Undecidability of infinite towers of Kummer extensions of ${\mathbb{F}}_p(t)$

Abstract

We prove, assuming resolution of singularities in positive characteristic, an analogue of Siegel's theorem on sum of squares in positive characteristic. The method of proof combines techniques from central simple algebras with model theory and builds on work of Anscombe, Dittmann and Fehm. As an application, we show that, for each finite field $\mathbb{F}$ of odd characteristic and any positive integer $n$ coprime with the characteristic of $\mathbb{F}$, the first-order theory of the field given by the compositum of the fields generated by adjoining the $n$--th roots of all monic irreducible polynomials in $\mathbb{F}[t]$, of degree divisible by $n$ is undecidable in the language of rings with the variable $t$ as a constant.

15 pages