Published online by Cambridge University Press: 22 January 2016
The theory of ordinal diagrams has been a most powerful means for consistency proofs of some systems of second order arithmetic. The last existing result in this line is the consistency proofs of the systems with the provably -comprehension axiom and the -comprehension axiom respectively (cf. [6]). In order to pursue the consistency problem further, one needs investigate the theory of ordinal diagrams in two directions—refinement and strengthening of the theory.
For this purpose we have begun to search for some properties concerning ordinal diagrams and some variations of the theory of ordinal diagrams. The reader is requested to refer to §26 of [7] for the basic knowledge of ordinal diagrams.