The Separable Complementation Property and Mrówka Compacta

We study the separable complementation property for $C(K_{\cal A})$ spaces when $K_{\cal A}$ is the Mr\'owka compact associated to an almost disjoint family ${\cal A}$ of countable sets. In particular we prove that, if ${\cal A}$ is a generalized ladder system, then $C(K_{\cal A})$ has the separable complementation property ($SCP$ for short) if and only if it has the controlled version of this property. We also show that, when ${\cal A}$ is a maximal generalized ladder system, the space $C(K_{\cal A})$ does not enjoy the $SCP$.

Splitting Families and Complete Separability

We answer a question from Raghavan and Steprans by showing that Then we use this to construct a completely separable maximal almost disjoint family under a, partially answering a question of Shelah.

On Weakly Tight Families

Using ideas from Shelah's recent proof that a completely separable maximal almost disjoint family exists when 𝔠 < ℵω, we construct a weakly tight family under the hypothesis 𝔰 ≤ 𝔟 < ℵω. The case when 𝔰 < 𝔟 is handled in ZFC and does not require 𝔟 < ℵω, while an additional PCF type hypothesis, which holds when 𝔟 < ℵω is used to treat the case 𝔰 = 𝔟. The notion of a weakly tight family is a natural weakening of the well-studied notion of a Cohen indestructible maximal almost disjoint family. It was introduced by Hrušák and García Ferreira [8], who applied it to the Katétov order on almost disjoint families.

Two step iteration of almost disjoint families

Let E be an infinite set, and [E]ω the set of all countably infinite subsets of E. A family ⊂ [E]ω is said to be almost disjoint (respectively, pairwise disjoint) provided for A, B ∈ , if A ≠ B then A ∩ B is finite (respectively, A ∩ B is empty). Moreover, an infinite family A is said to be a maximal almost disjoint family provided it is an infinite almost disjoint family not properly contained in any almost disjoint family. In this paper we are concerned with the following set of topological spaces defined from (maximal) almost disjoint families of infinite subsets of the natural numbers ω.

Adjoining cofinitary permutations

We show that it is consistent with ZFC + ¬CH that there is a maximal cofinitary group (or, maximal almost disjoint group) G ≤ Sym(ω) such that G is a proper subset of an almost disjoint family A ⊆ Sym(ω) and ‖G‖ < ‖A‖. We also ask several questions in this area.

On the existence of strong chains in ℘(ω1)/Fin

Abstract(Xα: α < ω2) ⊂ ℘(ω1) is a strong chain in ℘(ω1)/Fin if and only if Xβ – Xα is finite and Xα – Xβ is uncountable for each β < α < ω1. We show that it is consistent that a strong chain in ℘(ω1) exists. On the other hand we show that it is consistent that there is a strongly almost-disjoint family in ℘(ω1) but no strong chain exists: is used to construct a c.c.c forcing that adds a strong chain and Chang's Conjecture to prove that there is no strong chain.

A special class of almost disjoint families

The collection of branches (maximal linearly ordered sets of nodes) of the tree <ωω (ordered by inclusion) forms an almost disjoint family (of sets of nodes). This family is not maximal — for example, any level of the tree is almost disjoint from all of the branches. How many sets must be added to the family of branches to make it maximal? This question leads to a series of definitions and results: a set of nodes is off-branch if it is almost disjoint from every branch in the tree; an off-branch family is an almost disjoint family of off-branch sets; and is the minimum cardinality of a maximal off-branch family.Results concerning include: (in ZFC) , and (consistent with ZFC) is not equal to any of the standard small cardinal invariants or = 2ω. Most of these consistency results use standard forcing notions—for example, in the Cohen model.Many interesting open questions remain, though—for example, whether .

An order property for families of sets

We develop the idea of a θ-ordering (where θ is an infinite cardinal) for a family of infinite sets. A θ-ordering of the family A is a well ordering of A which decomposes A into a union of pairwise disjoint intervals in a special way, which facilitates certain transfinite constructions. We show that several standard combinatorial properties, for instance that of the family A having a θ-transversal, are simple consequences of A possessing a θ-ordering. Most of the paper is devoted to showing that under suitable restrictions, an almost disjoint family will have a θ-ordering. The restrictions involve either intersection conditions on A (the intersection of every λ-size subfamily of A has size at most κ) or a chain condition on A.

On representing sets of an almost disjoint family of sets

For cardinal numbers λ, K, ∑ a (λ, K)-family is a family of sets such that || = and |A| = K for every A ε , and a (λ, K, ∑)-family is a (λ,K)-family such that |∪| = ∑. Two sets A, B are said to be almost disjoint ifand an almost disjoint family of sets is a family whose members are pairwise almost disjoint. A representing set of a family is a set X ⊆ ∪ such that X ∩ A = ⊘ for each A ε . If is a family of sets and |∪| = ∑, then we write εADR() to signify that is an almost disjoint family of ∑-sized representing sets of . Also, we define a cardinal number