Studying the growth properties of definable functions in o-minimal settings, Miller established the following remarkable growth dichotomy: an o-minimal expansion of an ordered field is either power bounded or admits a definable exponential function (see [2]). Going one step further in the hierarchy of growth, Miller’s dichotomy result naturally led to the question whether there exist o-minimal expansions of ordered fields that are not exponentially bounded. Recent research activity in this area is therefore motivated by the search for either an o-minimal expansion of an ordered exponential field by a transexponential function that eventually exceeds any iterate of the exponential or, contrarily, for a proof that any o-minimal expansion of an ordered field is already exponentially bounded.

In this talk, I will present our axiomatic approach towards the study of ordered fields equipped with a transexponential function from [1]. Namely, denoting by e an exponential and by T a compatible transexponential, we establish a first-order theory of ordered transexponential fields in which the functional equation $T(x + 1) = e(T(x))$ holds for any positive $x$. While the archimedean models of this theory are readily described, the study of the non-archimedean models leads to a systematic examination of the induced structure on the residue field and the value group under the natural (i.e. the finest non-trivial convex) valuation. Moreover, I will illustrate construction methods for transexponentials on non-archimedean ordered exponential fields.

All relevant valuation theoretic background will be introduced.