In
proof theory
Proof theory is a major branchAccording to , proof theory is one of four domains mathematical logic, together with model theory, axiomatic set theory, and recursion theory. consists of four corresponding parts, with part D being about "Proof The ...
, ordinal analysis assigns
ordinals (often
large countable ordinals) to mathematical theories as a measure of their strength.
If theories have the same proof-theoretic ordinal they are often
equiconsistent, and if one theory has a larger proof-theoretic ordinal than another it can often prove the consistency of the second theory.
In addition to obtaining the proof-theoretic ordinal of a theory, in practice ordinal analysis usually also yields various other pieces of information about the theory being analyzed, for example characterizations of the classes of provably recursive, hyperarithmetical, or
functions of the theory.
History
The field of ordinal analysis was formed when
Gerhard Gentzen in 1934 used
cut elimination to prove, in modern terms, that the proof-theoretic ordinal of
Peano arithmetic is
ε0. See
Gentzen's consistency proof
Gentzen's consistency proof is a result of proof theory in mathematical logic, published by Gerhard Gentzen in 1936. It shows that the Peano axioms of first-order arithmetic do not contain a contradiction (i.e. are "consistent"), as long as a cer ...
.
Definition
Ordinal analysis concerns true, effective (recursive) theories that can interpret a sufficient portion of arithmetic to make statements about ordinal notations.
The proof-theoretic ordinal of such a theory
is the supremum of the
order type
In mathematics, especially in set theory, two ordered sets and are said to have the same order type if they are order isomorphic, that is, if there exists a bijection (each element pairs with exactly one in the other set) f\colon X \to Y su ...
s of all
ordinal notations (necessarily
recursive, see next section) that the theory can prove are
well founded—the supremum of all ordinals
for which there exists a
notation in Kleene's sense such that
proves that
is an ordinal notation. Equivalently, it is the supremum of all ordinals
such that there exists a
recursive relation on
(the set of natural numbers) that
well-order
In mathematics, a well-order (or well-ordering or well-order relation) on a set is a total ordering on with the property that every non-empty subset of has a least element in this ordering. The set together with the ordering is then calle ...
s it with ordinal
and such that
proves
transfinite induction
Transfinite induction is an extension of mathematical induction to well-ordered sets, for example to sets of ordinal numbers or cardinal numbers. Its correctness is a theorem of ZFC.
Induction by cases
Let P(\alpha) be a property defined for a ...
of arithmetical statements for
.
Ordinal notations
Some theories, such as subsystems of second-order arithmetic, have no conceptualization or way to make arguments about transfinite ordinals. For example, to formalize what it means for a subsystem
of Z
2 to "prove
well-ordered", we instead construct an
ordinal notation with order type
.
can now work with various transfinite induction principles along
, which substitute for reasoning about set-theoretic ordinals.
However, some pathological notation systems exist that are unexpectedly difficult to work with. For example, Rathjen gives a primitive recursive notation system
that is well-founded iff PA is consistent,
[Rathjen]
The Realm of Ordinal Analysis
Accessed 2021 September 29.p. 3 despite having order type
- including such a notation in the ordinal analysis of PA would result in the false equality
.
Upper bound
Since an ordinal notation must be recursive, the proof-theoretic ordinal of any theory is less than or equal to the
Church–Kleene ordinal . In particular, the proof-theoretic ordinal of an
inconsistent theory is equal to
, because an inconsistent theory trivially proves that all ordinal notations are well-founded.
For any theory that's both
-axiomatizable and
-sound, the existence of a recursive ordering that the theory fails to prove is well-ordered follows from the
bounding theorem, and said provably well-founded ordinal notations are in fact well-founded by
-soundness. Thus the proof-theoretic ordinal of a
-sound theory that has a
axiomatization will always be a (countable)
recursive ordinal, that is, strictly less than
.
Theorem 2.21
Examples
Theories with proof-theoretic ordinal ω
*Q,
Robinson arithmetic (although the definition of the proof-theoretic ordinal for such weak theories has to be tweaked).
*PA
–, the first-order theory of the nonnegative part of a discretely ordered ring.
Theories with proof-theoretic ordinal ω2
*RFA,
rudimentary function arithmetic.
[ defines the rudimentary sets and rudimentary functions, and proves them equivalent to the Δ0-predicates on the naturals. An ordinal analysis of the system can be found in ]
*IΔ
0, arithmetic with induction on Δ
0-predicates without any axiom asserting that exponentiation is total.
Theories with proof-theoretic ordinal ω3
*EFA,
elementary function arithmetic.
*IΔ
0 + exp, arithmetic with induction on Δ
0-predicates augmented by an axiom asserting that exponentiation is total.
*RCA, a second order form of EFA sometimes used in
reverse mathematics.
*WKL, a second order form of EFA sometimes used in
reverse mathematics.
Friedman's
grand conjecture suggests that much "ordinary" mathematics can be proved in weak systems having this as their proof-theoretic ordinal.
Theories with proof-theoretic ordinal ω''n'' (for ''n'' = 2, 3, ... ω)
*IΔ
0 or EFA augmented by an axiom ensuring that each element of the ''n''-th level
of the
Grzegorczyk hierarchy is total.
Theories with proof-theoretic ordinal ωω
*RCA
0,
recursive comprehension.
*WKL
0,
weak Kőnig's lemma.
*PRA,
primitive recursive arithmetic.
*IΣ
1, arithmetic with induction on Σ
1-predicates.
Theories with proof-theoretic ordinal ε0
*PA,
Peano arithmetic (
shown by
Gentzen using
cut elimination).
*ACA
0,
arithmetical comprehension.
Theories with proof-theoretic ordinal the Feferman–Schütte ordinal Γ0
*ATR
0,
arithmetical transfinite recursion.
*
Martin-Löf type theory with arbitrarily many finite level universes.
This ordinal is sometimes considered to be the upper limit for "predicative" theories.
Theories with proof-theoretic ordinal the Bachmann–Howard ordinal
* ID
1, the first
theory of inductive definitions.
* KP,
Kripke–Platek set theory with the
axiom of infinity
In axiomatic set theory and the branches of mathematics and philosophy that use it, the axiom of infinity is one of the axioms of Zermelo–Fraenkel set theory. It guarantees the existence of at least one infinite set, namely a set containing ...
.
* CZF, Aczel's
constructive Zermelo–Fraenkel set theory.
* EON, a weak variant of the
Feferman's explicit mathematics system T
0.
The Kripke-Platek or CZF set theories are weak set theories without axioms for the full powerset given as set of all subsets. Instead, they tend to either have axioms of restricted separation and formation of new sets, or they grant existence of certain function spaces (exponentiation) instead of carving them out from bigger relations.
Theories with larger proof-theoretic ordinals
*
,
Π11 comprehension has a rather large proof-theoretic ordinal, which was described by Takeuti in terms of "ordinal diagrams",
p. 13 and which is bounded by
ψ0(Ωω) in
Buchholz's notation. It is also the ordinal of
, the theory of finitely iterated inductive definitions. And also the ordinal of MLW, Martin-Löf type theory with indexed W-Types .
*ID
ω, the
theory of ω-iterated inductive definitions. Its proof-theoretic ordinal is equal to the
Takeuti-Feferman-Buchholz ordinal.
*T
0, Feferman's constructive system of explicit mathematics has a larger proof-theoretic ordinal, which is also the proof-theoretic ordinal of the KPi, Kripke–Platek set theory with iterated admissibles and
.
*KPi, an extension of
Kripke–Platek set theory based on a
recursively inaccessible ordinal, has a very large proof-theoretic ordinal
described in a 1983 paper of Jäger and Pohlers, where I is the smallest inaccessible. This ordinal is also the proof-theoretic ordinal of
.
*KPM, an extension of
Kripke–Platek set theory based on a
recursively Mahlo ordinal, has a very large proof-theoretic ordinal θ, which was described by .
*TTM, an extension of Martin-Löf type theory by one Mahlo-universe, has an even larger proof-theoretic ordinal
.
*
has a proof-theoretic ordinal equal to
, where
refers to the first weakly compact, due to (Rathjen 1993)
*
has a proof-theoretic ordinal equal to
, where
refers to the first
-indescribable and
, due to (Stegert 2010).
*
has a proof-theoretic ordinal equal to
where
is a cardinal analogue of the least ordinal
which is
-stable for all
and
, due to (Stegert 2010).
Most theories capable of describing the power set of the natural numbers have proof-theoretic ordinals that are so large that no explicit combinatorial description has yet been given. This includes
, full
second-order arithmetic
In mathematical logic, second-order arithmetic is a collection of axiomatic systems that formalize the natural numbers and their subsets. It is an alternative to axiomatic set theory as a foundation of mathematics, foundation for much, but not all, ...
(
) and set theories with powersets including
ZF and ZFC. The strength of
intuitionistic ZF (IZF) equals that of ZF.
Table of ordinal analyses
{, class="wikitable"
, +Table of proof-theoretic ordinals
!Ordinal
!First-order arithmetic
!Second-order arithmetic
!Kripke-Platek set theory
!Type theory
!Constructive set theory
!Explicit mathematics
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A Model-Theoretic Approach to Ordinal Analysis
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p. 8
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p. 870
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p. 27
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p.9
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p. 22,
p. 22,
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[S. Feferman, G. Jäger, "Choice principles, the bar rule and autonomously iterated comprehension schemes in analysis", Journal of Symbolic Logic vol. 48, no. (1983), pp.63--70.] [U. Buchholtz, G. Jäger, T. Strahm,]
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[G. Jäger,]
The Strength of Admissibility Without Foundation
. Journal of Symbolic Logic vol. 49, no. 3 (1984).p. 878,
p. 878
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p.13
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[T. Strahm, "Autonomous fixed point progressions and fixed point transfinite recursion" (2000)]
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Transfinite dependent choice and ω-model reflection
. Journal of Symbolic Logic vol. 67, no. 3 (2002).p.1167,
p.1167
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p.1167,
p.1167
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[C. Rüede,]
The proof-theoretic analysis of Σ11 transfinite dependent choice
. Annals of Pure and Applied Logic vol. 122 (2003).p.233,
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Wellordering Proofs for Metapredicative Mahlo
. Journal of Symbolic Logic vol. 67, no. 1 (2002)p.276
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[D. Probst, "A modular ordinal analysis of metapredicative subsystems of second-order arithmetic" (2017)]
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[M. Rathjen,]
Investigations of Subsystems of Second Order Arithmetic and Set Theory in Strength between and : Part I
. Archived 7 December 2023.
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