Hilbert's Tenth Problem over function fields of positive characteristic not containing the algebraic closure of a finite field

Abstract

We prove that the existential theory of any function field $K$ of characteristic $p>0$ is undecidable in the language of rings augmented by constant symbols for the elements of a suitable recursive subfield, provided that the constant field does not contain the algebraic closure of a finite field. This theorem is the natural generalization of a theorem of Kim and Roush from 1992. We also extend our previous undecidability proof for function fields of higher transcendence degree to characteristic 2 and show that the first-order theory of any function field of positive characteristic is undecidable in the language of rings without parameters.