V=L and a Well-Ordering of the Reals

Question

A fairly simple question: I've read in multiple sources that Godel proved that if we accept the axiom of constructibility in ZFC, then we can create an explicit formula that well-orders the real numbers. I tried searching for a paper or some other source that explains what this formula is, but I came up empty-handed. Can someone explain what this formula is, or perhaps point me to a resource that does?

Answer 1

The order is very easy. Under $V=L$, the set-theoretic universe is built according the hierarchy $(L_\alpha \mid \alpha \in \mathrm{Ord})$, where $L_0$ is empty, $L_{\alpha+1}$ consists of all definable subsets of $L_\alpha$, and $L_\lambda$ is the union of all earlier $L_\alpha$ when $\lambda$ is a limit ordinal.

Since we can order the definitions used to go from $L_\alpha$ to $L_{\alpha+1}$, we obtain a definable well-ordering of the entire universe. Namely, $x$ is less than $y$ iff

1. $x$ appears before $y$ in the hierarchy or
2. they appear at the same stage, but $x$ appears with an earlier definition than $y$.

If one analyzes the complexity of the resulting definition for real numbers, it has complexity $\Delta^1_2$ in the descriptive set theoretic hierarchy.