A note on irredundant sets (Q751685)

Assuming the continuum hypothesis, the author proves that, in any variety generated by a nontrivial, finite, primal algebra, there is an uncountable algebra with no uncountable irredundant subset. (A subset is irredundant if no member of it is in the subalgebra generated by the others.) The theorem is proved first for the variety of Boolean algebras, using the algebra of clopen subsets of a compact, zero-dimensional space of uncountable weight, all of whose finite powers are hereditarily separable. The construction of such a space, due to Kunen, is the only place in the proof where the continuum hypothesis is used. The theorem is deduced from the special case of Boolean algebras by using a Boolean power of the primal generating algebra. Without the continuum hypothesis, the author shows that, if A is a finite, primal algebra of cardinality n, if B is the Boolean algebra of clopen subsets of a compact space X, and if the Boolean power of A with respect to B has an irredundant infinite set S, then \(X^{2n-2}\) has a discrete subspace of the same cardinality as S. The author also shows that, in a variety satisfying the hypothesis of the main theorem, every countable algebra is generated by an irredundant set. He shows that no space like Kunen's can exist in models of Martin's axiom and the negation of the continuum hypothesis, but he leaves open the question whether his main theorem needs the continuum hypothesis.