Ranks on the Baire class \(\xi\) functions (Q2821684)

A rank on a set \(X\) of functions is a mapping \(\rho:X\to\omega_1\) which measures the complexity. The authors develop the rank theory on the Baire class \(\xi\) functions \(\mathcal{B}_\xi\) on Polish spaces. It is a natural extension of the rank theory on Baire-one functions \(\mathcal{B}_1\) deeply investigated by \textit{A. S. Kechris} and \textit{A. Louveau} [Trans. Am. Math. Soc. 318, No. 1, 209--236 (1990; Zbl 0692.03031)]. They considered three ranks \(\alpha\), \(\beta\) and \(\gamma\) on \(\mathcal{B}_1\) -- the separation rank, the oscillation rank and the convergence rank, respectively, on compact metric spaces.NEWLINENEWLINENEWLINEAt first, the authors show that the assumption of the compactness of the underlying space can be eliminated. Then, they propose several ranks on \(\mathcal{B}_\xi\) whose definitions are based on similar ideas but they are not straightforward generalizations of \(\alpha\), \(\beta\) and \(\gamma\). Some technical properties of ranks (unboundedness in \(\omega_1\), translation-invariance, essential linearity, etc.) are of particular interest. One of the presented definitions gives well-behaved ranks. Let \(\rho\) be a rank on \(\mathcal{B}_1\). For \(f\in\mathcal{B}_\xi\) let \(\rho^*_\xi(f)=\min_{\tau'\in T_{f,\xi}}\rho_{\tau'}(f)\) where \(\rho_{\tau'}(f)\) is the rank \(\rho\) of \(f\) in the \(\tau'\) topology and \(T_{f,\xi}\) is the set of those Polish refinements of the original topology that are subsets of \(\Sigma^0_\xi\) turning \(f\) into a Baire-one function. It is proved that \(\beta^*_\xi\) and \(\gamma^*_\xi\) have all postulated properties which in turn implies that the so-called solvability cardinal for \(\mathcal{B}_\xi(\mathbb{R})\) is not less than \(\omega_2\).