The Reduction Property Revisited

Abstract

In this paper we will study an important but rather technical result which is called The Reduction Property. The result tells us how much arithmetical conservation there is between two arithmetical theories. Both theories essentially speak about the fundamental principle of reflection: if a sentence is provable then it is true. The first theory is axiomatized using reflection axioms and the second theory uses reflection rules. The Reduction Property tells us that the first theory extends the second but in a conservative way for a large class of formulae. We extend the Reduction Property in various directions. Most notably, we shall see how various different kind of reflection axioms and rules can be related to each other. Further, we extend the Reduction Property to transfinite reflection principles. Since there is no satisfactory (hyper) arithmetical interpretation around yet, this generalization shall hence be performed in a purely algebraic setting. For the experts: a consequence of the classical Reduction Property characterizes the $\Pi^0_{n+1}$ consequences and tells us that for any theories $U$ and $T$ of the right complexity we have \[ U + {\sf Con}_{n+1}(T) \equiv_{\Pi^0_{n+1}} U \cup \{ {\sf Con}_n^k(T)\mid k<\omega\}. \] We will compute which theories can be put at the right-hand side if we are interested in $\Pi^0_j$ formulas with $j{\leq}n$. We answer the question also in a purely algebraic setting where $\Pi^0_j$-conservation will be suitably defined. The algebraic turn allows for generalizations to transfinite consistency notions.