small sets in convex geometry and formal independence over zfc小套凸几何和zfc正式独立.pdf

SMALL SETS IN CONVEX GEOMETRY AND FORMAL INDEPENDENCE OVER ZFC MENACHEM KOJMAN Received 28 June 2004 To each closed subset S of a finite-dimensional Euclidean space corresponds a σ -ideal of sets (S) which is σ -generated over S by the convex subsets of S. The set-theoretic properties of this ideal hold geometric information about the set. We discuss the relation of reducibility between convexity ideals and the connections between convexity ideals and other types of ideals, such as the ideals which are generated over squares of Polish space by graphs and inverses of graphs of continuous self-maps, or Ramsey ideals, which are generated over Polish spaces by the homogeneous sets with respect to some continuous pair coloring. We also attempt to present to nonspecialists the set-theoretic methods for dealing with formal independence as a means of geometric investigations. 1. Introduction This paper has two objectives. Its first objective is to present in a unified way a connected group of set-theoretic results about convexity in Euclidean spaces [4, 5, 6, 10, 12]. These investigations concern a generalization of convexity of closed subsets of Euclidean spaces. We call a set countably convex if it is a countable union of convex sets and uncountably convex otherwise. A convex cover of a set S is a collection of convex subsets of S which covers S. It is fair to say that an uncountably convex set is “less convex” than a countably convex one. But how does one compare generalized convexity between two uncountably convex sets? For every set S ⊆ Rd the collection {{x } : x ∈ S} is a convex cover of S, so for a subset of Rd it never takes more than continuum many convex subsets to cover it. On the other hand, a closed uncountable subset of Rd is equinumerous with the continuum. So are not all uncountably convex closed subsets of Rd for all d ≥ 1 “equally nonconvex”? Most mathematicians would probably think that the answer to this question is p