Quasi-selective ultrafilters and asymptotic numerosities

We isolate a new class of ultrafilters on N, called "quasi-selective" because they are intermediate between selective ultrafilters and P-points. (Under the Continuum Hypothesis these three classes are distinct.) The existence of quasi-selective ultrafilters is equivalent to the existence of "asymptotic numerosities" for all sets of tuples of natural numbers. Such numerosities are hypernatural numbers that generalize finite cardinalities to countable point sets. Most notably, they maintain the structure of ordered semiring, and, in a precise sense, they allow for a natural extension of asymptotic density to all sequences of tuples of natural numbers.Comment: 27 page

Central sets and substitutive dynamical systems

In this paper we establish a new connection between central sets and the strong coincidence conjecture for fixed points of irreducible primitive substitutions of Pisot type. Central sets, first introduced by Furstenberg using notions from topological dynamics, constitute a special class of subsets of \nats possessing strong combinatorial properties: Each central set contains arbitrarily long arithmetic progressions, and solutions to all partition regular systems of homogeneous linear equations. We give an equivalent reformulation of the strong coincidence condition in terms of central sets and minimal idempotent ultrafilters in the Stone-\v{C}ech compactification \beta \nats . This provides a new arithmetical approach to an outstanding conjecture in tiling theory, the Pisot substitution conjecture. The results in this paper rely on interactions between different areas of mathematics, some of which had not previously been directly linked: They include the general theory of combinatorics on words, abstract numeration systems, tilings, topological dynamics and the algebraic/topological properties of Stone-\v{C}ech compactification of \nats.Comment: arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:1110.4225, arXiv:1301.511

Laver and set theory

In this commemorative article, the work of Richard Laver is surveyed in its full range and extent.Accepted manuscrip

Ultrafilters on GG-spaces

For a discrete group $G$ and a discrete $G$-space $X$, we identify the Stone-\v{C}ech compactifications $\beta G$ and $\beta X$ with the sets of all ultrafilters on $G$ and $X$, and apply the natural action of $\beta G$ on $\beta X$ to characterize large, thick, thin, sparse and scattered subsets of $X$. We use $G$-invariant partitions and colorings to define $G$-selective and $G$-Ramsey ultrafilters on $X$. We show that, in contrast to the set-theoretical case, these two classes of ultrafilters are distinct. We consider also universally thin ultrafilters on $\omega$, the $T$-points, and study interrelations between these ultrafilters and some classical ultrafilters on $\omega$