Modelling the far wings of collision-induced translational spectral profiles

By comparing three model spectral profiles to precise line shapes obtained from quantum calculations, we assess the suitability of the various models for describing the far wings of translational collision-induced spectra. A profile obtained based on a generalized Langevin approach can give a better fit to the quantum shape than the widely used Birnbaum–Cohen model; the fit given by the six-parameter extended Birnbaum–Cohen profile proves to be the best of all three functions. PACS No.: 32.70Jz

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 .

Generic trees

We continue the investigation of the Laver ideal ℓ0 and Miller ideal m0 started in [GJSp] and [GRShSp]; these are the ideals on the Baire space associated with Laver forcing and Miller forcing. We solve several open problems from these papers. The main result is the construction of models for t < add(ℓ0), < add(m0), where add denotes the additivity coefficient of an ideal. For this we construct amoeba forcings for these forcings which do not add Cohen reals. We show that = ω2 implies add(m0) ≤ . We show that , implies cov(ℓ0) ≤ +, cov(m0) ≤ + respectively. Here cov denotes the covering coefficient. We also show that in the Cohen model cov(m0) < holds. Finally we prove that Cohen forcing does not add a superperfect tree of Cohen reals.

L'axiome de normalité pour les espaces totalement ordonnés

We show that the following property (LN) holds in the basic Cohen model as sketched by Jech: The order topology of any linearly ordered set is normal. This proves the independence of the axiom of choice from LN in ZF, and thus settles a question raised by G. Birkhoff (1940) which was partly answered by van Douwen (1985).