Strong coding (Q1096623)

Strong coding is a substantial refinement of the method of Jensen of coding the universe by a real [\textit{R. Jensen}, Coding the universe, handwritten notes (1975), presented also in \textit{A. Beller, R. Jensen} and \textit{P. Welch}, Coding the universe (1982; Zbl 0468.03031)]. It provides an affirmative solution to a problem of Solovay related to Jensen's coding and recursively inaccessible ordinals. The main theorem of the paper states that it is consistent with the axioms of Zermelo-Fraenkel set theory (ZF) that there is a real \(R\subseteq \omega\) such that the class of all R-admissible oridinals equals the class of all recursively inaccessible ordinals. The proof is based on a class forcing argument. A certain class A of ordinals is coded by a real R in such a way that the decoding of \(A\cap \alpha\) from R can be carried out in \(L_{\alpha}[R]\) for every admissible \(\alpha\). Variants of the construction can be used to realize other admissibility spectra by a class-generic real. More precisely, if \(B\subseteq ORD\) and for all p.r. closed \(\beta\), \(B\cap \beta\) is \(\Delta_ 1(L_{\beta})\) uniformly, then CON(ZF)\(\to CON(ZF\) \(+\exists R\subseteq \omega\) (R- admissibles \(=\) Admissible limits of B). [See also the paper reviewed below (Zbl 0634.03049).]