For a cardinal μ we give a sufficient condition ${\oplus }_{\mu }$ (involving ranks measuring existence of independent sets) for: ${\otimes }_{\mu }$ if a Borel set B ⊆ ℝ × ℝ contains a μ-square (i.e. a set of the form A × A with |A| =μ) then it contains a $2^{{\aleph }_0}$-square and even a perfect square, and also for ${\otimes }_{\mu }^{\text{'}}$ if $\psi \in L_{{\omega }_1,\omega }$ has a model of cardinality μ then it has a model of cardinality continuum generated in a “nice”, “absolute” way. Assuming $MA+2^{{\aleph }_0}>\mu$ for transparency, those three conditions (${\oplus }_{\mu }$, ${\otimes }_{\mu }$ and ${\otimes }_{\mu }^{\text{'}}$) are equivalent, and from this we deduce that...

Let (α) denote the class of all cardinal sequences of length α associated with compact scattered spaces (or equivalently, superatomic Boolean algebras). Also put ${}_{\lambda }\left(\alpha \right)=s\in \left(\alpha \right):s\left(0\right)=\lambda =min\left[s\right(\beta ):\beta <\alpha ]$. We show that f ∈ (α) iff for some natural number n there are infinite cardinals $\lambda ₀i>\lambda ₁>...>{\lambda }_{n-1}$ and ordinals $\alpha ₀,...,{\alpha }_{n-1}$ such that $\alpha =\alpha ₀+\cdots +{\alpha }_{n-1}$ and $f=f₀⏜f₁⏜...⏜f_{n-1}$ where each $f_i{\in }_{{\lambda }_i}\left({\alpha }_i\right)$. Under GCH we prove that if α < ω₂ then (i) ${}_{\omega }\left(\alpha \right)=s{\in }^{\alpha }\omega ,\omega ₁:s\left(0\right)=\omega$; (ii) if λ > cf(λ) = ω, ${}_{\lambda }\left(\alpha \right)=s{\in }^{\alpha }\lambda ,\lambda ⁺:s\left(0\right)=\lambda ,s^{-1}\lambda is\omega ₁-closedin\alpha$; (iii) if cf(λ) = ω₁, ${}_{\lambda }\left(\alpha \right)=s{\in }^{\alpha }\lambda ,\lambda ⁺:s\left(0\right)=\lambda ,s^{-1}\lambda is\omega -closedandsuccessor-closedin\alpha$; (iv) if cf(λ) > ω₁, ${}_{\lambda }\left(\alpha \right){=}^{\alpha }\lambda$. This yields a complete characterization of the classes (α) for all α < ω₂,...

We show the consistency of CH and the statement “no ccc forcing has the Sacks property” and derive some consequences for ccc ${\omega }^{\omega }$-bounding forcing notions.

We present two ${\mathbb{P}}_{max}$ varations which create maximal models relative to certain counterexamples to Martin’s Axiom, in hope of separating certain classical statements which fall between MA and Suslin’s Hypothesis. One of these models is taken from [19], in which we maximize relative to the existence of a certain type of Suslin tree, and then force with that tree. In the resulting model, all Aronszajn trees are special and Knaster’s forcing axiom ₃ fails. Of particular interest is the still open question...

We give an affirmative answer to problem DJ from Fremlin’s list [8] which asks whether $M{A}_{{\omega }_1}$ implies that every uncountable Boolean algebra has an uncountable set of pairwise incomparable elements.

A subset of a Polish space X is called universally small if it belongs to each ccc σ-ideal with Borel base on X. Under CH in each uncountable Abelian Polish group G we construct a universally small subset A₀ ⊂ G such that |A₀ ∩ gA₀| = for each g ∈ G. For each cardinal number κ ∈ [5,⁺] the set A₀ contains a universally small subset A of G with sharp packing index $pack♯\left(A_{\kappa }\right)=sup\left|\right|⁺:\subset {gA}_{g\in G}isdisjoint$ equal to κ.

Assuming the continuum hypothesis, we show that (i) there is a compact convex subset L of $\Sigma \left({ℝ}^{\omega ₁}\right)$, and a probability Radon measure on L which has no separable support; (ii) there is a Corson compact space K, and a convex weak*-compact set M of Radon probability measures on K which has no $G_{\delta }$-points.

A subset of a vector space is called countably convex if it is a countable union of convex sets. Classification of countably convex subsets of topological vector spaces is addressed in this paper. An ordinal-valued rank function ϱ is introduced to measure the complexity of local nonconvexity points in subsets of topological vector spaces. Then ϱ is used to give a necessary and sufficient condition for countable convexity of closed sets. Theorem. Suppose that S is a closed subset of a Polish linear...