On Effective Convergence in Fekete's Lemma and Related Combinatorial Problems in Information Theory

Abstract: Fekete's lemma is a well known result from combinatorial mathematics that shows the existence of a limit value related to super- and subadditive sequences of real numbers. In this paper, we analyze Fekete's lemma in view of the arithmetical hierarchy of real numbers by Zheng and Weihrauch and fit the results into an information-theoretic context. We introduce special sets associated to super- and subadditive sequences and prove their effective equivalence to (\Sigma_1) and (\Pi_1). Using methods from the theory established by Zheng and Weihrauch, we then show that the limit value emerging from Fekete's lemma is, in general, not a computable number. Given a sequence that additionally satisfies non-negativity, we characterize under which conditions the associated limit value can be computed effectively and investigate the corresponding modulus of convergence. Subsidiarily, we prove a theorem concerning the structural differences between computable sequences of computable numbers and computable sequences of rational numbers. We close the paper by a discussion on how our findings affect common problems from information theory.