Denseness results in the theory of algebraic fields (Q2033000)

By an \textit{algebraic field} of characteristic 0, the authors mean an algebraic extension of \(\mathbb{Q}\). The main result of this paper is Theorem 1.1, which says that every model of the common theory of algebraic fields of characteristic \(0\) is dense in all its real closures and in all its \(p\)-adic closures. The authors point out that a stronger result holds for algebraic fields: they are dense in their henselization with respect to any valuation (not just with respect to \(p\)-valuations), and that this stronger result no longer holds for arbitrary models of the common theory of algebraic fields. The authors obtain an important consequence of Theorem 1.1, which is Corollary 1.2 saying that if \(\mathbb{Q}\subseteq F\) is an algebraic field extension such that \(\mathbb{Q}\) is properly contained in the algebraic part of \(\mathbb{R}\) or in some \(\mathbb{Q}_p\), then the ring of power series over \(F\) is definable by an existential formula in the field of Laurent series over \(F\). The authors also show that the ``properly contained'' assumption above is necessary.