Vaught's theorem recursively revisited

Abstract

In this paper we investigate the relationship between the number of countable and decidable models of a complete theory. The number of decidable models will be determined in two ways, in §1 with respect to abstract isomorphism type, and in §2 with respect to recursive isomorphism type.Definition 1. A complete theory is (α, β) if the number of countable models of T, up to abstract isomorphism, is β, and similarly the number of decidable models of T is α.Definition 2. A model is ω-decidable if ∣∣= ω and for an effective listing {θn∣n < ω} of all sentences in the language of Th() augmented by new constant symbols i*, i < ω, {n ∣〈, i〉i<ω ⊨ θn} is recursive, where i interprets i* (in these terms, is decidable if is abstractly isomorphic to an ω-decidable model).Definition 3. A complete theory is (α, β)r if it is (γ, β) for some γ and it has exactly αω-decidable models up to recursive isomorphism.Specifically we will show in §1 that there is a (2, ω) theory, and in §2 that although there is a (2, 2ω) theory, there is no (2, β)r theory for any β, β < 2ω.