[Math] Is every p-point ultrafilter Ramsey

independence-resultsreference-requestset-theoryultrafilters

A non-principal ultrafilter $\mathcal{U}$ on $\omega$ is a p-point (or weakly selective) iff for every partition $\omega = \bigsqcup _{n < \omega} Z_n$ into null sets, i.e each $Z_n \not \in \mathcal{U}$, there exists a measure one set $S \in \mathcal{U}$ such that $S \cap Z_n$ is finite for each $n$.

A non-principal ultrafilter $\mathcal{U}$ on $\omega$ is Ramsey (or selective) iff for every partition as above, there exists a measure one set $S$ such that $|S \cap Z_n| = 1$ for each $n$.

Clearly, every Ramsey ultrafilter is a p-point. What is known about the converse?

I couldn't find anything, not even a consistency result, in any searches I've done or sources I've checked. Is very little known/published about the converse?

Best Answer

Amit:

The converse is not true, not even under MA. This is a result of Kunen, and the paper you want to look at is "Some points in $\beta{\mathbb N}$", Math. Proc. Cambridge Philos. Soc. 80 (1976), no. 3, 385–398.

There is a related notion, called $q$-point. These are ultrafilters such that any finite-to-one $f:\omega\to\omega$ is injective on a set in the ultrafilter. A Ramsey ultrafilter is one that is simultaneously a $p$-point, and a $q$-point.

Miller proved ("There are no $Q$-points in Laver's model for the Borel conjecture", Proc. Amer. Math. Soc. 78 (1980), no. 1, 103–106) that it is consistent that there are no $q$-points. The consistency of the non-existence of $p$-points is significantly harder, and due to Shelah (see for example Chapter VI of his "Proper and improper forcing").

There is a fairly extensive literature on related results. You may want to start by looking at Blass' article in the Handbook of Set Theory, "Combinatorial Cardinal Characteristics of the Continuum".

Related Question