The Ramsey property implies no mad families

Abstract

We show that if all collections of infinite subsets of N have the Ramsey property, then there are no infinite maximal almost disjoint (mad) families. The implication is proved in Zermelo–Fraenkel set theory with only weak choice principles. This gives a positive solution to a long-standing problem that goes back to Mathias [A. R. D. Mathias, Ann. Math. Logic 12, 59–111 (1977)]. The proof exploits an idea which has its natural roots in ergodic theory, topological dynamics, and invariant descriptive set theory: We use that a certain function associated to a purported mad family is invariant under the equivalence relation E0 and thus is constant on a “large” set. Furthermore, we announce a number of additional results about mad families relative to more complicated Borel ideals.