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MA makes unions of fewer than continuum many null sets null
Statement
In ZFC+MA, the union of fewer than Lebesgue-null subsets of the real line is null. In particular every set of reals of cardinality below the continuum is null.
Facts & Assumptions
Given: AC, MA, , null sets , and .
Continuity from below for measures permits a finite stage of an increasing countable open cover to approximate its union in measure.
Martin's Axiom at a cardinal and Martin's Axiom supplies the filter.
Proof
Let be the set of open subsets of with , ordered by reverse inclusion: means , so a larger open set is a stronger condition in the convention of [F3]. For every , the subcollection is dense: given , choose by F1 an open cover of the null set with ; then lies in .
The order is ccc. Enumerate the rational open intervals whose closures lie in a condition ; their union is . The increasing finite unions therefore have union , so F2 supplies some finite rational-interval union with . If two conditions share this , then, labelling so that , so is a condition below both in the declared reverse-inclusion order. Only countably many sets occur, so no antichain of conditions is uncountable.
MA gives a filter meeting all . Its union covers every . Directedness toward stronger conditions in the reverse-inclusion order makes every finite subunion of filter members a subset of one stronger member, so it has measure below . The rational base gives a countable cofinal subfamily for the union, so continuity from below yields . Repeating for proves the total union has outer measure zero, and completeness gives nullity.
A singleton has measure zero. Applying the first clause to the family of singletons indexed by any set of reals of size below gives the second. AC was used to enumerate/cardinalize the family and choose all covers and approximations.
Depends on
- Martin's Axiom at a cardinal and Martin's Axiom
- Lebesgue measurable sets, the family $\mathcal{L}(\mathbb{R}^n)$, and the restricted set function $\lambda_n$
- Assuming countable choice, $\mathcal{L}(\mathbb{R}^n)$ is a sigma-algebra containing every elementary set and $\lambda_n$ is a complete measure extending elementary volume
- Assuming countable choice, the Lebesgue outer measure of an arbitrary subset of $\mathbb{R}^n$ is the infimum of the measures of the open sets containing it
- Continuity from below for measures
- The Axiom of Choice
Used by
Dependency tree · two levels
38 results within two dependency steps of this one, each drawn at its shortest distance from it. An arrow runs from a result to what uses it, so the chart reads left to right and ends at this result, which carries a heavier outline. Every node is a link to that result. Click elsewhere on the chart to enlarge it.
Sources
- Kunen, Set Theory, Martin's Axiom and the null ideal (standard reference, not scraped)