Invariant sets in real number fields (Q6136247)

A set of complex numbers closed under addition and multiplication has been called \textit{invariant} by \textit{G. Kiss} et al. [``Decompositions of the positive real numbers into disjoint sets closed under addition and multiplication'', Preprint, \url{arXiv:2303.16579}], who showed that for every \(k\ge2\) the set of positive reals is a disjoint union of \(k\) invariant sets, but for every finite extension \(K\) of the rationals the set of positive elements of \(K\) is not a union of two disjoint invariant sets. The main result of the paper (Theorem 4) describes invariant sets of the form \(K\cap I\), where \(K\) is a real number field and \(I\) is a real interval and shows that \(K\cap I\) can be a union of \(k\ge2\) invariant sets only in the trivial case \(k=2\), \(K\cap [0,\infty]=\{0\}\cup (K\cap (0,\infty))\).