Admissible sets in group theory (Q1317622)

The authors study certain multi-sorted structures naturally connected with some group-theoretic constructions and the expressive power of the first order logic for these structures. They consider the following three types of multi-sorted structures. (1) For a group \(A\) and a set \(X\) let \(\text{FOG}(X,A)\) denote the free \(A\)-operator group over \(X\), that is, the free group \(F(X,A)\) with free generator \(x^ a\), where \(x\in X\), \(a\in A\), together with the natural action of \(A\) on \(F(X,A)\). Let \(\text{FOG}(X,A)_ \omega\) denote the following three-sorted structures: its sorts are the additive semigroup of natural numbers and the groups \(A\) and \(F(X,A)\); its relations are the operations of the three structures together with the natural length function from \(F(X,A)\) to \(\omega\) and the action of elements of \(A\) on elements of \(X\). (2) For groups \(A\) and \(B\) let \((A*B)_ \omega\) denote the following two-sorted structure: its sorts are the additive semigroup of natural numbers and the free product of \(A\) and \(B\); its relations are the operations of the two structures and the natural length function from \(A*B\) to \(\omega\). (3) For a group \(A\) let \(\mathbb{Z} A_ \omega\) denote the following two- sorted structure: its sorts are the additive semigroup of natural numbers and the group ring \(\mathbb{Z} A\); its relations are the operations of the two structures and the natural length function from \(\mathbb{Z} A\) to \(\omega\). For a set of urelements \(M\), let \(\text{HF}(M)\) denote the set of all hereditary finite sets over \(M\); it is the least admissible set over \(A\) (in the sense of Barwise). For a structure \(\mathfrak M\) let \(\text{HF}({\mathfrak M})\) denote the two-sorted structure \(({\mathfrak M},\text{HF}(M),\in)\), where \(\in\) is the membership relation on \(M\cup\text{HF}(M)\). The main results of the paper are as follows. (i) If \(A\) is an infinite group then the structures \(\text{HF}(\text{FOG}(X,A)_ \omega)\), \(\text{FOG}(X,A)_ \omega\) and \(\text{HF}(A)\) are interpretable in each other without parameters. \(\text{FOG}(X,A)_ \omega\equiv\text{FOG}(Y,B)_ \omega\) iff \(\text{HF}(A)\equiv\text{HF}(B)\) and \(| X|= | Y|\), for any groups \(A\), \(B\) and at most countable sets \(X\), \(Y\). (ii) If at least one of the groups \(A\), \(B\) is infinite, then the structures \(\text{HF}((A* B)_ \omega\), \(A*B)_ \omega\) and \(\text{HF}(P(A,B))\) are interpretable in each other without parameters; here \(P(A,B)\) is the pregroup from which \(A*B\) is constructed. \((A*B)_ \omega\equiv (C* D)_ \omega\) iff \(\text{HF}(P(A,B))\equiv \text{HF}(P(C,D))\), for any groups \(A\), \(B\), \(C\), \(D\). (iii) If \(A\) is an infinite group then the structures \(\text{HF}(\mathbb{Z} A_ \omega)\), \(\mathbb{Z} A_ \omega\) and \(\text{HF}(A)\) are interpretable in each other without parameters. \(\mathbb{Z} A_ \omega\equiv \mathbb{Z} B_ \omega\) iff \(\text{HF}(A)\equiv \text{HF}(B)\), for any groups \(A\) and \(B\). It is also shown that in the results above the multisorted structures \(\text{FOG}(X,A)_ \omega\), \((A*B)_ \omega\) and \(\mathbb{Z} A_ \omega\) can be replaced by the structures \(\text{FOG}(X,A)\), \((A*B)\) and \(\mathbb{Z} A\), respectively, expanded by the binary relations of equality of length of elements.