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Abstract

We prove some results related to the classical Banach–Tarski paradox in the setting of a field $\mathbb {K}$ that is complete with respect to a discrete non-Archimedean valuation (e.g., when $\mathbb {K}$ is the field $\mathbb {Q}_p$ of $p$-adic numbers for a prime $p$). Namely, the field $\mathbb {K}$, as well as all balls and spheres in $\mathbb {K}$, admit a paradoxical decomposition with respect to the isometry group of $\mathbb {K}$. Such decompositions can be realized using pieces with the Baire property if $\mathbb {K}$ is separable. Under the additional assumption of local compactness of $\mathbb {K}$ (e.g., when $\mathbb {K}=\mathbb {Q}_p$), any two bounded subsets of $\mathbb {K}$ with nonempty interiors are equidecomposable with respect to the isometry group of $\mathbb {K}$. Our results complete the study of paradoxical decompositions in the non-Archimedean setting, addressing the one-dimensional case and building on earlier work for higher-dimensional normed spaces over $\mathbb {K}$ with respect to groups of affine isometries.

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© The Author(s), 2026. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Canadian Mathematical Society