Characteristic formulas over intermediate logics

Abstract

We expand the notion of characteristic formula to infinite finitely presentable subdirectly irreducible algebras. We prove that there is a continuum of varieties of Heyting algebras containing infinite finitely presentable subdirectly irreducible algebras. Moreover, we prove that there is a continuum of intermediate logics that can be axiomatized by characteristic formulas of infinite algebras while they are not axiomatizable by standard Jankov formulas. We give the examples of intermediate logics that are not axiomatizable by characteristic formulas of infinite algebras. Also, using the Goedel-McKinsey-Tarski translation we extend these results to the varieties of interior algebras and normal extensions of S4