The cofinality spectrum of the infinite symmetric group

DOI10.2307/2275578zbMATH Open0889.03037arXivmath/9412230OpenAlexW2108403101MaRDI QIDQ4372913FDOQ4372913

Simon Thomas, S. Shelah

Publication date: 17 December 1997

Published in: Journal of Symbolic Logic (Search for Journal in Brave)

Abstract: A group G that is not finitely generated can be written as the union of a chain of proper subgroups. The cofinality spectrum of G, written CF(S), is the set of regular cardinals lambda such that G can be expressed as the union of a chain of lambda proper subgroups. The cofinality of G, written c(G), is the least element of CF(G). We show that it is consistent that CF(S) is quite a bizarre set of cardinals. For example, we prove Theorem (A): Let T be any subset of omega setminus {0}. Then it is consistent that aleph_n in CF(S) if and only if n in T . One might suspect that it is consistent that CF(S) is an arbitrarily prescribed set of regular uncountable cardinals, subject only to the above mentioned constraint. This is not the case. Theorem (B): If aleph_n in CF(S) for all n in omega setminus {0}, then aleph_{omega +1} in CF(S) .

Full work available at URL: https://arxiv.org/abs/math/9412230

zbMATH Keywords

forcingpermutation grouppcf theoryregular cardinalscofinality spectrum

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Subgroups of symmetric groups (20B35) Other combinatorial set theory (03E05) Consistency and independence results (03E35) Large cardinals (03E55) Continuum hypothesis and Martin's axiom (03E50)

Cites Work

• Title not available (Why is that?)
• Set theory. An introduction to independence proofs
• Cardinal arithmetic for skeptics
• Shelah's pcf theory and its applications
• Uniformization problems and the cofinality of the infinite symmetric group
• Unbounded families and the cofinality of the infinite symmetric group

Cited In (11)

• Title not available (Why is that?)
• Lévy-Khinchin formula for the infinite symmetric group
• The K-functor (Grothendieck group) of the infinite symmetric group
• Monotone hulls for \(\mathcal N \cap\mathcal M\)
• The special Aronszajn tree property
• The minimal cofinality of an ultrapower of ω and the cofinality of the symmetric group can be larger than b⁺
• THE COFINALITY OF NORMAL SUBGROUPS AND HOMOMORPHIC IMAGES OF INFINITE SYMMETRIC GROUPS
• Some questions concerning the cofinality of Sym(κ)
• Canonical universal locally finite groups
• Changing cardinal characteristics without changing \(\omega\)-sequences or cofinalities
• Density of indecomposable locally finite groups

This page was built for publication: The cofinality spectrum of the infinite symmetric group

Report a bug (only for logged in users!)Click here to report a bug for this page (MaRDI item Q4372913)