Skip to main content
3 of 8
added 140 characters in body
Wojowu
  • 28.2k
  • 3
  • 103
  • 185

Which ordinals can be proof-theoretic ordinals of a reasonable theory?

When talking to a friend recently he asked a question - are there any reasonable first-order theories which have proof theoretic ordinal equal to small or large Veblen ordinal? I have then extended his question broadly - which ordinals can be proof-theoretic ordinals of any "reasonable" theory, where by "reasonable" I suggested we should mean "extending PA", though this can be discussed. (Edit: it seems convinient to be able to work with second-order theories, so instead we can think of "reasonable" as extending $\sf ACA_0$)

Another, related question is the following: what is the proof-theoretic ordinal of theory PA+axiom schema asserting transfinite induction holds up to $\varepsilon_0$? I think it might be $\varepsilon_1$, but I can't be sure.

Thanks in advance for feedback!

Wojowu
  • 28.2k
  • 3
  • 103
  • 185