Adding a Closed Unbounded Set

The extreme interest of set theorists in the notion of “closed unbounded set” is epitomized in the following well-known theorem: Theorem A. For any regular cardinal κ > ω, the intersection of any two closed unbounded subsets of κ is closed and unbounded . The proof of this theorem is easy and in fact yields a stronger result, namely that for any uncountable regular cardinal κ the intersection of fewer than κ many closed unbounded sets is closed and unbounded. Thus, if, for κ a regular uncountable cardinal, we let denote { A ⊆ κ ∣ A contains a closed unbounded subset}, then, for any such κ, is a κ-additive nonprincipal filter on κ. Now what about the possibility of being an ultrafilterκ It is routine to see that this is impossible for κ > ℵ 1 . However, for κ = ℵ 1 the situation is different. If were an ultrafilter, ℵ 1 would be a measurable cardinal. As is well-known this is impossible if we assume the axiom of choice; however if ZF + “there exists a measurable cardinal” is consistent, then so is ZF + “ℵ 1 is a measurable cardinal” [2]. Furthermore, under the assumption of certain set theoretic axioms (such as the axiom of determinateness or various infinite exponent partition relations) can be proven to be an ultrafilter. (See [3] and [5].)