Related papers: How to drive our families mad

A family $\mathcal{F}$ of $k$-subsets of an $n$-set is called $s$-almost $t$-intersecting if each member is $t$-disjoint with at most $s$ members. In this paper, we prove that, if $\left|\mathcal{F}\right|$ is maximum, then $\mathcal{F}$…

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…

An almost disjoint family $\mathcal A$ of subsets of $\mathbb N$ is said to be $\mathbb R$-embeddable if there is a function $f:\mathbb N\rightarrow \mathbb R$ such that the sets $f[A]$ are ranges of real sequences converging to distinct…

Using Shelah's revised GCH theorem we prove that if mu<beth_omega <= lambda are cardinals, then every mu-almost disjoint subfamily B of [lambda]^{beth_omega} is essentially disjoint, i.e. for each b from B there is a subset f(b) of b of…

Let M denote the ideal of first category subsets of R. We prove that min{card X: X \subseteq R, X \not\in M} is the smallest cardinality of a family S \subseteq {0,1}^\omega with the property that for each f: \omega -> \bigcup_{n \in…

We continue the project of the study of reverse mathematics principles inspired by cardinal invariants. In this article in particular we focus on principles encapsulating the existence of large families of objects that are in some sense…

We present a variation of the proof in the first author's "Mob families and mad families" of Con(b<a), which in particular removes some of the obstacles to generalising the argument to uncountable cardinals.

Answering questions of A. Avil\'es, F. Cabello S\'anchez, J. Castillo, M. Gonz\'alez and Y. Moreno we show that the following statements are independent of the usual axioms ZFC with arbitrarily large continuum: for every (some)…

We show in ZFC that the existence of completely separable maximal almost disjoint families of subsets of $\omega$ implies that the modal logic S4.1.2 is complete with respect to the \v{C}ech-Stone compactification of the natural numbers,…

We prove in ZFC that there is a MAD family of functions in omega^omega which is also maximal with respect to infinite partial functions. This solves a 20 year old question of Van Douwen. We also strengthen a result of J. Steprans stating…

For a subset A of a field F, write A(A + 1) for the set {a(b + 1):a,b\in A}. We establish new estimates on the size of A(A+1) in the case where F is either a finite field of prime order, or the real line. In the finite field case we show…

Let $\mathcal{F}$ be a family of $k$-sized subsets of $[n]$ that does not contain $s$ pairwise disjoint subsets. The Erd\H{o}s Matching Conjecture, a celebrated and long-standing open problem in extremal combinatorics, asserts the maximum…

Given an uncountable cardinal $\kappa$, we consider the question of whether subsets of the power set of $\kappa$ that are usually constructed with the help of the Axiom of Choice are definable by $\Sigma_1$-formulas that only use the…

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…

Denote by $\continuum=2^{\aleph_0}$ the cardinal of continuum. We construct an intriguing family $(P_\alpha: \alpha\in\continuum)$ of prime $z$-ideals in $\C_0(\reals)$ with the following properties: If $f\in P_{i_0}$ for some…

We study the separable complementation property (SCP) and its natural variations in Banach spaces of continuous functions over compacta $K_{\mathcal A}$ induced by almost disjoint families ${\mathcal A}$ of countable subsets of uncountable…

For an infinite cardinal mu, MAD(mu) denotes the set of all cardinalities of nontrivial maximal almost disjoint families over mu. Erdos and Hechler proved the consistency of [mu in MAD(mu)] for a singular cardinal mu and asked if it was…

Given a family $\mathcal{F}\subset 2^{[n]}$ and $1\leq i\neq j\leq n$, we use $\mathcal{F}(\bar{i},j)$ to denote the family $\{F\setminus \{j\}\colon F\in \mathcal{F},\ F\cap \{i,j\}=\{j\}\}$. The sturdiness of $\mathcal{F}$ is defined as…

We explore almost-normality in Isbell-Mr\'owka spaces and some related concepts. We use forcing to provide an example of an almost-normal not normal almost disjoint family, explore the concept of semi-normality in Isbell-Mr\'owka spaces,…

A finite family $\mathrsfs{F}$ of subsets of a finite set $X$ is union-closed whenever $f,g\in\mathrsfs{F}$ implies $f\cup g\in\mathrsfs{F}$. These families are well known because of Frankl's conjecture. In this paper we developed further…