An induction cannot separate two k-pebble equivalent structures #
DescriptiveComplexity.Invariant.Stages carries ≡ᵏ-invariance through the
stages of an inflationary induction inside one structure. The same argument,
run against the two-structure game of
DescriptiveComplexity.Invariant.TwoPebble, carries it between two
structures: stage by stage, the assignments computed on either side agree on
k-pebble equivalent tuples
(DescriptiveComplexity.StepDef.inflStage_invariant₂), and therefore so do
the limits, and therefore the output sentence is true on one structure exactly
when it is on the other (DescriptiveComplexity.StepDef.ifpHolds_equivK₂).
That last statement is what separates a Boolean query: a query distinguishing
two structures the duplicator can play forever on is not order-free
FO(IFP)-definable. Over bare sets, where k pebbles cannot count past k
(DescriptiveComplexity.equivK₂_bare), this is the inexpressibility of
DescriptiveComplexity.EVEN for order-free inflationary induction – the
failure of capture, since parity is decidable in polynomial time.
Jointly invariant assignments #
A pair of assignments of a block, one on each structure, is jointly
≡ᵏ-invariant when corresponding relations agree on k-pebble equivalent
tuples, however their arguments are selected from the k coordinates.
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The pair of empty assignments is jointly invariant.
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Expanding both structures by a jointly invariant pair of assignments does not change the equivalence – the two-structure expansion lemma, the one that carries invariance from a stage to the next.
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The stages #
One application of the step formulas preserves joint invariance: the
two-structure k-variable invariance lemma, over the structures expanded by
the (jointly invariant) current stages.
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Corresponding stages of the inflationary iteration are jointly invariant.
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The two limits are jointly invariant.
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An order-free inflationary induction cannot separate two structures
carrying a k-pebble equivalent pair of tuples, k covering both its
variable budget and the quantifier depth of its output sentence. This is the
Boolean-query form of ≡ᵏ-invariance, and the one a capture statement needs:
the value of the induction is the same on both sides.