Bounds on Scott rank for various nonelementary classes (Q2639058)

Ideally we would like to answer the following question. Suppose T is a first order theory and there is a bound \(\alpha <\omega_ 1\) on the Scott rank of countable models of T. What can we say about \(\alpha\) ? In ``On the number of countable models'' [Proc. Southeast Asian Conf. Logic, Singapore 1981, Stud. Logic Found. Math. 111, 185-195 (1983; Zbl 0563.03015)], \textit{G. E. Sacks} points out that \(\alpha <\delta^ 1_ 2(T)\) and asks if this can be improved to \(\alpha <\omega^ T_ 1\). If T has only countably many countable models, then Martin's conjecture would imply \(\alpha <\omega \cdot 2.\) While this question seems very difficult, it is possible to obtain exact bounds on Scott rank in some more abstract settings. For example in \(``\Pi^ 1_ 1\)-Borel sets'' [\textit{A. Kechris}, the author and \textit{R. Sami}, J. Symb. Logic 54, No.3, 915-920 (1989; Zbl 0686.03025)] we showed that if E is \(\Sigma^ 1_ 1\) equivalence relation where every class is Borel and there is a bound \(\alpha\) on the Borel rank of the equivalence classes, then \(\alpha <\gamma^ 1_ 2\) and \(\gamma^ 1_ 2\) is the optimal bound. In this paper we will consider bounds on Scott rank for \(PC_{L_{\omega_ 1\omega}}\)-sentences. Basically we will show that \(\delta^ 1_ 2(\phi)\) is an optimal bound on the Scott ranks of countable models of a \(PC_{L_{\omega_ 1\omega}}\)-sentence \(\phi\) and \(\gamma^ 1_ 2(\psi)\) is an optimal bound on the well founded models of an \(L_{\omega_ 1\omega}\)-sentence \(\phi\). These results are proved in Sect. 2 and Sect. 3. In Sect. 4 we examine bounds on Scott rank for these classes when we also consider uncountable models. In this case the bounds coincide. The results of Sect. 4 were obtained earlier in unpublished work by Nadel and Stavi.