Diophantine subsets of function fields of curves (Q1005866)

In number theory, a Diophantine set in \({\mathbb Z}^k\) is a subset \(D \subset {\mathbb Z}^k\) for which there exists a polynomial \(F(x;y) = F(x_1,\dots,x_k; y_1,\dots,y_n)\) with integer coefficients such that \(F(x;y) = 0\) has a solution with integer \(x_i\) and natural \(y_j\) iff \(x = (x_1,\dots,x_k) \in D\). By the theorem of Matiyasevich, the Diophantine sets in \({\mathbb Z}^n\) are the same as the recursively enumerable sets in \({\mathbb Z}^k\). In this paper are studied basic questions regarding certain generalized Diophantine sets. By the definition on page 209, a subset \(D \subset R\) is Diophantine if there are polynomials \(F_i(x;y_1,\dots,y_n) \in R[x;y_1,\dots,y_n]\) such that the system \(F_i(x;y_1,\dots,y_n) = 0, \forall i\) has a solution \((y_1,\dots,y_n) \in R^n\) iff \(x \in D\). The main question about such generalized Diophantine sets is to find a similar characterization as in case regarded above. However this question seems to be hard in any particular nontrivial case; for example it is not known whether \({\mathbb Z}\) is a Diophantine subset of the rationals \(R = {\mathbb Q}\), see the introduction. In this paper is studied in more detail the case when \(R = k(t)\) where \(k\) is an uncountable field of characteristic \(0\). Theorem 4, the main technical result of the paper, shows that a Diophantine subset \(D \subset k(t)\) is, roughly speaking, either very small or very large. This yields two impressive conclusions: Corollary 1. \(k[t]\) is not a Diophantine subset of \(k(t)\); Corollary 2. If \(K_2 \supset K_1 \supset k(t)\) are finite field extensions, then \(K_1\) is a Diophantine subset of \(K_2\) iff \(K_1 = K_2\). Especially, the 2nd Corollary answers in this case to a question of Bogomolov: When a subfield \(K_1 \subset K_2\) is Diophantine in \(K_2\) ? The proof of Theorem 4 relies on the theory of rational curves on varieties, to which the author has the main contribution, see [\textit{J. Kollár}, Rational curves on algebraic varieties. Berlin: Springer Verlag (1995; Zbl 0877.14012)].