The depth of ultraproducts of Boolean algebras (Q2577751)

The general question, due to Monk and extensively investigated, is: what is the relationship between Inv\((\Pi_{\alpha < \kappa}\mathbb B_{\alpha}/D)\) and \(\Pi_{\alpha < \kappa}\)Inv\((\mathbb B_{\alpha})/D\), where each \(\mathbb B_{\alpha}\) is a Boolean algebra, \(D\) is an ultrafilter on \(\kappa\), and Inv is some cardinal invariant. I.e., what is the relationship between a cardinal invariant of an ultraproduct and the ultraproduct of the cardinal invariants? Given a cardinal invariant Inv defined as the sup of the order types of sets with a property \(P\) it is useful to consider Inv\(^{+}\) where Inv\(^{+} = \sup\{\nu^+\): the Boolean algebra has a set with property \(P\) of order type \(\nu\}\). This paper looks at the cardinal invariants Depth and Depth\(^{+}\), where Depth\((\mathbb B) = \sup \{\nu: \mathbb B\) has a strictly increasing sequence of order type \(\nu\}\). The open question is whether the depth of the ultraproduct can be strictly greater than the ultraproduct of the depths. The main result considers ultraproducts \((\Pi_{\alpha < \kappa}\mathbb B_{\alpha}/D)\) where each \(\mathbb B_{\alpha}\) has depth \(\leq\lambda\), where \(\lambda > \Pi_{\alpha < \lambda}| \alpha| ^{\kappa}/D\) (so \(\lambda\) is large relative to \(\kappa\)), and there is a compact cardinal \(\mu\) with \(\kappa < \mu \leq \lambda\). Its conclusion is that the Depth\(^{+}\) of the ultraproduct is \(\leq \lambda\). As a corollary, given a compact cardinal \(\mu\) and \(\kappa < \mu\), if \(D\) is a regular ultrafilter on \(\kappa\) then Depth\((\Pi_{\alpha < \kappa}\mathbb B_{\alpha}/D) \leq \mu + \Pi_{\alpha < \kappa}\)Depth\((\mathbb B_{\alpha})/D\). This puts constraints on any attempt to construct a ZFC example where the depth of the ultraproduct is strictly greater than the ultraproduct of the depths.