Lebesgue's Density Theorem and definable selectors for ideals

We introduce a notion of density point and prove results analogous to Lebesgue's density theorem for various well-known ideals on Cantor space and Baire space. In fact, we isolate a class of ideals for which our results hold. In contrast to these results, we show that there is no reasonably definable selector that chooses representatives for the equivalence relation on the Borel sets of having countable symmetric difference. In other words, there is no notion of density which makes the ideal of countable sets satisfy an analogue to the density theorem. The proofs of the positive results use only elementary combinatorics of trees, while the negative results rely on forcing arguments.Comment: 28 pages; minor corrections and a new introductio

A Special Class of Almost Disjoint Families

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 is almost disjoint from all of the branches. How many sets must be added to the family of branches to make it maximal? This question leads to a series of definitions and results: a set of nodes is {\it off-branch} if it is almost disjoint from every branch in the tree; an {\it off-branch family} is an almost disjoint family of off-branch sets; {\frak o}=\min\{|{\Cal O}|: {\Cal O} is a maximal off-branch family$\}$. Results concerning $\frak o$ include: (in ZFC) ${\frak a}\leq{\frak o}$, and (consistent with ZFC) $\frak o$ is not equal to any of the standard small cardinal invariants $\frak b$, $\frak a$, $\frak d$, or ${\frak c}=2^\omega$. Most of these consistency results use standard forcing notions -- for example, $Con({\frak b}={\frak a}<{\frak o}={\frak d}={\frak c})$ comes from starting with a model of $ZFC+CH$ and adding $\omega_2$-many Cohen reals. Many interesting open questions remain, though -- for example, $Con({\frak o}<{\frak d})$

Perfect subsets of generalized Baire spaces and long games

We extend Solovay's theorem about definable subsets of the Baire space to the generalized Baire space ${}^\lambda\lambda$, where $\lambda$ is an uncountable cardinal with $\lambda^{<\lambda}=\lambda$. In the first main theorem, we show that that the perfect set property for all subsets of ${}^{\lambda}\lambda$ that are definable from elements of ${}^\lambda\mathrm{Ord}$ is consistent relative to the existence of an inaccessible cardinal above $\lambda$. In the second main theorem, we introduce a Banach-Mazur type game of length $\lambda$ and show that the determinacy of this game, for all subsets of ${}^\lambda\lambda$ that are definable from elements of ${}^\lambda\mathrm{Ord}$ as winning conditions, is consistent relative to the existence of an inaccessible cardinal above $\lambda$. We further obtain some related results about definable functions on ${}^\lambda\lambda$ and consequences of resurrection axioms for definable subsets of ${}^\lambda\lambda$

On critical cardinalities related to QQ-sets

In this note we collect some known information and prove new results about the small uncountable cardinal $\mathfrak q_0$. The cardinal $\mathfrak q_0$ is defined as the smallest cardinality $|A|$ of a subset $A\subset \mathbb R$ which is not a $Q$-set (a subspace $A\subset\mathbb R$ is called a $Q$-set if each subset $B\subset A$ is of type $F_\sigma$ in $A$). We present a simple proof of a folklore fact that $\mathfrak p\le\mathfrak q_0\le\min\{\mathfrak b,\mathrm{non}(\mathcal N),\log(\mathfrak c^+)\}$, and also establish the consistency of a number of strict inequalities between the cardinal $\mathfrak q_0$ and other standard small uncountable cardinals. This is done by combining some known forcing results. A new result of the paper is the consistency of $\mathfrak{p} < \mathfrak{lr} < \mathfrak{q}_0$, where $\mathfrak{lr}$ denotes the linear refinement number. Another new result is the upper bound $\mathfrak q_0\le\mathrm{non}(\mathcal I)$ holding for any $\mathfrak q_0$-flexible cccc $\sigma$-ideal $\mathcal I$ on $\mathbb R$.Comment: 8 page