Wide scattered spaces and morasses

We show that it is relatively consistent with ZFC that 2^omega is arbitrarily large and every sequence s=(s_i:i<omega_2) of infinite cardinals with s_i<=2^omega is the cardinal sequence of some locally compact scattered space.Comment: 14 page

Elementary submodels in infinite combinatorics

The usage of elementary submodels is a simple but powerful method to prove theorems, or to simplify proofs in infinite combinatorics. First we introduce all the necessary concepts of logic, then we prove classical theorems using elementary submodels. We also present a new proof of Nash-Williams's theorem on cycle-decomposition of graphs, and finally we improve a decomposition theorem of Laviolette concerning bond-faithful decompositions of graphs

Essentially disjoint families, conflict free colorings and Shelah's Revised GCH

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 size < |b| such that the family {b-f(b) b in B} is disjoint. We also show that if mu<=kappa<=lambda, and kappa is infinite, and (x) every mu-almost disjoint subfamily of [lambda]^kappa is essentially disjoint, then (xx) every mu-almost disjoint family B of subsets of lambda with |b|>=kappa for all b from B has a conflict-free colorings with kappa colors. Putting together these results we obtain that if mu<beth_omega<=lambda, then every mu-almost disjoint family B of subsets of lambda with |b|>=beth_omega for all b from B has a conflict-free colorings with beth_omega colors. To yield the above mentioned results we also need to prove a certain compactness theorem concerning singular cardinals.Comment: 10 pages, minor correction