Paper 2, Section II, I

Logic and Set Theory
Part II, 2014

Write down the recursive definitions of ordinal addition, multiplication and exponentiation. Show that, for any nonzero ordinal α\alpha, there exist unique ordinals β,γ\beta, \gamma and nn such that α=ωβ.n+γ,γ<ωβ\alpha=\omega^{\beta} . n+\gamma, \gamma<\omega^{\beta} and 0<n<ω0<n<\omega.

Hence or otherwise show that α\alpha (that is, the set of ordinals less than α\alpha ) is closed under addition if and only if α=ωβ\alpha=\omega^{\beta} for some β\beta. Show also that an infinite ordinal α\alpha is closed under multiplication if and only if α=ω(ωγ)\alpha=\omega^{\left(\omega^{\gamma}\right)} for some γ\gamma.

[You may assume the standard laws of ordinal arithmetic, and the fact that αωα\alpha \leqslant \omega^{\alpha} for all α\alpha.]