than. Thus no single formula can define, because
but no single formula can define for arbitrarily large n.

Computability properties

As discussed above, is not arithmetically definable, by Tarski's theorem. A corollary of Post's theorem establishes that the Turing degree of is 0, and so is not decidable nor recursively enumerable.
is closely related to the theory of the recursively enumerable Turing degrees, in the signature of partial orders. In particular, there are computable functions S and T such that:
  • For each sentence φ in the signature of first-order arithmetic, φ is in if and only if S is in.
  • For each sentence ψ in the signature of partial orders, ψ is in if and only if T is in .

Model-theoretic properties

True arithmetic is an unstable theory, and so has models for each uncountable cardinal. As there are continuum many types over the empty set, true arithmetic also has countable models. Since the theory is complete, all of its models are elementarily equivalent.

True theory of second-order arithmetic

The true theory of second-order arithmetic consists of all the sentences in the language of second-order arithmetic that are satisfied by the standard model of second-order arithmetic, whose first-order part is the structure and whose second-order part consists of every subset of.
The true theory of first-order arithmetic,, is a subset of the true theory of second-order arithmetic, and is definable in second-order arithmetic. However, the generalization of Post's theorem to the analytical hierarchy shows that the true theory of second-order arithmetic is not definable by any single formula in second-order arithmetic.
has shown that the true theory of second-order arithmetic is computably interpretable with the theory of the partial order of all Turing degrees, in the signature of partial orders, and vice versa.