Existence and uniqueness of the real closure of an ordered field without Zorn's lemma (Q1176709)

The author proves the existence and the uniqueness of the real closure of an ordered field (i.e., a field \(K\) with a given ordering) without the Axiom of Choice. In a first step, he treats countable fields. The general case is then obtained by using a suitable direct limit argument. The author also compares the situation of the real closure of an ordered field \(K\) with that of the algebraic closure of \(K\). Contrary to the situation concerning the real closure, the existence and uniqueness of the algebraic closure cannot be proved without the Axiom of Choice. Thus in particular, the existence of an ordering on a formally real field \(K\) cannot be proved without the Axiom of Choice.