Alpha recursion – Constructible universe and Analytical hierarchy

computabilitydescriptive-set-theoryfoundationsoraclesordinals

Alpha recursion and Constructible universe are very intertwined, because the first is based on the concept of admissible ordinal $\alpha$ which is defined as an ordinal such that $L_\alpha$ – a set of the Constructible universe- is a model of Kripke-Platek set theory.

The first two admissible ordinals are $\omega$ and $\omega_1^{\mathsf{CK}}$.

$L_{\omega_{1}^{\mathsf{CK}}} \cap \mathcal{P} (\omega) $ is the set of ${\displaystyle \omega _{1}^{\mathsf{CK}}}$-recursive subsets of $\omega$ which are exactly the
$\Delta _{1}^{1}$ (a.k.a. hyperarithmetical sets) subsets of $\omega$.

By taking an oracle for $\omega_{1}^{\mathsf{CK}}$ we can define $\omega_{2}^{\mathsf{CK}}= \omega_{1}^{\mathsf{CK}}[\omega_{1}^{\mathsf{CK}}]$ and we can extend this in general to $\omega_{n}^{\mathsf{CK}}$.
Beyond this construction there are recursive Inaccessible ordinals and further on recursive Mahlo ordinals and then progressively bigger countable admissible ordinals.
The supremum of countable admissible ordinals is $\omega_1$, the first uncountable ordinal which is also admissible.

My question is where do the sets of the constructible universe corresponding to the countable admissible ordinals beyond $\omega_{1}^{\mathsf{CK}} $ such as $L_{\omega_{2}^{\mathsf{CK}}}\cap \mathcal{P} (\omega) $, $L_{\omega_{n}^{\mathsf{CK}}}\cap \mathcal{P} (\omega) $,… ,$L_{I}\cap \mathcal{P} (\omega) $, $L_{M}\cap \mathcal{P} (\omega) $… belong in the Analytical hierarchy?
How far up do you go in the Analytical hierarchy with $L_\alpha \cap \mathcal{P} (\omega)$ when $\alpha$ approaches $\omega_1$ , and what about the sets of $L_{\omega_1}\cap \mathcal{P} (\omega) $, where do they belong to?

Best Answer

First off, a correction: you're conflation $L_\alpha$ with $L_\alpha\cap\mathcal{P}(\omega)$. E.g. $L_{\omega_1^{CK}}$ is not the set of hyperarithmetic reals, but $L_{\omega_1^{CK}}\cap\mathcal{P}(\omega)$ is.

Second, for simplicity let's assume $\mathsf{V=L}$. This means that $L_{\omega_1}$ contains every real, so the analytic hierarchy stops well before $L_{\omega_1}\cap\mathcal{P}(\omega)$.

OK, what about smaller admissible ordinals - say, the $\omega_n^{CK}$s for finite $n$ - and the first couple levels of the analytical hierarchy? Well, already in $L_{\omega_2^{CK}}$ we have Kleene's $\mathcal{O}$, and so $L_{\omega_2^{CK}}\cap\mathcal{P}(\omega)$ contains every $\Pi^1_1$ real and every $\Sigma^1_1$ real. But in fact those reals already showed up in $L_{\omega_1^{CK}+1}$, so $L_{\omega_2^{CK}}\cap\mathcal{P}(\omega)$ is much bigger than (the Boolean algebra generated by) the $\Sigma^1_1$ and $\Pi^1_1$ sets. The question is: does it reach as high as $\Delta^1_2$?

The answer, perhaps surprisingly, is no. The gulf between the first two levels of the analytical hierarchy is gigantic. The key tool here is the canonical well-ordering of $L$. For any first-order sentence $\sigma$, let $r_\sigma$ be the $\le_L$-least real coding a level of $L$ satisfying $\sigma$; this is a $\Delta^1_2$ real, and consequently all the "easily-describable" levels of the $L$-hierarchy will fall short of containing all the $\Delta^1_2$ reals. For example, let $\theta$ be the first recursively Mahlo ordinal; then letting $\sigma$ be the sentence such that the $L$-levels satisfying $\sigma$ are exactly those with recursively Mahlo index we get that $r_\sigma$ is a $\Delta^1_2$ real not in $L_\theta$ (this last bit uses the fact that if $r_\sigma$ were in $L_\theta$, then $L_\theta$ would contain a real coding $L_\theta$ itself, which via the pointwise-definability of $L_\theta$ would contradict Tarski's theorem).

Hinman's book Recursion-theoretic hierarchies contains a lot of useful information about the $\Delta^1_2$ reals and just how complicated they can be. In particular, I recommend taking a look at Corollary V.4.11, which in a precise sense says that the $\Delta^1_2$ sets can't be "built from below" in as simple a way as the hyperarithmetic sets. This old answer of mine is also relevant for getting a sense of just how powerful the second level of the analytical (also called projective) hierarchy is.

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