Counting the number of distinct distances of elements in valued field extensions

The defect of valued field extensions is a major obstacle in open problems in resolution of singularities and in the model theory of valued fields, whenever positive characteristic is involved. We continue the detailed study of defect extensions through the tool of distances, which measure how well an element in an immediate extension can be approximated by elements from the base field. We show that in several situations the number of essentially distinct distances in fixed extensions, or even just over a fixed base field, is finite, and we compute upper bounds. We apply this to the special case of valued functions fields over perfect base fields. In particular, this provides important information used in forthcoming research on the ramification theory of two-dimensional valued function fields.