descriptive set theory In mathematical logic, descriptive set theory (DST) is the study of certain classes of "well-behaved" subsets of the real line and other Polish spaces. As well as being one of the primary areas of research in set theory, it has applications to oth ...

, a

subset In mathematics, set ''A'' is a subset of a set ''B'' if all elements of ''A'' are also elements of ''B''; ''B'' is then a superset of ''A''. It is possible for ''A'' and ''B'' to be equal; if they are unequal, then ''A'' is a proper subset o ...

of a

Polish space In the mathematical discipline of general topology, a Polish space is a separable completely metrizable topological space; that is, a space homeomorphic to a complete metric space that has a countable dense subset. Polish spaces are so named ...

has the perfect set property if it is either

countable In mathematics, a set is countable if either it is finite or it can be made in one to one correspondence with the set of natural numbers. Equivalently, a set is ''countable'' if there exists an injective function from it into the natural number ...

or has a

nonempty In mathematics, the empty set is the unique set having no elements; its size or cardinality (count of elements in a set) is zero. Some axiomatic set theories ensure that the empty set exists by including an axiom of empty set, while in other ...

perfect Perfect commonly refers to: * Perfection, completeness, excellence * Perfect (grammar), a grammatical category in some languages Perfect may also refer to: Film * Perfect (1985 film), ''Perfect'' (1985 film), a romantic drama * Perfect (2018 f ...

subset (Kechris 1995, p. 150). Note that having the perfect set property is not the same as being a

perfect set In general topology, a subset of a topological space is perfect if it is closed and has no isolated points. Equivalently: the set S is perfect if S=S', where S' denotes the set of all limit points of S, also known as the derived set of S. In ...

. As nonempty perfect sets in a Polish space always have the

cardinality of the continuum In set theory, the cardinality of the continuum is the cardinality or "size" of the set of real numbers \mathbb R, sometimes called the continuum. It is an infinite cardinal number and is denoted by \mathfrak c (lowercase fraktur "c") or , \ma ...

, and the

real Real may refer to: Currencies * Brazilian real (R$) * Central American Republic real * Mexican real * Portuguese real * Spanish real * Spanish colonial real Music Albums * ''Real'' (L'Arc-en-Ciel album) (2000) * ''Real'' (Bright album) (201 ...

s form a Polish space, a set of reals with the perfect set property cannot be a

counterexample A counterexample is any exception to a generalization. In logic a counterexample disproves the generalization, and does so rigorously in the fields of mathematics and philosophy. For example, the fact that "John Smith is not a lazy student" is ...

to the

continuum hypothesis In mathematics, the continuum hypothesis (abbreviated CH) is a hypothesis about the possible sizes of infinite sets. It states that or equivalently, that In Zermelo–Fraenkel set theory with the axiom of choice (ZFC), this is equivalent ...

, stated in the form that every

uncountable set In mathematics, an uncountable set (or uncountably infinite set) is an infinite set that contains too many elements to be countable. The uncountability of a set is closely related to its cardinal number: a set is uncountable if its cardinal num ...

of reals has the cardinality of the continuum. The Cantor–Bendixson theorem states that

closed set In geometry, topology, and related branches of mathematics, a closed set is a set whose complement is an open set. In a topological space, a closed set can be defined as a set which contains all its limit points. In a complete metric spac ...

s of a Polish space ''X'' have the perfect set property in a particularly strong form: any closed subset of ''X'' may be written uniquely as the

disjoint union In mathematics, a disjoint union (or discriminated union) of a family of sets (A_i : i\in I) is a set A, often denoted by \bigsqcup_ A_i, with an injection of each A_i into A, such that the images of these injections form a partition of A ...

of a perfect set and a countable set. In particular, every uncountable Polish space has the perfect set property, and can be written as the disjoint union of a perfect set and a countable open set. The

axiom of choice In mathematics, the axiom of choice, or AC, is an axiom of set theory equivalent to the statement that ''a Cartesian product of a collection of non-empty sets is non-empty''. Informally put, the axiom of choice says that given any collection ...

implies the existence of sets of reals that do not have the perfect set property, such as

Bernstein set In mathematics, a Bernstein set is a subset of the real line that meets every uncountable closed subset of the real line but that contains none of them. A Bernstein set partitions the real line into two pieces in a peculiar way: every measurable ...

s. However, in Solovay's model, which satisfies all axioms of ZF but not the axiom of choice, every set of reals has the perfect set property, so the use of the axiom of choice is necessary. Every

analytic set In the mathematical field of descriptive set theory, a subset of a Polish space X is an analytic set if it is a continuous image of a Polish space. These sets were first defined by and his student . Definition There are several equivalent ...

has the perfect set property. It follows from the existence of sufficiently

large cardinal In the mathematical field of set theory, a large cardinal property is a certain kind of property of transfinite cardinal numbers. Cardinals with such properties are, as the name suggests, generally very "large" (for example, bigger than the least ...

s that every

projective set In the mathematical field of descriptive set theory, a subset A of a Polish space X is projective if it is \boldsymbol^1_n for some positive integer n. Here A is * \boldsymbol^1_1 if A is analytic * \boldsymbol^1_n if the complement of A, X\set ...

has the perfect set property.

References

* {{Citation , last1=Kechris , first1=Alexander S. , authorlink = Alexander S. Kechris, title=Classical Descriptive Set Theory , publisher=

Springer-Verlag Springer Science+Business Media, commonly known as Springer, is a German multinational publishing company of books, e-books and peer-reviewed journals in science, humanities, technical and medical (STM) publishing. Originally founded in 1842 ...

, location=Berlin, New York , isbn=978-1-4612-8692-9 , year=1995 Descriptive set theory