In mathematics, an Erdős cardinal, also called a partition cardinal is a certain kind of large cardinal number introduced by Paul Erdős and András Hajnal (1958).
A cardinal
κ
{\displaystyle \kappa }
is called
α
{\displaystyle \alpha }
-Erdős if for every function
f
:
[
κ
]
<
ω
→
{
0
,
1
}
{\displaystyle f:[\kappa ]^{<\omega }\to \{0,1\}}
, there is a set of order type
α
{\displaystyle \alpha }
that is homogeneous for
f
{\displaystyle f}
. In the notation of the partition calculus,
κ
{\displaystyle \kappa }
is
α
{\displaystyle \alpha }
-Erdős if
-
κ
→
(
α
)
<
ω
{\displaystyle \kappa \rightarrow (\alpha )^{<\omega }}
.
Under this definition, any cardinal larger than the least
α
{\displaystyle \alpha }
-Erdős cardinal is
α
{\displaystyle \alpha }
-Erdős.
The existence of zero sharp implies that the constructible universe
L
{\displaystyle L}
satisfies "for every countable ordinal
α
{\displaystyle \alpha }
, there is an
α
{\displaystyle \alpha }
-Erdős cardinal". In fact, for every indiscernible
κ
{\displaystyle \kappa }
,
L
κ
{\displaystyle L_{\kappa }}
satisfies "for every ordinal
α
{\displaystyle \alpha }
, there is an
α
{\displaystyle \alpha }
-Erdős cardinal in
C
o
l
l
(
ω
,
α
)
{\displaystyle \mathrm {Coll} (\omega ,\alpha )}
" (the Lévy collapse to make
α
{\displaystyle \alpha }
countable).
However, the existence of an
ω
1
{\displaystyle \omega _{1}}
-Erdős cardinal implies existence of zero sharp. If
f
{\displaystyle f}
is the satisfaction relation for
L
{\displaystyle L}
(using ordinal parameters), then the existence of zero sharp is equivalent to there being an
ω
1
{\displaystyle \omega _{1}}
-Erdős ordinal with respect to
f
{\displaystyle f}
. Thus, the existence of an
ω
1
{\displaystyle \omega _{1}}
-Erdős cardinal implies that the axiom of constructibility is false.
The least
ω
{\displaystyle \omega }
-Erdős cardinal is not weakly compact,[1]p. 39. nor is the least
ω
1
{\displaystyle \omega _{1}}
-Erdős cardinal.[1]p. 39
If
κ
{\displaystyle \kappa }
is
α
{\displaystyle \alpha }
-Erdős, then it is
α
{\displaystyle \alpha }
-Erdős in every transitive model satisfying "
α
{\displaystyle \alpha }
is countable."
Dodd's notion of Erdős cardinals
For a limit ordinal
α
{\displaystyle \alpha }
, a cardinal
κ
{\displaystyle \kappa }
is less often called
α
{\displaystyle \alpha }
-Erdős if for every closed unbounded
C
⊆
κ
{\displaystyle C\subseteq \kappa }
and every function
f
:
[
C
]
<
ω
→
κ
{\displaystyle f:[C]^{<\omega }\rightarrow \kappa }
such that
f
(
x
)
<
min
(
x
)
{\displaystyle f(x)<\min(x)}
for all
x
∈
[
C
]
<
ω
{\displaystyle x\in [C]^{<\omega }}
, there is a set
H
⊆
C
{\displaystyle H\subseteq C}
of order-type
α
{\displaystyle \alpha }
that is homogeneous for
f
{\displaystyle f}
.[2]p. 138.
An equivalent definition is that
κ
{\displaystyle \kappa }
is
α
{\displaystyle \alpha }
-Erdős if for any
A
⊆
κ
{\displaystyle A\subseteq \kappa }
, there is a set
I
{\displaystyle I}
of order-type
α
{\displaystyle \alpha }
of order-indiscernibles for the structure
(
L
κ
[
A
]
;
∈
,
A
)
{\displaystyle (L_{\kappa }[A];\in ,A)}
such that:
- for every
β
∈
I
{\displaystyle \beta \in I}
, ( L β [ A ] ; ∈ , A ) ≺ ( L κ [ A ] ; ∈ , A ) {\displaystyle (L_{\beta }[A];\in ,A)\prec (L_{\kappa }[A];\in ,A)}
, and
- for every
γ
<
κ
{\displaystyle \gamma <\kappa }
, the set I ∖ γ {\displaystyle I\setminus \gamma }
forms a set of order-indiscernibles for the structure ( L κ [ A ] ; ∈ , A , ξ ) ξ < γ {\displaystyle (L_{\kappa }[A];\in ,A,\xi )_{\xi <\gamma }}
.
The least cardinal
κ
{\displaystyle \kappa }
to satisfy the partition relation
κ
→
(
α
)
<
ω
{\displaystyle \kappa \rightarrow (\alpha )^{<\omega }}
is still
α
{\displaystyle \alpha }
-Erdős under this definition. Every
ω
{\displaystyle \omega }
-Erdős cardinal is an inaccessible limit of ineffable cardinals.[3]
Strength relative to other large cardinals
For any ordinal α, α-Erdős cardinal is stronger than α-iterable cardinal, but weaker than α+1-iterable cardinal. virtually rank-into-rank cardinal is weaker than ω-Erdős cardinal. If α < ω1, then α-Erdős cardinal is weaker than Silver cardinal. ω1-Erdős cardinal is stronger than zero sharp.
See also
References
- Baumgartner, James E.; Galvin, Fred (1978). "Generalized Erdős cardinals and 0#". Annals of Mathematical Logic. 15 (3): 289–313. doi:10.1016/0003-4843(78)90012-8. ISSN 0003-4843. MR 0528659.
- Drake, F. R. (1974). Set Theory: An Introduction to Large Cardinals (Studies in Logic and the Foundations of Mathematics; V. 76). Elsevier Science Ltd. ISBN 0-444-10535-2.
- Erdős, Paul; Hajnal, András (1958). "On the structure of set-mappings". Acta Mathematica Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae. 9 (1–2): 111–131. doi:10.1007/BF02023868. ISSN 0001-5954. MR 0095124. S2CID 18976050.
- Gitman, Victoria; Schindler, Ralf (2018-12-01). "Virtual large cardinals". Annals of Pure and Applied Logic. Logic Colloquium 2015. 169 (12): 1317–1334. doi:10.1016/j.apal.2018.08.005. ISSN 0168-0072.
- Kanamori, Akihiro (2003). The Higher Infinite : Large Cardinals in Set Theory from Their Beginnings (2nd ed.). Springer. ISBN 3-540-00384-3.
Citations
- F. Rowbottom, "Some strong axioms of infinity incompatible with the axiom of constructibility". Annals of Mathematical Logic vol. 3, no. 1 (1971).
- A. J. Dodd (1982), The Core Model. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-28530-8
- Wilson, Trevor M. (2019). "Weakly Remarkable Cardinals, Erdős Cardinals, and the Generic Vopěnka Principle". The Journal of Symbolic Logic. 84 (4): 1711–1721. arXiv:1807.02207. doi:10.1017/jsl.2018.76.