We give Scott sentences for certain computable groups, and we use index set calculations as a way of checking that our Scott sentences are as simple as possible. We consider finitely generated groups and torsion-free abelian groups of finite rank. For both kinds of groups, the computable ones all have computable \ Scott sentences. Sometimes we can do better. In fact, the computable finitely generated groups that we have studied all have Scott sentences that are “computable d-\” sentence and a (...) computable \ sentence). In [9], this was shown for the finitely generated free groups. Here we show it for all finitely generated abelian groups, and for the infinite dihedral group. Among the computable torsion-free abelian groups of finite rank, we focus on those of rank 1. These are exactly the additive subgroups of \. We show that for some of these groups, the computable \ Scott sentence is best possible, while for others, there is a computable d-\ Scott sentence. (shrink)

For countable structure, "Scott rank" provides a measure of internal, model-theoretic complexity. For a computable structure, the Scott rank is at most [Formula: see text]. There are familiar examples of computable structures of various computable ranks, and there is an old example of rank [Formula: see text]. In the present paper, we show that there is a computable structure of Scott rank [Formula: see text]. We give two different constructions. The first starts with an arithmetical example due to Makkai, and (...) codes it into a computable structure. The second re-works Makkai's construction, incorporating an idea of Sacks. (shrink)

We introduce several highness notions on degrees related to the problem of computing isomorphisms between structures, provided that isomorphisms exist. We consider variants along axes of uniformity, inclusion of negative information, and several other problems related to computing isomorphisms. These other problems include Scott analysis (in the form of back-and-forth relations), jump hierarchies, and computing descending sequences in linear orders.

We investigate effective categoricity of computable Abelian p-groups . We prove that all computably categorical Abelian p-groups are relatively computably categorical, that is, have computably enumerable Scott families of existential formulas. We investigate which computable Abelian p-groups are categorical and relatively categorical.

We investigate effective categoricity of computable equivalence structures . We show that is computably categorical if and only if has only finitely many finite equivalence classes, or has only finitely many infinite classes, bounded character, and at most one finite k such that there are infinitely many classes of size k. We also prove that all computably categorical structures are relatively computably categorical, that is, have computably enumerable Scott families of existential formulas. Since all computable equivalence structures are relatively categorical, (...) we further investigate when they are categorical. We also obtain results on the index sets of computable equivalence structures. (shrink)

Classification is an important goal in many branches of mathematics. The idea is to describe the members of some class of mathematical objects, up to isomorphism or other important equivalence, in terms of relatively simple invariants. Where this is impossible, it is useful to have concrete results saying so. In model theory and descriptive set theory, there is a large body of work showing that certain classes of mathematical structures admit classification while others do not. In the present paper, we (...) describe some recent work on classification in computable structure theory.Section 1 gives some background from model theory and descriptive set theory. From model theory, we give sample structure and non-structure theorems for classes that include structures of arbitrary cardinality. We also describe the notion of Scott rank, which is useful in the more restricted setting of countable structures. From descriptive set theory, we describe the basic Polish space of structures for a fixed countable language with fixed countable universe. We give sample structure and non-structure theorems based on the complexity of the isomorphism relation, and on Borel embeddings.Section 2 gives some background on computable structures. We describe three approaches to classification for these structures. The approaches are all equivalent. However, one approach, which involves calculating the complexity of the isomorphism relation, has turned out to be more productive than the others. Section 3 describes results on the isomorphism relation for a number of mathematically interesting classes—various kinds of groups and fields. In Section 4, we consider a setting similar to that in descriptive set theory. We describe an effective analogue of Borel embedding which allows us to make distinctions even among classes of finite structures. Section 5 gives results on computable structures of high Scott rank. Some of these results make use of computable embeddings. Finally, in Section 6, we mention some open problems and possible directions for future work. (shrink)

Computable structures of Scott rank ${\omega_1^{CK}}$ are an important boundary case for structural complexity. While every countable structure is determined, up to isomorphism, by a sentence of ${\mathcal{L}_{\omega_1 \omega}}$ , this sentence may not be computable. We give examples, in several familiar classes of structures, of computable structures with Scott rank ${\omega_1^{CK}}$ whose computable infinitary theories are each ${\aleph_0}$ -categorical. General conditions are given, covering many known methods for constructing computable structures with Scott rank ${\omega_1^{CK}}$ , which guarantee that the (...) resulting structure is a model of an ${\aleph_0}$ -categorical computable infinitary theory. (shrink)