Uniformization and the diversity of Whitehead groups (Q1802789)

A group \(A\) is said to be a Whitehead group if \(\text{Ext}(A,\mathbb{Z}) = 0\), it is called \(\aleph_ 1\)-free if every countable subgroup of \(A\) is free; \(A\) is strongly \(\aleph_ 1\)-free if and only if every countable subset is contained in a free subgroup \(B\) such that \(A/B\) is \(\aleph_ 1\)-free. If \(A\) is an \(\aleph_ 1\)-free group of cardinality \(\aleph_ 1\), then we define \(\Gamma(A) = 1\) if \(A\) is the union of a continuous chain of countable subgroups \(A = \bigcup_{\alpha < \omega_ 1} A_ \alpha\) such that for all \(\alpha \in \lim(\omega_ 1)\), \(A_{\alpha + 1}/A_ \alpha\) is not free. The main results of this article are theorems 7 and 13. Theorem 7. If there is a Whitehead group \(A\) of cardinality \(\aleph_ 1\) with \(\Gamma(A) = 1\), then there is a Whitehead group \(G\) of cardinality \(\aleph_ 1\) which is not strongly \(\aleph_ 1\)-free. Let \(S\) be a subset of \(\lim(\omega_ 1)\). If \(\delta \in S\), a ladder on \(\delta\) is a function \(\eta_ \delta : \omega \to \delta\) which is strictly increasing and has range cofinal in \(\delta\). A ladder system on \(S\) is an indexed family \(\eta = \{\eta_ \delta : \delta \in S\}\) such that each \(\eta_ \delta\) is a ladder on \(\delta\). For a cardinal \(\lambda \geq 2\), a \(\lambda\)-coloring of a ladder system \(\eta\) on \(S\) is a family \(c = \{c_ \delta : \delta \in S\}\) such that \(c_ \delta : \omega \to \lambda\). A uniformization of a coloring \(c\) of a ladder system \(\eta\) on \(S\) is a pair \(\langle f,f^*\rangle\) where \(f : \omega_ 1 \to \lambda\), \(f^* : S \to \omega\) and for all \(\delta \in S\) and all \(n \geq f^*(\delta)\), \(f(\eta_ \delta(n)) = c_ \delta(n)\). If such a pair exists, we say that \(c\) can be uniformized. In the case that every \(\lambda\)-coloring of \(\eta\) can be uniformized we say that \((\eta,\lambda)\)-uniformization holds or that \(\eta\) satisfies \(\lambda\)-uniformization. Theorem 13. Assume that every strongly \(\aleph_ 1\)-free group of cardinality \(\aleph_ 1\) is Whitehead. Then every ladder system on a stationary subset of \(\lim(\omega_ 1)\) satisfies 2-uniformization.