A definable \(E_0\) class containing no definable elements (Q494659): Difference between revisions

It is a well known fact that the following statement is consistent with ZFC: there is a non-empty ordinal definable (OD) set of reals containing no OD element. The problem of considering countable (ordinal) definable sets was raised in discussions in MathOverflow and FOM. In a previous work of the authors [``A countable definable set of reals containing no definable elements'', Preprint, \url{arXiv:1408.3901}], it is shown that in a \({\mathbb P}^{<\omega}\)-generic extension of \(L\), the set of all \({\mathbb P}\)-generic reals (over \(L\)) is a countable \(\Pi^1_2\)-set of reals with no OD elements, which improves a result of \textit{A. Enayat} [Fundam. Math. 181, No. 3, 215--231 (2004; Zbl 1051.03041)]. Here, \({\mathbb P}\) is Jensen's ``minimal \(\Pi^1_2\)-real singleton forcing''. This result is optimal in that every non-empty \(\Sigma^1_2\)-set of reals contains a \(\Delta^1_2\)-element. This article provides another example with an addition feature that the countable \(\Pi^1_2\) is a \(E_0\)-equivalence class. Based on a Zapletal model of ZFC, in which there is an OD \(E_0\)-class containing no OD elements, the authors produced a generic extension \(L[x]\) of \(L\), via a variation of the aforementioned \({\mathbb P}\) which replaces Sacks forcing by Silver forcing, such that \([x]_{E_0}\) is \(\Pi^1_2\) but contains no OD elements. In contrast to this forcing method, \textit{A. Kechris} and \textit{W. Woodin} [``On thin \(\Pi^1_2\) sets'', handwritten note] showed that, under large cardinal axioms, in particular assuming sharps, every countable non-empty \(\Pi^1_2\)-set of reals necessarily contains an OD element.