Reflection Properties of Ordinals in Generic Extensions

Abstract

We study the question of when a given countable ordinal $\alpha$ is $\Sigma^1_n$- or $\Pi^1_n$-reflecting in models which are neither $\mathsf{PD}$ models nor the constructible universe, focusing on generic extensions of $L$. We prove, amongst other things, that adding any number of Cohen or random reals, or forcing with Sacks forcing or any lightface Borel weakly homogeneous ccc forcing notion cannot change such reflection properties. Moreover we show that collapse forcing increases the value of the least reflecting ordinals but, curiously, to ordinals which are still smaller than the $\omega_1$ of $L$.