This book on proof theory needs no previous knowledge of proof theory. Avoiding cryptic terminology as much as possible, it starts at an elementary level and displays the connections between infinitary proof theory and generalized recursion theory.

The kernel of this book consists of a series of lectures on in?nitary proof theory which I gave during my time at the Westfalische ¨ WilhelmsUniversitat ¨ in Munster ¨ . It was planned as a successor of Springer Lecture Notes in Mathematics 1407. H- ever, when preparing it, I decided to also include material which has not been treated in SLN 1407. Since the appearance of SLN 1407 many innovations in the area of - dinal analysis have taken place. Just to mention those of them which are addressed in this book: Buchholz simpli?ed local predicativity by the invention of operator controlled derivations (cf. Chapter 9, Chapter 11); Weiermann detected applications of methods of impredicative proof theory to the characterization of the provable recursive functions of predicative theories (cf. Chapter 10); Beckmann improved Gentzen's boundedness theorem (which appears as Stage Theorem (Theorem 6. 6. 1) in this book) to Theorem 6. 6. 9, a theorem which is very satisfying in itself - though its real importance lies in the ordinal analysis of systems, weaker than those treated here. Besides these innovations I also decided to include the analysis of the theory (? REF) as an example of a subtheory of set theory whose ordinal analysis only 2 0 requires a ?rst step into impredicativity. The ordinal analysis of(? FXP) of non- 0 1 0 monotone? de?nable inductive de?nitions in Chapter 13 is an application of the 1 analysis of(? REF).

Written by a specialist of the subject.

Autorentext

Wolfram Pohlers (born 1943) is Full Professor and Director of the Institute for Mathematical Logic and Foundational Resarch at the Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität in Münster, Germany. He received his scientific training at the University of Munich where he worked as an Associate Professor from 1980 to 1985. From 1989 to 1990 he was a visiting scholar at the MSRI in Berkley and in 2005 he taught at the Ohio State University in Columbus.

Klappentext

This book verifies with compelling evidence the author's intent to "write a book on proof theory that needs no previous knowledge of proof theory". Avoiding the cryptic terminology of proof theory as far as possible, the book starts at an elementary level and displays the connections between infinitary proof theory and generalized recursion theory, especially the theory of inductive definitions. As a "warm up" Gentzen's classical analysis of pure number theory is presented in a more modern terminology, followed by an explanation and proof of the famous result of Feferman and Schütte on the limits of predicativity. The author also provides an introduction to ordinal arithmetic, introduces the Veblen hierarchy and employs these functions to design an ordinal notation system for the ordinals below Epsilon 0 and Gamma 0, while emphasizing the first step into impredicativity, that is, the first step beyond Gamma 0. This is first done by an analysis of the theory of non-iterated inductive definitions using Buchholz's improvement of local predicativity, followed by Weiermann's observation that Buchholz's method can also be used for predicative theories to characterize their provably recursive functions. A second example presents an ordinal analysis of the theory of $/Pi_2$ reflection, a subsystem of set theory that is proof-theoretically equivalent to Kripke-Platek set.

The book is pitched at undergraduate/graduate level, and thus addressed to students of mathematical logic interested in the basics of proof theory. It can be used for introductory as well as more advanced courses in proof theory.

An earlier version of this book was published in 1989 as volume 1407 of the "Lecture Notes in Mathematics" (ISBN 978-3-540-51842-6).

Inhalt
Historical Background.- Primitive Recursive Functions and Relations.- Ordinals.- Pure Logic.- Truth Complexity for ?11-Sentences.- Inductive Definitions.- The Ordinal Analysis for PA.- Autonomous Ordinals and the Limits of Predicativity.- Ordinal Analysis of the Theory for Inductive Definitions.- Provably Recursive Functions of NT.- Ordinal Analysis for KripkePlatek Set Theory with Infinity.- Predicativity Revisited.- Nonmonotone Inductive Definitions.- Epilogue.