Simplified gap-2 morasses (Q580337)

In a previous paper [J. Symb. Logic 49, 257-271 (1984; Zbl 0575.03035)], the author inroduced a simplified version of gap-1 morasses and he has shown that applications of gap-1 morasses can generally be derived more easily using this simplified structure. In this paper, he extends these ideas to gap-2 morasses by defining a structure he calls a simplified gap-2 morass. In a simplified gap-1 morass whose height is a regular cardinal \(\kappa\), the cardinal number \(\kappa^+\) is built up in \(\kappa\) steps from pieces of size less than \(\kappa\). Analogously, a simplified gap-2 morass of height \(\kappa\) describes a construction in which a simplified gap-1 morass of height \(\kappa^+\) is built up in a similar way from small pieces. There are two main theorems in the paper. Firstly, the existence of a simplified gap-2 morass is shown to be consistent with ZFC. (This is proved with a two stage forcing argument.) Secondly, it is shown that simplified gap-2 morasses can be used to prove the gap-3 theorem of model theory.