On power of singular cardinals (Q1098847)

This is an important survey of results on powers of singular cardinals. It expounds the ``smallness thesis'', which is the impression given by the results of \textit{F. Galvin} and \textit{A. Hajnal} [Ann. Math., II. Ser. 101, 491-498 (1975; Zbl 0327.02055)], namely that when \(\aleph_{\alpha}\) is singular, with \(cf(\alpha)>\aleph_ 0\), and a strong limit cardinal is ``small'', then \(2^{\aleph_{\alpha}}\) is also ``small''. Sections 1-6 give new proofs of those results, and more; then section 7 gives ``non-elementary'' proofs, using forcing, which can be seen as extending the original proofs of \textit{J. Silver} [Proc. Int. Congr. Math., Vancouver 1974, Vol. I, 265-268 (1975; Zbl 0341.02057)], with further extensions. Section 8 introduces the notion of ``preservative pairs'' of functions (f,g) for which (under suitable hypotheses) it follows that \((f(\omega_ 1))^{\aleph_ 1}<g((2^{2^{\aleph_ 1}})\) \(+).\) These results were announced in the abstract [Notices Am. Math. Soc. 25 (October 1978), A-599], where it was claimed that the methods would prove more of the ``smallness thesis'' than has turned out to be the case; some open questions are mentioned.