Proper forcing axiom

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In the mathematical field of set theory, the proper forcing axiom (PFA) is a significant strengthening of Martin's axiom, where forcings with the countable chain condition (ccc) are replaced by proper forcings.

Statement

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A forcing or partially ordered set   is proper if for all regular uncountable cardinals  , forcing with P preserves stationary subsets of  .

The proper forcing axiom asserts that if   is proper and   is a dense subset of   for each  , then there is a filter   such that   is nonempty for all  .

The class of proper forcings, to which PFA can be applied, is rather large. For example, standard arguments show that if   is ccc or ω-closed, then   is proper. If   is a countable support iteration of proper forcings, then   is proper. Crucially, all proper forcings preserve  .

Consequences

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PFA directly implies its version for ccc forcings, Martin's axiom. In cardinal arithmetic, PFA implies  . PFA implies any two  -dense subsets of R are isomorphic,[1] any two Aronszajn trees are club-isomorphic,[2] and every automorphism of the Boolean algebra   is trivial.[3] PFA implies that the Singular Cardinals Hypothesis holds. An especially notable consequence proved by John R. Steel is that the axiom of determinacy holds in L(R), the smallest inner model containing the real numbers. Another consequence is the failure of square principles and hence existence of inner models with many Woodin cardinals.

Consistency strength

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If there is a supercompact cardinal, then there is a model of set theory in which PFA holds. The proof uses the fact that proper forcings are preserved under countable support iteration, and the fact that if   is supercompact, then there exists a Laver function for  .

It is not yet known precisely how much large cardinal strength comes from PFA, and currently the best lower bound is a bit below the existence of a Woodin cardinal that is a limit of Woodin cardinals.

Other forcing axioms

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The bounded proper forcing axiom (BPFA) is a weaker variant of PFA which instead of arbitrary dense subsets applies only to maximal antichains of size  . Martin's maximum is the strongest possible version of a forcing axiom.

Forcing axioms are viable candidates for extending the axioms of set theory as an alternative to large cardinal axioms.

The Fundamental Theorem of Proper Forcing

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The Fundamental Theorem of Proper Forcing, due to Shelah, states that any countable support iteration of proper forcings is itself proper. This follows from the Proper Iteration Lemma, which states that whenever   is a countable support forcing iteration based on   and   is a countable elementary substructure of   for a sufficiently large regular cardinal  , and   and   and   is  -generic and   forces  , then there exists   such that   is  -generic and the restriction of   to   equals   and   forces the restriction of   to   to be stronger or equal to  .

This version of the Proper Iteration Lemma, in which the name   is not assumed to be in  , is due to Schlindwein.[4]

The Proper Iteration Lemma is proved by a fairly straightforward induction on  , and the Fundamental Theorem of Proper Forcing follows by taking  .

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Moore (2011)
  2. ^ Abraham, U., and Shelah, S., Isomorphism types of Aronszajn trees (1985) Israel Journal of Mathematics (50) 75 -- 113
  3. ^ Moore (2011)
  4. ^ Schlindwein, C., "Consistency of Suslin's hypothesis, a non-special Aronszajn tree, and GCH", (1994), Journal of Symbolic Logic (59) pp. 1–29
  • Jech, Thomas (2002). Set theory (Third millennium (revised and expanded) ed.). Springer. doi:10.1007/3-540-44761-X. ISBN 3-540-44085-2. Zbl 1007.03002.
  • Kunen, Kenneth (2011). Set theory. Studies in Logic. Vol. 34. London: College Publications. ISBN 978-1-84890-050-9. Zbl 1262.03001.
  • Moore, Justin Tatch (2011). "Logic and foundations: the proper forcing axiom". In Bhatia, Rajendra (ed.). Proceedings of the international congress of mathematicians (ICM 2010), Hyderabad, India, August 19–27, 2010. Vol. II: Invited lectures (PDF). Hackensack, NJ: World Scientific. pp. 3–29. ISBN 978-981-4324-30-4. Zbl 1258.03075.
  • Steel, John R. (2005). "PFA implies AD^L(R)". Journal of Symbolic Logic. 70 (4): 1255–1296. doi:10.2178/jsl/1129642125.