Are slices of Borel sets also Borel sets

borel-measuresborel-setsmeasure-theoryreal-analysis

  1. Suppose E is Borel in $\mathbb{R}^{a+b}$. Show that the slice $E^{x_1}$={$x_2\in\mathbb{R}^b|(x_1,x_2)\in E$} is Borel for each $x_1\in \mathbb{R}^a$.

What I have so far:
First, any sigma algebra containing the open sets contains every Borel set. Also, I know that given an open subset of $\mathbb{R}^{a+b}$, then for every $x_1\in\mathbb{R}^a$, $E^{x_1}$={$x_2\in\mathbb{R}^b|(x_1,x_2)\in E$} is also open. This implies that $E\in F$ and is Borel. I'm not sure if this reasoning is enough.

  1. Show that this statement is not true if we replace both instances of "Borel" with "Lebesgue".

I thought I could use the Banach-Tarski Paradox. The unit ball is divided into 5 non-lebesgue measurable sections. However, take one of these sections and name it $A\in\mathbb{R}^3$. $A\times${$0$} is Lebesgue measurable (0 measure).

Best Answer

Here are some hints:

To see why $E^{x_1}$ is borel, consider the (obviously borel) function $f(x_2) = (x_1,x_2)$. Do you see why $E^{x_1}$ is the preimage of a borel set by a borel function?

Remember that the lebesgue measurable sets are exactly $\{ \text{borel sets} \} \cup \{ \text{extra null sets} \}$, so we will probably have to use these extra null sets somehow.

More concretely: Take your favorite (lebesgue) nonmeasurable set $X$. Can you show that $X \times \{0\}$ is (lebesgue) measurable in $\mathbb{R}^2$? Remember you'll probably have to use nullsets! Once you've done this, $(X \times \{0\})^0$ is obviously $X$, which was nonmeasurable by assumption.


I hope this helps ^_^

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