Research notes on every problem, and a library of the papers behind them. Built from the open erdos repository.
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Claim. The paper's main theorem, as its zbMATH review states it: if there is no scale of order type in under eventual domination, then : every graph on has an infinite path or an independent set of order type , the property asked by Problem 601 at the ordinal Erdős priced at $250. The review notes that the hypothesis follows from Martin's axiom and that is the first ordinal for which the property is not provable in ZFC.
Hypothesis. No scale of type : no -sequence of functions in is both increasing and cofinal under eventual domination. The hypothesis holds under Martin's axiom with the continuum above and fails under the continuum hypothesis, where the diamond example shows that the conclusion can fail. The claim decides no instance in ZFC; Larson's later theorem under Martin's axiom extends the positive conclusion to every limit ordinal below the continuum.
Source. Jean A. Larson, A consequence of no short scale for ordinal graphs with no infinite paths, Journal of the London Mathematical Society (2) 33 (1986), no. 2, 193–202, doi:10.1112/jlms/s2-33.2.193; Zbl 0566.03030. The issue is dated April 1986 and carries no day, so this page is dated the first of that month. The paper is paywalled and not held; its statement is taken from the zbMATH review. Nothing on this page is independently reviewed by this project.
Acceptance. Refereed: a journal paper in the Journal of the London
Mathematical Society. The site's commentary does not mention the paper and
labels the problem OPEN, so reviewed is not listed.