Forcing axioms and the Galvin number (Q2151157)

A theorem of Galvin says that under the continuum hypotheses any collection of \(\aleph_2\) many club sets of \(\aleph_1\) contains a sub-collection of size \(\aleph_1\) whose intersection is a club subset of \(\aleph_1\). This property is called Galvin property. Derived from this property is the Galvin number \(\mathfrak{gp}\) which denotes the minimal \(\kappa\) such that every family \(\mathfrak{B}\) of club subsets of \(\aleph_1\) of size \(\kappa^+\) contains a subfamily \(\mathfrak{C}\) of size \(\aleph_1\) whose intersection is club. It is consistent that \(\mathfrak{gp} < \mathfrak{m}\) where \(\mathfrak{m}\) is the first \(\kappa\) so that MA\(_{\kappa}\) fails. It is also consistent that \(\mathfrak{gp} >\mathfrak{i}\), where \(\mathfrak{i}\) denotes the independence number.\par The Galvin number can be canonically generalized to cardinals greater than \(\aleph_1\).\par Here the authors investigate the Galvin property and show that various square principles imply that the cofinality of \(\mathfrak{gp}\) is uncountable (or even greater than \(\aleph_1\)). They apply Shelah's pcf theory. They show that the Galvin property fails under the proper forcing axiom. In fact they show that it is consistent that PFA (the proper forcing axiom) holds but there is a family \(\mathcal{B}\) of subsets of \(\aleph_1\) of size \(\aleph_2\) such that any subfamily of \(\mathcal{C}\) of size \(\aleph_1\) has a finite intersection.