What is the theory ZFC without power set?
Abstract
We show that the theory ZFC-, consisting of the usual axioms of ZFC but with the power set axiom removed-specifically axiomatized by extensionality, foundation, pairing, union, infinity, separation, replacement and the assertion that every set can be well-ordered-is weaker than commonly supposed and is inadequate to establish several basic facts often desired in its context. For example, there are models of ZFC- in which is singular, in which every set of reals is countable, yet exists, in which there are sets of reals of every size , but none of size , and therefore, in which the collection axiom sceme fails; there are models of ZFC- for which the Los theorem fails, even when the ultrapower is well-founded and the measure exists inside the model; there are models of ZFC- for which the Gaifman theorem fails, in that there is an embedding of ZFC- models that is -elementary and cofinal, but not elementary; there are elementary embeddings of ZFC- models whose cofinal restriction is not elementary. Moreover, the collection of formulas that are provably equivalent in ZFC- to a -formula or a -formula is not closed under bounded quantification. Nevertheless, these deficits of ZFC- are completely repaired by strengthening it to the theory , obtained by using collection rather than replacement in the axiomatization above. These results extend prior work of Zarach.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.1110.2430,
title = {What is the theory ZFC without power set?},
author = {Victoria Gitman and Joel David Hamkins and Thomas A. Johnstone},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1110.2430},
year = {2015}
}
Comments
22 pages; commentary concerning this article can be made at http://jdh.hamkins.org/what-is-the-theory-zfc-without-power-set