We study here the degree-theoretic structure of set-theoretical splittings of recursively enumerable (r.e.) sets into differences of r.e. sets. As a corollary we deduce that the ordering of wtt–degrees of unsolvability of differences of r.e. sets is not a distributive semilattice and is not elementarily equivalent to the ordering of r.e. wtt–degrees of unsolvability.

Sacks [14] showed that every computably enumerable (c.e.) degree ≥ 0 has a c.e. splitting. Hence, relativising, every c.e. degree has a Δ2 splitting above each proper predecessor (by ‘splitting’ we understand ‘nontrivial splitting’). Arslanov [1] showed that 0′ has a d.c.e. splitting above each c.e. a < 0′. On the other hand, Lachlan [9] proved the existence of a c.e. a > 0 which has no c.e. sp...

We show the undecidability of the Π3-theory of the partial order of computably enumerable Turing degrees.

Slaman and Woodin have developed and used set-theoretic methods to prove some remarkable theorems about automorphisms of, and de…nability in, the Turing degrees. Their methods apply to other coarser degree structures as well and, as they point out, give even stronger results for some of them. In particular, their methods can be used to show that the hyperarithmetic degrees are rigid and biinter...

The Major Subdegree Problem of A. H. Lachlan (first posed in 1967) has become the longest-standing open question concerning the structure of the computably enumerable (c.e.) degrees. A c.e. degree a is a major subdegree of a c.e. degree b > a if for any c.e. degree x, 0′ = b ∨ x if and only if 0′ = a ∨ x. In this paper, we show that every c.e. degree b 6= 0 or 0′ has a major subdegree, answerin...

Recent empirical evaluations of exact algorithms for Feedback Vertex Set have demonstrated the efficiency a highest-degree branching algorithm with degree-based pruning. In this paper, we prove that empirically fast runs in $$O(3.460^k n)$$ time, where k is solution size. This improves previous best $$O(3.619^k -time deterministic obtained by Kociumaka and Pilipczuk (Inf Process Lett 114:556–56...