Algebraic Ordinals

Abstract

An algebraic tree T is one determined by a finite system of fixed point equations. The frontier \Fr(T) of an algebraic tree t is linearly ordered by the lexicographic order \lex. When (\Fr(T),\lex) is well-ordered, its order type is an \textbf{algebraic ordinal}. We prove that the algebraic ordinals are exactly the ordinals less than $\omega^{\omega^\omega}$.