Ordinal recursion, and a refinement of the extended Grzegorczyk hierarchy

Abstract

It is well known that iteration of any number-theoretic function f, which grows at least exponentially, produces a new function f′ such that f is elementary-recursive in f′ (in the Csillag-Kalmar sense), but not conversely (since f′ majorizes every function elementary-recursive in f). This device was first used by Grzegorczyk [3] in the construction of a properly expanding hierarchy {ℰn: n = 0, 1, 2, …} which provided a classification of the primitive recursive functions. More recently it was shown in [7] how, by iterating at successor stages and diagonalizing over fundamental sequences at limit stages, the Grzegorczyk hierarchy can be extended through Cantor's second number-class. A problem which immediately arises is that of classifying all recursive functions, and an answer to this problem is to be found in the general results of Feferman [1]. These results show that although hierarchies of various types (including the above extensions of Grzegorczyk's hierarchy) can be produced, which range over initial segments of the constructive ordinals and which do provide complete classifications of the recursive functions, these cannot be regarded as classifications “from below”, since the method of assigning fundamental sequences at limit stages must be highly noneffective. We therefore adopt the more modest aim here (as in [7], [12], [14]) of characterising certain well-known (effectively generated) subclasses of the recursive functions, by means of hierarchies generated in a natural manner, “from below”.