The determinacy of long games (Q1889743)

This book is a research monograph on the determinacy of games of countable length. Let \(\omega^\omega\) be the Baire space, and fix \(C \subseteq (\omega^\omega)^{ < \omega_1}\) and a partial function \(\nu : \omega^\omega \to \omega\). The game \(G_{\text{cont}} (\nu,C)\) of continuously coded length is played as follows: in round \(\alpha\), players I and II alternately play natural numbers \(y_\alpha (i)\), \(i < \omega\), to produce a real \(y_\alpha \in \omega^\omega\). If either \(\nu (y_\alpha)\) is undefined or \(\nu (y_\alpha) \in \{ \nu (y_\beta) : \beta < \alpha \}\), the game ends and I wins iff \(\langle y_\beta : \beta \leq \alpha \rangle \in C\). Otherwise the game continues. The game is determined if one of the players has a winning strategy. The author proves the determinacy of \(G_{\text{cont}} (\nu,C)\) and some of its relatives for definable \(\nu\) and \(C\) from large cardinal axioms. These results have been motivated by the classical proof of projective determinacy by \textit{D. A. Martin} and \textit{J. R. Steel} [J. Am. Math. Soc. 2, No. 1, 71--125 (1989; Zbl 0668.03021)] and by the author's investigation into the exact consistency strength of the latter [Bull. Symb. Log. 1, No. 3, 327--339 (1995; Zbl 0835.03017); J. Math. Log. 2, No. 2, 227--258 (2002; Zbl 1018.03044)]. The main point of all determinacy proofs of long games in the present book is the reduction of the original game to iteration games on models \(M\), which were introduced by \textit{D. A. Martin} and \textit{J. R. Steel} [J. Am. Math. Soc. 7, No. 1, 1--73 (1994; Zbl 0808.03035)]. The basic notions and results on these auxiliary games are presented in Chapter 1, and as an application an alternative proof of Woodin's \(\Pi^1_2\) determinacy is given (Theorem 1E.1). Chapter 2 deals with games \(G_{\omega \cdot \alpha} (C)\), \(C \subseteq (\omega^\omega)^\alpha\), of fixed countable length, which are defined as the \(G_{\text{cont}} (\nu,C)\) above except that the game lasts exactly \(\alpha\) moves and the result is a sequence \(\langle y_\beta : \beta < \alpha \rangle\). The determinacy of the corresponding auxiliary iteration game yields the determinacy of \(G_{\omega \cdot \alpha} (C)\) for sets \(C\) in \(< \omega^2 - \Pi^1_1\), that is, sets \(C\) which are at a level below \(\omega^2\) in the difference hierarchy on \(\Pi^1_1\) sets, a pointclass somewhat larger than the \(\Pi^1_1\) sets (Theorems 2A.3 and 2D.1). Determinacy of \(G_{\omega \cdot \alpha} (C)\) for \(C\) universally Baire or homogeneously Suslin is discussed as well. Using large cardinal assumptions stronger than those in the previous chapter, the determinacy of \(G_{\text{cont}} (\nu,C)\) is obtained in Chapter 3 for continuous \(\nu\) and \(C\) belonging to \(< \omega^2 - \Pi^1_1\) (Theorem 3D.1). Determinacy for the larger pointclass of \(\Sigma^1_2\) sets, as well as for universally Baire sets, are also proved. Chapters 4 to 6 present the preparatory technical material for the final Chapter 7 which deals with even longer games, reaching local cardinals, and which is the pinnacle of the book. For \(C \subseteq (\omega^\omega)^{<\omega_1}\), \(G_{\text{local}} (L,C)\) is the game in which the \(y_\beta\) are played as before till the first \(\alpha\) is reached which is uncountable in \(L [y_\beta : \beta < \alpha ]\). The determinacy of \(G_{\text{local}} (L,C)\) is established for all \(C\) in the pointclass \(\Game_\omega (< \omega^2 - \Pi^1_1)\) where \(\Game_\omega\) denotes the length \(\omega\) game quantifier (Theorem 7F.4). For an introduction to, and overview of, the results of the present book, see: M. Baaz et al. (eds.), Logic colloquium '01. Proceedings of the annual European summer meeting of the Association for Symbolic Logic (ASL), Vienna, Austria, August 6--11, 2001. Wellesley, MA: A K Peters; Urbana, IL: Association for Symbolic Logic. Lecture Notes in Logic 20, 43--86 (2005; Zbl 1077.03031)].