Related papers: How to drive our families mad
We show that there are no infinite maximal almost disjoint ("mad") families in Solovay's model, thus solving a long-standing problem posed by A.D.R. Mathias in 1967. We also give a new proof of Mathias' theorem that no analytic infinite…
Starting from an inaccessible cardinal, we construct a model of $ZF+DC$ where there exists a mad family and all sets of reals are $\mathbb Q$-measurable for $\omega^{\omega}$-bounding sufficiently absolute forcing notions $\mathbb Q$.
We study two different types of (maximal) almost disjoint families: very mad families and (maximal) cofinitary groups. For the very mad families we prove the basic existence results. We prove that MA implies there exist many pairwise…
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…
We consider families F of sequences converging to +infinity that F satisfies the following condition (C): (C): if an open set U in the real line is unbounded above then there exists a sequence belonging to F, which has an infinite number of…
We consider maximal almost disjoint families of block subspaces of countable vector spaces, focusing on questions of their size and definability. We prove that the minimum infinite cardinality of such a family cannot be decided in ZFC and…
A MAD (maximal almost disjoint) family is an infinite subset A of the infinite subsets of {0,1,2,..} such that any two elements of A intersect in a finite set and every infinite subset of {0.1.2...} meets some element of $\aa$ in an…
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…
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…
We throw some light on the question: is there a MAD family (= a family of infinite subsets of N, the intersection of any two is finite) which is completely separable (i.e. any X subseteq N is included in a finite union of members of 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 introduce a new class of almost disjoint families which we call fin-intersecting almost disjoint families. They are related to almost disjoint families whose Vietoris Hyperspace of their Isbell-Mr\'owka spaces are pseudocompact. We show…
We survey results regarding the definability and size of maximal discrete sets in analytic hypergraphs. Our main examples include maximal almost disjoint (or mad) families, $\mathcal I$-mad families, maximal eventually different families,…
We answer Question~3.2 from Shelah \cite{Sh:666}: Given a maximal almost disjoint (mad) family $\mathcal A$ of size $\aleph_1$, we construct a forcing ${\mathbb Q}(\mathcal A)$ that has Axiom A, is ${}^\omega \omega$-bounding, preserves…
Call a subset of $\mathbf{FIN}_k$ small if it does not contain a copy of $\langle{A\rangle}$ for some infinite block sequence $A \in \mathbf{FIN}_k^{[\infty]}$. Gowers' $\mathbf{FIN}_k$ theorem asserts that the set of small subsets of…
Let $E$ be a vector space over a countable field of dimension $\aleph_0$. Two infinite-dimensional subspaces $V,W \subseteq E$ are almost disjoint if $V \cap W$ is finite-dimensional. This paper provides some improvements on results about…
We consider the definability of mad families in vector spaces of the form $\underset{n<\omega}{\bigoplus} F$ where $F$ is a field of cardinality $\leq \aleph_0$. We show that there is no analytic mad family of subspaces when…
Assuming the existence of a supercompact cardinal, we construct a model where, for some uncountable regular cardinal $\kappa$, there are no $\Sigma^1_1(\kappa)-\kappa-$mad families.
We prove that if there is a dominating family of size ${\aleph}_{1}$, then there is are ${\aleph}_{1}$ many compact subsets of ${\omega}^{\omega}$ whose union is a maximal almost disjoint family of functions that is also maximal with…
The second author has recently shown ([20]) that any selectively (a) almost disjoint family must have cardinality strictly less than $2^{\alpeh_0}$, so under the Continuum Hypothesis such a family is necessarily countable. However, it is…