The Perfect Set Theorem and Definable Wellorderings of the Continuum

Abstract

Let Γ be a collection of relations on the reals and let M be a set of reals. We call M a perfect set basis for Γ if every set in Γ with parameters from M which is not totally included in M contains a perfect subset with code in M. A simple elementary proof is given of the following result (assuming mild regularity conditions on Γ and M): If M is a perfect set basis for Γ, the field of every wellordering in Γ is contained in M. An immediate corollary is Mansfield's Theorem that the existence of a Σ^1_2 wellordering of the reals implies that every real is constructible. Other applications and extensions of the main result are also given.

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