Abstract

The Kolmogorov complexity of a finite binary string is the length of the shortest description of the string. This gives rise to some ‘standard’ lowness notions for reals: A isK-trivial if its initial segments have the lowest possible complexity and A is low forKif using A as an oracle does not decrease the complexity of strings by more than a constant factor. We weaken these notions by requiring the defining inequalities to hold only up to all${\rm{\Delta }}_2^0$orders, and call the new notions${\rm{\Delta }}_2^0$-bounded K-trivialand${\rm{\Delta }}_2^0$-bounded low for K. Several of the ‘nice’ properties ofK-triviality are lost with this weakening. For instance, the new weaker definitions both give uncountable set of reals. In this paper we show that the weaker definitions are no longer equivalent, and that the${\rm{\Delta }}_2^0$-boundedK-trivials are cofinal in the Turing degrees. We then compare them to other previously studied weakenings, namelyinfinitely-often K-trivialityandweak lowness for K. We show that${\rm{\Delta }}_2^0$-boundedK-trivial implies infinitely-oftenK-trivial, but no implication holds between${\rm{\Delta }}_2^0$-bounded low forKand weakly low forK.