Recursively enumerable set

In computability theory, traditionally called recursion theory, a set S of natural numbers is called recursively enumerable,
computably enumerable, semidecidable, provable or Turing-recognizable if:

There is an algorithm such that the set of input numbers for which the algorithm halts is exactly
S.
Or, equivalently,

There is an algorithm thatenumerates the members of S. That means that its output is simply a list of the members
of S: s1, s2, s3, ... . If necessary, this algorithm may run forever.
The first condition suggests why the term semidecidable is sometimes used; the second suggests why computably enumerable is
used. The abbreviations r.e. and c.e. are often used, even in print, instead of the full phrase.

In computational complexity theory, the complexity class containing all recursively enumerable sets is RE. In recursion theory, the
lattice of r.e. sets under inclusion is denoted .

Contents
Formal definition
Equivalent formulations
Examples
Properties
Remarks
References

Formal definition
A set S of natural numbers is called recursively enumerable if there is a partial recursive function whose domain is exactly S,
meaning that the function is defined if and only if its input is a member ofS.

Equivalent formulations
The following are all equivalent properties of a setS of natural numbers:

Semidecidability:
The set S is recursively enumerable. That is,S is the domain (co-range) of a partial recursive function.
There is a partial recursive functionf such that:

Enumerability:
The set S is the range of a partial recursive function.
The set S is the range of a total recursive function or empty
. If S is infinite, the function can be chosen to be
injective.
The set S is the range of a primitive recursive functionor empty. Even if S is infinite, repetition of values may
be necessary in this case.
 Diophantine:
There is a polynomial p with integer coefficients and variables x, a, b, c, d, e, f, g, h, i ranging over the natural
numbers such that

There is a polynomial from the integers to the integers such that the set
S contains exactly the non-negative
numbers in its range.

The equivalence of semidecidability and enumerability can be obtained by the technique of

dovetailing.

The Diophantine characterizations of a recursively enumerable set, while not as straightforward or intuitive as the first definitions,
were found by Yuri Matiyasevich as part of the negative solution to Hilbert's Tenth Problem. Diophantine sets predate recursion
theory and are therefore historically the first way to describe these sets (although this equivalence was only remarked more than three
decades after the introduction of recursively enumerable sets). The number of bound variables in the above definition of the
Diophantine set is the best known so far; it might be that a lower number can be used to define all diophantine sets.

Examples
Every recursive set is
recursively enumerable, but it
is not true that every
recursively enumerable set is
recursive. For recursive sets,
the algorithm must also say if
an input is not in the set – this
is not required of recursively
enumerable sets.
A recursively enumerable
language is a recursively
enumerable subset of aformal
language.
The set of all provable
sentences in an effectively Recursive enumeration of the set of all Turing machines halting on a fixed
presented axiomatic system is input: Simulate all Turing machines (enumerated on vertical axis) step by
a recursively enumerable set. step (horizontal axis), using the shown diagonalization scheduling. If a
Matiyasevich's theoremstates machine terminates, print its number. This way, the number of each
that every recursively terminating machine is eventually printed. In the example, the algorithm prints
enumerable set is a "9, 13, 4, 15, 12, 18, 6, 2, 8, 0, ..."
Diophantine set (the converse
is trivially true).
The simple sets are recursively
enumerable but not recursive.
The creative sets are recursively enumerable but not recursive.
Any productive set is not recursively enumerable.
Given a Gödel numbering of the computable functions, the set (where is the Cantor pairing
function and indicates is defined) is recursively enumerable (cf. picture for a fixedx). This set encodes
the halting problem as it describes the input parameters for which eachTuring machine halts.
Given a Gödel numbering of the computable functions, the set is recursively enumerable.
This set encodes the problem of deciding a function value.
Given a partial functionf from the natural numbers into the natural numbers,f is a partial recursive function if and
only if the graph of f, that is, the set of all pairs such that f(x) is defined, is recursively enumerable.

Properties
If A and B are recursively enumerable sets thenA ∩ B, A ∪ B and A × B (with the ordered pair of natural numbers mapped to a single
natural number with the Cantor pairing function) are recursively enumerable sets. The preimage of a recursively enumerable set
under a partial recursive function is a recursively enumerable set.
A set is recursively enumerable if and only if it is at level of the arithmetical hierarchy.

A set is called co-recursively enumerable or co-r.e. if its complement is recursively enumerable. Equivalently, a set is co-
r.e. if and only if it is at level of the arithmetical hierarchy.

A set A is recursive (synonym: computable) if and only if both A and the complement of A are recursively enumerable. A set is
recursive if and only if it is either the range of an increasing total recursive function or finite.

Some pairs of recursively enumerable sets areeffectively separable and some are not.

Remarks
According to the Church–Turing thesis, any effectively calculable function is calculable by a Turing machine, and thus a set S is
recursively enumerable if and only if there is some algorithm which yields an enumeration of S. This cannot be taken as a formal
definition, however, because the Church–Turing thesis is an informal conjecture rather than a form
al axiom.

The definition of a recursively enumerable set as the domain of a partial function, rather than the range of a total recursive function,
is common in contemporary texts. This choice is motivated by the fact that in generalized recursion theories, such as α-recursion
theory, the definition corresponding to domains has been found to be more natural. Other texts use the definition in terms of
enumerations, which is equivalent for recursively enumerable sets.

References
Rogers, H. The Theory of Recursive Functions and Effective Computability
, MIT Press. ISBN 0-262-68052-1;
ISBN 0-07-053522-1.
Soare, R. Recursively enumerable sets and degrees.Perspectives in Mathematical Logic.Springer-Verlag, Berlin,
1987. ISBN 3-540-15299-7.
Soare, Robert I. Recursively enumerable sets and degrees.Bull. Amer. Math. Soc. 84 (1978), no. 6, 1149–1181.

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