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arxiv: 2601.12772 · v2 · pith:PXDKZJUAnew · submitted 2026-01-19 · 🧮 math.NT · math.DS

Logical Undefinability of the Generalized Collatz Transition Relation in B\"uchi Arithmetic

classification 🧮 math.NT math.DS
keywords relationtransitiondefinablearithmeticbase-2collatzgeneralizeduchi
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Let $q$ be an odd prime and let $d$ be an odd integer. We show that the arbitrary-step transition relation of the generalized Collatz map $T_{q,d}$ is not first-order definable in Base-2 B\"uchi Arithmetic ($BA_2$). We do this by demonstrating that if the transition relation were definable, the exponential set $P_q = \{q^y : y \in \mathbb{N}\}$ would also be definable in $BA_2$. Since $P_q$ is strictly non-semilinear, this yields a direct contradiction with the Cobham--Sem\"enov theorem. Consequently, we demonstrate that no finite automaton reading base-2 representations can recognize this transition relation.

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