Analytical Hierarchy - The Analytical Hierarchy On Subsets of Cantor and Baire Space

The Analytical Hierarchy On Subsets of Cantor and Baire Space

The analytical hierarchy can be defined on any effective Polish space; the definition is particularly simple for Cantor and Baire space because they fit with the language of ordinary second-order arithmetic. Cantor space is the set of all infinite sequences of 0s and 1s; Baire space is the set of all infinite sequences of natural numbers. These are both Polish spaces.

The ordinary axiomatization of second-order arithmetic uses a set-based language in which the set quantifiers can naturally be viewed as quantifying over Cantor space. A subset of Cantor space is assigned the classification if it is definable by a formula. The set is assigned the classification if it is definable by a formula. If the set is both and then it is given the additional classification .

A subset of Baire space has a corresponding subset of Cantor space under the map that takes each function from to to the characteristic function of its graph. A subset of Baire space is given the classification, or if and only if the corresponding subset of Cantor space has the same classification. An equivalent definition of the analytical hierarchy on Baire space is given by defining the analytical hierarchy of formulas using a functional version of second-order arithmetic; then the analytical hierarchy on subsets of Cantor space can be defined from the hierarchy on Baire space. This alternate definition gives exactly the same classifications as the first definition.

Because Cantor space is homeomorphic to any finite Cartesian power of itself, and Baire space is homeomorphic to any finite Cartesian power of itself, the analytical hierarchy applies equally well to finite Cartesian power of one of these spaces. A similar extension is possible for countable powers and to products of powers of Cantor space and powers of Baire space.