Definable forcing axiom: An alternative to Martin's axiom (Q914667)

In this interesting paper the second-named author describes the ideas that van Douwen and he had about possible alternatives, in the absence of the Continuum Hypothesis, to Martin's Axiom. One such alternative is their Definable Forcing Axiom (DFA), which states that if \({\mathbb{P}}\) is a `definable' ccc poset then there is a family \(\{G_{\alpha}:\alpha <\omega_ 1\}\) of filters on \({\mathbb{P}}\) such that every dense set D in \({\mathbb{P}}\) meets all but countable many \(G_{\alpha}'s.\) The conjunction \(DFA+\neg CH\), which is consistent with ZFC, works quite different from \(MA+\neg CH\). Some of its consequences are: the existence of an \(\omega_ 1\)-scale in \(^{\omega}\omega\), the existence of Luzin and Sierpiński sets in \({\mathbb{R}}\) and the existence of an \(\omega_ 1\)- sequence of null sets whose union is \({\mathbb{R}}.\) There is no consistency proof for DFA in this paper, because, as Fleissner puts it: ``Defining `definable' is messy. Dissatisfaction with this mess is the main reason Eric and I repeatedly postponed revising the preprint of this paper.'' Instead the paper closes with some remarks about more recent developments around Martin's Axiom, and some interesting quotes from the referee's report. Well worth reading.