TOWARDS A THEORY OF DEFINABLE SETS

Abstract

The subject of descriptive set theory is traditionally concerned with the theory of definable subsets of Polish spaces. By introducing large cardinal/determinacy axioms, a theory of definable subsets of Polish spaces and their associated ordinals has been developed over the last several decades which extends far up in the definability hierarchy. Recently, much interest has been focused on trying to extend the theory of definable objects to more general types of sets, not necessarily subsets of a Polish space or an ordinal. A large class of these objects are represented by equivalence relations on Polish spaces. Even for some of the simpler of these relations, an interesting combinatorial theory is emerging. We consider both problems of extending further the theory of definable subsets of Polish spaces, and that of determining the structure of these new types of definable sets.