Alternative characterizations of finitary and well-founded Boolean algebras (Q1185236)

This paper is, roughly speaking, concerned with logical descriptions of countable Boolean algebras. The first main theorem shows that two particular descriptions are equivalent: a countable Boolean algebra is finitary iff it is in Palyutin's class \(\mathcal K\). Here ``finitary'' precisely captures the notion ``there is a finite description so that any countable Boolean algebra which satisfies the description is isomorphic to the given algebra''; \(\mathcal K\) is the class of countable Boolean algebras that have a countably categorical weak second-order theory. The second main theorem characterizes finitary Boolean algebras by their Ketonen invariants: a countable Boolean algebra \(B\) is finitary iff it has finite depth and \(\mu_ B(1)\) is finite, where both depth and \(\mu_ B(1)\) being finite are statements about the relation between the algebra and its ideal of superatomic elements (an element \(b\) is superatomic iff the factor algebra \(B| b\) is superatomic). The relevant definitions (not given in this review) and machinery have varied sources and are quite complicated; the author is to be commended for avoiding the temptation to simply appeal to earlier work, and for making this paper self-contained.