Denjoy, Demuth, and Density

Abstract: We consider effective versions of two classical theorems, the Lebesgue density theorem and the Denjoy-Young-Saks theorem. For the first, we show that a Martin-Loef random real $z\in [0,1]$ is Turing incomplete if and only if every effectively closed class $C \subseteq [0,1]$ containing $z$ has positive density at $z$. Under the stronger assumption that $z$ is not LR-hard, we show that $z$ has density-one in every such class. These results have since been applied to solve two open problems on the interaction between the Turing degrees of Martin-Loef random reals and $K$-trivial sets: the non-cupping and covering problems. We say that $f\colon[0,1]\to\mathbb{R}$ satisfies the Denjoy alternative at $z \in [0,1]$ if either the derivative $f'(z)$ exists, or the upper and lower derivatives at $z$ are $+\infty$ and $-\infty$, respectively. The Denjoy-Young-Saks theorem states that every function $f\colon[0,1]\to\mathbb{R}$ satisfies the Denjoy alternative at almost every $z\in[0,1]$. We answer a question posed by Kucera in 2004 by showing that a real $z$ is computably random if and only if every computable function $f$ satisfies the Denjoy alternative at $z$. For Markov computable functions, which are only defined on computable reals, we can formulate the Denjoy alternative using pseudo-derivatives. Call a real $z$ DA-random if every Markov computable function satisfies the Denjoy alternative at $z$. We considerably strengthen a result of Demuth (Comment. Math. Univ. Carolin., 24(3):391--406, 1983) by showing that every Turing incomplete Martin-Loef random real is DA-random. The proof involves the notion of non-porosity, a variant of density, which is the bridge between the two themes of this paper. We finish by showing that DA-randomness is incomparable with Martin-Loef randomness.