Forcing in bounded arithmetic and set theory: analogies and differences
Abstract
We provide a modern overview of several forcing methods in bounded arithmetic and compare them with forcing in set theory. We specifically discuss the countable forcing framework of Atserias and Muller, the restricted ultrapowers of Bydzovsky and Muller, and forcing with random variables developed by Krajicek. We illustrate these forcing arguments by reviewing the Paris--Wilkie forcing and by giving a self-contained construction of the shallow PHP model constructed by Krajicek. We observe that, from a formal point of view, Krajicek's forcing with uncountable structures can be interpreted in the framework of Atserias and Muller after a countable collapse using an LS argument. We further observe that the countable restricted ultrapowers of Bydzovsky and Muller, used to obtain models of the theory TPV, can also be interpreted in this framework. This part serves as a primer on modern forcing methods in bounded arithmetic. In the next part, we discuss the analogies and differences between forcing in arithmetic and set theory. We embed Krajicek's Boolean-valued models into generic extensions of models of set theory, observing that the set-theoretic forcing framework can be used to interpret forcing in arithmetics. In our interpretation, set theory offers a convenient method for formalizing forcing arguments with uncountable structures. We end with a question whether analogies with set theory can facilitate the discovery of new uncountable partial orders for arithmetic.
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BibTeX
@misc{honzik2026forcing,
title = {{Forcing in bounded arithmetic and set theory: analogies and differences}},
author = {Radek Honzik and Ondrej Ježil and Mykyta Narusevych},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2610.03919},
eprint = {2610.03919},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.03919},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Forcing in bounded arithmetic and set theory: analogies and differences
AU - Radek Honzik
AU - Ondrej Ježil
AU - Mykyta Narusevych
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/18
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2610.03919
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.03919
AB - We provide a modern overview of several forcing methods in bounded arithmetic and compare them with forcing in set theory. We specifically discuss the countable forcing framework of Atserias and Muller, the restricted ultrapowers of Bydzovsky and Muller, and forcing with random variables developed by Krajicek. We illustrate these forcing arguments by reviewing the Paris--Wilkie forcing and by giving a self-contained construction of the shallow PHP model constructed by Krajicek. We observe that, from a formal point of view, Krajicek's forcing with uncountable structures can be interpreted in the framework of Atserias and Muller after a countable collapse using an LS argument. We further observe that the countable restricted ultrapowers of Bydzovsky and Muller, used to obtain models of the theory T_PV, can also be interpreted in this framework. This part serves as a primer on modern forcing methods in bounded arithmetic. In the next part, we discuss the analogies and differences between forcing in arithmetic and set theory. We embed Krajicek's Boolean-valued models into generic extensions of models of set theory, observing that the set-theoretic forcing framework can be used to interpret forcing in arithmetics. In our interpretation, set theory offers a convenient method for formalizing forcing arguments with uncountable structures. We end with a question whether analogies with set theory can facilitate the discovery of new uncountable partial orders for arithmetic.
ER -