Infinite products of alephs (Q5896390)

This article deals with formulas for infinite cardinal multiplication (the axiom of choice is tacitly assumed here). Let \(\lambda\) be a limit ordinal, and \(\{\sigma_{\xi}\}_{\xi<\lambda}\) be an increasing sequence of ordinals with \(\lim \{\sigma_{\xi}\}=\alpha\). It still seems to be an open problem whether equality \[ (1)\quad \prod_{\xi<\lambda}\aleph_{\sigma_{\xi}}=\aleph_{\alpha}^{| \lambda |} \] holds in general. For several particular cases, however, (1) has been verified, e.g. if \(\sigma_{\xi}=\xi\) for all \(\xi<\lambda\), or if \(\lambda\) is a nonzero \(\gamma\)-number [see \textit{H. Bachmann}: ''Transfinite Zahlen'' (1955; Zbl 0065.035); 2nd ed. (1967; Zbl 0148.255)]. Tarski stated already in 1926 that there always exists a remainder \(\rho\) of \(\lambda\) with \[ (2)\quad \prod_{\xi<\lambda}\aleph_{\sigma_{\xi}}=\aleph_{\alpha}^{| \rho |}. \] However, no proof of (2) has been published. Using Cantor's normal form representation of ordinals, the author presents a proof of (2). Furthermore, he proves some consequences of (1) (with \(\lambda\) being a \(\gamma\)-number) as well as the following theorem: If, for some fixed ordinal \(\gamma\), \(\aleph_{\alpha}^{| \alpha |}=\aleph_{\alpha +\gamma}\) for every infinite \(\alpha\), then \(\gamma<\omega\). Combining this with the above-mentioned consequences of (1), the author obtains the following statement: If, for some fixed ordinal \(\gamma\), \(\prod_{\xi \leq \alpha}\aleph_{\sigma_{\xi}}=\aleph_{\alpha +\gamma}\) for every infinite \(\alpha\), then there exists a finite \(n>0\) such that \(2^{\zeta}=\aleph_{\zeta +n}\) for every \(\zeta\) with \(\zeta =\omega_{\zeta}\).