Quantifier Rank of Scott Formulas #
This file proves bounds on the quantifier rank of Scott formulas and connects BF-equivalence to agreement on Lω₁ω formulas of bounded quantifier rank.
Main Results #
scottFormula_qrank_le: The Scott formula at level α has quantifier rank ≤ α.BFEquiv_iff_EquivQRω_formulas: BF-equivalence at level α between tuples is equivalent to agreement on all Lω₁ω formulas of quantifier rank ≤ α (for α < ω₁).
References #
The Scott formula at level α has quantifier rank ≤ α.
This is proved by ordinal induction:
- At level 0: the atomic diagram has rank 0.
- At successor α + 1: the formula at α has rank ≤ α, and the forth/back conditions add one quantifier, giving rank ≤ α + 1.
- At limit λ: the conjunction over β < λ has rank ≤ λ.
BF-equivalence at level α implies agreement on Lω₁ω formulas of quantifier rank ≤ α.
This is derived from the forward direction of the Karp lemma
(BFEquiv_implies_agreeQR) by embedding Lω₁ω into L∞ω via toLinf.
Agreement on all Lω₁ω formulas of quantifier rank ≤ α implies BF-equivalence.
This direction uses the Scott formula: if all rank-≤-α formulas agree, then in particular
the Scott formula at level α agrees, which by realize_scottFormula_iff_BFEquiv gives
BFEquiv at level α.
BF-equivalence at level α between tuples is equivalent to agreement on all Lω₁ω formulas of quantifier rank ≤ α (for α < ω₁).
This is the Lω₁ω version of the Karp lemma.