The Strength of Mengers Conjecture

Menger conjectured that subsets of R with the Menger property must be ${sigma}$-compact. While this is false when there is no restriction on the subsets of R, for projective subsets it is known to follow from the Axiom of Projective Determinacy, which has considerable large cardinal consistency strength. We note that in fact, Mengers conjecture for projective sets has consistency strength of only an inaccessible cardinal.

The Open Graph Axiom and Mengers Conjecture

Menger conjectured that subsets of $mathbb R$ with the Menger property must be $sigma$-compact. While this is false when there is no restriction on the subsets of $mathbb R$, for projective subsets it is known to follow from the Axiom of Projective Determinacy, which has considerable large cardinal consistency strength. We show that the perfect set version of the Open Graph Axiom for projective sets of reals, with consistency strength only an inaccessible cardinal, also implies Mengers conjecture restricted to this family of subsets of $mathbb R$.

Definable topological dynamics

For a group $G$ definable in a first order structure $M$ we develop basic topological dynamics in the category of definable $G$-flows. In particular, we give a description of the universal definable $G$-ambit and of the semigroup operation on it. We find a natural epimorphism from the Ellis group of this flow to the definable Bohr compactification of $G$, that is to the quotient $G^*/{G^*}^{00}_M$ (where $G^*$ is the interpretation of $G$ in a monster model). More generally, we obtain these results locally, i.e. in the category of $Delta$-definable $G$-flows for any fixed set $Delta$ of formulas of an appropriate form. In particular, we define local connected components ${G^*}^{00}_{Delta,M}$ and ${G^*}^{000}_{Delta,M}$, and show that $G^*/{G^*}^{00}_{Delta,M}$ is the $Delta$-definable Bohr compactification of $G$. We also note that some deeper arguments from the topological dynamics in the category of externally definable $G$-flows can be adapted to the definable context, showing for example that our epimorphism from the Ellis group to the $Delta$-definable Bohr compactification factors naturally yielding a continuous epimorphism from the $Delta$-definable generalized Bohr compactification to the $Delta$-definable Bohr compactification of $G$. Finally, we propose to view certain topological-dynamic and model-theoretic invariants as Polish structures which leads to some observations and questions.