Related papers: The ultrafilter and almost disjointness numbers
A variety of classes of naturally arising ultrafilters on omega is discussed, and the question is raised whether it is consistent that the classes are empty. Since all the classes contain the P-point ultrafilters, a negative answer would…
A union ultrafilter is an ultrafilter over the finite subsets of $\omega$ that has a base of sets of the form $\mathrm{FU}(X)$, where $X$ is an infinite pairwise disjoint family and $\mathrm{FU}(X)=\{\bigcup…
The Frankl conjecture, also known as the union-closed sets conjecture, states that in any finite non-empty union-closed family, there exists an element in at least half of the sets. From an optimization point of view, one could instead…
We prove that it is consistent that every two disjoint boldface $\mathbf{\Sigma}^1_1$ subsets of $\omega_1^{\omega_1}$ can be separated by a boldface $\mathbf{\Delta}^1_1$ set. The forcing starts from $L$ and preserves CH and therefore also…
We develop a new forcing notion for adjoining self-coding cofinitary permutations and use it to show that consistently, the minimal cardinality $\mathfrak a_{\text{g}}$ of a maximal cofinitary group (MCG) is strictly between $\aleph_1$ and…
This is a revised version (of late 2020) of [Sh:700], which is arXiv:math/0012170 . First point is noting that the proof of Theorem 4.3 in [Sh:700], which says that the proof giving the consistency $ \mathfrak{b} = \mathfrak{d} =…
Two sets are said to be almost disjoint if their intersection is finite. Almost disjoint subsets of [omega]^omega and omega^omega have been studied for quite some time. In particular, the cardinal invariants a and a_e, defined to be the…
It is shown that the consistency strength of ZF + DC + "the closed unbounded ultrafilter on omega_1 is an ultrafilter" is exactly ZFC + one measurable cardinal.
Using ideas from Shelah's recent proof that a completely separable maximal almost disjoint family exists when $\c < {\aleph}_{\omega}$, we construct a weakly tight family under the hypothesis $\s \leq \b < {\aleph}_{\omega}$. The case when…
We introduce a new class of ultrafilters which generalizes the well-known class of simple $P$-point ultrafilters. We prove that for any well-founded $\sigma$-directed partial order $\mathbb{D}$ there is a mild forcing extension where there…
We show that, consistently, every MAD family has cardinality strictly bigger than the dominating number, that is a > d, thus solving one of the oldest problems on cardinal invariants of the continuum. The method is a contribution to the…
The collection of branches (maximal linearly ordered sets of nodes) of the tree ${}^{<\omega}\omega$ (ordered by inclusion) forms an almost disjoint family (of sets of nodes). This family is not maximal -- for example, any level of the tree…
We prove the consistency of irr(prod limits_{i<kappa}B_i/D)< prod limits_{i<kappa}irr(B_i)/D, where D is an ultrafilter on kappa and each B_i is a Boolean Algebra. This solves the last problem of this form from the Monk's list of problems,…
A family $\mathscr{I} \subseteq [\omega]^\omega$ such that for all finite $\{X_i\}_{i\in n}\subseteq \mathcal I$ and $A \in \mathscr{I} \setminus \{X_i\}_{i\in n}$, the set $A \setminus \bigcup_{i < n} X_i$ is infinite, is said to be ideal…
We give a combinatorial characterization of when a maximal almost disjoint family of a weakly compact cardinal $\kappa$ is indestructible by the higher random forcing $\mathbb Q_\kappa$. We then use this characterisation to show that…
A family of sets $\mathcal{A}$ is union-closed if it is finite and nonempty with member sets that are all finite and distinct (at least one of which is nonempty) and it satisfies the property $X, Y \in \mathcal{A} \implies X \cup Y \in…
The union-closed sets conjecture (Frankl's conjecture) says that for any finite union-closed family of finite sets, other than the family consisting only of the empty set, there exists an element that belongs to at least half of the sets in…
We show that if for any two elementary equivalent structures $\mathbf{M}, \mathbf{N}$ of size at most continuum in a countable language, $\mathbf{M}^{\omega}/ \mathcal{U} \simeq \mathbf{N}^\omega / \mathcal{U}$ for some ultrafilter…
We prove that \textsf{P}-points (even strong P-points) and Gruff ultrafilters exist in any forcing extension obtained by adding fewer than $\aleph_{\omega}% $-many random reals to a model of \textsf{CH. }These results improve and correct…
We prove the 4-uniform Erd\H{o}s Matching Conjecture for every matching number $s\ge 6961$. The proof has two parts. First, building on ideas from Frankl--R\"odl--Ruci\'nski, we formulate a general finite-board criterion for the $r$-uniform…