Published online by Cambridge University Press: 12 March 2014
If the bounded proper forcing axiom BPFA holds and ω1 = ω1L, then there is a lightface Σ31 well-ordering of the reals. The argument combines a well-ordering due to Caicedo-Veličković with an absoluteness result for models of MA in the spirit of “David's trick.” We also present a general coding scheme that allows us to show that BPFA is equiconsistent with R being lightface Σ41 for many “consistently locally certified” relations R on ℝ. This is accomplished through a use of David's trick and a coding through the Σ2 stable ordinals of L.