Club set

For a limit ordinal $\kappa$, a subset $C\subseteq \kappa$ is club if it is unbounded and contains each limit below $\kappa$ of an increasing sequence from $C$. At an uncountable regular cardinal $\kappa$, intersections of fewer than $\kappa$ club sets are club: above a starting point cycle through the sets and take suprema, using regularity to stay below $\kappa$; closure puts the resulting limit in all of them. Club sets provide the reflecting ranks in worldly cardinals below an inaccessible cardinal.

For a regular uncountable cardinal $\lambda$ and $B:\lambda \to [\lambda {]}^{\omega }$, the limit ordinals closed under all earlier values of $B$ form a club set. Countably iterate bounds for ${\bigcup }_{\alpha <\gamma }B(\alpha )$ to obtain unboundedly many closure points. Regularity keeps each bound and the countable supremum below $\lambda$. Limits of closure points remain closure points.

For $⟨C_{\alpha }:\alpha <\delta ⟩$, its diagonal intersection consists of $\beta <\delta$ belonging to every $C_{\alpha }$ with $\alpha <\beta$. For club sets on a regular uncountable cardinal, this is a club.

A sequence $⟨C_{\delta }⟩$ in which $C_{\delta }$ is closed and unbounded in $\delta$. At a successor ordinal its predecessor is a club singleton. Such sequences define minimal walks along a club sequence.

For an infinite cardinal $\kappa$, the square principle supplies club sets $C_{\zeta }\subseteq \zeta$ at limit $\zeta <{\kappa }^{+}$, with order type at most $\kappa$, coherent at limit points: $C_{\gamma }=C_{\zeta }\cap \gamma$ whenever $\gamma$ is a limit point of $C_{\zeta }$. The bound precludes a single club set threading the entire sequence. For regular uncountable $\kappa$, coherence together with the weaker-looking size clause $\mathrm{cf}(\zeta )<\kappa \Rightarrow |C_{\zeta }|<\kappa$ implies the order-type bound. At $\kappa =\omega$, that clause alone is vacuous and cannot replace the bound.

To walk from $\beta$ to $\alpha <\beta$, start at $\beta$ and repeatedly move from $\delta$ to $\min (C_{\delta }\setminus \alpha )$ until reaching $\alpha$. The strict decrease in ordinals makes the walk finite. Its trace records the successive $C_{\delta }\cap \alpha$.

The tree of restrictions ${\rho }_{\beta }\upharpoonright \alpha$, ordered by extension. For a club sequence on ${\omega }_2$ with club order types at most ${\omega }_1$, the Continuum hypothesis bounds each level by ${\aleph }_1$. Trace injectivity and Fodor lemma exclude a cofinal branch.

If ${\rho }_{\beta }(\alpha )={\rho }_{\gamma }(\alpha )$, then the trace functions agree below $\alpha$. Each shorter trace is reconstructed by locating the first recorded club initial segment that meets $[\xi ,\alpha )$ and continuing the walk from its least such point.

The walks to $\xi <\alpha$ share a unique maximal initial chain of nodes. At the next step the walk to $\xi$ moves into $[\xi ,\alpha )$; the walk to $\alpha$ stays at or above $\alpha$ or has just ended.

A subset of a regular uncountable cardinal number $\kappa$ is stationary if it meets every club set in $\kappa$. Intersecting a stationary set with a club set preserves stationarity. Every member of the club filter is stationary. At a regular infinite $\theta <\kappa$, the stationarity of ordinals of prescribed cofinality supplies important examples.

Every stationary subset of a successor cardinal ${\lambda }^{+}$ can be partitioned into ${\lambda }^{+}$ disjoint stationary subsets. For each $\beta \in [\lambda ,{\lambda }^{+})$ choose a bijection $e_{\beta }:\lambda \to \beta$. For each $\xi <{\lambda }^{+}$, the function $\beta \mapsto e_{\beta }^{-1}(\xi )$ is regressive on the stationary tail with $\beta >\xi$. The Fodor lemma gives a stationary fiber with one value $i_{\xi }<\lambda$. Some value occurs for ${\lambda }^{+}$ many indices, whose fibers are pairwise disjoint. Assign any leftover part of $S$ to one fiber.

A subset $X\subseteq \lambda$ is non-reflecting in the indicated sense if it is not stationary below any $\delta <\lambda$ of uncountable cofinality. The subset itself need not be stationary. Nonreflection is inherited by subsets. With this definition every subset of ${\omega }_1$ is non-reflecting, since all smaller ordinals have countable cofinality.

For a coherent club set sequence, the limit points of $C_{\delta }$ form a club set whenever $\mathrm{cf}(\delta )>\omega$. Along these points, $\mathrm{otp}(C_{\gamma })=\mathrm{otp}(C_{\delta }\cap \gamma )$ strictly increases, so a fixed fiber $E_{\xi }$ meets this a club set at most once and cannot reflect at $\delta$. Under the square principle order-type bound, the fibers with $\xi \le \kappa$ partition all limit ordinals below ${\kappa }^{+}$ into $\kappa$ non-reflecting pieces.

For any nonzero limit ordinal $\delta$, a club set is an unbounded subset closed under limit points below $\delta$. A subset is stationary if it meets every such club set. Statements concerning the completeness of the club filter or Fodor lemma require regular uncountable height; they should not be transferred to arbitrary singular or countable limit ordinals without checking their hypotheses.

For an uncountable regular cardinal $\kappa$, choose cofinal sequences $c_{\alpha }:\omega \to \alpha$ for the stationary set of ordinals of cofinality $\omega$. Above any bound, some fixed coordinate exceeds the bound on a stationary subset; Fodor lemma makes that coordinate constant on a stationary subset. Thus the stationary constant fibers, over all coordinates, have unboundedly many values. Regularity makes one coordinate have $\kappa$ such values. Its fibers are disjoint stationary sets; adding all leftover ordinals to one piece partitions $\kappa$.

A family $(A_{\alpha ,n}{)}_{\alpha <{\omega }_1,n<\omega }$ whose row at $\alpha$ partitions $(\alpha ,{\omega }_1)$ and whose fixed-column cells are pairwise disjoint. Choose injections $e_{\beta }:\beta \to \omega$ and put $A_{\alpha ,n}=\{\beta >\alpha :e_{\beta }(\alpha )=n\}$. This gives a matrix used to split stationary sets into many stationary pieces.

There are ${\aleph }_1$ pairwise disjoint stationary subsets of the nonzero countable limit ordinals. In a Ulam matrix on omega-one, each row partitions a stationary tail into countably many cells, so some cell is stationary. One column contains stationary cells in uncountably many rows, and the column cells are disjoint. Unions indexed by different subsets of ${\omega }_1$ then differ on a stationary set.

A sequence $D_{\alpha }\subseteq \alpha$ guesses every $X\subseteq {\omega }_1$ stationarily often: $\{\alpha :D_{\alpha }=X\cap \alpha \}$ is stationary.

For each index, collect the ground subsets which some condition forces to be the corresponding diamond guess. Distinct forced values have incompatible witnessing conditions, so the countable chain condition for forcing makes this a countable family. Every ground subset is guessed by these families on a ground stationary set, by testing each ground club set. The countable-family diamond equivalence then yields diamond in the ground model. A generic guess need not itself be a ground subset; only values forced equal to one are collected.

For a stationary $S\subseteq {\omega }_1$, a sequence $D_{\alpha }\subseteq \alpha$ indexed by $S$ guesses every $X\subseteq {\omega }_1$ on a stationary subset of $S$.

A sequence $D_{\alpha }\subseteq \alpha$, indexed by a stationary subset $S$ of a regular uncountable cardinal $\lambda$, guesses every $X\subseteq \lambda$ stationarily often: $\{\alpha \in S:D_{\alpha }=X\cap \alpha \}$ is stationary. This extends the usual stationary diamond principle at ${\omega }_1$.

At each $\alpha \in S$, a countable family $E_{\alpha }\subseteq \mathcal{P}(\alpha )$ is supplied. Every $X\subseteq \lambda$ has $X\cap \alpha \in E_{\alpha }$ on a stationary subset of $S$. The countable-family diamond equivalence shows that this apparently weaker prediction is equivalent to a single diamond guess at each index.

Enumerate each countable guessing family and use a bijection $\pi :\lambda \times \omega \to \lambda$ with a club set of prefix-closure points. The $n$th candidate sequence decodes the $n$th component of the $n$th family entry. If all candidates fail, choose counterexample sets $X_n$ and club sets witnessing failure, then code the $X_n$ together using $\pi$. A correct family guess on the common closure club set and all failure club sets decodes to one of the forbidden correct guesses. The singleton-family implication supplies the reverse direction.

At a correctly guessing limit stage of a normal tree construction, make every new level node extend a member of the guessed maximal tree antichain. It follows that the antichain has no later member. This produces a Suslin tree from the stationary diamond principle.

There are cofinal sequences $A_{\delta }\subseteq \delta$ of order type $\omega$ for the countable limit ordinals, such that every uncountable $X\subseteq {\omega }_1$ contains some $A_{\delta }$.

For a stationary $S\subseteq {\omega }_1$, there are cofinal ladders $A_{\delta }\subset \delta$ of order type $\omega$, indexed by limit ordinals in $S$, such that every uncountable $X\subseteq {\omega }_1$ contains one of these ladders. This predicts a contained ladder, whereas stationary diamond principle predicts a whole initial segment.

A function on a set of ordinals with $f(\alpha )<\alpha$ at every nonzero point of its domain. On a stationary subset of a regular uncountable cardinal, Fodor lemma makes it constant on a stationary subset.

A regressive function on a stationary subset of a regular uncountable cardinal is constant on a stationary subset.

If $S\subseteq \kappa$ is stationary and $f(\alpha )\in A_{\alpha }$ for a kappa-filtration, then $f$ is constant on a stationary subset. Restrict to limit indices and use continuity to find a smaller stage containing each value. Fodor lemma fixes that stage on a stationary subset. Its size is less than $\kappa$, so club filter completeness makes one value fiber stationary.

For a regular infinite $\theta <\kappa$, with $\kappa$ a regular uncountable cardinal number, $S_{\theta }^{\kappa }=\{\delta <\kappa :\mathrm{cf}(\delta )=\theta \}$ is stationary. Build a strictly increasing continuous $\theta$-sequence in any club set, and take its supremum. Closure places it in that club and the cofinality of an increasing ordinal supremum gives cofinality $\theta$. In particular the two disjoint sets $S_{\omega }^{{\omega }_2}$ and $S_{{\omega }_1}^{{\omega }_2}$ show that the club filter on ${\omega }_2$ is not an ultrafilter.

On a regular uncountable cardinal number $\kappa$, the club filter consists of all subsets containing a club set. It is a kappa-complete filter by club filter completeness. Its members are stationary sets, although a stationary set need not be a filter member, and a filter member need not itself be closed.

For any regular uncountable cardinal number $\kappa$, the set $\kappa \setminus \{\omega \}$ contains the final-segment club set $[\omega +1,\kappa )$, so belongs to the club filter and is a stationary set. It is not closed, since its finite ordinals have supremum $\omega$, which is missing.

The club filter on a regular uncountable cardinal number $\kappa$ is $\kappa$-complete. Intersections of fewer than $\kappa$ club sets are closed. For unboundedness, repeatedly step past a point of each club and take a countable supremum; regularity keeps all suprema below $\kappa$, and closure puts the final supremum in every club.

An unbounded class in set theory of ordinals is closed if every nonempty set-sized increasing sequence of its members has its supremum in the class. This is the proper-class analogue of a club set. The reflection theorem for definable hierarchies gives such a class for every finite collection of first-order formulas.