Strong independence and its spectrum

Abstract: For

m u, k a p p a

infinite, say

m a t h c a l A s u b s e t e q [k a p p a]^{k} a p p a

is a

(m u, k a p p a)

-maximal independent family if whenever

m a t h c a l A_{0}

and

m a t h c a l A_{1}

are pairwise disjoint non-empty in

[m a t h c a l A]^{< m u}

then

,

m a t h c a l A

is maximal under inclusion among families with this property, and moreover all such Booelan combinations have size

k a p p a

. We denote by

m a t h f r a k {s p}_{m a t h f r a k i} (m u, k a p p a)

the set of all cardinalities of such families, and if non-empty, we let

m a t h f r a k i_{m} u (k a p p a)

be its minimal element. Thus,

m a t h f r a k i_{m} u (k a p p a)

(if defined) is a natural higher analogue of the independence number on

o m e g a

for the higher Baire spaces. In this paper, we study

m a t h f r a k {s p}_{m a t h f r a k i} (m u, k a p p a)

for

m u, k a p p a

uncountable. Among others, we show that: (1) The property

m a t h f r a k {s p}_{m a t h f r a k i} (m u, k a p p a) e q e m p t y s e t

cannot be decided on the basis of ZFC plus large cardinals. (2) Relative to a measurable, it is consistent that: (a)

(e x i s t s k a p p a > o m e g a), m a t h f r a k i_{k a p p a} (k a p p a) < 2^{k} a p p a

; (b)

(e x i s t s k a p p a > o m e g a), k a p p a^{+} < m a t h f r a k i_{o m e g a_{1}} (k a p p a) < 2^{k} a p p a

. To the best knowledge of the authors, this is the first example of a

(m u, k a p p a)

-maximal independent family of size strictly between

k a p p a^{+}

and

2^{k} a p p a

, for uncountable

k a p p a

. (3)

m a t h f r a k {s p}_{m a t h f r a k i} (m u, k a p p a)

cannot be quite arbitrary.

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