  A longstanding open problem is whether there exists a non syntactical model
of the untyped lambda-calculus whose theory is exactly the least lambda-theory
(l-beta). In this paper we investigate the more general question of whether the
equational/order theory of a model of the (untyped) lambda-calculus can be
recursively enumerable (r.e. for brevity). We introduce a notion of effective
model of lambda-calculus calculus, which covers in particular all the models
individually introduced in the literature. We prove that the order theory of an
effective model is never r.e.; from this it follows that its equational theory
cannot be l-beta or l-beta-eta. We then show that no effective model living in
the stable or strongly stable semantics has an r.e. equational theory.
Concerning Scott's semantics, we investigate the class of graph models and
prove that no order theory of a graph model can be r.e., and that there exists
an effective graph model whose equational/order theory is minimum among all
theories of graph models. Finally, we show that the class of graph models
enjoys a kind of downwards Lowenheim-Skolem theorem.

Logic;Logic in Computer Science